How to Play
Focus is a head-to-head expandable card game. Reduce your opponent’s Leader to 0 HP before they do the same to you. Matches are best-of-3.
Watch Tutorial
The Turn Structure
Every turn moves through four phases, in order, then loops back to Gather:
At the start of each of your turns you automatically draw back up to your minimum hand size (5 cards by default).
Cards from the top of your deck are automatically added to your Focus zone. How many is printed on your Leader: that's the resource you'll tap to pay costs.
The bulk of the turn. Play Units by paying their Focus cost, play Skills under your Units, cast Skills you've already played, set Skills face-down, play a Rally card under your Leader, and activate abilities.
End your turn. Everything face-up you didn't spend (cast Skills, used Focus, an uncast Rally card) sweeps to the Drop pile. Only face-down cards stay in play for next turn.
Zones
Leader
Your Element's champion. Sets your Focus generation, carries a per-turn activated ability, and is what your opponent is really trying to kill.
Focus
Your resource. Tap Focus cards to pay for Units, Skills, and abilities.
Units
Played to a lane for a Focus cost. Each carries a Skill Zone underneath it.
Skills
Go three stages: Play (free, face-up under a Unit), Cast (pay its cost), Resolve (its effect happens). Any Skill can instead be set face-down to hide it: your opponent can't tell what it is until you cast it, it resolves, or it's revealed. A Skill set face-down like this is called a Standby Skill: it's not a separate zone, just a hidden card in the same Skill Zone. It sits there until its own trigger condition happens, then you choose whether to pay its cost and react. You never cast a Standby yourself.
Rally
Works like a Skill, but plays under your Leader instead of a Unit.
Drop Pile & Oblivion
Spent, face-up cards land in your Drop pile at Return. Cards removed from the game entirely go to Oblivion instead.
Playing a Skill
Place a Skill under one of your Units. Always free.
Pay the Skill's Focus cost to activate it.
Its effect happens. An untargeted attack hits whatever sits directly across it: the enemy unit in the same lane, or their Leader if that lane is empty.
Two Rules to Watch For
Surge
A passive bonus that switches on for any card at 25 HP or less: a reward for playing on when you're behind.
Regen
If you ever have to draw or gain Focus with an empty deck, your Drop pile shuffles back in as your new deck, but your Leader takes 5 damage each time. It keeps you in the game, but it isn't free.
Best learned by doing
Focus has a full in-app Tutorial that walks you through a real game turn by turn (Gather, Focus, Main, and Return), ending with you winning your first match.