The pentagram always requires exactly five cards
Each round of Burn With Me is played around a pentagram that you must fill with exactly five cards, exceeding a score threshold that increases each turn. This is not a flexible rule: throwing fewer or more cards onto the field than the ritual requires doesn't work. Many of the game's combos arise precisely from this fixed constraint.
Position matters as much as the card you play
Some cards give bonuses to themselves or to nearby cards, others want to remain isolated to work, and still others require an odd number on both sides to activate. Before throwing away your entire hand as if it were a pure accumulation game, think of the pentagram as a chessboard: the position decides whether a combo happens or not.
Burning a Card: Immediate Advantage, Permanent Cost
The mechanic that gives the game its name—burning a card to draw another—removes that card from the deck forever. It's convenient when you need a different resource right away, but burning too aggressively leaves you without the cards you'll need later. One exception: the Gem Imp gives two base points to every other Imp in play each time it's burned, so with it on the board, burning your entire hand can be the right move rather than a gamble.
The Glass Heart Is Not Decorative
At the bottom right, you'll find a glass heart that represents your sanity: for every three points you score above the required threshold, you gain one, up to a maximum of ten in the bank. Keeping an eye on it tells you in advance how much margin you have before a round goes awry.
Each chapter changes the rules of the deck, not just the story.
The first chapter focuses mainly on cards that interact with their neighbors; the second introduces cards capable of stealing the stats of other cards and canceling their effects. Don't assume that strategies that worked before will still hold up: recheck the card keywords every time you start a new chapter.
Replace your starting cards immediately.
The shadows and minor ogres you start with only serve to open the game: as soon as you find higher-value cards with useful keywords, remove them from the deck. Keeping them beyond the first few hands only slows the growth curve.
