Gameplay

This article will roughly explain the gameplay of Ploxmons' Cardgame. If you are looking for the minigames over on discord, visit *PloxBot*.

## Summary

Ploxmons has a unique but simple battle system. Unlike other cardgames, cards don't directly fight against opponent's cards. Instead, both players use a team of *Ploxmons* to attack a mutual enemy, the *Ploxboss*, essentially making it a PvPvE cardgame.

**The goal is to be the first to defeat 3 bosses** or to **stall boss attacks long enough to have your opponent** (called *Rival*) **run out of cards** before you do**. I**n the meantime the extremely powerful Ploxboss will try to kill ALL Ploxmons in play! Thanks to the tribute mechanic, Bosses can be used to the players favor though.

## Game Start

Before playing, a deck must be selected. This can be done right from the beginning as new accounts come with a *Starter Deck*. For more information visit *Decks*.
Each game starts with a Ploxboss spawning in the center of the screen and both players drawing 3 cards.

## Battlefield & Zones

**Battlefield:**

* **Left:** **Your Team** - Up to two monsters from your deck fight at once. If one is defeated, you can play another one from your hand during the next turn.
* **Center:** **Ploxboss** **Area -** Bosses attack both players depending on their tribute. If the boss is defeated, another one will spawn until someone defeats three of them.
* **Right:** **Opponent's Team** - Up to two monsters from your opponent fight at once. If one is defeated, they can play another one from their hand during the next turn.

**Outside Areas:**

* **Tribute Zone:** Each turn both players place a card here.
* **Hand Zone:** This is where your Handcards are held (max. 3). Your Ploxpower is right next to it as well.
* **Player Information:** Shows how much bosses the player defeated. Also displays the player's avatar, name, title, and rank
* **Deck Information:** Displays the number of cards left in your deck, number of cards tributed, number of cards that were destroyed.
* **Attack & Turn Sequence:** Displays when a monster will attack and which phase of the turn it is.

## Turn Sequence

Both players play each turn at the same time. There is no passing player turns!

## Tribute & Boss Mercy

This mechanic is used in every single turn as a way to use the Ploxboss for one's own favor.

### Tributing

During each ***Tribute Phase*** both players place one card in the tribute zone. Note: A tributed card eventually returns to the deck once per game. If you tribute the same card later again, it’s gone for the rest of the game. The boss then will compare both player’s tributed cards and grant one of them ***mercy***. The player that placed the “higher” tribute card, wins the Ploxbosses’ mercy for one turn.

### Mercy

One wins the tribute comparison if they have the higher **Power OR Speed** stat on their card in comparison the other player's tributed card. (On tie the other stat will get taken into account. HP is not relevant here though.). **If one has the mercy of the boss, their Mons are usually safe from its attacks.** How exactly depends on the bosses' attack type. Mercy lasts for one turn only! The fight for boss mercy repeats each turn!

### Tips For Beginners

* Tribute weak cards for when a boss is still very healthy to empty your board and/or to save stronger hand cards
* Save tribute ability mons like Zigzax for when a boss is at low HP
* Try tributing cards you haven't tributed before to prevent decking out and losing
* Tribute strong cards if you are beginning to run out of cards
* If you are behind in kill score you should consider winning the game by decking out your rival (by tributing strong cards over and over)

## Game End

There are two ways to win a game:

* **Defeat 3 Ploxbosses** before your opponent does it. This is the common way to win.
* Your opponent has **no cards left** in their deck when a turn starts (Deckout)

When the game ends the Endgame screen appears. There the loot drops will be revealed and serveral statistics pop up.

For each boss you defeated (regardless if you won the game or not) rewards you with Loot. Loot may contain Gold, Essence, Ploxpowers or Ploxavatars.