Universal Fighting System

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Sample card image from the Universal Fighting System

The Universal Fighting System is a collectible card game from Sabertooth Games. The system is composed of cards from different gaming universes, including Street Fighter and Soul Calibur. While the official product launch was in April 2006, the first set released in February 2006 was a special "battle box" based on the Penny Arcade online comic.

1 Gameplay
2 Card types
3 Card rarity and distribution
4 Card symbols
5 Card sets and products
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

A game in the Universal Fighting System represents a battle between two adversaries. Each player controls one of the two characters, with the objective being to defeat the opponent (typically through loss of vitality). The two characters need not be from the same universe; for example, Chun-Li from Street Fighter could battle Cassandra from Soul Calibur.

Players take turns, with each turn consisting of multiple actions. With each additional action a player takes in a turn, the difficulty of successfully completing that action increases. Players can continue to take actions until they choose to stop or until they fail an attempt. The game structure typically involve players building up foundations over successive turns, which then allows a greater number of actions before failure. Management of these becomes crucial, as players must strike a balance between using their resources for offense and defense; going "all out" for a series of attacks can leave one vulnerable to retaliation during the opponent's turn. The system relies heavily on card combinations, where one card enhances the effect of another.

As with many of Sabertooth's games, the Universal Fighting System is an advanced or expert level product (owing in large part to the fact that every card has at least one special ability), primarily aimed at older or more experienced gamers.

[edit] Card types

The Universal Fighting System has five different types of cards:

Characters - A card which represents the combatant whose role the player is currently assuming. Character cards contain information about the character's hand size, special abilities, symbols/alignment, and starting vitality.

Attacks - Red-bordered cards which represent attempts to directly inflict damage on an opponent.

Actions - Blue-bordered cards played from the hand which allow the character to perform some non-attack action or maneuver.

Foundations - Grey-bordered cards which signify intensive training and reserves of inner strength upon which a character can draw to power attacks or abilities.

Assets - Green-bordered cards which represent places or objects which are in play.

[edit] Card rarity and distribution

Each card has rarity information printed on the card in order to help determine how rare a given card is, without having to resort to checking a separate card list. The rarity is denoted by the number of small dots appearing at the bottom of the card, according to the following legend:

•	Common
••	Uncommon
••• (non-foil)	Starter deck exclusive
••• (foil)	Rare
••••	Super rare

Starter decks are semi-random, with 29 fixed cards and 31 random cards. This includes some exclusive cards which are only available through that starter and not available in booster packs. In each 10-card booster pack, there are 6 commons and 3 uncommons. The remaining card will be a rare or super rare card. There are also, very rarely, so-called "god packs", which are boosters made up entirely of rare and super rare cards. Lastly, each box of starter decks or booster packs contains a single "box topper", which is a super rare promotional card (and hence not part of the standard card set).

The 120 cards provided in the Penny Arcade "battle box" follow a fixed distribution, without any element of randomness.

[edit] Card symbols

Cards in the Universal Fighting System include small symbols or graphics representing attributes of the card. There are 12 symbols in total, with 3 symbols appearing on most cards, however some have one and another has four. These are used as a game mechanic to determine which characters are able to use which moves or powers. In order to play a card, at least one of the symbols on the card being played has to match a symbol on all of the other cards previously played during the turn, as well as matching a symbol on the player's character card. Hence, this prevents characters from using abilities which are not a match for their character, and prevents mixing abilities (in a single turn) which do not fit together. The symbols and their meanings are defined as follows:

Element (description)	Attributes
[AIR] (A white whirlwind)	Intelligence, Deliberateness
[ALL] (A red circle)	Existence, Fullness
[CHAOS] (Three arrows pointing out)	Disorder, Instinct
[DEATH] (A white skull)	Destruction, Finality
[EARTH] (A grey mountain)	Stalwart, Strength
[EVIL] (A red pitchfork)	Ruthlessness, Villainy
[FIRE] (An orange flame)	Passion, Speed
[GOOD] (A yellow halo)	Compassion, Heroism
[LIFE] (A growing plant)	Beginning, Creation
[ORDER] (A golden justice scale)	Law, Structure
[VOID] (A dark-grey vortex)	Emptiness, Space
[WATER] (A blue wave)	Adaptation, Fluidity

[edit] Card sets and products

**Announced Universal Fighting System card sets**
Name of set / game universe	Release date	Unique cards	Starter deck characters	Booster characters
Street Fighter	April 2006	143	Chun Li, Dhalsim, Ken, Ryu	Sagat, Zangief
SF: World Warriors	July 2006	126	(none; boosters only)	Balrog, Blanka, E. Honda, Guile, M. Bison, Vega
SF: The Next Level	December 2006	90	(none; boosters only)	Akuma, Cammy, Dudley, Fei Long
Soul Calibur III	April 2006	143	Astaroth, Nightmare, Taki, Voldo	Cassandra, Mitsurugi
SC3: A Tale of Swords & Souls	July 2006	126	(none; boosters only)	Ivy, Kilik, Raphael, Setsuka, Tira, Zasalamel
King of Fighters	December 2006	144	Mai Shiranui, Terry Bogard	Alba Meira, Athena, Iori Yagami, Kyo Kusanagi, Lien Neville, Nagase
Samurai Shodown V	December 2006	144	Haohmaru, Ukyo	Charlotte, Galford, Gaira, Hanzo Hattori, Nakaruru, Yoshitora

**Other Universal Fighting System products**
Name of product	Release date	Total cards	Unique cards	Characters
Penny Arcade Battle Box	February 2006	120	45	Gabe, Tycho
Soul Calibur III Battle Pack	November 2006	120	44*	Sophitia, Siegfried

16 of these cards are reprints from previous Soul Calibur III sets.

The number of cards listed above for each set indicates the number of unique, non-promotional cards. Additional promotional cards are available in various ways, including for placing favorably in a tournament or other event. These promotional cards include character cards which in many cases are not otherwise available (although expansion sets do generally include additional characters).

In terms of number of cards of each rarity level, each set generally consists of an equal number of common and uncommon cards, with a slightly fewer number of rare cards. There are roughly half as many super rare cards as rare cards. As an example, Soul Calibur 3: A Tale of Swords & Souls has 41 commons, 39 uncommons, 32 rares, and 14 super rares.