Eternal Decks · Board game rules
Can I break the pattern with Rare Cards in Eternal Decks?
Quick answer
Yes — Rare Cards can be played to the Field while ignoring both the Common Placement Rules and the specific Field Card's placement rules.
Details
When playing a Rare Card, you can ignore the placement restrictions of the "Common Placement Rules" (same color/same number cannot be adjacent) and the "Field Card Placement Rules" (e.g. Mountain's ascending order, Cave's descending order, etc.) [p.10 — Taking A Turn]. This means Rare Cards can be placed next to each other, and even next to same-colored or same-numbered cards, since they follow none of the normal restrictions [p.6 — The Secret of Life Energy].
Before being played, a Rare Card is not considered to be any specific color or number — so it can bypass a Curse restriction as well. For example, if a Rare Card is played first on the MOUNTAIN row, it does not have to be treated as a "1", so the Phoenix Curse ("number 1 cards cannot be played") does not block it [p.10 — Taking A Turn]. However, once played, the Rare Card is considered to be any of the five colors or any number 1–9 for the purposes of future cards placed next to it — meaning the next card must still respect ascending/descending order (etc.) relative to whatever number the Rare Card is treated as [p.10 — Taking A Turn].
There are also special rules: you can play any number of Rare Cards to the right of the number 9 on MOUNTAIN, or to the right of the number 1 on CAVE [p.10 — Taking A Turn].
Watch out: If the Witch's Curse is active, Rare Cards specifically cannot be played to the Field at all, overriding their usual flexibility [p.10 — Taking A Turn]. Also, in Stage C+ (Combination), Rare Cards, the Minotaur Ability Card, and the CAMP 4th Lap Bonus Card cannot be used to complete puzzles, even though they can still be played normally [p.50 — STAGE C+ COMBINATION].