Glossary of Terms

Navigating The Dictionary

All definitions on this page are quick reference definitions. For complete definitions with additional rulings and clarifications click the term to access a more in-depth page.

Quick Reference Guide

A Minimum Of 0: If you do not have enough stages on a single personality to fulfill a stage loss effect that states "to a minimum of 0," you do not take any additional damage to complete the effect.

Action(s): Using a Power or Event, activating a Setup or Drill, or performing an attack during your phase of combat.

Active Player: The player who drew 3 cards during the Draw Step and had the opportunity to play cards during the Planning Step.

Advance: Change your Main Personality to its next highest level, lower your anger to 0 if you advanced via the anger mechanic, and raise your Main Personality to its highest power stage.

Alignment: A Main Personality's Hero or Villain status. Impacts the ability to add Hero/Villain Only cards to your deck.

Ally: See Ally card type. A type of personality that is played from your hand during the Planning Step.

Anger: A game mechanic that results in advancing your Main Personality a level. Monitor and change your anger as it is raised and lowered throughout the game. When you reach 5 anger, you advance a level, reset your anger to 0, advance your new Main Personality level to its highest power stage, and discard any Drills you have in play.

Attach: A card that remains in play due to the presence of a second card. Attached cards are considered in play and are viable targets for other card effects.

Attack Card (Sword Icon): Any non-personality card that can perform an attack. Attacks will have a Sword Icon in thier text followed by the attack type, cost, and damage. All immediate effects of an attack are used prior to determining if the attack is successful.

Attack Sequence: In general the attack sequence is as follows, for more specific rulings please see Timing and Resolution: Declare an attack by playing it from your hand or activating a card already in play, pay for its costs, and use its immediate effects. Your opponent can choose to stop the attack with a card in hand and use it's immediate effects, if the attack is not stopped calculate damage, use modifiers, deal damage, use prevention effects and Endurance, determine critical damage, use HIT effects if applicable, use a critical damage effect if applicable.

Attack Table (AT): A reference chart for calculating the damage of certain attacks or the outcome of certain effects.

Banished: When a card is Banished, it is considered removed from the game by placing it in the Banished Zone.

Banished Zone: Cards that are Banished are removed from play and placed here.

Base Damage: The amount of damage an attack would do before any additional modifiers. The amount listed immediately after the DAMAGE text before any "+" or "-" modifiers.

Cancel: Any card that has its effect canceled has all non-parenthetical text ignored and is either discarded or banished.

Cannot Be Prevented: Any effect that would normally prevent damage will not prevent damage from an attack with this effect. Similar to attacks that cannot be stopped, the defending player may play a card as a defense that would normally prevent damage. The prevention effect will simply be ignored. Cards with Endurance can be banished while taking life cards of damage against an attack that cannot be prevented, but the Endurance will not actually prevent any damage.

Cannot Be Stopped: Any effect that would normally stop an attack will not stop an attack with this effect. Using a card to stop the attack may still be attempted to use its immediate effects, but the attack will still be considered successful and deal damage as stated.

Capture: Taking control of a Dragon Ball your opponent controls by critical damage effect or an immediate effect that states capturing. Indicate the Dragon Ball is captured by turning it sideways. You may choose to use all or none of the immediate effects listed on that Dragon Ball after capturing.

Card Types: The 9 card types used in the Dragon Ball Z TCG are Main Personalities, Masteries, Setups, Drills, Dragon Balls, Allies, Events, Physical Combats, and Energy Combats.

Combat Step: The 3rd step of a turn where the active player has the option to enter combat. If combat is entered, you and your opponent take turns making actions until you both pass consecutively.

Constant (∞) Effects: Card effects that are always active. These are indicated by the "∞" symbol.

Copy: To use the effect of another card. Any effects of a copied card that require that card to physically be in play such as "attach," "shuffle into your deck after use," or "stay in play to be used a second time" are ignored.

Costs: Any card or effect that has a stated cost must be paid in order to be used. Any mandatory effects with payment requirements associated with "to" effects do not have to be paid in order to play the card, but must be paid if possible. If unpaid, any effects of the "to" statement are not used.

Critical Damage: Any successful attack that deals 5 or more total life cards of damage after Endurance is considered to deal Critical Damage and the attacker may use a Critical Damage Effect after any HIT effects are used.

Critical Damage Effect: The player who activates a critical damage effect chooses to do one of the following: Capture an opponent's Dragon Ball, discard an opponent's Ally in play, or lower their opponent's anger by 1. Any mode of critical damage effect can always be used, even if your opponent has no Dragon Ball or Allies in play and has 0 anger.

Damage: Any life cards discarded or power stages lost as a result of a successful attack. A player is still considered to have taken damage after any successful attack even if no actual Power Stages or Life Cards were lost.

Deal: Any cards or effects that "deal" +/- stages or life cards of damage are calculated and dealt after calculation according to the Attack Sequence.

Defense Card (Shield Icon): Any card that can be used as a defense against an attack. Defenses will have a Shield Icon in thier text followed by the defense type and cost. All immediate effects of a defense are used prior to the attack being considered stopped. Defending is not considered at Action.

Destroy: The act of sending a card to the discard pile as a result of a card or effect. This effect is different than discarding a card for game purposes.

Discard: The act of sending a card to the discard pile from your hand or as a result of a game rule. This effect is different than destroying a card for game purposes.

Discard Pile: Cards that are discarded or destroyed are placed here.

Discard Step: The 4th step of a turn where both players discard cards from their hand until the number of cards in their hand is at or below their Maximum Hand Size.

Dragon Ball: See Dragon Ball card type. Dragon Balls are unique, whenever a copy of a Dragon Ball in play is discarded or destroyed, it is banished instead.

Dragon Ball Victory (DBV): You win the game as soon as you control all 7 Dragon Balls. The immediate effects of the last Dragon Ball are not used.

Draw Step: The 1st step of a player's turn. Draw 3 cards from the top of your Life Deck.

Drill: See Drill card type. Drills are played during the Planning Step. You may only have 1 of each Styled Drill in play. Any time your Main Personality advances or lowers a Personality Level, all your Drills are discarded.

End Of Combat: A phase of the Combat Step. This is phase is considered a part of the Combat Step for card effects.

Endurance: Cards with Endurance can be banished when revealed as damage to prevent damage from an attack. If a card would normally be banished when revealed as damage as the result of a card effect, any endurance on that card may still be used. You are allowed to banish a card for Endurance even if damage cannot be prevented; in this case, you will not actually prevent any damage.

Energy Attack: A type of attack. Generally dealing life cards of damage and costing power stages to perform.

Energy Combat: See Energy Combat card type. A card type used in combat. Generally used for performing or defending against Energy Attacks.

Event: See Event card type. A card type used in combat as an action or as a defense against an opponent's action.  Generally used for immediate effects.

Floating Effect: When a card creates an effect that has a duration or a specific trigger that card creates a floating effect. The card is then discarded or banished and the floating effect "floats" until it's duration is exceeded, its trigger occurs, or the end of combat occurs if no other time frame is mentioned.

Freestyle: Cards that do not have one of the 6 Styles in their title. Some Freestyle cards are Named and have a Main Personality name in their title.

Gain: Increase by the amount of stages or anger specified by the effect. Used in conjunction with power stages or anger.

Gain (text): Any effect that adds text to another card. This text is only considered to be added while the card that gained the text is in play unless specifically stated otherwise. Gained text is always added after all printed Immediate Effects or "Hit" Effects depending on the type of effect being added. When an attack which stays in play to be used multiple times gains text, after the attack is first resolved, it is no longer considered to have gained that text. Used in conjunction with an additional effect.

*Golden Rule: When a card states something contrary to the current official Panini rule book the card is always right. Note: There is no official ruling or reference to the Golden Rule in official Panini documents. This is the current understanding of the community regarding effects such as these and may be changed upon future Panini rulngs.

Hand: The location of cards when they are not in play, visible only by that player. During the Planning Step, Setups, Drills, Allies and Dragon Balls are played from your hand. During combat, Physical Combats, Energy Combats, and Events  are played from your hand, their effects used, and then typically discarded or banished after use.

HIT Effects: All effects that occur after the text "HIT:" take place after dealing damage from a successful attack and before critical damage effects from critical damage are used.

Immediate Effects: Effects that occur as soon as a card is played. All immediate effects are resolved in the order they are written on the card.

In Play: The zone where cards that are being used or will be used during game play are placed. Your Main Personality and Mastery are always in play, while other cards like Setups or Allies will come and go as they are used.

Instant Effect (Lightning Icon): Instant Effects are used as stated on the card and are not considered an action. You may still use another card as an action after using a Instant Effect unless the card says otherwise.

You may use any amount of instant powers whenever appropriate, as long as it does not interrupt the resolution of a sentence. You would be able to use two copies of Lord Slug’s Regeneration against the same attack, as well as Villainous Visage. You would also be able to use two copies of Saiyan Peace to lower your opponent two levels after advancing a level._[source]

Instead: Anytime you use an effect that replaces the destination of a card as a result of a separate card effect, it does not trigger any effects dependent on the card being sent to the original destination, even though the originating effect would have normally caused the effect to trigger. Ex: if you put Saiyan Menace into play when it is targeted for rejuvenation instead of putting it at the bottom of your Life Deck, it is not considered to be rejuvenated, and you do not gain any effects that would normally trigger whenever a card is rejuvenated

Life Card(s): Any card in your deck at the beginning of the game. Does not include Main Personalities or Masteries. Life cards are drawn during the Draw Step, and discarded or banished after use, as damage, or due to other card effects.

Life Deck: Your customized deck of cards. You lose the game the instant you have no cards in your Life Deck or cannot take additional damage due to Dragon Balls.

Lose: A term used to indicate Power Stage loss. When an effect forces a player to lose power stages they must lower a single personality they have in play the number of stages indicated. If that personality does not have enough power stages to fulfill the effect, the remaining stages are lost by Discarding Life Cards from the top of that player's life deck unless the effect specifically states "to a minimum of 0."

Lower: To decrease either your anger or Personality Level as a result of a card or effect.

Main Personality (MP): Your character in the game. Consists of a Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 personality cards. All Named Cards in your deck must match the name of your MP.

Mastery: A card that starts in play that represents which of the 6 Styles your deck can use. Dictates the type of Styled cards your deck may contain.

Maximum Hand Size: The Maximum Hand Size is 1. At the end of the Discard Step, all players' hand size must be at or below the Maximum Hand Size.

Modify: Any effect that changes the amount of damage an attack would deal before that attack becomes successful. Typically signified by +/- effects. This includes all +/- effects on the card performing the attack.

Most Powerful Personality Victory (MPPV): When your Main Personality reaches 5 anger at Level 4, you immediately win the game if you have not used a card that prevents you from winning by MPPV.

Named: Any non-personality card with the name of a character in the title. All Named cards in your Life Deck must match the name of your Main Personality, however any of your personalities may play and use any Named cards in your Life Deck.

Namekian: Only Piccolo, Nail, Lord Slug and Gohan may be the Main Personality in Namekian Styled decks.

Non-Styled: Cards that do not have the name of one of the 6 Styles in their title.

Parenthetical Text: Any text on a card that is in parentheses. This text is not considered an effect of the card or a part of the text box. These effects indicate additional ways the card interacts with game mechanics.

Pass: During combat, you may choose to not make an action. You may still make actions in subsequent phases. When both players pass consecutively, combat ends.

Pay: Any card effect that allows or requires you to pay stages for a stipulation may be paid by any of your Personalities unless specifically stated otherwise.

Perform An Attack: After an attack is either played and used from your hand or used from in play and all costs of the attack are paid, it is considered to be performed. This is before any immediate effects are used.

Personality: Both Allies and Main Personality cards are considered Personalities.

Personality Level: The level of your Main Personality or Allies in play as indicated on the card. Main Personalities start at Level 1 and can increase up to Level 4 throughout the course of the game via anger or card effects.

Physical Attack: A type of attack. Generally dealing power stages of damage.

Physical Combat: See Physical Combat card type. A card type used in combat.  Generally used for performing or defending against Physical Attacks.

Place Into Play: When a card is placed into play, you do not pay any costs, and you do not use any immediate effects of the card. Any effects that occur when this card is played cannot be used.

Planning Step: The 2nd step of your turn. All Allies, Drills, Setups, and Dragon Balls are played from your hand during this step. All your personalities gain power stages equal to their individual PUR rating.

Play: Playing a card from your hand to use its effects. Setups, Drills, Allies, and Dragon Balls can normally only be played during the Planning step, whereas Event, Physical Combat, and Energy Combat cards can normally only be played during the Combat step. When you play a card you must pay any costs, and if it is a Dragon Ball you must use its immediate effects at that time. Setups cannot also be used at the time they are played, but stay in play to be used later either as an Action, Instant Effect, or Defense. Whereas Event, Physical Combat and Energy Combat cards are used in the same phase that they are played. With the exception of Dragon Ball cards, any effects that occur when a card is played resolve before any of the effects of the card itself can resolve.

Power: To use the Power of an Event, play it from your hand use all its effects and then discard or banish it as an action during combat. To use the Power of a Setup in play, activate it, use all its effects and then discard or banish it as an action during combat. The Powers of Main Personalities, Allies, Masteries, and some Drills are activated similarly and may only be used once per turn. If a Drill is discarded and returned to play it's Power may be used a second time that turn.

Power Level: The numerical value of your current Power Stage. Used to calculate the damage of certain attacks that reference the Attack Table and other card effects.

Power Stages: The 10 different stages above 0 on a personality that determine your Power Level for the Attack Table. Gain and lose stages by keeping track of your current Power Stage.

Power Up Rating (PUR): The amount of power stages a personality gains during the Planning Step as indicated on the Personality.

Prevent: Damage is prevented while taking damage. Damage can be prevented through card effects and/or Endurance. If a card prevents damage prior to an attack it is not considered a modifier and is not applied until all modifiers have been accounted for.

Raise: Increase your anger by the amount specified. Anger must be physically raised to be considered "raised" for card effects.

Redirect: Whenever your Main Personality would take Power Stages of damage from an attack, you may have a single Ally take that damage instead. Any reference to the Attack Table is always calculated using the Power Level of your Main Personality before it is redirected.

Reduce: Any effects that modify an attack by lowering the amount of damage it would deal. Indicated by a "-" symbol.

Rejuvenate: The act of placing the top card of your Discard Pile at the bottom of your Life Deck. A card may reference the Rejuvenate term and state a different location for either the card being Rejuvenated, the final location of the card, or how it is put into the Life Deck. If this occurs, the effect is still considered to be a Rejuvenate effect, so long as, the card states Rejuvenate.

Rejuvenation Step: The 5th, and final, step of your turn. If you did not declare combat, you may Rejuvenate one card. The Rejuvenation Step still occurs even if you declared combat.

Reveal: The act of seeing a card that is not typically visible to a player due to game mechanics. Revealed cards are not considered in play or no longer in the card zone they would normally be occupying. For the purpose of card effects, cards are only considered to be revealed if the initial card effect specifically uses the "reveal" or "revealed" text. Effects that allow you to "look at" your opponent's cards are not considered to reveal their cards. If your hand is constantly revealed (e.g. Black Entrance), cards that enter you hand are "revealed" when they enter your hand. You may use effects to (redundantly) "reveal" cards in your hand that are already constantly revealed._[source]

Saiyan: Only Gohan, Goku, Nappa, Raditz, Trunks, Turles and Vegeta may be the Main Personality of Saiyan Styled decks.

Set: The act of moving your Power Stage or Anger to a specific value. Any time a card sets your power stages or Anger, it is not considered to be gained, raised, or lowered.

Setup: See Setup card type. Setups are played during the Planning Step, and used during combat as an action.

Simultaneous Effects: Anytime two or more effects share the same timing for resolution, the controlling player chooses the order in which they resolve. In the case of both players having effects that would resolve at the same time, the active player's effects resolve first.

Skip: The act of preventing a player the opportunity to use an action during combat. This is not considered passing and does not result in combat ending unless both players have passed consecutively.

Stopping An Attack: To play a card or use an effect of a card with a Shield Icon to stop an attack. Resolve all immediate effects on your card as soon as any costs are paid. Any card effects that reference when an attack is stopped are used after any immediate effects on the card used to defend have been resolved.

Styled: Any card with one of the 6 Styles as the first word in the title is considered a Styled card.

Successful Attack: If an attack is not stopped, it is considered to be successful even if the attack deals no damage.

Survival Victory: The instant a player's Life Deck has no cards in it, or they have taken damage and only have Dragon Balls remaining and additional damage to take, that player loses the game.

To: Any effects that are preceded by the "to" clause are considered costs to use any effects that follow it. All effects of the "to" clause are performed in order and cannot be interrupted by other effects so long as those effects are part of the same sentence.

Use: Using a card is the act of resolving all effects on the card to their conclusion and then discarding or banishing that card. Cards must be in play, or played, before they can be used. All Setup, Event, Physical Combat, and Energy Combat cards are discarded after use unless stated otherwise.

When Entering Combat: A phase of combat that occurs before the attackers first action. The active player may use any number of cards with "when entering combat" effects followed by the defender. The opponent then draws 3 cards and the active player's first action occurs .

Non-visible Zones (aka Hidden Zones): Any zone that is not public knowledge to all players is a "non-visible" zone. Your hand and Life Deck are examples on Hidden Zones. Your hand is always considered to be a Hidden Zone, even while it is being revealed by an effect.