Ok so this is incredibly vague, but I'm looking for a manga I read years ago. It featured cards, but I don't recall it being a card game centric manga like yugioh. Each card had like a guardian spirit type thing, and they were used in various games, but it wasn't one central game like yugioh and duel monsters. The main character was a black haired boy(real specific I know), and his card/guardian was a 4 legged beast with a bird head that had the power of fire. I think the main rival had a similar guardian with thunder powers.

The cards themselves were Japan folklore themed from what I remember, each member of the cast had their own guardian spirit type thing residing in a card. The cards were long, looking more like strips of paper than normal playing cards.
I remember they were climbing a mystical "tower" thing in a competition organized by a god or something. It was ascending in some way, but it wasn't a physical structure, since the geometry and architecture was blatantly impossible. Floors with no walls floating and such. And there was a scene where on a rest floor all the competitors gathered together and made curry despite their usual rivalries.

Anyone have an idea?

I forgot to mention, the first chapter probably came out before 2015. It was pretty old

Cardcaptor Sakura

Ok so this is incredibly vague, but I'm looking for a manga I read years ago. It featured cards, but I don't recall it being a card game centric manga like yugioh. Each card had like a guardian spirit type thing, and they were used in various games, but it wasn't one cent...

It's quite old, thought some stuff doesn't add up to what you said after the edit, there are lots that fall in your description from around that time.

It's not cardcaptor Sakura. The protagonist was male. Though it also took place in modern day, I'm fairly sure it was a shounen. The main story was definitely a competition of sorts, with people competing using their guardians in addition to their own wits and physical ability.

I read it in a public library, in english, so its probably licensed as well.

It was an elimination type competition thing, all the participants were trying to get to the top of something, with each floor eliminating people.

The fire spirit of the protagonist was like a black wolf with a bird head. I remember the body was lean and lithe, graceful. Tail was long, and the eyes were slits that was a pure white with no shading that always seemed a bit angular. Beak was elongated as well. Like imagine the nitro from toriko, but on all fours, all black, and less muscular.