Ascension: Deckbuilding Game FAQ
118 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup
- Does the core game have enough Honor tokens for a two-player game?
- Does the Honor pool decide when the game ends, or can its size change?
- In a two-player game, do you use the whole Center Deck or remove duplicate cards?
- How do you tell which expansion a card belongs to?
- What are the orange football-shaped gems in the Year Six tin?
Mixing Sets and Promos
- How do you combine several Ascension sets into one game, and is there a deck size limit?
- Can an Ascension expansion be played on its own, without the base game or another set?
- What is a block in Ascension, and do the sets have to be played together?
- Was Return of the Fallen designed to be played with the base game?
- Are promo cards tied to a particular expansion block?
- Is there an official rule for shuffling promo cards into the Center Deck?
- Can Collector's Edition (foil) sets be mixed with regular sets?
- Were there rule changes in the second edition of Ascension?
- In Delirium, does rolling the dice cost five Insight?
Center Row
- When is an empty Center Row slot refilled after you buy, banish or defeat a card?
- In what order do effects resolve after you buy or defeat a Center Row card?
- How do Event cards work, and do they take a Center Row slot?
- Are Soul Gems shuffled into the draw deck?
- What happens when the Center Deck runs out and the Center Row needs refilling?
Turn Order
Playing and Discarding Cards
- When do the cards you play during your turn go to the discard pile?
- Must you play every card in your hand, or can you keep unplayed cards for your next turn?
- Can you banish a starting Apprentice or Militia from your hand before playing it?
- Should you play with your hand face up?
- If you discard or banish a card from your hand to draw more, can you still use that card's Runes?
- How do the discard pile and reshuffling work, and do you draw from your own deck when a card says draw?
- Can you loop drawing and discarding to cycle your deck forever?
- If a card or monster reward draws you a card, can you play it in the same turn?
- Why does play order matter, and why not just use the Play All button?
- Can you respond to an opponent's action, such as sacrificing a Construct in response to a forced discard?
- Can an effect that refers to your hand or discard pile, such as Temple Librarian's, choose a card you already played?
- Where do banished cards, defeated Monsters and discarded cards go?
Runes, Power and Buying
- Do unspent Runes and Power carry over between purchases and monster defeats in the same turn?
- Do Runes gained from defeating a monster stay available after your turn ends?
- Does Power get spent like Runes when you defeat monsters?
- Can you combine Power from several cards to defeat more than one monster, and carry leftover Power to a replacement monster?
- Can you buy several copies of the same card in one turn?
- Can you make several purchases and several monster defeats in one turn, or is it limited to one buy and one attack?
- If you buy and fight in the same turn, do you count both the Rune and the Power symbols?
- Can a rune discount make a Hero affordable when you have fewer runes than its full cost?
- Does transforming a card in Legends give Renown?
- When you buy a Hero or Construct, do its abilities or Runes apply that same turn?
Defeating Monsters
Heroes
- Does Mechana Initiate give one Rune or one Power, or both?
- Does Runic Lycanthrope's bonus count itself, and does its ability refer to another Lifebound Hero?
- If Twofold Askara copies Runic Lycanthrope, does Lycanthrope's Unity trigger?
- Can Emri, Voidtouched mix Power and Runes to acquire a card?
- Can Temple Librarian's discard take a card you already played, or a Construct in play?
- Does Temple Librarian still draw its two cards if you have no other card to discard?
- Can you delay Seer of the Forked Path's banish until later in your turn?
- Can Pathwarden turn Runes from Grand Design into Power?
- Does Eye of the Serpent's double bonus apply to every Lifebound Hero you play in a turn, including Lifebound Initiate's Rune and Honor?
- Does Soul Collector trigger when you defeat a monster outside the Center Row?
- Does Avatar Golem count itself when it gains Honor for each type of Construct you control?
- Does Hedron Link Device change a card's faction, so Avatar Golem triggers differently?
- Can you play Druids of the Stone Circle when no Hero costing 3 or less is available?
- Which heroes can Cetra, Weaver of Stars or Druids of the Stone Circle acquire?
- Can power from other cards be added to Arha Templar to defeat a Monster costing more than 4?
- Is a Reactor Monk a Construct or a Hero?
- Can Sage of Lucid Dreams banish a card with no Honor value and then acquire a Hero worth one star?
- Do Echo, Serenity, Unite and Plunder conditions have to be met when the card is played?
- Does Plunder trigger when you defeat a Center Row monster and then Dreambind it?
Constructs
- If you have two identical Constructs in play with a once-per-turn ability, does each one trigger that turn?
- If you return a Construct to your hand and play it again, does its once-per-turn ability trigger again?
- How does an Echo effect on a Construct trigger, compared with a Hero?
- Does activating a Construct count as playing a card for Unite?
- When is Hedron Cannon's Power evaluated?
- Does Hedron Cannon count itself when it gives Power for each Mechana Construct you control?
- When does Burrower Mark II draw a card?
- If you have two Burrower's Mark III in play, do both draw when you play a Mechana Construct?
- How much Honor does Voidthirster give when you defeat a Center Row monster?
- With two Snapdragons in play, do you score Honor from each when you play a Lifebound Hero?
- Can you banish Tablet of Time's Dawn from your hand, or by another card, to get its extra turn?
- Can you see your refilled hand before deciding to banish Tablet of Time's Dawn for the extra turn?
- With Hedron Link Device in play, can Grand Design Runes be spent on a Construct in the Center Row?
- Can you use a Construct's effect on the turn you play it, and in what order can you use Constructs?
- Can you have two copies of the same Construct in play at once?
- Do Constructs have to be in play to count toward 'Constructs under your control'?
- Does a Hero that counts Constructs also count Constructs played later in the same turn?
- When a Construct comes into your hand, must you play it?
- Does a destroyed Construct get banished, or does it go to the discard pile and still score?
- Can the rune discounts from two identical Constructs both apply to one purchase?
Monsters
- When you defeat Sea Tyrant, does its Construct penalty apply to every opponent or only one chosen opponent?
- When you defeat Xeron, Duke of Lies, do you keep the cards you take from opponents' hands?
- Do Trophy Monsters still work after you defeat them, and can one replace a Construct for a discard?
- What do the silver-bordered Explosive Swarm promo monsters do, and are they added to the deck?
Always Available Cards
- Can you defeat the Cultist more than once in a turn?
- Does the Cultist go to the Void, or leave the Center Row, when you defeat it?
- Do you need a Hero in play to use Power to defeat a Cultist?
- Does defeating a Cultist count as defeating a Center Row card for bonuses like Voidthirster's?
- Are Mystics and Heavy Infantry limited in number, and how many should a game use?
- Can you play Heavy Infantry alone to defeat monsters without a hero?
- What happens when a Cultist, Mystic or Heavy Infantry is banished?
Honor and Game End
Solo Play
- When does a solo game end?
- In solo play, what happens when the Center Deck runs out?
- In solo play against Samael, do monsters you defeat give their Honor to Samael?
- In solo play, do a defeated monster's effects that take or destroy player cards reach Samael's stack?
- In solo play, does Samael get a final turn when you take the last Honor token?
- In solo play, can Samael take or defeat the Cultist, and does it go to the Void?
Glossary
Ascension: Theme Pack – Rat KingExpansion
- If the starting Center Row includes Rat King, do you resolve it before or after all six cards are dealt?
- When a Giant Rat covering a Rat King is defeated, does the Rat King enter the Center Row again?
- If Vedah defeats Rat King straight from the Portal, do its Giant Rats appear?
- Does defeating Kythis bring the Rat King into the Center Row, and do Giant Rats come out?
- If Rat King is one of the starting Center Row cards, how do the Giant Rats get placed?
- If Rat King is banished instead of defeated, do its Rat tokens stay in the Center Row?
- In solo play, when Samael claims a card with a Rat token on it, does he also claim the card underneath?