How to play

CLIMAX CONNECT is a free two-player card game that runs entirely in your browser. Build a 40-card deck, summon, evolve, fuse and equip your monsters, and win by breaking through all of your opponent's Life. No sign-up needed — play instantly on PC or phone.

Object of the game

Both players start with five Life cards. Land a direct attack while your opponent has no monsters and one of their Life cards breaks. Reduce your opponent's Life to 0 and you win. A broken Life card goes into its owner's hand, so the player on the back foot gains cards to fight back with — the game is built for comebacks.

The other way to lose is running out of cards. Your deck holds 40 cards and you draw one every turn. If you have to draw when your deck is empty, the player who could not draw loses on the spot. Cards that draw extra are powerful, but overusing them burns through your own deck first, so watch your remaining cards in a long game.

Setup and reading the board

When a match starts, 5 Life cards and an opening hand of 5 are dealt from your 40-card deck. Here is what each zone on the screen does.

• Hand — The cards you have drawn. From here you summon, play spells and set energy.
• Board (field) — Where your monsters go. You can have up to 7 at once.
• Energy zone — Where you place cards that pay your costs. Both players' energy zones are public.
• Deck — Your remaining cards. You draw one from here at the start of each turn.
• Graveyard (trash) — Where destroyed monsters and used spells go. Some cards recover or revive from here.
• Life — Your 5 Life cards. When one is broken, it goes to your hand.
• Orbs — The five orbs around your player icon. They show your Connect level (0–5).

How a turn works

1. Set phase

You may place one card from your hand into your energy zone (or skip it). Energy pays for everything you do, and what you spend comes back each turn. You only get one card per turn, so choosing which one to burn is the first real decision of the game.

2. Main phase

Spend energy to summon monsters, play spells, equip, evolve and fuse in any order. This is also the phase where your monsters attack.

3. End of turn

When you are done, press End Turn to pass to your opponent. You draw one card at the start of your turn.

On the very first turn of the game, the player going first cannot draw or attack. In matches against other players each turn has a 120-second timer, and timing out three times in a row counts as a surrender.

Energy and costs

The number in a card's top-left corner is its cost. Each card in your energy zone provides 1 energy, and color does not matter — any card you place counts as the same 1 energy.

• Spent energy fully refreshes at the start of each of your turns.
• A card set during the set phase can be used that same turn.
• A card placed as energy is, as a rule, gone for the rest of the game (only a few cards can recover it).

Choosing what to turn into energy is one of the deepest decisions in the game. The strategy guide Energy Management 101 covers it in detail.

Card types

• Monster — The stars of the game. They have HP and ATK, and can attack once per turn.
• Spell — A one-shot effect: damage, draws, recovery and more. It goes to the graveyard after use.
• Equipment — Attach it to one of your monsters to boost it. Some have equip conditions (race, color or cost).
• Field — A card that stays in play and provides an ongoing effect. It never attacks or gets attacked, and it does not block direct attacks on you.

The card type is also shown by a small icon at the bottom-left of each card. Hover it (long-press on a phone) to see the type name, and there is a full legend in-game under Settings (⚙) → "Effect tag glossary".

Battle rules

• Monsters can attack the turn they are summoned — there is no summoning sickness.
• The attacker takes no damage; it removes HP from the defending monster equal to its ATK.
• A monster reduced to 0 HP is destroyed and sent to the graveyard along with its equipment and evolution materials.
• Damage sticks between turns, but healing effects can restore a monster up to its max HP.
• If your opponent has no monsters, you can attack the player directly and break their Life.
• Monsters with Multi-attack can attack twice per turn. Double Breakers break extra Life.

Reading effect text

Every effect starts with a header that tells you when it works. Learn the common ones and the card list becomes much easier to read.

• On summon / On attack / On destroy — Triggers automatically at that moment.
• Always — Keeps working the whole time the card is in play.
• Optional, once per turn — An ability you trigger yourself by tapping the monster. Usable once per turn.
• Once per turn incl. same name — Even with several copies of the card in play, the effect can only be used once that turn.
• From hand, always / From hand, optional — Effects that work while the card is in your hand rather than in play: cost reductions, or cards you can play from hand once a condition is met.
• When your Life is broken — Usable when you lose a Life card. Turns a crisis into a counterattack.
• From graveyard, optional — An ability usable while the card is in the graveyard. A Zombie specialty.
• When used as energy — Triggers when the card is consumed to pay a cost.
• CLIMAX — Only works during the CLIMAX state described below.

Evolution and fusion

Evolution stacks a card on top of a specific monster already on the field (the evolution material) to grow it into something stronger. It costs less than a normal summon, and any equipment on the material carries over.

If a card reads "Evolution (cost 2), base: Squire Alma", you can stack it on top of a Squire Alma you control for 2 energy. Some cards specify their base more broadly by race or color.

Fusion lets you summon a huge monster while ignoring its cost, by lining up several monsters of the required races. All fusion materials are stacked underneath, and some cards grow stronger based on the number or total cost of those materials.

When an evolved or fused monster is destroyed, every card stacked under it goes to the graveyard too. For when to commit, see the strategy guide Mastering Evolution and Fusion.

Connect (the orb system)

Five orbs ring the player icon on screen — that is your Connect Level (0–5). Effects such as "Connect +1" fill them, and you spend the accumulated level as a condition or a cost for powerful effects.

• Connect n — Usable only while your Connect Level is n or higher.
• Connect +n — Raises your Connect Level by n.
• Connect −n — Spends n levels as a cost. The stronger the effect, the more you pay.

Unlike CLIMAX, Connect is a cycling resource: charge it, spend it, charge it again. Balancing chargers and spenders is a key part of deck building — see the strategy guide The Complete Guide to Connect.

CLIMAX

Once either player's Life drops to 2 or less, the game enters CLIMAX (and never leaves it). Trump-card effects that only work during CLIMAX, cards that grow stronger in it, and monsters that can only evolve then all set the stage for a late-game comeback.

Even when it is your own low Life that triggers it, CLIMAX benefits both players. Some cards even pay Life on purpose to reach CLIMAX early — how much risk to take is part of the skill.

Deck-building tips

• A deck is exactly 40 cards, with up to 3 copies of the same card. You can mix colors freely.
• Leaning on low-cost cards (1–3) lets you act early and keeps your draws consistent.
• If you run an evolution card, run its material too. If you run a fusion card, pack in plenty of the required races.
• If you are not sure where to start, use Auto-build deck or copy one of the preset decks.
• Every card's effect is listed in the card list.

For a deeper look at deck building, see the strategy guides Deck Building Basics and The Seven Colors and How to Choose Yours.

Game modes

• Vs. computer — Practice with no queue time. You choose how strong the opponent is.
• Free match — Casual online play. You can also join an open room from the lobby board with one tap.
• Private room — Share the room number with a friend for a guaranteed match.
• Ranked match — Serious games with points on the line, climbing five ranks from Bronze to Master. See the FAQ for details.

About the in-game tutorial

The Tutorial on the title screen teaches everything from the basics to Connect across ten hands-on lessons played on a real board. If this is your first time, start there.

Contact: climaxconnectinfo@gmail.com