Corebound Rules

Corebound: Realms of Dominion is a competitive 1v1 strategy card game where players use monsters, relics, spells, field cards, and tokens to reduce the opponent’s Core Life from 30 to 0.

Game Overview

Each player builds a deck and battles using Resource Points (RP) to summon cards and activate effects. The goal is to control the battlefield and reduce the opponent’s Core Life to zero.

Why the Name Corebound: Realms of Dominion?

Corebound reflects the importance of Core Life and the binding force of relics and field magic.
Realms of Dominion represents the 12 factions battling for supremacy across dimensions.

Card Types

Monster Cards

Form the core of combat.
Have Attack, Defense, and Resource Cost values.
May have special summon, activation, or ongoing effects.
Must be summoned using RP.
Champion Monsters count as regular monsters for card effects.

Relic Cards

Ancient items that enhance monsters or create passive effects.
A monster must already be on the field or in the process of being summoned.
Only one relic may be equipped per monster during the main phase.
Each side of the field may have a maximum of 2 relics active at once.

Spell Cards

One-time use cards.
Can deal damage, heal, disable, draw cards, or affect RP.
Some may be used at no cost under special conditions.
Quickplay cards may be used during the opponent’s main phase.

Field Cards

Global battlefield-altering cards.
Only one field card can be active at a time.
They change the overall flow of the match.

Token Cards

Generated by effects and cannot be placed in the main deck.
Tokens have no cost to summon.
If destroyed or returned to the hand, they go to the discard pile.

Starting the Game

Both players draw 5 cards.
Set Core Life to 30.
Determine the first player by coin flip or die roll.
The first player skips the Draw Phase on Turn 1.

Turn Structure

Draw Phase
- Draw 1 card.
- If you have no cards in hand and no cards on the field, draw 2 instead.
Resource Phase
- Gain +1 RP.
Main Phase
- Summon monsters.
- Equip relics.
- Play spell cards.
- Activate monster effects.
Battle Phase
- Declare attacks.
- Resolve combat.
- Unblocked attacks damage Core Life.
End Phase
- Resolve end-of-turn effects.
- One full turn means both players have completed all phases.

Resource Points (RP)

Players start at 0 RP.
Gain +1 RP each turn up to a maximum of 10.
RP is used to summon monsters and cast spells.
Some cards can modify RP gain or cost.

Deck Rules

Decks may contain 25 to 40 cards.
Maximum of 5 relics per deck.
Maximum of 3 copies of the same card, excluding tokens.
Only 1 Legendary Relic per deck.
Maximum of 2 Champions per deck.
Tokens must be stored in a side deck.
Side decks may contain up to 12 cards.

Combat Rules

Objective of Combat

Reduce the opponent’s Core Life to 0.
Win by deck-out if the opponent must draw with no cards remaining.
Some factions may have special win conditions.

Summoning Monsters

You may summon as many monsters as your RP allows.
Newly summoned monsters gain summoning fatigue unless they have Rush.

Attacking

Each monster may attack once per turn unless stated otherwise.
Monsters may attack another monster or attack the Core directly if unblocked.
A monster is destroyed when its DEF reaches 0 or below.
Overkill damage does not spill to the Core unless an effect says it does.

Blocking

Blocking is optional.
Only non-fatigued monsters may block.
Monsters with Taunt must be attacked before other monsters or the Core.

Combat Keywords

Rush

Can attack the turn it is summoned.

Lifesteal

Damage dealt heals the controller’s Core for the same amount.

Taunt

Forces enemies to attack this monster before others.

Pierce

Excess combat damage overflows to the Core.

Resilient

Survives one destruction at 1 DEF unless otherwise stated.

Fortified

May block a direct attack even if it attacked this turn.

Ward

Cancels the first spell or effect that targets this creature.

Barrier

Negates the first combat damage it would take.

Shroud

Cannot be targeted by most spells or abilities.

Rewind

Returns a card to a previous state.

Combat Interaction Notes

Spells are normally played only during your main phase unless they are Quickplay cards.
Field Cards affect all monsters on both sides unless stated otherwise.
Relics can grant passive effects or trigger during combat.
Random target selection is determined by field placement from left to right.

How to Win

Resource Management

RP grows steadily over time.
Choosing whether to spend or save RP is a major part of strategy.

Combat Tips

Protect your Core Life and important monsters.
Use relics and spells to create advantages before combat.

Deck Style Examples

Aggro: Zephyra, Mycohar, Umbra
Control: Cryonox, Voltari, Chronari
Resilience: Solari, Terrakai
Combo: Nocturne, Draconeth
Overpower: Pyroxis

Status Effects (Advanced Rules)

Burn

Effect: Deals 2 damage at the start of the opponent’s turn.

Duration: 2 turns unless cured or destroyed.

Stacking: Does not stack damage, but refreshes duration.

Poison

Effect: Deals 1 damage and reduces ATK by 1.

Duration: Lasts 3 turns unless cured, reapplied, or destroyed.

Stacking: Can stack.

Stun

Effect: Target cannot attack, block, or activate abilities.

Duration: 1 turn.

Stacking: Cannot stack, but may be reapplied.

Freeze

Effect: Target cannot block, attack, taunt, or be equipped.

Duration: 2 turns.

Stacking: Cannot stack or be reapplied while active.

Banish

Effect: Removes a card from the game entirely.

Targets: Monsters, relics, or cards in hand/deck depending on the effect.

Rebirth

Effect: A destroyed monster may return to the hand under certain conditions.

Limit: Once per card, per game unless otherwise stated.

Blind

Effect: The next attack has a 50% chance to miss.

Duration: 4 turns.

Stacking: Cannot stack but may be reapplied.

Weaken

Effect: Target loses 1 DEF permanently.