Energy Crackers

Energy Crackers is born from the simple idea "what if you don't amass resources on your own, but do it by punching your opponent in the nuts". So to understand the game we will go into the 2 most important elements before going into the cards and boards.

First is the Energy Shield. The Energy Shield consists of 4 "Shield Tokens" both players have. They are blank cards not part of Main Deck construction. You win the game by depleting all 4 Energy Shields and attack the opponent once more in a single turn. If your opponent is not defeated, they will regain Energy Shields until they have 4 left.

Second is Energy Shards. Energy Shards are given to you when you pop an opponent's shield. You only have Energy Shards until your next Drain Stage, so you should make the most of them.

Now with those 2 concepts out of the way we will get to the cards.

There is only a single card type, Crackers. These are a variety of characters. Crackers have the following gameplay stats.
1. Designation (card color and Top Symbol): Card's general gameplay niche.
2. Scale: The amount of Energy needed to play them. Crackers can cost 0 Energy.
3. Classifications: Secondary traits for synergy sake.
4. Cracking Value: The single digit amount of Energy Shields this card will break when attacking the opponent directly.
This only applies to shields, so if a card has a Cracking Value of 3 and your opponent has 2 Energy Shields, you only deplete the Shields and will not continue the attack afterwards. A card with a Cracking Value of 0 will still win the game if it hits the opponent directly.
5. Power Value: The 4 digit value used when a Cracker attacks another Cracker, the highest wins. Both units fall in the case of a tie.
6. Summoning Condition: (may not be present) Is featured on many cards to help bring them out without Energy Shards. Fulfill it and play the card from your hand. A dedicated "darker color text box" to separate it from the effect.
7. Effect: (may not be present) Effects can be one of 4 classes "On Action", "Counter", "Continuous", and "Hand".
"On Action" is triggered by you while the card is on the field, even the card being played and triggering an effect is labeled as this effect type.
"Counter" is triggered on either turn as a follow up to an opponent's action. A counter cannot be used in response to another counter effect.
"Continuous" have no trigger and are always applied if conditions are meant.
"Hand" is used on your turn and makes the Cracker act like a "Spell" seen in other games. Fulfill a condition and discard the card to use the effect. Hand effects can be Counter effects as well.

The Board
The board is also simple
You have the Deck section, the Dump section (cards discarded or destroyed (except tokens)) go here, the 4 Play Zones and the 4 Energy Shield Zones. Energy Shards are counted in an area outside the game (I personally recommend some gem items).

Deck Building
You have exactly 50 cards in your Deck, with no more than 3 copies of cards that are not labeled with "Unique" or "Solo" in their effect box. A Deck can only have 1 copy of cards labeled with "Unique", exactly 1 card labeled with "Solo". You also bring in 4 "Energy Shield Tokens".

The Turn order
1. Charge Stage: Skipped on both Player's first turn.
{1} Draw a card.
{2} Gain Energy Shields until you have 4 if you have less than 4.
2. Play Stage: Play as many cards as you want, fulfilling Energy Costs and Conditions. *Note, unless an effect enables it, you cannot get rid of a card on your Play Zone to make room for others.
3. Cracking Stage: Attack enemy Crackers (or if they don't have any, or an effect enables it, the opponent directly).
Crackers (unless specified) have summoning sickness. There is no "turning to mark an attack state". This stage is still conducted on both player's turn 1s but its unlikely either can take advantage of this.
{3 Scenario A.} Attacking Crackers: Highest Power wins (destroy them both in a tie unless an effect says a survivor)
{3 Scenario B.} Attacking Player: Destroy shields equal to the Cracking Value. If there are no shields when you attack, you win the game unless an effect stops you.
4. Recharge Stage: The following occur in order:
{1}. Lose all of your existing Energy Shards. (Drain)
{2}. For each Shield you destroyed in the Cracking Stage, gain an Energy Shard. (Regain)
{3}. Turn goes to next player. (Turn Pass)

Designation:
The Daredevils (Red, with spiky helmet symbol): People and monsters who live their lives to crazy extremes. Epic battles solely for fun, extreme stunts and sports, and massive man (or monster)-made disasters are conducted on a daily basis. A general Mad Max aesthetic with heavy spiky armor, rust and grit. Their gameplay niche is rapid and swift attacks done from swarming bodies, or multi attacking. Effects tend to trigger from doing battle.
Their exclusive Classifications include: Thrill Seeker, Warlord, Armored, Rust Devil, and Living Force.

The Believers (Blue, with clasped hand Symbol): People defined by their worship of "gods", both actual deities and ideas that come to life from human belief. Generally either have an ancient civilization aesthetic or a more contemporary modern one. They focus on building power over time by playing stronger deity themed cards after sacrificing weaker mortal based cards.
Their exclusive Classifications include: Mortal (highlighted in Bronze), Deity (highlighted in gold), Resident and General (attached to Mortal) & Ideal and Spiritual (attached to Deity).

The Performers (Yellow, with TV symbol): People in a world of constant creative entertainment. They actually avoid using your own Cracking Stage to win. They instead focus on working during the opponent's turn (ie using effects that destroy shields and give energy outside of the player's Cracking Stage). Overall, their aesthetic is animated and colorful with exaggerated proportions and cartoon physics.
Their exclusive Classifications include: Wonder Idol, Tempered Chef, Jeweled Dancer, Wacky Cartoon, Gorgeous Model, Bold Contestant and Vigored Athlete.

The Researchers (Gray, with Atom/Planet Symbol): Cyborgs and aliens conducting experiments to discover the limits and nature of the universe. They focus on having less than 4 Crackers on the board, often with strongest effects locked to only having a single Cracker supplemented with loads of Hand effects. Because of this, they also double as being the most Energy efficient, making the best even if you have just 1 energy to work with.
Their exclusive Classifications include: Astro Engineer, Star Explorer, Enhanced Sapiens, Psycho Alien, and Technolife.

The Fearful (Purple, with crescent Moon/fanged mouth symbol): Various factions of humans, mutants and horrific monsters that all live in fear of each other. They actually focus on preventing your shields from regenerating, depriving your opponent of Energy Shards. They basically have "big lows for high gain" conditions, with effects becoming stronger the more cards are in the Dump or more Crackers being lost in a turn.
Their exclusive Classifications include: Survivor, Mutant, Monstrosity, Therin, Deadmen and Unknowns.

The Isoteric (Green, with Penrose Triangle symbol): Things that take on weird shapes and designs and are so bizarre you can't tell if they are organic or inorganic. They have movements that break "biology" and abilities that defy physics. They are eldritch incarnate. Conversely, others are basic (if fancy) shapes. They focus on swarming with duplicates that ignore Energy costs, and fulfilling passive conditions on either turn that destroy Shields (as opposed to proactive effects).
Their exclusive Classifications include: Shape, Perplexing, Rule Breaker, Abstracta and Curiosity

Classifications that are general concepts shared amongst all (or at least more than one) Designations (and often just for flavor) include the following: Fire, Aqua, Spark, Aero, Rock, Holy, Dark, Photon, Ancient, Vehicle, Combatant, Artillery, Beast, Plant, Monument, Song, Youth and Elder.