Encounter Mechanics

Card Loadout

Before each Encounter you slot up to five cards, one per Phase, and no two cards from the same Blueprint. Empty slots fall back to 100 Power / 100 Defense. The opponent's loadout is preset per Encounter, so it can be scouted and countered.

Color Advantage

Each color beats exactly one other in a five-way cycle. A card holding the advantage over the opposing Phase card gains ×1.25 Power and Defense; the disadvantaged side is unaffected — advantage only ever works in one direction.

Resolve & Phases

Resolve is each side's health bar; the goal is to empty the opponent's while keeping yours above zero. A chart splits into five Phases by note count (each fifth of total notes judged starts the next), activating the next card in your loadout along with its Traits. In Story Encounters, dropping below 0 Resolve ends the run immediately; in Music Play you always play to the end.

Damage per Note

You also carry a Resonance gauge: EXACT notes fill it (about 80% of a Phase's notes worth), NEARs and BREAKs do nothing. Once full, everything you deal for the rest of the Phase becomes a ×5 critical. The gauge empties when a new Phase begins — so bank your accuracy early in each Phase.

Encounter Score

A second scoring axis, independent of the accuracy score: it compares your damage-times-Resolve product against the opponent's, then scales by the Encounter's Difficulty Rating. Dealing more, tanking less and recovering Resolve all push it up.

Star Thresholds

Each full star costs ten times the previous one — jumping from 3★ to 4★ takes as big a multiplier as 0★ to 3★. Thresholds are community-measured and not yet officially confirmed.

Results & Rewards

An Encounter ends Connected when the opponent's Resolve is below zero and yours isn't. Iota only drop for a Connected result with Dive Cleared or better — and not in Music Play with Remembrance unlinked. Each Encounter draws from its own Iota pool with a capped drop Potency.