Episode 0 was the starting card set for Sword Girls in all of its versions.[Note 1] All Episode 0 cards were considered to be introductory cards for their respective factions, representing the first archetypes and general gameplay for each of them, while simultaneously setting the factions' themes and concepts through their art and flavor text.
Notably, aside from the Character Cards for this Episode (which are Uncommon), all of the craftable cards in the Episode are Common, which allows the player to easily create and include them into decks (aside from specific quantity limits on certain cards).
When players started the game, they could select one of four factions for their starter deck: Vita, Academy, Crux, and Darklore. Each starter deck only consisted of Episode 0 cards, and the starter decks altogether used all of the Episode 0 cards, except for the English-exclusive NeutralFollower CardBlade Tutor Grace that was a closed beta participation reward, as well as the Beginner Dungeon reward for defeating it 10 times, the Nold Character card. The four starter decks could be bought at the Shop's Deck Shop for 500TK each, while their cards could also be individually crafted. Also, all four starter decks could be purchased for 1200TK as the Deluxe Starter Set, and came with 3 exclusive Episode 1Spell Cards: Good Job, Thank You and Pleased to Meet You.
↑Between how some of the Episode 0 cards' flavor text reference Episode 1 events, as well as how Episode 0 and Episode 1 followers share adjacent ID sets for their respective factions, it can be assumed that the Episode 0 and Episode 1 card sets were meant to originally be one whole set, split for ease of player experience and progression.
↑Technically, this Episode marked the beginning of the "Sion" and "Rion" archetype(s), but Darklore at the time was better represented thematically by the idea that their followers were a group of outcasts working together under a common goal, with effects that typically cared more about Darklore followers rather than an established archetype.