COMPLETE FIRST EDITION

The COMPLETE FIRST EDITION of Yomi comes with all 10 character decks, each with their own artistic tuck-box and 1-page rules insert. Unlike all other card games I know of, Yomi cards are printed on real casino playing-card-quality stock with true aqueous coating, not on uncoated cheap "CCG" card stock. This makes them more durable and gives them the same tactile feel as playing cards.

In addition to the 10 decks, you also get an expanded 8-page rulebook with an extra rules FAQ, and two large playmats with integrated life counters, along with acrylic beads to track your life total. The playmats let you keep your cards clean no matter what surface you play on, they help you keep track of life totals without needing pencil and paper, and they show off some pretty sweet art.

Gameplay

The basic gameplay of Yomi is a special kind of paper, rock, scissors. Each turn, you play your move as a face down card simultaneously with your opponent. You then reveal the cards to see which player landed a hit; attacks beat throws, throws beat blocks/dodges, and blocks/dodges beat attacks.

You get a different bonus depending on which of the four movetypes you win with, so the payoffs for the paper, the rock, and the scissors are all different. By knowing your opponent's personality, you can guess whether he will tend to play it safe often, or go for big combos at every opportunity.

The Many Uses of Cards

Each card has one move on the top and one on the bottom (such as Attack / Dodge), giving you two options per card in the combat phase. But there's also another use for each card: powering up for aces. At the end of each turn, you can discard any pair in order to search your deck for an ace (a super move). Three-of-a-kind gets you two aces and four-of-a-kind gets you three aces.

Because each card has so many potential uses, there are a lot of interesting decisions to make. You want to collect pairs to trade for powerful aces, but you also want runs to use for chain combos. You want low numbered cards so your fast attacks will win in combat, but you also want high numbered cards to deal good damage.

How you use each card is a test of your Valuation skills. The value of each option changes over the course of the game, depending on how many cards you have in your hand, how many your opponent has, how many jokers have been used so far, and so forth. On the other hand, you don't even need a good sense of how much each option is worth if you have the power to guess right every turn: the power of Yomi.

Combos

If you win a turn with an attack, you get to perform a combo by laying down more cards for more damage. You might have to build up a good hand over a few turns before you go for a deadly combo.

If you hit with a normal attack (a numbered card) you can keep laying down increasing consecutive cards for a “chain combo, “ such as a 2, 3, and 4 (of any suits). After any normal, you can also combo into a special attack (a face card). If that special move is marked as an “Ender,” you can't continue your combo, but if it's a “Linker,” then you can. Each character also has his own “combo limit” that dictates how big his combos can be.