Yomi (second edition) gameplay FAQ

Second Edition Gamewide Rule Changes:
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  • Hand limit: 12 cards. At the end of the turn (after the powerup phase), discard down to 12 cards if you have more. There’s no limit to hand size during the rest of the turn.
  • Normal draw rule: If your normal attack is blocked or wins combat, draw a card.
  • Double knockdown: if you’re both knocked down, cancel the knockdown effect next combat.
  • Time Out: when a player draws the last card from deck, time is over. The winner is the player with the highest hit points. (If tied, it’s a draw.)
  • Life Total: Cannot go above starting values.

Character Changes (Second Edition):
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Take a look at Yomiwiki

Character FAQs (Second Edition):
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Grave

Q: When I use Martial Mastery, do I have to discard one of the two cards I just drew, or can I discard any card in my hand?
A: You can discard any card in your hand; it does not have to be one of the two cards you just drew.

Q: How does the timing of Grave’s Knowing the Opponent character ability work?
A: When you block an attack, first draw a card from blocking, then you may reveal a card for his character ability (not the card you blocked with though, return that to your hand at the end of combat). Next turn, if you play the card you revealed in combat, you can search for a Queen or draw a card as soon as the winner of the combat is determined. This happens after any combat-reveal abilities from the opponent, and before any combo escapes.

Q: What happens and what doesn’t happen when I counter an ability?
A: When you counter an ability, prevent and undo all of its costs and effects, as if it never happened. Your opponent discards the ability card if they played it from their hand. You play this after they pay any costs to activate, but then the opponent gets their costs refunded when you counter.



Jaina

Q: Can I return cards to my hand with Burning Vigor that I discarded to pump up my attacks?
A: Yes. Optional discards to pump up your Queens, Kings, and Aces can be returned to your hand with Burning Vigor.

Q: If I attack but do not hit my opponent, can I still return my attack card (or two cards in the case of my Ace’s “Letter J”) to my hand with Burning Vigor?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I dodge or throw, then play attacks and return them to my hand with Burning Vigor?
A: No. This ability does not trigger unless ATTACK was your Rock/Paper/Scissors choice in combat.

Q: Does a Joker (Rewind Time) somehow prevent me from activating Burning Vigor?
A: No.

Q: If I have multiple copies of Smoldering Embers in my discard pile, do they all trigger if the opponent dodges?
A: Yes.

Q: If I play Unstable Power, then hit the opponent for 0 damage (after a Combo Escape Joker, or hitting a Bubble Shield Argagarg or Long Range BBB), can I still fetch two Aces?
A: Yes. Hits for 0 damage are still hits.



Midori

Q: What are “normal dodges”?
A: Normal dodges are not named. DeGrey’s Ghost Riposte (Ace), Lum’s Blackjack (Ace), and Quince’s Dodge the Question (Jack) and Evasive Answer (King) are not normal dodges, and they can all dodge your dragon attacks.

Q: What happens if I am in Dragon Form and my opponent tries to dodge my attack?
A: They get hit and discard their dodge card.

Q: Does playing a dodge, block, or Joker (Gold Burst) end Dragon Form?
A: No. Only playing a non-Dragon throw or a non-Dragon attack as your combat card, or getting thrown will end Dragon Form.

Q: Can opponents use their counters to stop my Dragon Form?
A: Yes if they counter it right away as you play your Dragon Form card. Counters only work against abilities as they are played though, so they cannot counter your Dragon Form once it’s active.



Setsuki

Q: What happens and what doesn’t happen when I counter an ability?
A: When you counter an ability, prevent and undo all of its costs and effects, as if it never happened. Your opponent discards the ability card if they played it from their hand. You play this after they pay any costs to activate, but then the opponent gets their costs refunded when you counter.



Rook

Q: How does the Joker (Rewind Time) interact with Rock Armor?
A: After you activate Rock Armor, you can play your face-down Joker or bluff card, then the opponent finishes his combo. Then he can play his face-down Joker or bluff card, then you finish your combo.

Q: Can the opponent use a Joker (Rewind Time) to avoid the damage from my Stone Wall or Entangling Vines?
A: No. Rewind Time Jokers can’t prevent damage from abilities.

Q: What if I block an attack with Stone Wall or Entangling Vines, but it gets countered by Smoke Bomb, Crash and Flow, Mental Toughness, or Do As Told?
A: You don’t get any benefits from the Stone Wall or Entangling Vines, but you still can’t draw a card from blocking with it or return it to hand.

Q: When my Windmill Crusher faces a normal attack faster than speed 5.0, does one move deals damage before the other?
A: No, they both deal damage at the same time, like on an attack clash. If both players are at 1 life, for instance, this results in a double KO.



DeGrey

Q: Can I activate Point, Counterpoint multiple times in one turn?
A: No. If Point, Counterpoint were an ability card you played from your hand, you could play multiple copies of it, but it’s not. It’s an ability that’s part of the card you reveal in combat, and you can only reveal one card in combat so you can only trigger this ability one time per combat.

Q: Can I play multiple copies of Troublesome Rhetoric on the same turn?
A: Yes. When you do this, you can name different options, or the same option, whatever you want. For example, you could play three copies of Troublesome Rhetoric on the same turn and name “block” all three times. If the opponent blocks that turn, you’ll gain 36 life.



Valerie

Q: If I use multiple Burst of Speeds, what happens when I get to speed 1.0?
A: You cannot gain any speed past 1.0. If your attack speed is 3.4, for example, and you discard two Burst of Speeds, the first one makes your attack 1.4 and the second makes your attack 1.0.

Q: What happens when my opponent slows my moves, then I use Burst of Speed to speed it up?
A: The general rule is that when two players’ abilities modify the same card, that card’s owner’s ability happens first, then the opponent’s ability happens afterwards. For example:

  • Valerie’s 2-attack is speed 2.4.
  • Valerie’s Burst of Speed says to speed it up by 2.0, up to speed 1.0. (It is now speed 1.0.)
  • Gwen’s Chillbane says Valerie’s 2-attack is 2 speed slower.
  • => Valerie’s 2-attack is speed 3.0.

Q: Do I get to draw multiple cards with Unbounded Creativity if I play the Ace as Masterpiece?
A: No, you only draw one card for the entire Ace move, even though Masterpiece costs two Aces to play.

Q: Do I get to draw a card from Unbounded Creativity if the opponent does a Rewind Time Joker against my Ace combo?
A: Yes. Jokers only prevent the damage done by combos, not other effects that happen along the way in a combo.



Geiger

Q: How does Time Stop work?
A: The Time Stop ability triggers when you deal block damage with a Time Spiral (either a Jack, Queen, or the Time Spiral Hurricane half of an Ace). After the opponent takes block damage, you have the option of playing a throw card from your hand. If you do, the opponent doesn’t draw a card from blocking and he discards his block card at the end of combat.

This throw begins your combo, as if you played it as your combat action this turn. The throw uses combo points as usual, and the combo you do is subject to Rewind Time Jokers as usual. The Time Spiral you played to activate Time Stop does not use up combo points this turn because it’s not considered part of your combo.

When Geiger uses Time Stop to throw an opponent’s block, he wins combat.

Q: When Temporal Distortion makes my Time Spirals cost zero combo points, can I play them even if my combo has already used all four of my combo points?
A: Yes. Even if you’ve used all your combo points this turn, you can still play attacks that cost zero combo points as long as you haven’t done an Ender. (An Ender always ends your combo, regardless of how many combo points you have left.)

Q: If I use Temporal Distortion, can I dodge an attack then hit back with lots of Time Spirals?
A: No. Even though your Time Spirals become Linkers, the usual rules for dodge still apply. After you dodge an attack or Joker, any attack or throw you do in response still becomes an Ender.

Q: What happens when I use Temporal Distortion and Argagarg uses Protective Ward?
A: The general rule is that when two players’ abilities modify the same card, that card’s owner’s ability happens first, then the opponent’s ability happens afterwards. Here, your opponent’s Protective Ward applies after your Temporal Distortion, so your Time Spirals become Enders, not Linkers.

Q: If my opponent blocks a Time Spiral, can he play a face-down Joker or bluff card to avoid damage from my followup?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I use Research and Development with zero Time Spirals in discard to put the top deck card in my card?
A: No.



Lum

Q: When does Roll the Dice trigger?
A: When you damage the opponent with an attack during combat. This includes dodging, then hitting with an attack, and it also includes block damage when an opponent blocks your Jack, King, or Ace attack. It does not trigger from your Ace’s Blackjack ability though (that’s an ability on a dodge, not an attack).

Q: Can Roll the Dice trigger more than one time per combat?
A: No.

Q: If I use Roll the Dice and get a 4-10, what does it mean when it says I get to return any face cards I played this turn if I attacked?
A: If you damage the opponent with an attack in combat, you can return to your hand any face cards you used as part of your combo, even face cards you used to pump an attack.

Q: Do Jokers count as wild cards when in Poker Flourish?
A: No, Jokers are never wild in Yomi.

Q: Do Aces count as high or low for straights when using Poker Flourish?
A: They count as both. A,2,3,4,5 is a straight and 10,J,Q,K,A is also a straight.

Q: What do the poker hands mean in Poker Flourish?
A: A straight mean 5 cards in a row. A flush means 5 cards of the same suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades are the four suits). A full house means a pair and three-of-a-kind (such as two 6s and three Jacks). Four-of-a-kind is pretty self-explanatory (for example: four Kings). A straight flush is a straight (5 cards in a row) that are also all the same suit.

Q: What are the values of cards during Blackjack?
A: Jack, Queen, and King each count as 10. Aces can count as 1 or 11. Jokers count as 21. Numbered cards simply count as their own number (for example, a 6 of Hearts counts as a 6).

Q: If I dodge with Lum’s Ace, can I hit back with a move like with other dodges, or can I only use the “Blackjack” ability?
A: You can only use the “Blackjack” ability.

Q: Can Rewind Time Jokers prevent the damage I deal with Blackjack?
A: No. Blackjack is an ability, and Rewind Time Jokers only prevent combat damage (damage from attacks and throws).

Q: When I reveal a 10 to activate Poker Flourish, can I use that same 10 card in my poker hand?
A: Yes.

Q: What order do I put cards into my discard pile? This matters because of Poker Flourish.
A: Cards go into your discard pile in the order you played them. For example if you did a combo with 6, 7, 8, then the 8 would be the top card in your discard pile. If you aren’t playing Lum, you don’t have to worry about this though.

Q: When Roll the Dice (2-3) makes me draw the bottom card of my deck, and Persephone has Bare Your Soul active, what happens?
A: This does count as “drawing a card”, and Bare Your Soul does apply. Persephone can make you draw one of the set-aside cards instead, as usual.



Argagarg

Q: What happens and what doesn’t happen when I counter an ability?
A: When you counter an ability, prevent and undo all of its costs and effects, as if it never happened. Your opponent discards the ability card if they played it from their hand. You play this after they pay any costs to activate, but then the opponent gets their costs refunded when you counter.

Q: If I try to block with Bubble Shield and the opponent blocks or dodges, can I return the Bubble Shield Ace to my hand?
A: Yes, it acts like a normal block, so it does return to your hand in those cases as a normal block would.

Q: If I have more than one Bubble Shield active on my character card, does each one contribute an extra 2 damage to my Hex of Murkwood each turn?
A: Yes, the damage bonuses stack.

Q: If I have more than one Bubble Shield active on my character card and I get hit or thrown, do I lose one Bubble Shield or all of them?
A: You lose all of them.

Q: If I block one of Geiger’s Time Spirals with Bubble Shield, then he uses his Time Stop innate to throw me, what happens?
A: You lose your Bubble Shield immediately and do not draw a card, but you don’t take damage from his throw.

Q: If I was knocked down last turn, can Bubble Shield block any attack, even “mixup normals”?
A: No. The combat after you’re knocked down, you can’t block an odd numbered normal attack with an even numbered block, and vice versa. Bubble Shield is considered odd, so it can’t block an even numbered normal attack after a knockdown.



Quince

Q: Can I use Positive Spin more than once on the same combat-reveal?
A: No.

Q: If DeGrey names an option with Troublesome Rhetoric, or an opposing Quince names an option with Flagstone Tax, does the combat card I choose to discard count as “combat-revealing” that option?
A: No. If DeGrey names “attacks” with Troublesome Rhetoric, then you reveal both an attack and a block with Patriot Mirror, then you choose to discard the attack, that means you really combat-revealed a block, and DeGrey does not gain 12 life.



Onimaru

Q: How does Onimaru’s 5 attack (with its General Armor ability) interact with an opposing Onimaru’s 5 attack?
A: The ability General’s Armor does not trigger in that situation, since it was not hit by a faster normal attack, and the two 5 attacks clash as usual.

Q: Assuming that Onimaru does not tie with another Final Authority attack, if I use the Final Authority ability on J or K, will the opponent stay knocked down if I pump either of those attacks?
A: Yes.

Q: Who wins combat between a Final Authority attack and Crash Bomb? Or between a Final Authority attack and Overdrive Long Arm?
A: Final Authority wins combat. No opposing attack can ever win combat against a Final Authority attack.

Q: What does it mean to win combat? (This also applies to Long Range, Mistress’s Command, and Overdose.)
A: Normally, the first player to successfully hit with an attack, throw or Joker, or to block or dodge an attack or Joker, wins combat. On clashes, nobody wins combat. Note that some abilities can explicitly affect who wins combat, such as Windmill Crusher or Crash Bomb.



Troq

Q: Are Troq’s blocks “normal blocks” (for purposes of Relentless Strikes)?
A: Yes. Special blocks are named, like Rook’s Stone Wall, Argagarg’s Bubble Shield, or Gwen’s Gloria’s Remedy. Troq’s blocks are all normal blocks.

Q: When Gwen attacks my block, then uses Relentless Strikes to force me to discard my block card, can I still attach it to my character card?
A: No. Your block card is discarded.

Q: When Troq’s Lockhorn Skewer beats a normal attack, who “wins combat”? (Long Range, Overdose, Carrion Reach)
A: Troq wins combat. To “beat” a normal attack counts as winning combat, even if you take damage from the attack. This means that Long Range, Overdose, and Carrion Reach cannot trigger in that situation.

Q: Does Lockhorn Skewer win against a normal attack that’s normally slower than speed 5.0, but has been sped up to be speed 5.0 or faster through an ability? (Burst of Speed, Long Range, Meaty Attacks)
A: Yes.

Q: When my Lockhorn Skewer faces a normal attack faster than speed 5.0, does one move deals damage before the other?
A: No, they both deal damage at the same time, like on an attack clash. If both players are at 1 life, for instance, this results in a double KO.



BBB

Q: Do BBB’s Jack and Beta Thrust Ace give range when they are blocked or win combat? (They have crosshairs over their damage splotches.)
A: No. They don’t have the [range] icon in their info bar, and do not give range. The crosshairs over their damage splotches mean that their damage is not negated by Long Range.

Q: Can I play Cog Shot (J), Long Arm (J), or Beta Thrust (A) at Long Range?
A: Yes, because they have crosshairs over their damage splotches.

Q: If I gain range by playing Extensor Grab, can I return it to hand?
A: No. You only gain range at the next turn, so you can’t return the Extensor Grab to hand.

Q: If I lose range by getting my face card hit, can I return it to hand?
A: Yes. You only lose range at the end of the turn, so Long Range still applies for this combat and you can return the face card to your hand.

Q: If I dodge into a normal attack or Extensor Grab (without Overdrive active), do I gain range?
A: No, because you did not win combat with a [range] move. The exception is on turns where you played Overdrive: if you dodge into Extensor Grab on such a turn, you do gain range.

Q: Does hitting BBB with a Gold Burst joker end Long Range?
A: Yes. Gold Bursts can “hit”.

Q: Does the +3 damage from Overdrive also apply to pump damage?
A: No. It only applies to base damage.

Q: Can I play multiple Overdrives in a single turn, and have a bigger damage bonus to attacks?
A: Yes.

Q: What does “Long Arm can’t be interrupted except by knockdowns” mean?
A: During Overdrive, if BBB’s Long Arm is hit by a faster (non-knockdown) attack, the opponent can’t combo. Long Arm hits afterwards and wins combat. BBB can continue his combo.

Q: After winning combat with a Robo Headbutt, can I trigger a second Robo Headbutt as part of my second combo?
A: You can play Robo Headbutt as a regular Can’t Combo attack, but it will not trigger the Robo Headbutt ability, because you did not combat-reveal it.

Q: What happens when I hit with Robo Headbutt while Argagarg has Protective Ward active?
A: After hitting with Robo Headbutt, you may play another “combo” as usual, but that combo will be limited to a single hit that can’t be pumped, because of Protective Ward.



Menelker

Q: Do pumps count as additional hits for Bleeding Wounds?
A: No. Pumps are not hits.

Q: Can I discard a 3-of-a-kind at the power-up phase to retrieve one ace and one black face card?
A: Yes. You may retrieve any legal combination of aces and black face cards when powering up.

Q: What happens when the only remaining copy of a card rank targeted by Into Oblivion is attached to their character card (ongoing), or face up on the table from Bare Your Soul (2v2)?
A: It’s not banished. Into Oblivion’s second sentence only targets an opponent’s hand and deck.



Persephone

Q: If Persephone’s opponent chooses to take 10 damage to make their ability uncounterable, can Persephone play another Do As Told on the same ability?
A: No. That ability is now uncounterable, and nobody can play a counter against it anymore.

Q: What happens and what doesn’t happen when I counter an ability?
A: When you counter an ability, prevent and undo all of its costs and effects, as if it never happened. Your opponent discards the ability card if they played it from their hand. You play this after they pay any costs to activate, but then the opponent gets their costs refunded when you counter.

Q: What happens when I play Bare Your Soul multiple times?
A: All the face up cards are put together (in the same zone), then you discard from that zone until there are three cards left, then otherwise things continue as if there was a single Bare Your Soul played. Bare Your Soul only triggers once when the opponent would draw, not multiple times.

Q: Can I control my opponent’s [Combat Reveal] abilities with Mistress’s Command?
A: No. Your control ends at the combat-reveal.



Gloria

Q: Is a Joker a non-Hearts card?
A: Yes.

Q: For Healing Sphere, do I still draw a card at the end of the turn I was thrown, if I healed on that turn?
A: Yes. (You follow the bullet points in order.)

Q: When should I trigger Bathed in Moonlight?
A: At the end of combat, after combat damage from the full combo is dealt. You can choose whether to trigger Bathed in Moonlight before or after playing Overdose.

Q: For Overdose, what does it mean to win combat? (This also applies to Long Range, Mistress’s Command, and Clockwork Soldiers.)
A: Normally, the first player to successfully hit with an attack, throw or Joker, or to block or dodge an attack or Joker, wins combat. On clashes, nobody wins combat. Note that some abilities can explicitly affect who wins combat, such as Windmill Crusher or Crash Bomb.



Gwen

Innate: Shadow Plague: During the draw phase, draw an extra card and take 2 damage.
Relentless Strikes: Whenever the opponent normal blocks* your non-Ender attack, you may discard a red and a black normal attack. If you do, the black one hits, you win combat (and it ends), the opponent’s block is discarded, and they draw a card.

  • This is a correction from “would normal block”.

Q: What happens when I use Relentless Strikes and my opponent is Grave, Midori, or Troq?
A: Grave can use Knowing the Opponent. Midori can use Aspect of the Dragon to retrieve a card from his discard pile, if he’s in Dragon Form. Troq cannot attach his block card with Giant Growth, because it’s discarded.

Q: Does Gwen’s combat card deal block damage when using Relentless Strikes?
A: Yes.

Q: What are “normal blocks”?
A: Normal blocks are not named. Special blocks are named, like Rook’s Stone Wall, Argagarg’s Bubble Shield, or Gwen’s Gloria’s Remedy. Troq’s blocks are all normal blocks.

Q: Do I draw a card from normal draw if I get my J attack blocked, then trigger Relentless Strikes?
A: No.

Q: For Chillbane, what does it mean to skip all decisions?
A: It means you cannot play a combo escape, use any abilities, or power up. Ongoing effects like Hex of Murkwood or Healing Sphere still happen, though (they don’t require any decisions).

Q: What if I block an attack with Gloria’s Remedy, but it gets countered by Smoke Bomb, Crash and Flow, Mental Toughness, or Do As Told?
A: You don’t gain life or prevent block damage with Gloria’s Remedy, but you still can’t draw a card from blocking with it or return it to hand.



Vendetta

Q: Can I search for an Ace if I combo with 2-3-7?
A: No. Normal attacks must have consecutive ranks to let you search for aces (unless you are Valerie, whose innate explicitly lets you do that).

Q: For Acrobatics, do ongoing effects like Hex of Murkwood or Healing Sphere still trigger when you skip forward to next turn’s combat?
A: No. The “End of Turn” phase is skipped.

Q: Do players draw a card for their turn when skipping forward to next turn’s combat?
A: No. The Draw phase is skipped.

Q: Can I possibly counter the “speed 1.0” effect of Wall Dive Loop?
A: No. You can counter the effect of returning to hand, though.



Zane

Q: Is Shenanigans optional?
A: No. You must reveal the top two cards of your deck for Shenanigans as soon as you could play a combo card (after your initial combat card).

Q: How does Zane’s Crash Bomb interact with an opposing Zane’s Crash Bomb?
A: The ability Crash Bomb does not trigger in that situation, since it was not hit by a faster attack, and the two K attacks clash as usual.

7 Likes

A question that came up playing with a friend today: If Into Oblivion is used on an Ace in my discard and I have an Ace in my hand, do I have to banish the one in my hand or can I banish one from my deck instead? Based on the wording in the Menelker guide I’m assuming that the answer in the digital version is “yes, you have to banish from hand if possible,” but that seems unenforceable in the physical version…

“Banish a card from the opponent’s discard pile from the game. They must then banish another card of that same rank from their hand or from their deck. (They shuffle their deck afterwards. Banished cards are removed from the game.)”

It is completely up to you whether you want to discard from your hand or deck, Practically speaking the only time you would discard from your hand is if there is none of the card left in your deck.

The guide is referring to situations where based on hand and discard knowledge you know that they don’t have any copies of the card left in their deck and that they therefore can only discard from their hand.

Also I guess you might choose to voluntarily discard from hand in some super niche situation where you’re desperately trying to avoid a time out, but I doubt that will ever come up.

2 Likes

You might discard from hand to set up a lethal gambit. “Oh, he would only do that if he was holding the other two Aces, therefore on my next turn I should Q to outspend his Aces” and then you dodge into lethal or something.

2 Likes