Tetramon Rules, a Legal Beginner Deck, and NPC Duels

Get the Workbench Before Building Your Deck

Build note: These rules cover TCG Card Shop Simulator Version 1.0 through Steam PC Build 1.02, checked September 21, 2026. Console buttons and patch timing may differ, so follow the prompt shown on your platform.

You hit Shop Level 7, buy the shiny new Workbench, and discover that it wants 50 cards while tonight's bills are already chewing on the register. Welcome to card-shop ownership: even your hobbies have overhead. Do not empty the till chasing rare cards. A plain deck made from kept duplicates can get your first duel onto the table and turn that binder into the playable collection you have been building toward.

1. Reach Shop Level 7.
2. Open the phone and enter My DIY Racks.
3. Buy the Workbench for $1,000.
4. Place it where you can stand directly in front of it.
5. Interact with it and choose Rulebook for the full rules or Deck Edit to build a deck.
6. Open a deck slot, add your cards, press Done, and then select Use to make that finished deck active.

If the Workbench is missing from My DIY Racks, check your shop level first. Opening another mountain of packs will not unlock it early, and your sealed stock would probably prefer to remain rent money.

Make the Deck Legal First

A Basic Tetramon can enter an Elemental Area without another card underneath it. An Evolution Tetramon lists the exact earlier form it must be played on. A final evolution with gorgeous art is still a very expensive hand-warmer if its earlier stages are missing.

Use This Legal 50-Card Beginner Framework

• 32 Basic cards: Choose eight different Basic names and use four copies of each.
• 12 first evolutions: Pick three of those Basic lines and add four copies of each matching first evolution.
• 6 next-stage evolutions: Add two copies of the next matching evolution from each of those same three lines.

That gives you exactly 50 cards, plenty of playable starters, and three evolution lines to practice. Check the requirement printed on every Evolution card before saving; rarity alone does not prove that two cards belong to the same line. Favor Basics with clear draw, shield, search, or simple power effects. This is a teaching shell, not a guaranteed-win list or a solved metagame.

Missing a copy? Add a different Basic whose name is still below four copies, including a new ninth Basic if needed. A different print of the same monster can replace it one for one, but the combined total still cannot exceed four. If you remove a supported Basic, remove or replace that line's orphaned Evolution cards too. Never swap a missing Basic for an unrelated Evolution just to reach 50; that may leave you with a legal deck full of cardboard spectators.

Read the Card Before You Place It

• Card name: This controls the copy limit and identifies the exact card required by an evolution.
• Basic or Evolution icon: A Basic can enter an open Elemental Area by itself. An Evolution must be stacked on the matching earlier form named on the card.
• Elemental Power: The four values beside the Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind icons show the card's power for those matching areas.
• Elemental Area power: The area has its own power value. An attack combines the Tetramon's matching Elemental Power with the power of the area where it stands.
• Play Effect: This text resolves when the card is played. It may draw, discard, search, boost power, add a Tamer Shield, move cards, destroy a card, or ask for a target.

Placement matters. Use the card value that matches its Elemental Area, then add that area's power and any active effect bonuses. Do not add all four printed card values together. Text that lasts “this turn” expires when the turn ends. If an effect names an element, zone, owner, card type, or power limit, the target must meet every listed condition.

Play Each Turn in This Order

1. Set up the duel. Each player starts with 500 Tamer Points and a five-card hand. You may take one full mulligan: put all five cards on the bottom of the deck, draw five replacements, and reshuffle. Four cards are also placed face-down in the Guardian Area.
2. Draw. Take one card at the start of your turn.
3. Play Basics during the Main Phase. You may play one new Basic into each of the four Elemental Areas—Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind—during that turn. Playing a Basic into an occupied area clears the existing stack to the discard pile, so check the lane before clicking.
4. Resolve Play Effects. Follow any target, draw, discard, or placement prompt immediately. Finish that effect before attempting the next card.
5. Evolve established Tetramon. Place an Evolution directly on its named earlier form. A Basic normally cannot evolve on the same turn it entered play. Once it has waited a turn, you may chain several correct evolution stages in one turn if they are in your hand.
6. End the Main Phase. Use End Turn to move into the Attack Phase. The first player skips the Attack Phase on the duel's opening turn.
7. Resolve damage. Each occupied area attacks using the Tetramon's matching Elemental Power plus that area's power and any active effects. Tamer Shields absorb damage first; the remainder reduces Tamer Points. On an evolved stack, the top card supplies the Tetramon power instead of adding every card underneath it together.

Normal attacks hit the opposing Tamer rather than asking you to choose an enemy Tetramon. Effects can still weaken, move, or destroy field cards when their text says so. Reduce the opponent from 500 Tamer Points to 0 to win.

The Guardian Area is the comeback valve. As Tamer Points fall through the 400, 300, 200, and 100 checkpoints, one face-down Guardian card moves into that player's hand for each crossed checkpoint. A large hit can cross several checkpoints and release several cards. Keep pressing the lead, but expect the other duelist to gain fresh options on the way down.

Challenge a Waiting Customer

1. Finish the deck and select Use at the Workbench.
2. Find a Play Table with one NPC customer waiting alone and the other seat open.
3. Stand beside the open seat and use the displayed duel interaction. On PC, press the right mouse button; on a controller, use the right face button.
4. Keep the opening hand if it contains playable Basics. If it is mostly unsupported Evolutions, take the mulligan.

An empty table cannot start a duel, and a table with two customers already playing is occupied. Official Tetramon duels are against NPC customers. Version 1.0 does not include official player-versus-player matchmaking.

Fix an Invalid Deck or Play

• The deck cannot be activated: Confirm that it contains exactly 50 cards, no name appears more than four times across all variants, and you pressed Use after saving.
• A card will not enter an empty area: It is probably an Evolution card. Find the named earlier form shown in its evolution requirement.
• A Basic will not evolve: It may have been played this turn, the card underneath may be the wrong stage, or you may be trying to skip a stage.
• A Basic cannot be placed where you want it: You may already have played a new Basic in that Elemental Area this turn.
• A target cannot be selected: Re-read the full Play Effect. Check the named player, zone, element, card type, and power limit.
• No duel prompt appears: Use a complete active deck and approach a lone waiting customer, not an empty table or a match already in progress.
• Your opening hands keep stalling: Remove four unsupported Evolution cards, add four Basics, and try two more duels before changing anything else.

That last repair is the fastest way to regain momentum. Rare cards are exciting pulls, but consistency wins more turns than binder value. Get Basics onto the table, place them where their best power matters, and evolve only along lines your deck can actually draw.