In Living Forest Duel, two players face off as the spirits of Summer and Winter, each striving to save the sacred forest and be recognized as its ultimate protector. Although their goals are similar, only one season will claim the honors.

Your goal? Be the first to achieve one of the four victory conditions:

• Plant a 3×3 rectangle of Guardian Tree cards in your Forest
• Have only cards of your season on the recruitment line
• Collect 8 Fire tokens
• Move the Onibi creature to your opponent's side once the Onibi card is in their possession.

The game is played in alternating turns. On each turn, choose one of the following options:

• Draw 1 guardian animal card from the shared draw pile and add it to the shared help line
• Use 1 action token on 1 guardian animal card in the shared help line

Draw a guardian animal card

Draw a card from the shared draw pile and place it face up on one of the three help lines:

• the shared help line if it’s a neutral animal
• your help line if it’s an animal of your season
• your opponent’s help line if it’s an animal of their season

Each animal provides elements that you can use later with one of your two Action tokens.

Be careful: revealing too many solitary animals can be detrimental. After 3 solitary symbols, you lose an Action token, which will significantly reduce your ability to act.

Use an action token

Place one of your Action tokens on a card to point to the last element corresponding to the action you want to perform. Count all elements of this type visible from the start of the common aid line OR from the last Action token pointing to this element.

Possible Actions:

• Recruiting one or more Guardian Animals
• Extinguishing the fire by collecting one or more Fire tokens
• Planting one or more protective trees
• Advancing Onibi toward your opponent

End of the turn The turn ends when both Summer and Winter have used up their 2 action tokens.

Add up the value of the fire tokens in the clearing: the value of each fire token is determined by its location. Then, add up your water values. Check to see whether the fire value in the clearing is strictly higher than your water value. If so, add a fire varan card corresponding to your season to the shared discard pile for each fire token present in the clearing.

Next, place a fire token on each of the cards on either side of the Onibi standee.

Retrieve your 2 action tokens back in front of you, and place all of the cards in the help line, as well as the cards in the players' personal lines on the shared discard pile.