Game Rules

Decide who chooses whether to go first or second by flipping a coin or rolling dice.

Battlefield:
The Battlefield encompasses 3 rows: the Outpost, Auxiliary, and Frontline. To the right is the Deck Zone and the Beyond Zone. To the left is the Mana Source Zone and the Mana Pool Zone.

Turn Phases:
The Start phase consists of Untap, Upkeep, Draw. Untap all cards that are tapped including Mana and Units in play. During the upkeep inflict or recover damage from status ailments and buffs, or reduce/remove status effect tokens. Draw a card and add Mana from the Mana Source to the Mana Pool.
The Action phase consists of Placement, Movement, Attack, in any order. Place beings into play in the Outpost Zone, build structures if there is a Tamer in play, or Manifest Anima into stronger forms. Move beings from Tile to Tile determined by their mobility statistic. Attack enemy units by tapping mana to cast abilities.

Setup:
The Castle is placed in the center of the Outpost row. The Players’ 40 card decks are placed in the Deck zone, shuffled. The Players’ 20 card Mana decks are placed in the Mana Source Zone.

Game Start:
Each Player draws 5 cards and decides whether to keep their Hand or Mulligan. In case of a Mulligan, the Player places his Hand on the bottom of the Deck and draws 5 more cards. Each Player can only Mulligan once.

Turn 1:
The first Player draws a card and adds 1 Mana from their Mana Source to their Mana Pool. They can then play cards from their Hand, typically a 1 cost being or a Consumable Item card. Once the turn is passed, the second Player draws a card and adds 2 Mana from their Mana Source to their Mana Pool. From this point, each Player will draw 1 card and add 2 Mana each turn.

Placement:
In order to place units into play, their placement cost must be covered. Beings (Anima and Tamer cards) are placed on an empty Outpost tile, tapped. From the Mana Pool, the placement cost in Mana is tapped. In order to place a Structure card, an untapped Tamer card must be present. Structures can be placed on any empty Tile on the Player’s Battlefield, adjacent to the Tamer building the Structure. The Placement cost is tapped from the Mana Pool, and the Structure comes into play untapped. Instead, the Tamer that built the Structure gets tapped.

Movement:
Beings have a Mobility statistic that determines how many Tiles it can move per turn. A mobility of 1 is equivalent to 1 adjacent Tile. Units with mobility 2 can move diagonally. Structures are immobile units and cannot move once placed. A unit must be untapped to move from Tile to Tile. When a unit casts an ability, they are tapped, and can no longer move.

Manifestation:
Anima can manifest into a stronger form if the appropriate manifestation is present in the Player’s hand (the previous manifest is present on the card). The anima card must be untapped for manifestation and the placement cost of the higher manifest must be covered. Manifested anima remain untapped and can mobilize or attack on the same turn they were placed, as well as manifest to the next manifestation if the conditions are met.

Passive vs Active abilities:
Passive abilities activate when the unit comes into play. In order to cast active abilities, the unit must be untapped and the ability’s mana cost must be covered and a target must be selected within range of the ability. The mana is then tapped from the Mana Pool and the unit casting the ability gets tapped. AoE (area of effect) abilities effect all units in range relative to the caster. AoE abilities that inflict damage do not effect allied units, and AoE abilities that recover damage do not effect enemy units.

Upgrades:
Some structures have the option to be upgraded to activate a new passive ability. In order to upgrade a structure, untapped mana from the Mana Pool must be allocated to the unit equal to the upgrade cost by attaching the mana to the unit. Once allocated, each turn on the upkeep phase, a Mana is returned to the Mana Pool, untapped. Once all of the allocated Mana is returned, the Upgrade takes effect.

Status Ailments:
Abilities may inflict status ailments on their target including Burn, Poison, Stun, Freeze, Exile and Push/Pull. The effect lasts a specified amount of turns. Burn and Poison inflict damage each turn on the Opponent’s upkeep phase. Burn(2,1) inflicts 2 damage for 1 turn. Poison(1,2) inflicts 1 damage for 2 turns. Stun, Freeze, and Exile specify the turns the infliction remains since cast. Freeze(1) prevents movement for 1 turn, removed on the caster’s upkeep phase. Similarly, Stun(1) prevents the unit from casting abilities for 1 turn, removed on the caster’s upkeep phase. Exile vanquishes the being after a set amount of turns, for example Exile(2) would vanquish the being after 2 turns since it was cast. Status Ailments can only effect Being units (Anima and Tamers) and not Structures. Push and Pull displace the target either away from or toward the Caster to an empty Tile. Push(1) would move the target 1 Tile away.

Status Buffs:
Unlike Status Ailments, Status Buffs can effect all units, including Structures. Status Buffs include Regen, Recover, Immune, Cleanse, Stealth. Regen is found in the passive ability which heals the unit a specified amount on the upkeep phase. Regen(2) heals 2 damage during the upkeep phase. Similar Recover heals damage, but to a selected target within range usually during an active ability. An ability with Recover(2) with a range of 2 selects an allied unit within range to heal 2 damage, including itself. Immune prevents the unit from being inflicted by a Status Ailment. Cleanse removes Status Ailments from a targeted unit. Stealth prevents the unit from being targeted by an enemy ability. A unit with Stealth can still receive damage if they are within range of an enemy AoE ability when targeting a different unit. Stealth is removed when the unit casts an ability, revealing its position.

Landscapes:
Landscapes can be placed on an empty Tile on the Player’s Battlefield. Landscapes reduce the Mana cost of placement, abilities, and manifestation of adjacent units and units sharing a Tile with the landscape. (Unlike Structures, Landscapes don’t hinder mobility of units.) Each Player can only have 1 Landscape card in their Deck.

Events:
Events consist of Traps and Enchantments. Trap cards are played facedown, without tapping any Mana. Its Mana Cost is covered when the Trap is activated. Trap cards can be activated on any Player’s turn when an enemy unit is in range of the Trap’s ability, and there is enough untapped Mana in the Player’s Mana Pool. Similarly, enchantment cards can be played on either Player’s turn to a target within range as long as there is enough untapped Mana in the Player’s Mana Pool and the unit casting the Enchantment’s ability is untapped. Playing an Enchantment then taps the unit casting the ability, similar to using an active ability. Enchantments can be cast by being cards (Anima or Tamers).

Items:
Item cards consist of Consumables and Equipment. Consumable items have no cost and any number can be played on the Player’s turn. Once played, the Consumable is vanquished to the Player’s Beyond Zone. Equipment cards have a Dexterity cost and can be attached to being cards in play, as long as the wielder’s Dexterity statistic is higher or equal to the sum of Dexterity cost of each equipment equipped. For example, a unit with Dexterity 6 can equip 2 Equipment cards that each have a Dexterity cost of 3. When the wielder is vanquished, all attached equipment is also sent to the Beyond. When the wielder is returned to the Player’s Hand, all attached equipment is returned to their Hand as well.

Win Condition:
The game is won when a Player destroys their opponent’s Castle.