Queen's Blood — how to win matches
New Queen's Blood players lose because they treat it like a regular CCG. The actual key is board control via pawn placement — every card you play either claims new pawns or steals enemy ones, and the spacing of those pawns determines the match.
The one rule that flips matches
Leave a one-square gap between your forward pawn and the enemy's forward pawn.
- If you advance into the enemy's adjacent space, they mirror you and steal the middle row.
- If you keep one space gap, they have to move first into the empty middle. Then your next play steals it back — and they can't steal it back from you because you have rear pawns and they don't.
This is the entire mid-game.
Mulligan strategy
- At match start, Mulligan all 2-cost and 3-cost cards — you can't play them turn 1 anyway.
- Keep 1-cost coverage cards (Security Officer, Riot Trooper) for opening plays.
Card mechanics quick reference
- Enhance — green up arrow. Boosts a card's power.
- Hollow orange square = applies effect to the slot but doesn't claim it.
- Filled orange square = applies effect AND places a pawn.
- Enfeeble — red down arrow. Reduces card power; if it drops to 0, the card is destroyed.
- Destroy — direct removal. Triggers any "on destruction" effects on adjacent cards.
- Replace — destroys your own card to play a new one in its slot. Reclaims pawns.
Hand size discipline
- The deck is 15 cards, you draw 5, you don't reshuffle. Card economy matters more than power.
- Mandragora duplicates itself to your hand on play — free card.
- Cid gives you a Tiny Bronco card — free card.
If stuck: if you keep losing close matches, you're playing power-cards too early. Save enhance/enfeeble specials for the lane you're committing to win — the Crystalline Crab early is fine but the Chocobo Jockey 10-point bonus should only land when you've already won the lane.