As we celebrate the successful launch of OverPower by Lazarus Rising Games, we are excited to introduce new game formats that cater to both new players and veteran collectors. With the release of our “Learn to Play Rulebook”, these formats are meticulously designed to enhance your experience, whether you’re aiming for glory in high-stakes tournaments or enjoying casual play with friends. Here’s a breakdown of the game formats now available, along with supported game modes.
FORMATS
Golden Age Format
The Golden Age format celebrates OverPower’s rich history by including all classic OP cards from the game’s inception along with new cards developed by Lazarus Rising Games. This format is perfect for legacy players or hardcore fans eager to explore the full historical breadth of OverPower. Note that this format will adhere to the banned card list, ensuring a balanced and competitive playing field.
Silver Age Format
Looking ahead, the Silver Age format will include all sets from the Lazarus Rising Games era once multiple expansions are available. This format will be ideal for players who have collected cards since the relaunch and want to engage in both competitive and casual play using a broader card pool. Like Golden Age, Silver Age will use a banned card list to maintain balance.
Modern Age Format
As the standard bearer for competitive play, the Modern Age format features only the most recent expansion sets. This format is designed to be accessible and appealing to new players while serving as the main competitive arena for regional and national tournaments. Sets will transition to the Silver Age format as newer sets are introduced, keeping the Modern Age fresh and exciting.
CONSTRUCTED PLAY
There are multiple game modes and game formats to play OverPower in. Each mode of play tweaks the rules of the game in order to have a slightly different play experience. The Constructed Play Modes below use the rules above, with any modifications listed in the game mode description.
Venture – Normal Venture Play is the Standard game mode described throughout this Rule Book. Players will wager Objectives based on how many numerical hits they think they can score combined with cards that influence the Venture Total, and play continues until either player wins or loses all their Objectives, or a player loses by having their entire team KO’d.
Brawl – For this mode of play, all cards that mention Venture or Objective Cards are removed from decks; unless the effect is a secondary effect, in which case the effect is simply ignored. Additionally, players do not attempt to complete a Mission and do not play Event Cards any may not concede battles. The only way to win a Brawl game is by completely KOing all four of your opponent’s characters. This mode is generally just for fun or teaching the game, as characters are balanced for game modes that use Objective Cards.
Skirmish – When playing a Skirmish game, players remove Event Cards from decks, and select between 5, 7 or 9 Mission Objective Cards to be used for both players. All chosen Objective Cards are placed in the Astral Plane and during each battle and the player with the highest Venture Total takes 1 Objective Card at the End of Battle phase. Players may also concede during Skirmish play, and give the Opponent the 1 Objective Card.
Each battle, another Objective Card is given to the winning player. Should there ever be a tie in Venture Total, the Objective Card is placed atop the next one in line and the next battle is fought for both Objective Cards, and so on until a player wins the Venture Total. Once all the Objective Cards have been claimed, the game is over and the player with the most Objective Cards wins. Unlike normal Venture play, If at ANY point all characters on an Opponent’s team are KO’d they IMMEDIATELY lose the game. This means even if a player has won every single Objective Card the entire game, if all four of their characters are KO’d in the final battle, they still lose the game!
A Skirmish game doesn’t end until EVERY Objective Card has been claimed or all characters on one player’s team are KO’d. Even if a player has a Majority of Mission Objective Cards, they must fight the entire Skirmish and not lose by having their characters KO’d.
If at any point a player has the majority of Mission Objective Cards in a Skirmish game they may no longer concede battles.
LIMITED PLAY
Limited game modes use a limited pool of cards, from which players must construct their deck using ONLY those cards, with the exception of Basic Power Cards. Basic Power Cards are always allowed to be added to any limited deck in any quantity, however, note that MultiPower and Any-Power power cards are not Basic.
Draft – In Draft Mode Players will play in a pod of 8 or 10 Players. Players receive 3 sealed packs from the same set of OverPower. Each pack of OverPower has 2 Character Cards and 5 set Special Cards for each character. Those six cards are referred to in Draft as a “ Character Stack.” All Players will open 1 pack of OverPower and set their two Character Stacks of cards in the center of the table. All Uncommon and Rare cards are kept by the player who opened them and are kept secret from the rest of the Players. Those Uncommons will influence your choices on what Character Stacks you draft.
Starting with the player sitting in position #1, each player will take a turn in numerical position order choosing 1 Character Stack (Hero and 5 specials), until the final position makes their pick. THEN the last player in position (8 or 10) will make a Second Pick in a row and the pick order will “Snake” back with players each picking a 2nd Character Stack in reverse numerical position order.
Players will then open pack #2 and repeat this process, except in Pack Two, the player sitting in the last position will choose a Character Stack first and the picks will Snake back to position 1 in “reverse numerical order”. Once position 1 makes both picks, players will pick a 2nd character from Pack 2 in numerical order, ending at position 8 or 10 depending on the size of your pod.
Finally, Players will open Pack #3 and repeat the picking process exactly as they did in pack 1.
Note* Players keep all Uncommon and Rare cards that they open in a draft event. They always keep those cards secret and ANY Uncommons and Rares opened may be used during deck construction.
When building your deck in Draft you may ONLY use cards that you opened in your packs Uncommons and Rares slots, the Characters Stacks that you drafted, and any number of Basic Power Cards level 1 – 8 in their deck. NO OTHER CARDS from outside the draft may be used, including Universe, Event and Location Cards.
Sealed Deck – In Sealed Deck Mode there is no need to play in Pods like in a Draft and you can have any number of players like a standard tournament. In Sealed players receive 1 Starter Deck randomly, as well as either 3 or 6 Booster Packs. Players open their Starter Deck and packs and must construct their deck using ONLY the cards opened from these packs and decks, except for Basic Power Cards. Players may put any number of Basic Power Cards level 1 – 8 in their deck. ONLY cards you open and Basic Power cards may be used in your deck. NO OTHER CARDS from outside the draft may be used, including Universe, Event and Location Cards.