All cards in Sentinels of the Multiverse have keywords to tell you how they are played.

Hero character cards usually only have the keyword Hero, just to let you know who they are.

Villain character cards have the keyword Villain for similar reasons, but they can also have other keywords that relate to what’s going on in their deck.

Cards from decks work in one of two ways: either they do something immediately upon being played and then go to the trash related to their deck, or they stay in play. All cards that go to the trash right after being played have the One-Shot keyword. One-Shots are resolved in the order the game text is written on the card. After all of the text on the card has been resolved, it goes to the appropriate trash. If a card does not have the One-Shot keyword, that means it stays in play. There are many keywords that can indicate this, such as:

- Ongoing

- Item

- Relic

Additionally, any card that has HP is a target, which means it stays in play, regardless of its keywords. It stays in play until destroyed by being reduced to 0 HP or in some other manner, at which point it goes to the appropriate trash.

There are two more keywords that mean specific things to the way cards behave.

The Limited keyword means that there can only be one copy of that specific card in play. You cannot play a Limited card that is already in play. If some effect would play a Limited card and there is already a copy of that Limited card in play, the card you are attempting to play goes to your hand instead.

Cards with the Indestructible keyword cannot be destroyed by “destroy” effects, or by running out of HP. Indestructible does not prevent effects that put the card on the top or bottom of a deck or return it to hand, or even remove it from the game. It just means the card cannot be destroyed, even if it is at 0 HP.

There are a few terms used on cards, some of which you are likely familiar with, but others which may be new.

• Ally: A target of the card’s type (Hero, Villain, or Environment) other than itself.

• Bury: Put the indicated card on the bottom of the associated deck, unless that deck has zero cards in it, in which case the card goes to the top of the appropriate trash instead. Character cards cannot be buried.

• Character: A target that has a character card. There are both Hero characters and Villain characters. They are the main Heroes and Villains of their associated decks, and their character cards are larger than the cards in their decks. Hero character cards have an active side that has HP and an innate power, and an incapacitated side with incapacitated abilities. Villain character cards have two sides, both with gameplay information. Villain character card flip conditions are unique to each Villain, and are indicated by the flip icon:

• Collect: Search the corresponding deck for the indicated amount of the indicated card/card-type. Put the card(s) found into your hand. Shuffle the deck.

• Destroy: A destroyed card goes to the trash of that card’s deck, unless something in play says otherwise. When a card is destroyed, resolve any effects in play that occur when the card is destroyed, remove any tokens on or placed by the card, and place the destroyed card in the trash associated with its deck. When a target is at 0 HP, it is destroyed. When a Hero character card is destroyed, it is incapacitated, rather than going to the trash. When a Villain character card is destroyed, the Heroes win the game, unless something in play says otherwise.

• Discard: Put the indicated card into the trash of that card’s deck. When an effect tells a Hero to discard a card, it means from their hand, unless indicated otherwise.

• Discover: Reveal cards from the top of the associated deck until you reveal the indicated card/card-type or reach the bottom of the deck. Shuffle the other revealed cards into the deck, if any. If there are not any other revealed cards, do not shuffle the deck. Then, play the indicated cards in the order revealed.

• Draw: Put the indicated card in your hand (usually the top card of your deck). If drawing from your deck and the deck is empty, shuffle your trash into your deck, then draw.

• Play: Put a card into play. Heroes play cards from their hands, but Villains and Environments play cards from the top of their decks. Some effects tell you to play a card from some other location — it’s still put into play in the same way. If an effect would play the top card of a deck but that deck is empty, shuffle the associated trash to remake that deck, and then play the top card.

• Power: An effect that can be used during the POWER PHASE of a Hero’s turn. Each power can only be activated once per turn. If an effect allows a Hero to use multiple powers, they must use a different power with each activation.

• Reaction: When a Hero target you control would be dealt damage by a non-Hero target, you may activate any reaction text on any card already in play that gives that Hero target a reaction. Like powers, each reaction can only be activated once per turn. Some reactions refer to an attacker. The attacker is the source of the damage that triggers the reaction.

• Redirect: Change the target of the damage dealt as indicated. When damage is redirected, any modifiers to the damage dealt to the originally intended target no longer apply. The damage is calculated as being dealt directly to the new target.

• Remove from game: If a card is removed from the game, it is out of play and cannot come back this game.

• Reveal: Turn over indicated cards of a deck so all the players can see it, then do something with it, as indicated by the text.

◦ Often, revealed cards are replaced, which means: put it back where you found it.

◦ While a card is revealed, it is neither on top of the deck that it came from, nor is it in play. It’s just revealed.

◦ If the instruction following the reveal is impossible, the replace the card instead, returning it to the top of the deck.

• Salvage: Search the corresponding trash for the indicated amount of the indicated card/card-type, maintaining the order of cards in the trash. Put the card(s) found into your hand.

• Summon: Search for the indicated card(s). You may search the associated trash and deck for the indicated amount of the indicated card/card-type. Play the card(s) found. If you searched a deck, shuffle that deck.

• Target: Any card with HP.

◦ There are three types of targets: Hero targets, Villain targets, and Environment targets. Non-Hero targets refers to Villainand Environment targets. Non-Villain targets refers to Hero and Environment targets. Non-Environment targets refers to Hero and Villain targets.

• Trash: Each deck has its own associated trash, which is the place that discarded and destroyed cards from that deck go. You can count and look through the cards in a trash at any time, but you cannot reorder the cards in a trash.

• Under: Some effects put cards under or on top of another card in play. Cards under a card in play cannot be affected by anything other than the card they are under, or an effect that specifically targets cards under other cards. When a card with other cards under it is destroyed, the cards under that card are also destroyed, going to their appropriate trashes.