Card Specific Interactions and Errata
Billiwhack Monster - See simultaneous effects and priority.
Crocotta – Does Crocotta receive its bonus in a razed lane with no Terra? No. The lane must have a non-Earth Terra present. A razed lane has none.
Dingbelle’s Toolkit – This effect triggers when a friendly, non-token, non-caster creature becomes Dispelled from any lane.
Green Emerald Amulet – See Replacement Effects.
Hyperion – In the event a Terra gives out a single reward, and multiple units/players would tie for that award, the active player will decide among the tied units/players who will receive the reward. In the case of Hyperion, the active player chooses which creature receives the +5 Influence from among any of the creatures tied for the most.
Jersey Devil, The Untamed Hostile – Jersey Devil may sacrifice itself to achieve the effect.
Kentucky Hellhounds – After searching your deck, you must shuffle. This is not stated on the card and is errata.
Lava Armor – See Replacement Effects and simultaneous effects and priority.
Odd Find – This card truly gets errata that says “Put the top card of your Aura deck into the Aura zone. At the end of the round, return an Aura to the top of your Aura deck. “ You must put one of your primary Aura back on top. If you had none, it would force a reverse trade, then that one would be put on top. Players cannot trade away the specific Aura put out by Odd Find so that they are no longer required to return it.
Rolling Thunder / Equipment played to lane - The creation of the token and the check from an equipment to see if it can use its ability (such as Medicine Bag) are simultaneously triggered effects. Therefore, you must stack them in some order. Even effects that might fizzle (fail to resolve due to lack of target or meeting criteria) still get to be ordered in the resolution stack. You can play the equipment to the lane and order the Spark token to be created first, then check the medicine bag's On Play effect, granting you the card.
South Mountain Caves – See simultaneous effects and priority.
Thermal Column – Cards that “may” target more than one unit. (E.g. I use Bulk Up but only target 1 unit since it is a “May” ability.) Will the result of the strategy affect only creatures in Thermal's lane? Then you can have the discount. If the result is ever that it will directly affect more than the Thermal lane creatures, then the strategy was never allowed to be cast at a discount in the first place.
General Rules and Game Interactions
0 Cost Cards - 0 Cost cards can only be in your deck if they match primary or allied color chosen. In addition, if it is in your allied color, you cannot play it until you have an allied Aura in your Zone. The same is true if it is in your primary color and you have traded away all your primary Aura. You must have a matching Aura in the aura zone.
Active Player – The player currently taking their action/turn.
Action Icon – The Action icon allows a player to take the defined action, once per round. This symbol can appear on Terras, Casters and units. This counts as using an activated ability, but since it does not cost Aura, it is not an Aura ability or Aura activated ability. Players should mark when the action button ability has been used each round.
Allied Starter Terra - How many Allied cards do I need to put in my main deck if I am running an allied Starter Terra? None. My deck can be mono colored but still run an allied Starter Terra? Yes, but it must match your caster allied colors.
Aura Enhancement – Lanes may be Aura enhanced if a friendly creature has the Aura enhancement symbol. If the creature(s) with the symbol have all been dispelled/moved, but at least one friendly creature with or without Aura enhancement remains, the Aura enhancement will still provide its Influence and abilities.
Base Cost – The unmodified Aura cost to play a card, printed in the upper left of the card.
“Cannot” Effects – An effect is not allowed to choose a unit with a “cannot” trait that forbids its effect on that card. For example if a unit has “cannot be Shattered”, a player who must resolve Destruction on one of their units in a lane is not allowed to satisfy Destruction by choosing a unit that cannot be Shattered.
Colors on Ability Names - These help players know when looking at their opponent's card across the table when they need to pay attention to the card's abilities.
- On Play - (Black line border) - Immediate effect
- Activated (Green) - requires an action and to pay a cost (Aura, Sacrifice...)
- Conditional (Dark Blue) - When a certain condition is met, it triggers
- On Mission (Light Blue) - Trigger is related to Mission Resolution in some way.
- Continuous (Pink) - Ongoing effect. May or may not be turned on depending on if a condition is met (e.g. Goofus Bird)
Deck Size – The minimum main deck size for constructed play is 50 cards, there is no maximum deck size.
Enters – A unit (or Aura) enters when it is played, created, Moved, or put in a lane.
Fail to Find – if an effect requires you to look at cards and reveal one that meets a criteria such as “search your deck” or “Discover (X)”. It is always a player’s option to Fail to Find. Meaning, they can choose not to find something, even if a valid option was available from the action.
Gigantic (X) – A unit with this ability has “Friendly lane size limit is –(X)”. Meaning, that your lane size is reduced by (X) slots.
Influence – Base, Current and Contributed Influence – All units have an Influence value in their upper right. This is the base Influence. We don’t often use this term. Most of the time we are looking at the current Influence of the creature. Let’s say Cumberland Dragon, Keeper of the Peace (8 Cost, 9 Base Influence) starts a Duel, and that it was given +3 Influence by a previous effect this round. For the purpose of its current Influence in the Duel, we count it as 12. It will deal 12 damage to the creature it duels (let’s say it dueled a 10 Influence creature) and takes damage from that creature equal to it’s Influence. Cumberland is not removed by damage because its current Influence is 12. Then, if the mission in the lane was declared, it would normally contribute equal to its current 12 Influence. However, if Jorogumo was on the other side when that Mission was declared, Cumberland Dragon would only contribute 10 Influence because Jorogumo lessened its contribution. Now, imagine Ghost Deer was also in the lane opposite Jorogumo. Ghost Deer has a base Influence of 1. Jorogumo lessens its Influence by 2, meaning Ghost Deer now contributes negative influence of -1. If you added Cumberland and Ghost Deer’s modified Influences together when facing off against Jorogumo, the total contributed Influence would be 9. But this negative modification has not changed their actual influence numbers for the purposes of taking damage. Cumberland Dragon only contributed 10 Influence after modifiers, but it’s current Influence is still 12, which is above the 10 damage it took while dueling. Damage only looks at current Influence. Ghost Deer is not Dispelled for having a -1 Influence contribution. However, if some future effect we created were to make Ghost Deer’s current and not just it’s contributed influence zero or less, that would cause it to leave play and become Dispelled.
Lane Resolution – Lane Resolution does not affect the abilities of units unless it specifically is referenced on the card. For instance, Basilisk is an exception because the card states that its tap ability cannot be used once its lane is resolved. But the default of units is that if they have some kind of ability, it is still able to trigger or be activated even if the lane is resolved. By the same token, units that participated in a mission and then are Moved from a resolved lane to an unresolved lane can use their Influence to affect that destination lane’s resolution. Certain effects may tell you to treat a lane “as if it was resolved”. Those effects are not the same as Declare the Mission effects. Treat as resolved means there will be no scoring or triggering of “On Mission” effects. Players simply mark that lane as resolved bypassing all On Mission effects and scoring.
Leaves Play - Not all units are Dispelled. Some units leave play and do not trigger “When Dispelled” effects. Currently any token unit or Caster that is Shattered, damaged to its threshold, returned to hand, Sacrificed, or removed from play from other effects such as a change in lane size limits is considered to have left play. The simplest way to understand this is that if the unit was not a card that came from your main deck, and it went from in play to your discard, then it was not Dispelled. Strategies are not Dispelled because they are not units and were never in a lane. Casters and tokens are not from your main deck. Casters are sent back to the caster zone facedown when they leave play, tokens simply vanish. Terras can also be Dispelled by leaving play, even your Starter Terras.
On Mission Scope – Typically, “On Mission” effects trigger only in the lane where the mission is being declared/resolved. There are some exceptions to this such as South Mountain Caves which has an ability that affects a creature outside its lane. But it is safe to assume an “On Mission” ability of a unit or Terra in a different lane does not trigger when a Mission is declared unless it specifically says otherwise.
Replace – Replace is to remove something to the discard, filling the same slot with something new. Replace actions do not require an open slot to be played. Currently, replace only applies to Terra, of which there can only be one in a lane (1 Slot). A replaced Terra, once in the discard, has been Dispelled, but not Shattered.
Replacement Effects – Replacement effects usually involve the word “instead” or “prevent” in their rules text and occur when the condition is met, meaning at the time that the condition is resolving. Several cards prevent or redirect damage or Shatter effects. The replacement effect takes place as the damage is being dealt or the unit is being Shattered.
Simultaneous Effects and Order of Resolution – With effects that simultaneously impact multiple units, Terras, players, etc. there needs to be an order of resolution. In this game, those resolutions all become individual steps. The active player will choose the order they resolve but how they resolve, if there is choice, will be decided by the player who owns the effect. A great example is a strategy card like Blighted Embers, which has a simultaneous impact on all units. The first step is to identify all the units that will be impacted. They are all added to a virtual list and “tagged” to be Shattered. Then a series of mini-steps arise, and the active player must determine the order that those creatures on the list will be Shattered in. If the resolution of these mini-steps creates a new trigger or triggers, (such as a “When Dispelled” effect on a Shattered unit) those must all be resolved before returning to the remaining mini-steps. In this way, the outcome may play out differently depending on how the active player orders the resolution. If Lava Armor –which has a replacement effect– is the first unit Shattered, it’s effect to save another unit will not resolve, because the unit has not yet been Shattered. However, as soon as another friendly unit in its lane is Shattered before Lava Armor, Lava Armor’s effect will be triggered and resolve, giving the owner a chance to save the unit by Shattering Lava Armor instead. Another common way that simultaneous effects occur is from a Terra, which will often effect both players. Using South Mountain Caves as an example, both players have an option to Move a creature to the Caves when the mission is declared. The active player (the one who just declared the Caves) may choose the order of those effects, often choosing to make their opponent choose and resolve their Move first, then responding with their own.
Terra Replacement – Replacing a Terra does not reset a resolved lane, making it unresolved. See “Replace” keyword for more information.
Unique – If a friendly unique unit is in play, it’s owner may not attempt to play a copy of the same card from any zone. A unique Terra may only have one copy in play. Not one per player.