Particular Rules for Personal-Deck Play

To accommodate play both from a single deck and from personal decks, many rules refer to “the Library,” "the Discard" and "the Exile." For personal-deck play, each person has their own Library, Discard and Exile.

Making a Deck for the Personal-Deck Version

The optimal deck size for the Personal-Deck Version depends on the number of Monsters in play on each side. The following table shows the recommended deck sizes:

Regardless of the number of Monsters in play, the maximum size for personal decks is 60 cards.

Within the 60-card rule, you may customize your decks as you wish. You do not have to keep your starter decks the way they are. You can swap cards between decks. Part of the fun of this style of card game is learning how to make your deck better and fine-tuning it to your strategy and style.

Pre-Game Setup

Each player should put your Library in front of you but off to the side matching your dominant hand to facilitate drawing.

For right-handed players, we recommend making the Discard pile to the right of your Library and the Exile pile to the right of the Discard pile. For left-handed players, we recommend making the Discard pile to the left of your Library and the Exile pile to the left of the Discard pile.

Setup Phase

Since your Monsters are in your Library rather than the common Library, you can put Monsters into play along with the other cards listed in the Base Rules.

Each player has the option of performing one shuffle or cut of each other players' deck before the setup phase begins.