How to Play Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World

Wanna learn how to play Dragon Ball Super Card Game: Fusion World? Then read on for Card Gamer’s guide to playing this TCG.

What You Need to Play Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World

Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World is a trading card game (or TCG) published by Bandai where two players battle using cards featuring characters from the Dragon Ball anime show. To play it, each player will need a deck of 50-60 cards, consisting of battle cards and extra cards, in addition to one leader card. All cards in your deck must match the color(s) of your leader card, and you can only include up to four copies of any card.

How Do You Win a Game of Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World?

You win the game if your opponent’s “life” is reduced to zero cards, or if their deck is reduced to zero cards.

Setting Up for a Game of Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World

Game Areas

Your playing field consists of the following areas:

• Leader area – where your leader card sits for the game
• Battle area – play battle cards and [Field] extra cards here. This is also where you’ll do battle with your opponents by switching your leader or battle cards from active mode to rested mode
• Life area – this is where your life cards will go. Your opponent is trying to get rid of your life cards to win the game
• Combo area – you can put an active mode battle card from your battle area, or a battle card from your hand, into this area. This will add the combo power shown on the card’s left side to the power of the card that’s in battle
• Energy area – energy and energy markers are placed here. The player going second gets one energy marker here at the start of the game 
• Deck area – where your deck goes
• Drop area – cards KO’d in battle, used extra cards, and cards used to combo go here

Game Setup

• Put your leader card into the leader area with its front side up. (We’ll discuss how to flip it to the back side later.)
• Shuffle your deck and put it in the deck area.
• Determine starting player. The player going second gets an energy marker in their energy area. This energy marker can be used only once, to give you an energy of your leader’s color, then gets removed from the game.
• Draw six cards. You can have one optional mulligan, which means you shuffle the six cards you drew back into your deck, then draw six new cards.
• Draw eight cards from your deck without looking at them. Place them one at a time in your life area (the first card drawn should be at the bottom of the life area, with each successive card going on top of the previous card).

Playing the Game – Turns

A turn in Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World consists of three phases in this order:

1. Charge phase
2. Main phase
3. End phase

Charge Phase

In the charge phase, you will:

1. Switch all of your rest mode cards to active mode
2. Draw one card from the top of your deck
3. Place one card from your hand in the energy area face-up and upside-down as energy. This is optional, and you may choose to place no energy on your turn

Main Phase

The main phase consists of three possible actions. Each of these can be done as many times as you’re able, and in any order that you wish.

• Play a card
• Activate a card’s skill
• Attack an opponent’s card

Playing Cards – Paying Costs

You can play a battle card to the battle area or play an extra card with Activate Main by switching the necessary number of energy as the cost shown in the upper left part of the card (shown in the picture above) from active to rest mode (turned sideways, like ‘tapping’ or ‘exhausting’ in other TCGs). Extra cards are placed in your drop area after resolving their effects. Resolve any On Play effects now.

Many cards will have a color-specified cost, represented by dots next to the cost number. These imply a certain number of energy of that color must be paid to play it. For example, a card with a cost of four with two red dots next to it (as seen in the left card shown above) must have four total energy rested to pay for it, and at least two energy must be made by red cards. 

If you have the energy marker, you can remove it from the game to add one energy of your leader’s color. The energy marker is a one-time use, and cannot be exhausted for energy in the same way as the cards you play in your energy area.

Activate a Card’s Skill

Here is where you can activate skills on your leader or battles that are noted as Activate Main, as long as you meet any noted requirements or pay any extra costs.

Attacking an Opponent’s Card

The heart of Dragon Ball Super lies in battle. Attacking your opponent’s battles or leader are how you establish dominance. But be careful, because using all your resources in battle leaves you weaker in later turns.

To declare an attack, switch your active mode leader or battle to rest mode to signify them as attacking. You can attack either your opponent’s leader, which will drain them of life cards if successful, or one of your opponent’s rested battle cards, which will destroy that battle if successful. Here are some important notes:

1. The first player can’t attack on their first turn.
2. You can’t attack an opponent’s active mode battles; only rest mode battles can be attacked. Leaders can be attacked in either position.
3. If a defending player controls an active mode battle with the Blocker keyword, that player can rest that battle to change the target of an attack to the Blocker.

After the attack is declared, resolve any When Attacking effects, then you enter what’s known as the “battle procedure.”

Battle Procedure

The battle procedure has three steps:

1. Offense step
2. Defense step
3. Damage step

Offense Step

During the offense step, the attacking player can do two things to affect the outcome of the battle: use Activate Battle and Awaken skills or extra cards, and add combo cards. These can be done any number of times.

Combo Procedure

To add to your attacker’s power, you can place a battle card from your hand into the combo area. This will add that card’s combo power, which is shown on the left side of the card (shown in the picture above), to the attacker’s power. You do not have to pay a card’s cost to use it as a combo.

You can also take any active mode battles from your battle area and put them into the combo area rested to use their combo power addition.

Keep in mind that all cards used as combos will be put in your drop area at the end of battle, whether they came from your hand or battle area. Also, only active mode battles can be added to the combo; rest mode battles in your battle area can’t be used.

Defense Step

Now it’s the defending player’s turn to affect the outcome of the battle. This step is exactly the same as the offense step, in that the defending player can use Activate Battle and Awaken skills or extra cards, and they can add battle cards to the combo area.

Since the defender goes second, they have more power in determining the outcome of the battle, because the attacker can only guess how much power they need to win the attack. The defender, on the other hand, knows exactly how much power is needed to win.

Damage Step

Now we compare the cards’ powers, modified by combos and extra cards, to determine the outcome of the attack. If the attacking player’s card has power greater than or equal to the defending player’s power, the attacker wins.

• If the attacker wins against a leader, the defender takes their top life card and puts it in their hand.
• If the attacker wins against a battle, the defeated battle card is KO’d and put in the drop area.
• If the attacker loses the battle, the battle simply ends.

Awaken – Flipping Your Leader

To Awaken your leader, you’ll need to meet the criteria listed on the card. The requirement on all current leaders in the game is that you have a certain number of life points, but this could potentially change with future sets. The Awaken ability can be activated during the main phase or during battle, unless otherwise specified on the card.

Wrap Up

And that’s how you play Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World. This game is all about resource management. Will you play your cards, or use them as combos or resources, or hang onto them for later turns? Do you want to use a card for a combo on an attack, or save it for a combo to defend your leader or battle on your opponent’s turn? These are all crucial decisions in this game, and ones you’ll understand better the more you play. So go play Dragon Ball Super: Fusion World!

But what about the other version of Dragon Ball Super that’s still around, Dragon Ball Super: Masters? Is it compatible with Fusion World? In a word: no. Head here to learn about the differences between the two games.

Wanna know where to start on your Fusion World journey? Check out our guide to the best beginner sets for the most popular TCGs. Looking to try a different TCG? Then check out our guides for learning how to play Yu-Gi-Oh!, One Piece Card Game, or UniVersus.