Time To P-P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Ppplllaaayyy
Welcome to you, the greatest players of the Millennium Blades collectable card game from around the world. Now it’s time to compete in the ultimate tournament to see who can be crowned the World Champion.
Across three tournament events you’ll slap down wads of Millennium dollars to buy the best cards on the market, sell or trade away any you won’t use to get more you want, then build up some binders to bring along to the tourneys where you’ll either trade the collections in or play them in competition against your rivals. The better you place in the tournament stages and the larger collections you trade in, the more victory points (VPs) get bestowed upon you.
This game really encapsulates what it’s like to get involved in TCGs or CCGs, opening packs in the hopes of getting the best chase cards to make your decks pop, or the most valuable to sell for cold hard cash. Plus it’s all done on a strict round timer just to force all the decision making into a tight window, so much fun to be had!
Opening Up
To set up Millennium Blades give each player a double sided player board and place the Store and Aftermarket main boards in the centre. Make up the Store Deck by mixing the Core card set with 5 Expansion Sets, 4 Premium Sets and 3 Master Sets. Ensure the cards are all well shuffled together in a single stack. Each player chooses a player colour and takes all the score cubes and Sell Markers for their colour, they keep 3 Sell Markers for play or 4 Sell Markers if there are three or less players, any extra are returned to the box. Then, either randomly or by player selection, each player takes a character card with the character’s matching Friendship cards, plus a Starting Deck with three extra random cards added to it from the top of the store to form their opening card binder.
Set aside 5 promo sets: 2 bronze, 2 silver and 1 gold. One of each set type goes on the fusion spaces on the Store mat, the remaining two are kept to one side for prize awards later on.
Rookie Or Pro Players
If this is your first time playing Millennium Blades it is recommended to skip player powers, these will be discussed later on. It is also recommended that you play an initial pre-release tournament, this helps give you an idea of how the game plays out.
The game will play over three tournaments, alternating between Deckbuilding and Tournament phases. In a standard game you will open with a Deckbuilding phase before the first Tournament phase and play three tournaments total. If you opt to play the pre-release tournament then begin with this initial Tournament phase, but following the pre-release you will only have 2 Deckbuilding phases and only play 2 more Tournament phases, so you will always compete in three tournaments during the game.
Shall we briefly discuss card anatomy – every single card that you can use in play belongs to one of several selected sets. Every card will have a Star Rating representing how good and/or valued it is, most will have an element and type, then they all also contain information on the set and rarity of the card, plus in the main text box you’ll see any card effects plus flavour text in italics. The cards come in one three types, the majority are playable cards called Singles, but then you can also find Deck Boxes and Accessories, there are restrictions on how many many of each can be used during the Tournament phase.
Deck Building Phase
Now you know about the cards, let’s explain the game rules to link it all together. You will normally begin each game with the Deckbuilding phase unless you opt for the Pre-Release tournament. This phase always begins and then follows the same steps each time:
● Each player gets given 30 dollars and dealt the top 6 cards of the store deck; these go into their binder for free along with any other cards they already own. They also have all Sell Markers returned to them for use in the phase if they didn’t already. Flip player boards to the Deckbuilding side.
● The store is filled by placing 9 cards from the Store Deck face down to fill the spaces.
● Any revealed metagame cards are discarded, the top card of the element metagame deck is revealed now.
● Set a timer for 7 minutes and start it as long as the previous three steps have been completed. The Deckbuilding phase begins immediately at this point.
● After the 7 minute timer runs out give each player another 6 cards from the Store deck for free, reveal the top card of the Type metagame deck and set a timer for another 7 minutes.
● Once this 7 minute timer runs out it is Last Call for the Deckbuilding phase, the Aftermarket stops buying cards from the players at this point. Set a final timer for 6 minutes. After the 6 minutes runs our the Deckbuilding phase is over, at which point players must have all their cards organised into either their Collection Area, Deck Area or binder.
The Deckbuilding phase plays out in real time. Players may take any number of actions they want, repeating them as much as they want, in any order they want, at any time they want. The phase will only last 20 minutes so make sure you get everything done you need! Let’s discuss the actions you can take:
Buy store cards – You can choose to buy any of the 10 cards available from the store, the 9 on the mat or the top card of the Store deck. Pay the cost in dollars to the bank, each card shows the pack cost on the top right; non-core card sets will also show you the possible type and element of your chosen card on the back before you buy, if that helps make your decision. If you buy from the 9 cards on the mat then you instantly replace it with one from the top of the deck. Place the purchased card into your binder area.
Sell cards – Perhaps you don’t like the card you just purchased? Then take it to the Aftermarket! To sell a card place it face-up into an open space in the Aftermarket and receive dollars from the bank equal to the card’s Star Rating. Place one of your Sell Markers onto the card to mark that you sold it. If you run out of Sell Markers you cannot sell any more cards until you get one back. A reminder that in the last 6 minutes of this phase the
Aftermarket stops taking in cards and you can no longer sell any (although you can still buy from it). The Aftermarket only shows 12 spaces but these are not limited during Deckbuilding, if the Aftermarket becomes full just place your cards next to it, complete with your Sell Marker.
Buy Aftermarket cards – Choose any face-up card in the Aftermarket and pay dollars to the bank equal to the Star Rating, then place it in your binder area. Return the Sell Marker on the card to it’s owner. You cannot buy any cards with your own Sell Markers on them.
Fuse cards – The three promo card fusion decks require you to give up 5/7/9 cards to obtain them. When you fuse cards select the number required for the level you want and return them to the box, they are out of the game. Place one of your Sell Markers next to the deck and draw the top card to add to your binder area. If you do not have a Sell Marker you cannot fuse a card, and you cannot fuse more than one card of each type during the same Deckbuilding phase.
Trade – You can trade cards freely with any other players, the one condition is that all trades must be equal. Cards swapped must have the same total Star Rating. You can also use dollars to balance it out, where 1 dollar has a value of 1 Star Rating: for example your opponent wants to swap a 5 Star Rating card from in return for a 3 Star Rating card, so they need to also give you additionally either a 2 Star Rating card or 2 dollars to make the deal equal. Some blanched trades may still look more unequal towards one side, this is where the Friendship cards come into play. Friendship cards are only used during trading, they do not provide any Star Rating to your trade total, instead they are cashed in by your opponent at the end of the game for VPs.
Build Collection – At the end of each Deckbuilding Phase you can trade in a Collection to earn some ed game VPs. You can start building a Collection with any card of your choice, but every additional card must also match either the type or element (or both), so for instance you could build a DARK element collection or a SOLDIER type collection. Every card in the collection though must have a different Star Rating. The more cards in your Collection the more points you can earn, but all cards used will be discarded at the end of the Deckbuilding Phase once they score. Your collection is not fixed, so at any point during deckbuilding you can swap cards in and out or even just start building your collection again from scratch. You will only build one collection each Deckbuilding Phase.
Build Deck – The final action you can do, and arguably most important, is to build and prepare you deck to use in the Tournament Phase. Before the timer runs out at the end of the Deckbuilding Phase you need to have all cards you intend to use placed into the Deck Area. There are restrictions on how to build your deck – you can take up to 8 Single cards with you, up to 2 Accessories and up to 1 Deck Box card. You also cannot bring any duplicates in your deck. Like with your Collection, you are free to swap cards in and out of the Deck Area at any point before the timer ends. At the end of the phase all remaining cards will be moved into your binder, after this point if you discover your deck has been built illegally then it will be fixed, either by removing any duplicates or randomly removing any cards in excess of the amount allowed, and these extra cards are moved to your binder but not replaced.
So, once the Deckbuilding Phase finishes then all players stop taking actions and prepare for the Tournament Phase.
● All loose cards in players tableaus are moved into their Binders.
● All player’s Collections are traded in for Victory Points and the cards returned to the box.
● All single cards remaining in the Store and Aftermarket are discarded.
● Now proceed to the Tournament Phase
Tournament Phase
The Tournament Phase will also begin with the same separate set up steps each time when entering the phase.
● Flip over each player’s mat to the Tournament side.
● Each player takes the small cubes in their colour to track points, starting at 0 Reputation Points (RPs).
● All players set up their area, placing any Deck Box and Accessory cards into their respective spots. The rest of their cards will be kept in their hand. If a player has made a mistake in building their Deck then extra cards will be removed at random until the deck has been made legal.
● First Player for the Tournament will be whoever placed highest in the previous Tournament. For your first Tournament, or in the case of a tie, then First Player will be whoever last opened a booster pack, or they can be chosen randomly.
Now you’re ready to begin the Tournament. Starting with the First Player and proceeding Clockwise, each player takes a turn in order where they must play a card and optionally may also take an Action before or after playing the card. If a player has no cards remaining or no room left to play a card then they must SKIP their turn, and they may not take any Actions.. Once all players have skipped their turns then the Tournament finishes. The goal of the Tournament is to earn Reputation Points (RPs). These are tracked on your player mats. Reputation Points are only valid inside the current tournament and will be exchanged at the end for Victory Points based on final standings. The amount of VPs varies depending on player count and which Tournament it is and can be found on the game’s score sheets.
Playing Cards – Your tableau (the name for your play area) has room to play six cards, although you may have more than six cards in your hand, and some cards may have the potential to increase the length of your tableau. You must play your cards from left to right, leaving no gaps. Many Card Effects or Actions are affected by placement and card order.
Playing Actions – In order to use an Action a card must have the ACTION keyword. When you activate the action any card effects listed are mandatory and must be carried out if possible, for example if you need to Flip a card then you cannot chose to target a card that is immune, you might even end up targeting one of your own cards! Once the Action has been carried out then the Action card is Flipped face-down.
There are several key terms to be aware of related to your Cards:
Face-Down Cards – Face-down Cards will still count as a card for the purpose of any effects that mention cards, such as “Gain 5RP per card in your Tableau”. But otherwise Face-down Cards have no Star Power, no Type and no Attribute. Face-down cards cannot be Flipped back face-up by any card FLIP effects unless they specifically state they can do this.
Top Card – Your Top Card is the furthest right face-up Card. If your Top Card becomes Flipped then the next furthest right face-up Card will be the new Top Card. The only time you have no Top Card is either if you have no cards in play or all your cards have been Flipped.
Clashing – Some cards will tell you to CLASH with other players, in order to Clash players will be using their Top Cards, regardless of which card initiated the CLASH. You will be targeting either one or multiple players, depending on the Card effect, but each targeted player (including yourself) must have a Top Card. You cannot perform a CLASH with less than two players. To CLASH, each player reveals a card from the top of the Store Deck and adds the Star Rating of the revealed card to that of their own Top Card. The highest total Star Rating will win the Clash, all other participants will be classed as the loser. In the event of a tie for the highest score then the Clash is considered a tie, so there are no winners or losers. After the Clash is finished put any revealed Cards into the Aftermarket Area, if the Aftermarket becomes full then discard all Cards there before placing the new Cards into it. A reminder that if you used an ACTION-CLASH card effect to begin the Clash then the Card will be flipped at the end of that Clash Action, regardless of which cards win or lose(although it may already have been Flipped Face-down dues to the Clash)
Discarded Cards – Any Cards discarded from your Hand or Tableau will go back into your main Binder. Any Cards discarded from the Store or Aftermarket go into the general discard.
Other Keywords – As well as ACTION and CLASH you will find many other Keywords across your cards. The common ones will be described here, some sets have their own Keyword which will be explained on cards or referenced in the rulebook:
PLAY – This effect happens when you play the Card.
NEXT – This effect happens on the next Card you play, regardless of who’s turn you play it on or where you play it into your Tableau. The Card with the NEXT effect must still be face-up in order for the effect to trigger.
FLIP – This effect triggers when the Card is Flipped while in play. Note that you still need an Action or other Effect to flip the Card, it cannot flip itself using the FLIP effect.
TOP – While this Card is your Top Card this effect will be continuously active. As soon as you play your next Card this will stop being the Top Card, therefore this effect cannot apply to a new Top Card you have played.
SCORE – This effect only happens if the Card is still face up when you reach the Tournament end scoring.
REACTION – This Card effect will state when it can be activated. After using a REACTION effect the card will be Flipped Face-down.
Once all players have passed then the Tournament ends and you can proceed to Tournament scoring. Each player takes their finishing Reputation Points they have already earned through the tournament and adds any more RPs gained from card SCORE effects and any bonus RPs earned through the metagame cards. The player with the highest RP is the overall winner, then each player is awarded VPs based on their finishing position. Any players who are tied on points will add up the points for each finish position they occupy then distribute them equally among the players, rounded down. If the Tournament had a Promo Prize Pack then give one randomly to each player. Finally, if this was the first or second Tournament then all players place all their Cards into their Binders, flip their player mats to the Deck Building side and take back any Sell Markers.
Champion
Once the 3rd Tournament Phase has finished then move to End-Game Scoring as all players calculate their final VPs, made up of the following:
1) Each Tournament will have awarded VPs based on finishing position.
2) Up to three Collections were also turned in for VPs.
3) Every 4 dollars a player still has left over will earn 1VP.
4) Any opponent’s Friendship Cards a player has collected will provide VP, you do not get awarded any VP for your own Friendship Cards you have kept.
In the case of a tie for final scores then tie-breakers will occur, starting with whoever scored the most points for part (1), then if still tied proceeding down through parts (2)-(4), so the player who scored the most Tournament VPs will break the tie, and if still tied then proceed to check Collection VPs etc. The winner is crowned the Millennium Blades World Champion!
Spice It Up
Millennium Blades has many variants included in the game box.
Character Powers – Each Character Card is double sided and has two unique powers, one activated during the Deck Building Phase and one during the Tournament Phase. Each phase set your Character Card to the correct side and make full use of their specific powers.
Duel Mode (2-payer mode) – In this two player variant you are aiming to be the first to win 2 out of 3 tournaments. During the Deckbuilding Phase you can make two separate Collections, one Type and one Element. These Collections don’t earn any VPs but instead are converted into RPs for the next Tournament Phase, at a rate of 10RP per card in the Collections. Additionally, each player will have 6 Sell Markers, use multiple colours if needed, and any trades must be even, Friendship Cards cannot be used.
Venues – Shuffle the Venue Deck and place it next to the metagames decks. At the start of a Deckbuilding Phase reveal the top Venue Card. It will have some new rules that will apply to either the Deckbuilding Phase, the Tournament Phase, or both.
Turn Based Mode – If real time seems a bit too hectic for you then slow it down and play the game as Turn Based. The goal of Turn Based Mode is to earn the most RP over three scored Tournaments.In this mode the Deckbuilding and Tournament Phases are combined into one. Players will use the Tournament side of their mats. You must keep all unplayed cards in Hand and will have a Hand Limit of 7 cards. To set up this game mode:
1) Choose a first player. Deal each player 7 cards from the Store deck and give them 30 dollars.
2) Reveal both metas at the start.
3) The Promo prize decks will use a Silver and Gold Set like normal,awarded after Scoring. The fusion Decks will use one Silver Set and two Bronze Sets, there are no Gold Promo Sets available for fusion.
4) Play begins starting with the first player and proceeding clockwise, each player takes one of the 6 available main actions on their turn, as explained below, most are similar to the standard actions you can take:
BUY – Buy a Card from the Store or Aftermarket as normal (Need less than 7 cards in hand to do this)
SELL – Sell a Card to the Aftermarket as normal and place a Sell Marker on it.
FUSE – Fuse cards from your hand into a Promo card as normal. Both Bronze Sets cost 5 as usual and the Silver Set costs 7.
ADD – Use a card from your hand to start or continue a Collection. You can have two Collections in this mode, one Type and one Element. Once your first card is placed in a Collection its Type/Element is fixed and cannot be changed.
PLAY – Play a Single, Deck Box or Accessory from your Hand into your Tableau, following any Tournament rules as normal. Once you have played any card with ACTIONS on them you may use card ACTIONS before or after your main Action as normal.
SCORE – A new action specifically for Turn Based Mode, Score RPs as normal for a tournament, so take your current RPs, add any extra for SCORE effects and the meta cards. Gain an additional 10 RP for every card in your Collections. Record your RPs on a score sheet then set them to 0. You can decide if you want to keep or discard your Accessories, but all other cards in your Tableau, Hand and Collections will be discarded to the Store Discard. Choose one of the meta decks and put the top Card to the bottom of the deck and reveal a new meta. Draw 6 new cards from the Store Deck, gain 30 dollars and take back any used Sell Markers. After your first Score Action also gain a Silver Prize Promo, after your second Score Action gain a Gold Prize Promo, after your third Score action you are finished and out of the game – total up your RPs across the three Scores and wait for the rest of the players to finish.
Due to Scoring now being an action you can have players working on different decks at different times. One player could be in the process of building their third deck whilst another is only Scoring their first. All players will continue taking actions in clockwise order, skipping those who have taken their third Score action, once everyone has finished each player totals up their RPS and whoever has the most is declared the winner.
Advanced Modes – For experienced players there are several advanced variants available:
– Millennium Accessories
The Millennium Accessories Set contain some powerful Accessory cards. All players can draft one at the start of the game. Alternatively, if playing with less experienced players then they can start with one of these cards.
– Free Market
This allows players to propose and accept unbalanced trades.
– Draft Mode
Each Deck Building phase deal all players 6 cards from the Store Deck like normal. However, players then draft their cards from these rather than keeping all 6 random (i.e each player takes one card then passes the rest to the player on their left, then take one from the cards passed to them and pass the rest on, until everyone has drafted 6 cards). After the first 7 minute timer has ended then repeat the draft for the next 6 cards but pass them in reverse of before to the player on your right.
– Liquidation Mode
When setting up for this add 2 extra Expansion, Premium and Master Sets to the Store Deck set up. After each Tournament phase players trade in all cards from the deck (Singles, Accessories and Deck Boxes) to the Store Discard and receive dollars equal to the total Star Rating of all cards they trade in. At final scoring players only receive 1VP for every 8 dollars they have remaining.
– Pro Player Cards
Each Character has their own matching set of Pro Player cards. After the first two Tournament Phases the winning player gives a copy of their Pro Player card to every player, including themselves. If the same player wins the second Tournament too then give everyone the Pro Player Card for the second placed character.
Helpful Tips
● Any misplays should not be allowed to be taken back. The game is based on trying to divide your limited resources among multiple tasks, there won’t be enough time to do everything. If a mistake is made then renew focus and try not to make it again, the game is built that you don’t need to play every move perfectly to win the game.
● Don’t hold onto cards just to keep them out of other player’s hands, most cards have multiple copies so they will likely eventually get their hands on one anyway.
● If the timer runs out and someone is just putting the finishing touches on something, you can allow a minute or so grace period to finish. But if it’s something big such as starting a Collection then it’s too late now and move on with the game.
● The Store Deck can end up being quite large, organise it however you want. Once the deck has been set up just split it into multiple smaller stacks and use one at a time. But it’s your game, if you want to just have all stacks in play at once and choose which stack to take cards from.
● On the off-chance that the Store Deck runs out just shuffle everything from the discord to make a new Store Deck. Any Promo cards that turn up in the Store can be brought for cash rather than fusing for them
About the Author:
Hi I’m Sean, chocolate factory operator by day, Zatu blogger by night. I’m a fan of all games but a bigger fan of anything with dinosaurs. Come check out my gaming pics and videos on my socials: https://m.youtube.com/@franksiegames + https://www.instagram.com/franksiegames/
🙂
