Official Rules & Community Tools
Learn to Play
Official rulebooks and erratas, paired with community-built interactive practice.
Start here
#Tutorial Video
If the player is unavailable, Watch on YouTube ↗.
Official manuals
#Manuals and References
You can download manuals: Learn to Play here, Comprehensive Rulebook here and Card Errata here.
Comprehensive Rulebook
Card Errata
Community interactive practice
#Interactive Learning
Available
Practice on the Platform
Now we have a Demo to Learn to Play on the platform. Try out moves, test mechanics, and experience the battlefield directly.
AI Companion
Rules Assistant (NotebookLM)
Have questions about rulings or mechanics? Consult our AI study guide in Google NotebookLM, curated as an interactive companion based strictly on the official manuals.
Alternative Formats & Community
#Custom Game Modes
Explore community-driven variants and alternative ways to experience Shardbugs, from limited booster drafting to multiplayer singleton warfare.
Semi-Official
Draft Mode
Tailored around booster box pack ratios. Open packs, pass cards, build a 35-card deck on the fly, and battle with unified Colored Dust rules.
By Community
Commander Mode
A 60-card minimum singleton multiplayer format led by your chosen Bug Commander. Features Commander Damage, Devotion life totals, and progressive Commander Tax.
1. Table Setup & Booster Packs
Played using a sealed Booster Box (24 packs) seated in a circle. The player count must divide the 24 packs evenly among participants—most commonly 6 players receiving 4 packs each or 4 players receiving 6 packs each.
2. Pick & Pass Selection Mechanics
- All players open their first booster pack simultaneously, secretly select one card to add to their draft pool, and pass the remaining cards face-down to the adjacent player (to the left for Pack 1).
- Pick up the pack passed from your neighbor, secretly choose one card, and pass the rest along.
- Repeat this process until all cards from the pack have been drafted.
- For even-numbered packs (Pack 2, Pack 4, etc.), the passing direction reverses (pass to the right).
3. Deck Construction
- Once all packs are drafted, each player builds a limited deck with a minimum of 35 cards using exclusively cards from their draft pool.
- Dust Color Unification: In Draft Mode, all faction colors—Terra, Lunar, Solar, and Meteor—count as universal "Colored Dust". Any color can pay for any color requirement. Neutral (gray) dust only pays for neutral costs.
4. Matches & Tournament Play
Players face off in Swiss rounds or direct elimination brackets using strictly the deck assembled during the draft phase.
Work in Progress / Community Playtest
This is a custom game mode currently in active development. Feel free to playtest it with your playgroup and share your feedback to help refine and balance the format!
Fan-made format by JFEspanolito
1. Deck Construction & Identity
- 60-Card Minimum Singleton: A minimum of 60 cards in the main deck (no upper limit). Maximum of 1 copy per card by name (singleton format).
- 1 Commander in the Command Zone: Starts outside the main deck, occupying the position usually reserved for the Cosmic Avatar. You cannot include a duplicate copy of your Commander inside the deck.
- Faction Identity: Your Commander determines your deck's unique faction. You may only include cards of that specific Faction plus Unaligned cards.
- Cosmic Avatar Exclusion: Cosmic Avatars are completely excluded from this format.
2. Commander Eligibility
Any Bug card that satisfies at least one of the following conditions can be chosen as your Commander:
- Cost 5 or higher.
- Commander Class.
- Rare or Cosmic Rare rarity.
3. Life Total & Devotion
- Each player starts the match with 20 Devotion points. Reaching 0 Devotion results in immediate defeat.
- The Devote action remains fully active: exhaust ready bugs during your Main Phase to recover Devotion on a 1:1 basis, with a strict maximum ceiling of 20.
4. Command Zone & Commander Rules
- Your Commander begins in the Command Zone, visible to all players from the start of the match.
- Commander Tax: Each time your Commander is re-cast from the Command Zone after being removed from the field, its cost increases by +1 cumulative Neutral Dust (+1 the second time, +2 the third time, etc.).
- Hive Restriction: The Commander can never be placed into the Hive as a Dust resource, nor can it be targeted by the Retreat action. If it leaves the field towards hand, discard pile, or banish zone, it returns directly to the Command Zone instead.
5. Commander Damage (15 Points)
- If a player receives 15 points of direct combat damage from the exact same rival Commander over the course of the game, that player is immediately eliminated.
- This damage is permanent and incurable: recovering Devotion through the Devote action does not reduce or remove accumulated Commander Damage counters.
6. Multiplayer Mechanics & Official Rules
- When declaring attacks, assign each attacking bug to a specific opposing player (attacks may be divided across multiple rivals).
- Defending players use solely their own ready bugs on their battlefield to declare blocks against attackers directed at their Devotion.
- All core official Shardbugs rules remain active: Dust generation, limit of 1 Bug to Hive per turn, 1 Promote and 1 Retreat per turn, Dizzy status, and all species, item, and support restrictions.