TURN SEQUENCE

•Resolve all “start of turn” abilities in any order you choose.

•Play cards from your hand.
•Total up your Power and purchase cards with combined cost less than or equal to that total.
•As soon as you gain a card, place it into your discard pile, unless instructed otherwise.
Do not immediately replace the cards you gain.
•You may play additional cards even after making purchases.

END OF TURN
1. Announce that you are ending your turn. Your turn is now over.
2. Put any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile.
3. Resolve all “end of turn” abilities in any order you choose.
4. Put all non-Ongoing cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
5. Draw 5 cards from your deck.
6. If there are less than 5 cards in the Line-Up, add cards from the top of the main deck to
the Line-Up until there are 5 cards.
7. If the top card of the Nemesis stack is face down, flip it up and read aloud its “First
Appearance — Attack.”
8. The next player in the turn sequence starts their turn.

END OF GAME
The game ends when either of the following conditions is met:
•At the end of the turn in which the last Nemesis is defeated.
•Immediately when you are unable to refill the Line-Up to 5 cards.
The player with the highest total VPs on cards in their deck and score pile wins.

All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. (s24)

© 2024 Cryptozoic Entertainment.
RULEBOOK
25351 Commercentre Dr., Suite 250, Lake Forest, CA 92630
www.cryptozoic.com Made in China. 2 - 4 P L AY E R S • AG E S 15 & U P
OVERVIEW CARD DETAILS
DC Deck-Building Game: Justice League Dark puts you in the supernatural shoes of the Transformation Zone
DC team that thwarts the mystical forces lurking in the dark corners of the multiverse. You will
Seal away magical threats and Transform your cards into more powerful forms! DEFEND THE BOOKS OF MAGIC MARY MARVEL,, NEW
NEW CHAMPION
CHAMPION ARION, RISEN

Your deck begins the game with only the ability to Punch your foes. As the game progresses,
you will add more powerful cards to your deck, with the goal of defeating your opponents.
Build your team from a variety of Heroes, Villains, Equipment, Locations, and Super Powers. STARTER TRANSFORMED EQUIPMENT TRANSFORMED HERO TRANSFORMED VILLAIN TRANSFORMED
Once all the magical Nemeses have been Sealed away, the player with the most Victory Points wins! You may Surge.
Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack.
Draw 2 cards. +4 Power
Revert: If there are no Heroes in your discard pile,
Seal this card and gain Mary Bromfield from your
+2 Power
You may put your deck into your discard pile, then
put a card from your discard pile into your hand.
score pile.

1
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 0 2
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 5 1
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 6 2
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 9
DC Deck-Building Game veterans will find the main new rules of this game on pages 10-11.
(s24) (s24) (s24) (s24)

Victory Points
TRANSFORMED CARDS
CONTENTS
The Stacks
215 Game Cards 8 Oversized DC Character Cards
• 40 Starter Cards 4 Seal Tokens
MYSTIC RITUAL WEAKNESS HECATE ™
• 107 Main Deck Cards 1 Rulebook
• 12 Mystic Ritual Cards 1 Multiverse Divider
• 16 Weakness Cards
• 29 Transformed Cards
• 10 Nemesis Cards Return this card to its stack if destroyed.
VILLAIN LEVEL 1

Level
+2 Power Reward: Seal the top 2 cards of the main deck.
You may Surge. Discard 2 cards: Return this card to its stack.

• 1 Randomizer Card (This starts on top of the Nemesis stack.)

1
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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8

SETUP SUPER-VILLAIN
MYSTIC RITUAL WEAKNESS (NEMESIS)

1. Your Character and Starting Deck

Each player is dealt 2 random oversized Character cards and chooses 1 of them to play. Main Deck Cards
Alternatively, each player may choose to play as their favorite Character. Return the unused
Characters to the game box. Each player also takes a Seal token of their choice. DEADMAN ™ HEART OF DARKNESS FUSELI ™ CHAINS OF FATE

Each player begins the game with a starting deck of 6 Punch cards,
2 Vulnerability cards, 1 Incantation card, and 1 Sealed

Victory Points
Defense card. Return any unused Starters to the game box. HERO EQUIPMENT VILLAIN SUPER POWER
Attack: Each foe reveals the top card of their deck. Transform: If you have 5 or more Sealed Heroes, you may Seal After you Seal this card from any zone, you may pass +2 Power

Card Type
You may play one of the revealed cards, then return it. this card. If you do, gain Eclipso, Possessor into your hand. a card from your discard or score pile to a foe's You may Seal a card in your hand or discard pile.
If you did not play a card with cost 1 or greater this Otherwise, Seal a Hero from the Line-Up. If you cannot, discard pile. Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you do,
+2 Power. draw 2 cards and you may Seal a card in your

Cost
way, draw a card. +1 Power hand or discard pile.

Abilities
1
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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5 21
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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5 1
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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2 2
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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HERO WITH ATTACK EQUIPMENT WITH TRANSFORM VILLAIN WITH BLUE BANNER SUPER POWER WITH DEFENSE
JOHN CONSTANTINE ™ INCANTATION

PUNCH TOWER OF FATE BILLY BATSON,, CHOSEN

CHOSEN WORD OF POWER CIRCE, WITCH OF AEAEA
PUNCH VULNERABILITY
PUNCH VULNERABILITY
PUNCH
PUNCH
PUNCH

STARTER
+1 Power
Transform: You may destroy 4 Sealed cards. If you do, Seal this
SEALED DEFENSE
card and gain a Mystic Ritual from its stack into your hand.
(1x in Starter deck) LOCATION HERO SUPER POWER VILLAIN
STARTER
0 Transform: If you have 4 or more Sealed Super Powers, you
© 2024 CZE
Ongoing: Once per turn: You may Seal a card from Transform: You may discard a Super Power. If you do, After you destroy, discard, or Seal this card from any
+1 PowerSTARTER 0
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. STARTER the Line-Up with a cost less than an Equipment Seal this card and gain Shazam! Champion of Magic zone, draw a card. may Seal this card. If you do, gain Witchmarked Circe into
The first time you play a non-Starter card each turn,
+1 Power STARTER
(s24)
STARTER
(No effect) you played this turn. into your hand. +2 Power
your hand.
you may Seal it. If you do, draw a card.
+1 Power STARTER (No effect) Otherwise, +1 Power.
Otherwise, Seal a Super Power from the Line-Up.
If you cannot, +2 Power.
STARTER
6 2 4 5
(6x in Starter deck) +1 Power
STARTER
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STARTER
Transform: You may pay 3 Power. If you do, Seal
this card and gain Defend into your hand.

(1x in Starter deck)

0 The different card types that you can play are: Starter, Villain, Hero, Super Power, Location,
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
0 (s24)

and Equipment. Weakness and Mystic Ritual cards have no card type.
2 3
2. Transformed Cards 5. The Nemesis Stack
Transformed cards have a black textbox with magical flair as well as the “Transformed” The term Nemesis is used to collectively refer to the standard-sized Super-Villain and Super
subtype to the right of their card type. Take all of the Transformed cards and make 4 separate Hero cards used to create the Nemesis stack. While all of the Nemesis cards in this set are
stacks of them based on their card type. You may find it useful to sort the cards in each Super-Villains, other sets (including the Justice League Dark Expansion) have Nemesis
stack alphabetically so they’re easier to find during the game. Cards in this zone cannot be cards that are Super Heroes. You are free to use only Super-Villains, only Super Heroes,
purchased and are only gained by specific card effects. or a mix of both when forming the Nemesis stack.

Sort the standard-sized Nemesis cards by their Level and shuffle each facedown stack
3. The Main Deck separately. (You may notice that some of these cards have a blue back. The different color
Most of the cards that you will add to your deck during the game come from the main deck. is to help remind you that this card will always be the last in the stack.) Take the Level 4
Set aside all Mystic Ritual, Weakness, and Nemesis cards. Shuffle the remaining Hero, Nemesis cards and place one of them face down next to the Mystic Ritual stack. Then, take
Villain, Equipment, Location, and Super Power cards together and place them in the middle two Level 3 Nemesis cards and put them face down on top of the Level 4 card. Next, take
of the table. (Reminder: There should be no cards with a black textbox in the main deck at the three Level 2 Nemesis cards and put them face down on the Nemesis stack. Finally, take one
start of the game.) This forms the main deck, which is made up of 107 cards total. Level 1 Nemesis card and put it on top of the stack face up.

Once you have arranged the main deck,

4. The Line-Up and Stacks TRANSFORMATION ZONE Line-Up, and stacks, it will look something
After shuffling the main deck, place the top like the below image.
5 cards from the main deck into a row below DEFEND
DEFEND
THE BOOKS OF MAGIC
THEBOOKS MAGIC
OFMAGIC
BOOKSOF MARY MARVEL,, NEW
NEW CHAMPION
CHAMPION ARION,,,RISEN
ARION RISEN
RISEN
DEFEND THE MARY
MARYMARVEL
MARVEL,,,,NEW
NEWCHAMPION
NEW
NEW CHAMPION
CHAMPION
CHAMPION ARION
the Transformation Zone to form the Line-Up.
There is no board necessary to play this game;
just reserve space for each card. Next, place
the Mystic Ritual and Weakness stacks at the
end of the Line-Up. Rotate these stacks to help 2 THE STACKS
distinguish them from the Line-Up cards. STARTER
STARTER
STARTER TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT
Draw 2 cards.
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
HERO
HERO
HERO
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
VILLAIN
VILLAIN
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
TRANSFORMED
5

VILLAIN

HECATE ™
+4 Power

(This starts on top of the Nemesis stack.)

Reward: Seal the top 2 cards of the main deck.

The main deck, the stacks of cards on the end, may
YouYou Surge.
may
You may Surge.
Surge. Draw 2 cards. +4
+4Power
Revert:
+2 Power
+2 Power

4
If there are no Heroes in your discard pile,
Defense: Discard
Defense: Discard
Discard
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LEVEL 1
MAIN DECK THE LINE-UP

8
MARY BROMFIELD
™
WITCHMARKED BLACK ORCHID
™
SWORD OF NIGHT

At the start of the game, there should be 12 Mystic Ritual

SIGIL OF FATE
WITCHMARKED
TOWER OF FATE

MYSTIC RITUAL
You+2
+2 Power
You may Surge.

MYSTIC RITUAL
1

may

and 16 Weakness cards in their respective stacks.

1

Power
Surge.
(s24)© 2024 CZE
All DC characters
© 2024 CZE
(s24)
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.

and elements © & ™ DC.

3 HERO EQUIPMENT VILLAIN
4

3
SUPER POWER LOCAT ION

3
Transform: You may discard a Hero or Villain and Seal this card. +2 Power +2 Power
If you discarded a Hero, gain Mary Marvel, New Champion into +1 Power and an additional +1 Power for each Ongoing: Once per turn: You may Seal a
Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you Attack: Target foe puts an Ongoing card they control card from
the Line-Up with a cost less than an Equipme
your hand. If you discarded a Villain, gain Mary Marvel, different card type among your Sealed cards. nt
Corrupted into your hand. do, put a Location from your discard or score pile into their discard pile. you played this turn.
Otherwise, +2 Power. into your hand and draw a card.
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 4 © 2024 CZE
7
© 2024 CZE

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© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. 4 © 2024 CZE

WEAKNESS
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Your opening five cards in the Line-Up will vary.

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shuffles their 10-card starting deck and
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4 5
GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW Resolving Card Abilities
Players take turns in clockwise order. You take your turn by playing cards from your hand When an ability tells you to draw a card, that card is always drawn from your own deck.
face up in front of you for all players to see. Any game text on the card resolves immediately If you cannot fully resolve the text on a card, resolve as much of it as possible. When you
from top to bottom. This will generate Power (the “currency” of the game) and other abilities. play a card that triggers another ability, like on your Character, fully resolve the card you
After you play a card, leave it in your play zone in front of you. Do not put the cards you play are playing before resolving any secondary abilities triggered by your card play. If you have
directly into your discard pile. multiple triggered abilities, you resolve them in any order you choose.

Each turn, you may spend the Power you generate to buy cards from the Line-Up, Mystic Ritual If a card’s ability affects multiple players, and the order matters (for example, each player
stack, and/or the top of the Nemesis stack to improve your deck. You cannot buy cards from gaining a Weakness, with only 1 Weakness remaining in the stack), resolve that ability for
the Transformation Zone. All cards you gain are immediately placed into your face-up discard each affected player in clockwise order, starting with the active player.
pile unless you are instructed otherwise. Discard piles are always face up and may be looked
through at any time. You do not have to play all of the cards in your hand before you start to Shuffling Your Deck
buy cards and may play additional cards after you have started to purchase cards. You don’t shuffle your discard pile and make it into your deck as soon as you run out of cards.
However, if at any point during the game there are no cards in your deck and you need to
You can buy any number of available cards with combined cost less than or equal to the total draw, discard, or reveal a card from your deck, immediately shuffle your discard pile, and it
Power you have generated this turn. For example, your Punch cards each give you +1 Power. becomes your new deck. Then, carry out the action.
If you play 4 of them and a Vulnerability, which generates no Power, your total Power for
the turn is 4. You can buy a single card with cost 2, 3, or 4, or even 2 cards each with cost 2,
assuming these options are available. Mystic Ritual cards are (usually) available if the cards in Sample Turn Sequence
the Line-Up are too expensive, and you may buy more than 1 during your turn. PUNCH
VULNERABILITY PUNCH WORD OF POWER
PUNCH
PUNCH

+
You may choose to end your turn when you are done playing and buying cards. You do not

=
have to play all the cards in your hand or spend all of your Power before ending your turn.
However, you cannot carry over cards you do not play to your next turn and any Power you STARTER
STARTER
do not spend is lost. So, it’s normally a good idea to play all your cards and spend as much of
STARTER +1 Power
STARTER SUPER POWER
+1 Power
(No effect) STARTER
+1 Power
After you destroy, discard, or Seal this card from any
(6x in Starter deck)
zone, draw a card.
+1 Power

your Power as you can.

+2 Power
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Once you have finished your turn, you will refresh the game area and draw 5 cards from
your deck. The player to your left will then begin their turn. After shuffling up your starting cards, you draw a hand of 4 Punch cards and 1 Vulnerability
for your first turn. You may play the 4 Punch cards for a total of 4 Power, which is enough
Ending Your Turn to buy Word of Power from the Line-Up. After buying that card, you put it into your
discard pile. The Vulnerability provides you with no additional Power. You have no Power
When you end your turn, resolve the following steps in order: left to buy additional cards and no other cards to play, so you can end your turn. Put all of
1. Announce that you are ending your turn. Your turn is now over. the cards you have played into your discard pile and then draw a new hand of 5 cards.
2. Put any cards remaining in your hand into your discard pile. After refilling the Line-Up, the next player starts their turn.
3. Resolve all “end of turn” abilities in any order you choose.
4. Put all non-Ongoing cards you played into your discard pile. Any unspent Power is lost.
5. Draw 5 cards from your deck. END OF GAME
6. If there are fewer than 5 cards in the Line-Up, add cards from the top of the main deck The game ends when either of the following conditions is met:
to the Line-Up until there are 5 cards. • At the end of the turn in which the last Nemesis is defeated.
7. If the top card of the Nemesis stack is face down, flip it up and read aloud its • Immediately if you are unable to refill the Line-Up to 5 cards.
“First Appearance — Attack.”
At the end of the game, all players return all Ongoing cards they have in play, all cards in their
8. The next player in the turn sequence starts their turn.
hands, and all cards in their discard piles to their decks. Then, each player totals up the Victory
Points on cards in their deck and score pile. Remember that Weakness cards will subtract
their VP values from your VPs.

The player with the highest VP total wins! In case of a tie, the tied player with more
Nemesis cards wins. If there is still a tie, the tied player with the greater number of cards
in their deck wins.
6 7
Attack and Defense Cards POLYMORPH Destroying Cards NIGHTMARE NURSE ™
Attack cards have the bold keyword “Attack:” in their game text and allow Some cards give you the ability to destroy a card from your hand, your
you to directly Attack your foes. When you play a card with an Attack ability, deck, the Line-Up, etc. When you destroy a card, place it into a face-up pile
it will either affect all your foes or a foe of your choice, signified by the word of destroyed cards anywhere away from the play area to show that it is no
“target.” Starting with the foe to the attacker’s left, each affected foe has an longer a part of the zone it came from. Destroying Starter and Weakness
opportunity to avoid the Attack with a Defense card. After each player has cards will improve your deck greatly! Return any destroyed Weakness and
SUPER POWER HERO
decided whether they will defend or not, each player that didn’t avoid the +3 Power
Attack: Each foe discards a card with cost 4 or
Mystic Ritual cards to their respective stacks. +1 Power
You may destroy a card in your discard or score pile.
Attack is affected by the text after “Attack:”. If an Attack is unavoidable, greater. Each who does puts a card with cost 0 from
their discard pile into their hand.

that means players may not use a Defense card and must resolve the 6 Discarding Cards 3
© 2024 CZE © 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC. All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
2 (s24) 1 (s24)

negative effects of the Attack. When a card tells you to “discard” a card, it means from your hand as
the default. However, a card may tell you to discard a card from another
SOLOMON GRUNDY ™ Defense cards have the bold keyword “Defense:” in their game text and place, such as the top of your deck. Cards that are discarded this way count as being “discarded.”
allow you to avoid the negative effects of an Attack card played by a foe.
In order to use a Defense card, it must be in your hand. A player may utilize Gaining Cards
only 1 Defense card per Attack. Most Defense cards give you a reward Gaining a card is the process of taking ownership of that card. This occurs most often when you
when you use them to avoid an Attack. The reward is listed after “If you purchase a card by paying its cost. When a card tells a player to gain a card, that card is taken and
VILLAIN
do” on your Defense card. This text is ignored when playing a Defense card immediately placed into that player’s discard pile at no additional cost, unless otherwise directed.
+2 Power
Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you during your turn. Sealing a card you do not already own or being passed a card also causes you to gain that card.
do, put this card on the bottom of your deck and draw
a card.

1
© 2024 CZE

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4
Discarding a Defense card to avoid an Attack is not considered playing
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.

Ongoing
the card. Avoiding an Attack does not negate any of the Attack card’s text TOWER OF FATE Some cards have the keyword “Ongoing:” in their game text. Ongoing cards
prior to “Attack:” (like “Draw a card” or “+3 Power”). If an Attack would have no effect on a go straight to your discard pile when gained, just like any other card. However,
player, such as gaining a Weakness when the stack is empty, you may still use a Defense against it when you later draw and play an Ongoing card, that card will remain face up
to gain the Defense reward. and in play in front of you for the rest of the game. Ongoing cards are not
put into your discard pile at the end of your turn like all of the other cards
Nemesis Cards HECATE ™ you play. An Ongoing card counts as “played” only on the turn in which it
LOCATION
The term Nemesis collectively refers to the standard-sized cards with the Ongoing: Once per turn: You may Seal a card from
the Line-Up with a cost less than an Equipment
entered play. The text after the word “Ongoing:” is not active while the card
Super-Villain and Super Hero subtypes (middle-right of the card). These 3 you played this turn.
is in your hand, your discard pile, or the Line-Up and is only active for you
terms should be considered interchangeable. If a card specifically affects 6 while the card remains in play. The Ongoing ability may be used every turn.
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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Super-Villains, it also affects Super Heroes and vice versa. You may have any number of Ongoing cards in play at once.
VILLAIN LEVEL 1

During your turn, you can spend Power equal to the cost of the top card of Reward: Seal the top 2 cards of the main deck.
Owner
the Nemesis stack to defeat that Nemesis. If you do, gain the topmost face-up (This starts on top of the Nemesis stack.)
A player owns all cards in their hand, deck, discard pile, and score pile. A player also owns the
8 © 2024 CZE

card from the Nemesis stack and place it into your score pile. Then, resolve cards they played this turn and Ongoing cards from previous turns. A player becomes the owner
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
4 (s24)

the text after the keyword ”Reward:” in that card’s game text. These cards of a card when they buy it, gain it, or are passed it. Sealing a card from the main deck, Line-Up,
offer immediate abilities and are worth a lot of VPs at the end of the game. The next card in destroyed pile, or another player’s zone causes you to become the owner of that card.
the Nemesis stack remains face down until your turn is over, so you may only defeat 1 Nemesis
per turn. Nemesis cards in this set do not have an ability when played. If an effect causes you to Oversized Character Cards
play a Nemesis card, it has no inherent ability but does count as being played and can trigger Your Character gives you access to 1 or more unique abilities.
SWAMP THING ™

other abilities. Most abilities can only be used on your turn, but some of them function
during other players’ turns as well. You should keep your ability in mind
During the End of Turn procedure, if the top card of the Nemesis stack is face down, the next when deciding what cards to add to your deck. Some Characters are
Nemesis card in the stack is flipped face up and it Attacks every player. Read aloud the text after labeled as Super Heroes and others as Super-Villains. Those tags have
“First Appearance — Attack:” and each player in turn order, starting with the player who no in-game function and only serve thematic purposes.
defeated the Nemesis, has the option to avoid the Attack with a Defense card. After each player
has decided if they will defend, the players resolve the Attack in the same turn order. These Attacks Payment Abilities
are considered to happen between turns, so abilities that occur during a player’s turn may not be Some Characters have a payment ability as indicated by a bolded action Discard a non-Weaknesss card: Surge
Once per your turns: If you control 2+ Locations,

used here. followed by a colon at the start of a sentence. These abilities can only be draw a card.
All DC characters and elements © and ™ DC.
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© 2024 CZE

used during a player’s turn and may be used any number of times unless
otherwise stated.
ADDITIONAL RULES
For example, during Swamp Thing’s turn, he can discard a non-Weakness card from his hand.
Controlling Cards Doing so allows him to add the top card of the main deck to the Line-Up. This ability does not
You control the cards in your play zone. These include the cards you played this turn and Ongoing have a limit printed on it, so he can do it multiple times in the same turn.
cards still in play from a previous turn. You do not control cards in your hand, deck, discard pile, or
score pile.

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NEW CONCEPTS
Anything that triggered off of playing the card now resolves. If you do not Transform the card
Surge
when you play it, you will resolve the “Otherwise” text below the Transform ability. Note that
When a card tells you to Surge, add the top card of the main deck to the Line-Up. This can
the Transformed version of a card can have a different card type than its original card. The star
cause the Line-Up to increase above 5 cards. Note that Surging while there are no cards in the
watermark in the card’s textbox is a visual indicator of the other version’s card type.
main deck does not cause the game to end.
BILLY BATSON,, CHOSEN
When you play Billy Batson, Chosen, you must decide if you want CHOSEN
Score Pile
to discard a Super Power or not. If you do, immediately put Billy
Each player has their own score pile where they place their Sealed cards. You own but do not
Batson into your score pile. You then check and see that Shazam!
control the cards in your score pile. They are not part of your deck, and you will not be able to
Champion of Magic is not in your score pile. Since Shazam! is not in
play those cards without a special card ability. When you would gain a card with the Reward
your score pile, you gain Shazam! from the Transformation Zone and
keyword (such as on a Nemesis card), it goes into your score pile instead of your discard pile.
put him into your hand. You no longer control Billy Batson. If you had HERO
At the end of the game, the cards in your score pile are also counted for your final score. If a Transform: You may discard a Super Power. If you do,
chosen not to discard a Super Power, you would have generated +1 Seal this card and gain Shazam! Champion of Magic

card you do not own enters your score pile, you are considered to gain that card. into your hand.
Otherwise, +1 Power.
Power instead. 1
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Sealing Cards
SHAZAM! ™™CHAMPION Reverting Cards
When a card tells you to Seal a card, place that card into your score pile. The card’s ability CHAMPION OF
OF MAGIC
MAGIC

Transformed cards with the Revert keyword may not permanently

will always tell you what zone(s) the card can be Sealed from. When the word Seal is bold,
stay in their Transformed state. This keyword is similar to the Transform
it gives a player the ability to Seal a card. When you see the word Seal without bold, that
keyword but different in a few important ways. Reverting a card is
means it is part of an ability that triggers when a card is Sealed. If you Seal a card you do not
never optional. If you meet the Revert condition on a Transformed card,
own (such as from the Line-Up or main deck), you are considered to gain that card. If an ability
you must Revert it. The Revert card immediately goes to your score pile,
refers to a “Sealed” card, it refers to the cards in your score pile, unless otherwise stated. HERO TRANSFORMED
+3 Power
which means you no longer control the card. Any abilities on the card
Revert: If there are no Super Powers in your discard
pile, Seal this card and gain Billy Batson, Chosen
from your score pile.
prior to the Revert keyword remain and anything that triggered off
Blue Banner Text © 2024 CZE

4
of playing the card now resolves. (Note that if you really don’t want
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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WORD OF POWER Some cards have a blue banner at the top of their text box. The text on
to Revert a card, you can choose not to play it.) Another important
the blue banner only matters after the card moves between certain zones,
difference is that when a card Reverts, the card you gain from it Reverting can only come from
such as entering your score pile or the destroyed pile. That text is not
your score pile. If you do not have a card of the name listed in the Revert text in your score pile,
resolved when you play the card.
the card still Reverts, and you do not gain any card. Finally, the card that you gain from your
When you play Word of Power from your hand, you ignore the text on score pile goes to your discard pile instead of your hand like it does with a Transform card.
SUPER POWER
After you destroy, discard, or Seal this card from any the blue banner and it generates +2 Power. If you discard Word of
zone, draw a card.
+2 Power
Power from your hand or deck, you draw a card from your deck. If you do not have a Super Power in your discard pile when you play Shazam! Champion
1
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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4 If you play a card that Seals Word of Power from the Line-Up or of Magic, he immediately Reverts. Shazam! goes to your score pile. While you no longer
another zone, you draw a card from your deck. control him, you do still retain the +3 Power he generated. If Billy Batson, Chosen is in
your score pile, you move Billy into your discard pile. If not, nothing else happens.
Transforming Cards
A Transform card has the bold keyword “Transform:” in its game text. If you meet the Weakness WEAKNESS

special condition on a Transform card when you play it, you gain access to a specific card. Some cards force players to gain 1 or more Weakness cards. If this
You must meet the Transformation condition when you play the card; meeting the condition happens, each affected player takes the indicated number of Weakness
later in your turn does not allow you to Transform the card. Transforming a card always causes cards from the Weakness stack and places them into their discard pile,
you to Seal the Transform card. After placing the card in your score pile, you will gain a new effectively adding them to their deck. If the Weakness stack runs out,
card directly into your hand unless otherwise stated. abilities that would cause a player to gain a Weakness do not do so,
but any other abilities those cards have still resolve as usual. A player Return this card to its stack if destroyed.
Discard 2 cards: Return this card to its stack.
•First, check to see if the card named in the Transform text is in your score pile.
may still use a Defense card to avoid an Attack, even when there are no
If it is there, gain that card. 0
© 2024 CZE

Weakness cards available to be gained.

All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
2 (s24)

•If the named card is not in your score pile, check the Transformation Zone.
If the card is there, gain it. Weakness cards in Justice League Dark reduce your score at the end of the game by 2 VPs!
•If the named card is not in the Transformation Zone, check the destroyed pile. While these cards have larger penalties than previous games, they also have a built-in way
If the card is there, gain it. to get rid of them. During your turn, you may choose to play the Weakness card from your
•Finally, if the named card is not in any of the above zones, you do not gain a card. hand and discard 2 other cards to return the Weakness card to its stack. Note that if you have
(Note: You are free to check these zones before choosing to Transform a card.) multiple Weakness cards in your hand, you will need to discard 2 cards for each Weakness you
wish to return to its stack.
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PLAY MODE VARIANTS SPECIFIC CARD CLARIFICATIONS

Short Game
BLACK ADAM,, CORRUPTED
CORRUPTED
Playing with new players or short on time? This variant shortens the overall game length.
Remove the Level 4 Nemesis from the Nemesis stack. Black Adam, Corrupted: Since Mystic Ritual
and Weakness cards do not have a card type,
Extended Game they are not considered different for this card’s
Want your game to be an epic marathon? This variant lengthens the overall game time. Add an ability and cannot be put into your hand.
additional Level 3 and Level 2 Nemesis to the Nemesis stack. VILLAIN TRANSFORMED
You may put any number of cards with cost 5 or less
and different card types from your discard pile into FLORONIC MAN, WOODRUE
your hand. If you choose not to, +3 Power.

(Not recommended for new players.) 2

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8
Floronic Man, Woodrue: If you
Seal a Location you control because of
Houdini Key, that Location is returned to
MIXING IN CARDS FROM OTHER SETS its previous zone at the end of your turn. VILLAIN
Transform: You may Seal a Location you control. If you
do, Seal this card and gain New Avatar of the Green
into your hand.
Otherwise, +3 Power.

Justice League Dark is compatible with other DC Deck-Building Game products. Here are NEW AVATAR OF THE GREEN
2
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6
a few recommendations for setting up a game with mixed sets.
HOUDINI KEY
• When setting up the main deck, feel free to mix in the cards from any one of the Houdini Key/New Avatar of
Crossover or Crisis expansions. If you want to customize the cards in the main deck, the Green: The Location remains in the
we recommend not going over 150 cards. If you wish to add additional new cards, VILLAIN TRANSFORMED
same zone it was in. You do not “gain”
you should remove cards with similar types and costs. Draw 2 cards.
Take control of all Locations in the Line-Up and in
the Location when you take control of it.
front of each foe until the end of your turn.

EQUIPMENT
• Any standard-sized Super-Villain and Super Hero cards can be mixed into the +1 Power 2
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All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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8
Take control of a Location from the Line-Up or

Nemesis stack. When building the Nemesis stack, treat these cards as having a Level
controlled by another player until the end of your turn.
ENCHANTRESS, DZAMOR
2
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based on their cost: 1

All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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Enchantress, Dzamor: This card’s Transform

ability occurs when it is used to avoid an Attack.
This card cannot be Transformed when played.
If you use this Defense to avoid a Nemesis
8 Attack, the Nemesis card is not Sealed.
VILLAIN
+3 Power
Defense: Transform: Seal this card from your hand to
avoid an Attack. If you do, gain June Moone, Freelancer
into your hand. Then, the owner of the Attack
card Seals it.
MAGICAL SHIELD
2
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6

Magical Shield: Since the Defense ability

on this card is part of its Ongoing ability,
you can only use it to avoid an Attack while
SUPER POWER you control it. You cannot use it to avoid an
You may Seal a card in your hand.
Ongoing: Defense: Put this card on the bottom of Attack while it is in your hand.
Additional Players your deck to avoid an Attack.

You can use additional Starter cards (from another set) to play Justice League Dark with 1
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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5
more than 4 players. MORDRU ™

If you are playing with 5 players, use 1 less Level 3 Nemesis than you would in a 4-player game. Mordru: This card’s Reward allows you to Transform a
If you are playing with 6 players, we recommend using the World Hopper rules found in the card without meeting its prerequisite. Seal the card you
Multiverse expansion and the same number of Nemesis cards as a 3-player game. are Transforming and gain its Transformed version. If the
Transform card has multiple Transformed options, you
VILLAIN
can choose any one of them. Note that the gained card First Appearance — Attack: Each player puts a
LEVEL 3

non-Starter Transform card from their hand or discard pile

into the Line-Up. Each who cannot gains a Weakness.
goes to your discard pile instead of your hand. Reward: You may Transform a card in the Line-Up,
you control, or in your discard pile.

7
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12 13
SPECIFIC CARD CLARIFICATIONS (CONTINUED)

NERGAL ™
In this box you will find two special components.
These are for the DC Deck-Building Game:
Nergal: Treat negative VP values as zero for Multiverse Box, a large and sturdy box that you
this card’s Attack. can use to store your DC Deck-Building Game cards.
VILLAIN
+3 Power The plastic Multiverse All DC characters and elements

RAEPPASID
© & ™ DC. (s24)

Attack: Each foe reveals the top card of their deck © 2024 CZE

and gains a number of Weakness cards equal to

its VP value. Divider is used in the
2
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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7 box to keep your Justice
League Dark cards
Raeppasid: When resolving this card’s separate from the rest. The Randomizer card
Defense reward, you may not choose to put is used in a special Multiverse game format,
this card on the bottom of your deck. SUPER POWER in which you get to use your entire collection!
Draw a card and you may Surge.
Defense: Discard this card to avoid an Attack. If you
do, you may put another card from your discard pile on
The Multiverse Box also includes over 50
ZATANNA ZATARA ™
the bottom of your deck. Then, draw a card.
new cards that enhance this game format.
1
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4

Zatanna Zatara (Hero): If the card you

played leaves your play area (because it was
destroyed, Sealed, etc.), you cannot play it a
HERO
+2 Power
second time.
Play the bottom card of your deck. Then, if you still
control it, play it again.

2
© 2024 CZE
All DC characters and elements © & ™ DC.
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7 CREDITS

Game Design Nathaniel Yamaguchi

Game Development Mataio Wilson
Graphic Design Larry Renac, Krystyl Campbell
Editor Shahriar Fouladi
OVERSIZED CHARACTER CLARIFICATIONS Playtesters Caddy Aguirre-Stanton, Eric Chae, Edgar Cheung,
Chris Dorsey, Shanka De Silva, Maiky Alberry Diaz,
WONDER WOMAN ™ Robert Gasio, Rezwan Kabir, Jose Mendoza,
Luis Mendoza, Walter Pinder, Randy Ramirez,
Heather Ramirez, Richard Sphar, Joshua Tompkins,
Ragman/Wonder Woman: You do not need to play UBERmensch, Jason Wong, and many others.
both cards listed in their ability to Seal a card. The ability
of each Character allows you to Seal a maximum of 1
card per turn. Cryptozoic Entertainment
RAGMAN ™
CEO & Founder John Nee
You are playing as Ragman. If you play a 5-cost Hero
CCO & Founder Cory Jones
Each time you Seal an Equipment, +1 Power.
Once per turn: Seal a card from the Line-Up with cost less than the

and no Equipment, you can Seal 1 card with cost less

cost of a Villain or Super Power you played this turn.
All DC characters and elements © and ™ DC.
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© 2024 CZE

Founder John Sepenuk

than 5. If you play a 4-cost Equipment and no Hero,
Vice President, Product Development
you can Seal 1 card with cost less than 4. Playing a
& Marketing Shahriar Fouladi
5-cost Equipment and a 4-cost Hero still only lets you
Director, Operations Ming Wan
Seal 1 card with cost less than 5.
Each time you Seal a Villain, +1 Power.
Special Thanks Javier Casillas, Rumi Asai, Marycarmen Wilber,
Once per turn: Seal a card from the Line-Up with cost less than the cost
of a Hero or Equipment you played this turn.
All DC characters and elements © and ™ DC. © 2024 CZE
Colin Robinson, Tim Korklewski, Rachel Del Rio,
Carl Braun, Katie Pelaez, Andy Sopher,
(s24)

Dani Cabrera, Kat Baxter

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