Helix Monsters™ Official Rulebook

How to Play Helix Monsters™

1. Objective

Be the first player to do either of the following:

• Collect 30 Genome Points, or
• Reduce your opponent's Life from 60 to 0.

Starting Life: 60

2. Card Types

• Monster — Base (B), Mid (M), or Apex (A) creatures with Attack, Health, Nucleotide Cost, and Abilities.
• Activator — Powerful one-time effects (healing, damage, draw, or summoning an Apex).
• Genome Booster — Setup cards that search your deck or provide strong effects.
• Linker — Cards that allow Helix Splicing (merging two monsters).

3. Deck Construction

• 30-card deck
• Maximum of 3 copies of any card with the same name

4. Game Setup

Each player starts with: 60 Life • 5 cards in hand • 0 Genome Points • Empty field (3 Monster zones)

The first player is chosen randomly and skips their first Draw Phase. Each player may take one mulligan (shuffle hand and draw 5 new cards) within the first 2 turns.

5. Turn Structure

1. Draw Phase — Draw 1 card.
2. Growth Phase — Gain 1 Nucleotide. (Your Nucleotide pool increases by 1 each turn.)
3. Main Phase — Play Monsters by paying their Nucleotide Cost, evolve a monster (Base → Mid → Apex), play Activators or Genome Boosters, or perform a Helix Splice using a Linker card. Note: A monster cannot evolve on the same turn it was played.
4. Battle Phase — Each of your monsters may attack once per turn. You may attack an opponent's monster or the opponent directly. Combat: Attacker's ATK vs Defender's current Health. If Health reaches 0, the monster is defeated and goes to the Graveyard. Whenever you defeat an opponent's monster, gain 1 Genome Point. The first player gets 1 Nucleotide to compensate for skipping Draw.
5. End Phase — Resolve any end-of-turn effects.

6. Helix Splicing (Core Mechanic)

Using a Linker card, choose two monsters you control of the same lineage (or as specified by the Linker). They merge into one creature with: Combined HP • Combined ATK • The best abilities from both. The merged creature counts as one monster. When the splice ends, both monsters return to the field if space is available.

7. Lineages & Playstyle

• Verdant Coil — Life gain, healing, tough board presence
• Pyro Helix — High damage, aggressive attacks, direct burn
• Aqua Strand — Flexibility, bounce, Regen (healing over time)
• Psyche Nexus — Information advantage, disruption, hand control

8. Important Keywords

• Regen X — At the start of your turn, heal X damage from this monster.
• Genome Aura — Ongoing effect that benefits your whole lineage while this monster is in play.