> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pcm.game/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# III. Cards, Progression & Euclidean ELO

> Card typologies, vector modifiers, and the hidden ELO progression system.

## 3.1 Card Typologies & Strategic Purpose

In PCMTG, a player's deck is a curated portfolio of their Quadrant's specific humor, grievances, and political weapons. The cards are divided into three distinct typologies, each serving a highly specific mechanical purpose within the 60-second Core Minigame.

### 1. Meme Cards (The Base Argument)

* **Function:** Meme Cards are the foundational pillar of a player's turn. You must play exactly one Meme Card per round. They represent the broad, sweeping ideological argument a player is making in response to the News Stub.
* **Vector Shift:** They apply massive, blunt-force shifts to the spatial coordinates. For example, the "Cope and Seethe" card applies a strict -3 to the X and Y axes.
* **Rarity:** Meme Cards scale based on rarity (Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Legendary). A Legendary card acts as a multiplier, amplifying mathematical weight and generating significantly more GIPs upon victory.
* **Concealment:** Played face-down to ensure the esoteric math remains hidden until the resolution phase.

### 2. Item Cards (The Modifiers)

* **Function:** Item Cards are the scalpel, representing hyper-specific cultural touchstones and providing surgical coordinate tweaks.
* **Economy Sink:** Playing an Item Card is strictly optional. If deployed, players must spend their native currency (e.g., spending Pronouns or Monke) to cover the cost, forcing a choice between winning a hand and long-term economic stability.
* **Melted Archetypes:** To maintain backend balance, the item economy uses a "melted" archetype system. A card providing a base vector shift of (2,2,0) costing \$20 renders dynamically based on who holds it:
  * AuthRight: "Whataboutism"
  * AuthLeft: "Bread Line"
  * LibLeft: "Purple Hair Dye"
  * LibRight: "Silver Ingot"

### 3. Policy Cards (The Rule Benders)

* **Function:** Policy Cards are the rarest assets. They do not shift vectors; they execute a global script that supersedes standard game rules and fundamentally alters the physics of the minigame.
* **Visibility:** Because they alter the rules of engagement, Policy Cards are always played face-up.
* **Examples:** An AuthRight "Defense Production Act" completely freezes the vertical Auth/Lib axis for all players, while an AuthLeft "Centralized Resource Allocation" waives currency costs but consumes every card played.

***

## 3.2 Player Progression & The Hidden ELO System

Progression is not a linear grind; a player's account reflects their strategic choices, market acumen, and ideological behavior.

### The Hidden ELO

* **Mechanics:** The core competitive standing is an ELO rating starting at a baseline of 1000. Winning the Euclidean distance calculation yields positive ELO, scaled by table difficulty, while losing slowly drains it.
* **Anti-Meta Enforcement:** Raw ELO scores are strictly hidden from the player base to prevent rating inflation, ladder anxiety, and meta-gaming.
* **The Matchmaker:** The Cloud Run matchmaking service uses this hidden integer to populate the 4-player Poker Tables, ensuring tactical players are seated with equally ruthless opponents.
* **Utter Humiliation:** The ELO system is bound to the Prisoner's Dilemma; hitting the "Based" button alone inflicts a catastrophic, hidden ELO penalty.

### The Z-Axis Profile & ELO Scalar

* **The Fingerprint:** Based on successfully deployed cards, players permanently accumulate points in the eight hidden Z-Axis categories (e.g., HONOR vs. FAITH, PRIDE vs. KARMA).
* **The Scalar:** A player's hidden ELO acts as a scalar multiplier on their Z-Axis stats. The ideological weight of a high-ranked player is mathematically heavier than a lower-ranked player.
* **Public Tracking:** If a high-ELO player consistently relies on populist tactics, their account's "HONOR" stat scales massively, creating a public ideological fingerprint opponents can inspect.