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Getting Started
Getting Started
Stellarch is a deterministic TCG. You do not buy your way in: every player drafts from a free card pool, and a seeded combat engine resolves the match. This page walks the first five minutes.
Welcome to Stellarch
Stellarch is a round-based trading card game. Two players each bring a commander and up to six fighters; a seeded combat engine plays out the rounds and emits a winner. Every match can be replayed byte-for-byte from its seed, which makes outcomes verifiable by anyone.
The free draft pool
Stellarch does not hand you a collection to start, and you do not need one. Whenever you build a team, you draft from a free virtual card pool. During this alpha that pool is the entire catalog at full power: every card at the maximum level its rarity allows (Commons at level 10, Rares at level 8, Epics at level 6, Legendaries at level 4). At launch the free pool narrows to all Commons and Rares at level 1, and you grow beyond it by owning cards. Either way, you can field a complete, competitive team from day one.
The free draft pool lets you start and compete without spending, but Stellarch is a real economy: owning cards costs money and a deeper collection is an edge. It's a fair one. You never need a maxed set, so a sharp, well-chosen collection on a tight budget outranks a wallet that bought one of everything. You own more cards (rarer cards, higher levels, tradeable copies) through packs and the player market, and use what you own when you draft. The one card every founding player keeps is the First Pilot Genesis promo.
Your first match
From the top navigation, open the Play surface. Playing a match spends energy; new accounts start with a full tank (100 energy) that tops back up on a daily reset, so you can always get into your first matches. Three opponent types are available:
- Showcase: a curated set of pre-built canonical decks. The right place to see how the engine resolves.
- Bot: the bot picker drafts a team to fight yours. Good for testing a deck before you queue live.
- Live PvP: queue against a real player. Ranked seasons and per-family leagues are live; you climb a rating ladder each season.
Where to go next
Once you have played a match, the Deck-Building page covers slot rules and mana caps. The Affinities page explains how the eight-element wheel shapes combat. The Combat page is the deep dive into how every swing resolves.