Burst

How 【Burst】 works

Shields are face-down cards, and 【Burst】 is the effect printed on some of them for exactly that situation: when shield damage reveals this card, its Burst effect can activate — a free counterpunch that costs the attacker their own attack to trigger. Deploying a blocker, removing an attacker, or recouping resources mid-defense are typical Bursts.

Official rulings confirm Burst-driven plays are fully real: a Unit put into play or set active by a Burst chain behaves exactly as if you'd done it on your turn.

Deck-building with it

You never know which cards end up in your shields, so Burst density is a probability game: every Burst card in the 50 raises the chance the opponent's attacks flip one. Aggressive decks mostly ignore Bursts; midrange and defensive lists treat them as free insurance that makes racing them miserable.