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How to Play The Journey TCG -- The Journey Begins
- , by Eden Miller
- 5 min reading time
The Journey TCG hits GG shelves today, and before you pick up your boosters and starter decks, you should know how to play. The Journey is a trading card game where you create a Party of three unique Adventurers and battle with your friends. The game is 1v1, with a variety of ways you can build your decks to tackle foes big and small.
What's an Adventurer in The Journey TCG?
Each adventurer has one of eight classes, two per faction. Classes give your Adventurer special passive abilities. The Warrior Faction has Berserkers and Rogues, the Divine Faction has Exorcists and Ascendants, the Mage Faction has Dark Mages and Spellweavers, and the Augmentor Faction has Strategists and Bards.
Warriors are heavy hitters. Berserkers hit according to their special stat while they're Berserk, but they cannot use Abilities. Rogues also hit according to their special while their HP is higher than the target of their attack. Divine Adventurers focus on healing. Exorcists heal themselves at the end of a Battle Block, while Ascendants can heal other adventurers at the cost of 1 Focus.
Mages sling powerful damage spells. Dark Mages increase focus according to their special. Spellweavers are able to use as many Abilities and Items as their special stat. Augmentors are incredible protectors. Strategists let you hold and carry cards into the next Battle Block. Bards allow you to reuse Abilities you've played at the top of a Battle Block by removing a counter from them. When played, they receive counters equal to their special stat.
Okay, But How Do I Play The Journey TCG?
At the top of the game, all of your adventurers are on the field with dice to represent their HP value, which is shown in a little red heart in the top right corner of the card. Their Agility, shown in the top left corner, indicates the order of play. You'll flip a coin to determine who starts with priority. From there, the Adventurer with the highest Agility will begin play, with the priority player determining who play passes to in the case of a tie. For instance, characters with 6 Agility will take the first action.
You'll start each Battle Block with 3 cards. At the end of the Battle Block, any unused cards are Cycled into a separate pile. Cards that are played are also moved into Cycle upon use. When it's an Adventurer's turn, they can take actions until they're exhausted.
What Can My Adventurers Do in a Turn?
Adventurers can take a variety of actions on their turn. They can make a basic attack on another Adventurer, exhaust themselves to gain a Focus counter and draw a card, step back to take their action at the end of the Battle Block, don Equipment as a free action, or use an Ability or Item.
Basic attacks are made based on your adventurer's damage stat located in the bottom left corner of the card. Beside it is their special stat followed by their magic defense and physical defense stats. Sometimes, Adventurers will also have special passive characteristics they can use throughout the game, such as increasing damage of Faction Abilities or performing two basic attacks per action.
Adventurers can also use Abilities and Items on their turn. Full Abilities and Items exhaust the adventurer upon use, while you can use 3 Quick Abilities and Items before exhausting the adventurer. You can also play Hidden Abilities and Items face down. They remain on the field until they are activated, often by opponent attacks or Abilities.
Focus helps your Adventurers to boost their Abilities. The adventurer must have Focus to expend and pay the cost on the card, indicated by a number of blue right-pointing arrows, to boost the Ability.
Finally, Lasting and Enhancement Abilities will remain in play for the duration of the game. The game ends when all Adventurers in a Party are Knocked Out or if a player attempts to draw and no cards remain. However, it's important to note that if you run out of cards in your deck, all cards in your Cycle are shuffled back into the deck to continue play.
Now, You're Ready to Play The Journey TCG!
The Journey is fast-paced, fun, and incredibly easy to learn, with beautiful 8-bit art to boot. Cards come in four rarities: Basic, Advanced, Valiant, and Heroic. The first set of boosters offers 159 cards to collect and lots of opportunities to build and optimize a deck for tournaments or kitchen table play. Each deck consists of 20-30 cards, with 2 copies of each card max.
Get started with a starter deck or start cracking some packs to take your Party to the battlefield!
