Aeon's End FAQ
175 questions players ask · Updated Nov 6, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and Components
- Why do some mages have only three breaches?
- Can first and second edition Aeon's End cards be mixed?
- Is the introductory preset nemesis deck the same as a normal setup?
- How do I set up the nine supply piles?
- Are breaches II and IV adjacent if breach III has been destroyed?
- How do I set up the nemesis deck for a two-player first game?
- Can I mix cards from different boxes and expansions, and should basic nemesis cards be separated by wave?
- In what order are starting cards arranged in my deck?
- How are the basic nemesis cards for each tier chosen?
- Why do gem piles have seven cards while other supply piles have five?
Turn Order
- How is the turn order deck built for 2, 3 and 4 players?
- Can the nemesis take several turns in a row?
- Is the turn order card that started the current nemesis turn already in the discard pile?
- What happens when a card needs to shuffle a turn order card into, or look at, an empty turn order deck?
- When does Sever Reality activate if Dizzying Burst causes the turn order deck to be shuffled?
- If Encroach reveals a Wild turn order card, who takes the damage?
Casting Spells and Breaches
- Can a spell's damage be split between the nemesis and a minion, or between two minions?
- Can I prep a spell onto a closed breach that another player focused, or that I focused on an earlier turn?
- Can a two-breach spell be prepped on a closed breach that wasn't focused this turn?
- Does a spell prepped across breaches III and IV get +2 damage?
- Does a breach's +1 damage apply to each instance of damage in a spell like Combustion?
- When a spell is cast, is it discarded before its effect resolves?
- When I cast another player's prepped spell, who is 'you' and where does the spell go?
- Can a single damage instance be split across several husks or minions?
- Can a 'while prepped' effect be used on the turn the spell is prepped?
- Do I have to kill minions before attacking the nemesis?
- Must spells in closed breaches be cast before those in open breaches?
- Can I focus or open another player's breach?
- What happens if a card focuses a breach that is already fully focused?
- After casting the spell from a breach I focused this turn, can I prep another spell there?
- Can I cast a spell I just prepped during the casting phase?
- Does a card that tells me to focus a breach cost aether?
- Does a breach's 'once opened +1 damage' deal damage when it opens?
- Can I prep a spell onto a breach I just focused and cast it the same turn?
- Does a breach's +1 damage apply to a spell whose cast effect normally deals no damage?
- Can I open or focus a breach that already has a spell prepped on it?
- Can I move a prepped spell to a different breach later?
- Do Link, Link Conduit and Otherworldly Gate stack on a breach?
Main Phase and Gaining Cards
- Can I keep a gem in hand instead of playing it, and does unspent aether carry over?
- Can I play a gem or relic just to cycle it, even if its effect can't be resolved?
- Where does a card I gain go, and does a card gained by an effect go to my hand?
- How do I gain charges, and when can my mage's ability be used?
- Can I destroy a card in hand that I already played this turn?
- After discarding cards to a nemesis effect, do I draw back up to five?
- In what order do cards go to my discard pile during a turn?
- Can I gain more than one card or charge in a turn?
- Is there a penalty for drawing up to five when my deck has fewer than five cards?
- Can players pool aether to pay for something together?
- Can a mage's charge ability be used more than once per turn?
- Where does a card discarded by an effect like Burning Opal go?
- If a nemesis attack makes me discard my whole hand, do I still get a main phase?
Mages and Player Cards
- Can Focusing Orb turn any player's breach, and does it cost aether?
- Can Wildfire Whip cast itself right after being prepped?
- Does Phaedraxa's Auspex Rune prevent damage to players, to Gravehold, or both, and can I still pick a damage option?
- When can Adelheim's ability discard a nemesis card, and what can it affect?
- Does Jian's ability discard the spell after the first cast?
- Can Reeve's ability be used with only one minion in play, and what about Warper?
- Do the breach bonus and Eternal Ember's cast each count as separate damage?
- Which breach does Amplify Vision focus, and does it cost aether?
- Does Blaze get its bonus when the same Blaze is cast again with Temporal Helix or Black Mirror?
- Can Drown in Flames be repeated by losing charges, and does each repeat get damage bonuses?
- Can Garnet Shard cast a spell prepped earlier in the same turn?
- Can Dark Fire split its damage, and does the breach bonus count per discarded card?
- How does Chaos Arc's adjacent-spell bonus work with several prepped spells?
- How many spells can Kadir prep per breach with Link spells in play?
- How does Sage's Brand work across two breaches, and do multiple Brands stack their extra draw?
- When does Lava Tendril's prepped damage resolve, and does it get breach bonuses?
- Can Indira cast a spell she draws during her own ability?
- Can Transmogrifier destroy itself, and where does the card it gains go?
- How does Bottled Vortex work: where can I destroy cards from, and when do I draw?
- Can I cast Combustion when no minions are in play?
- Can Disintegrating Scythe's discard option send it to my own discard pile, and does the first sentence end the game at 0 life?
- Does Fulminate boost spells cast from hand, and does Radiance's draw affect the caster?
- How do Gather Darkness and Crooked Mask resolve with an empty discard pile?
- Does Diamond Cluster's bonus aether apply to every copy played after the second?
- In what order do Reeve's charged ability damage effects resolve?
- How do Xaxos's gained charges split among his allies?
- Can I cast only some of Kadir's two prepped spells on a breach?
- How does Flexing Dagger's discount work?
- Can I play gems for aether and then discard them to Woven Sky's cost?
- Does Nebula Shard give 2 aether for an Echo spell?
- What happens to the breach if a spell on Lucien's open breach is cast with Temporal Helix?
- Do multiple copies of draw-extra-cards effects like Feeding Lichen stack?
- What does Breach Stabilizer let me prep?
Nemesis Turn and Powers
- What does a Power card's POWER X number mean, and does it repeat the effect X times?
- Can a power card's To Discard cost be split between players or paid on the nemesis turn?
- Does card order within each nemesis tier matter, and can I shuffle all tiers together?
- Is there a limit to how many minion and power cards can be in play?
- How do Persistent, IMMEDIATELY and Power work on nemesis cards, and when do they resolve?
- Do minions get life tokens as soon as they enter play?
Specific Nemeses
- Must I destroy the Embers of The Burning Kor before winning by emptying the nemesis deck?
- How do repeated either-or nemesis choices resolve, such as 'Gravehold takes 3 damage or a player discards a gem' repeated several times?
- How do Crooked Mask corruption cards work: when are they resolved and where do they go?
- Does each damage instance to the Corrupter minion give a corruption card?
- How many times can Rageborne strike in one turn?
- Is Rageborne's Blood Cry a Spell or a Power?
- How do Horde-Crone's Troggs and Horde-Hybrid work?
- How does Wayward One's alignment affect spells, Indira and Garu?
- How do Carapace Queen's husk life and shells work?
- Does Doom Aegis still deal damage when no player has charges?
- How does Cauterizer's damage reduction work with several spells?
- How do Tainted Jades from Blight Lord work?
- How does Prince of Gluttons' Devour work with empty piles, tied piles and minions?
- Can I beat Hollow Crown without damaging it?
- What can damage a Mailed Shade?
- How is the OR on the Negate Confusion card read?
- When do players discard gems to Pulverizing Ray and what counts toward the 6?
- What do corruption cards cost?
- What if Rageborne's Fury tokens run out?
- How does Sunder's shuffle option work with the turn order discard?
- How many cards does Cerephage devour, and from which pile?
- Can the Crooked Mask corruption deck run out, and do corruptions count toward my hand?
- If I draw a corruption card during my draw phase, when does it resolve?
- How is Prince of Gluttons' Devoured pile built at setup?
Exhausted Players
Winning, Losing and Solo Play
- Do the players win when the nemesis deck runs out?
- What happens if the nemesis has to draw from an empty deck while minions or powers are still in play?
- Do I win the moment the nemesis reaches 0 life, even with minions or powers in play?
- If a win or loss condition is met mid-turn, does play continue to finish the turn?
- In solo play with one mage, do I lose when my mage is exhausted?
- How many cards go in the nemesis deck for a solo game?
- Can one player control two mages?
- Should upgraded basic nemesis cards be used in a one-off game?
- What are the difficulty modes and how do I set them up?
- In true solo, are Tier 3 upgraded basic nemesis cards still added despite the New Age page 10 limit?
General Rules and Card Text
- Can players or Gravehold gain life above their starting total?
- Can effects that heal players also heal Gravehold?
- What happens to a destroyed card?
- Can I respond to or interrupt an effect that is already resolving?
- What is the difference between 'any player', 'each player' and 'any ally'?
- Who takes the effect when several mages tie for lowest life, or an ambiguous choice comes up?
- If a card gives two options and I can't fully do one, which do I choose?
- What happens when I must draw or reveal from an empty deck?
- Can I look at or write down my deck order?
- If damage is reduced to 0, does it still trigger 'when damaged' effects?
- What does a shield token on a minion do?
- Do scripted expeditions use cards from other boxes?
Aeon's End: Buried SecretsExpansion
Aeon's End: Into the WildExpansion
Aeon's End: Past and FutureExpansion
- Does Erythiza's Mega Breach count as a breach on the nemesis turn?
- Can a swap card be played twice, e.g. Glowstone with Unstable Prism?
- Why does Bayli's ability say cast two prepped spells and then one more?
- Do Ohat and Ulgimor follow the normal exhaustion rules?
- In what order do effects resolve when Ohat and Ulgimor split a spell's damage?
- When a spell kills a minion with Naftir's consumption breach in play, does it go under the breach?
- Can Naftir cast spells from a linked breach outside the casting phase?
- Where does Erythiza, Consumed's city token go after the mega breach opens?
- Can a player cast a spell prepped at the active Mega Breach that they did not prep?
- What base-game content do I need to play Past and Future?
- How does developing work: do I need the card in hand, and does it count as gaining?
- Does a Void token's extra damage apply to each instance of a multi-hit spell?
- Where do Rhys's artificial breaches go, and what counts as adjacent?
- When I cast another mage's upgraded swap spell, what do I gain and where does the old card go?
- Does gaining Propel automatically swap it with Gather Force?
- Does Dorian's Spatial Distortion let him develop any market card cheaply?
- Do Herald of the End minions use their persistent effects the turn they enter?
- Where does a minion Lily casts as a spell go afterward?
- Can Tethered Smith's split damage hit Maggots in several rows of the Miasma track?
- When do I gain treasures in an expedition?
- Can Flaming Aura and Force Bubble loop to deal repeated damage?
- Can Past and Future's content be used in one-off games, and how does true solo use upgraded basics?