Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances Core Set
Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances Core Set Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Components
- Introduction
- Chapter 1
- Game Objective
- Chapter 1 Set Up
- Setting Up the Shared Pieces
- Setting Up Each Summoner's Pieces
- Parts of a Battle Card
- Parts of a Character Turn Order Tile
- On the Active Character's Turn
- Starting Phase
- Main Phases
- Completing Card Effects
- Status Effects
- Status Effects in Chapter 1
- Knocking Out Characters
- Ending Phase
- Additional Game Rules
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Team Play
- Credits
- Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances — Core Set Status Effects
Components
8 Base Rings — 4 Blue, 4 Red
8 Character Decks (10 Cards per Deck)
8 Character Ability Cards
4 Reference Cards
1 Turn Marker
15 Status Counters
18 Victory Point Tokens — 10 worth 5 points, 8 worth 1 point
24 Status Effect Tokens — Cursed (x4), Flustered (x4), Immobilized (x6), Magic Broom (x1), Shrunken (x3), Stealthy (x2), Strong (x2), Taunt (x1), Tough (x1)
8 Character Turn Order Tokens
8 Acrylic Standee Figures with Bases — Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey, Gaston, Maleficent, Aladdin, Demona, Ariel, Dr. Facilier, Sulley
(Before your first game, remove the protective film from the Standees and Bases)
1 Arena Game Board
Introduction
Game Terms
Before We Start, Some Important Game Terms...
Summoner — Each player is a Summoner competing in the Sorcerer's Arena tournament. Each Summoner has a team of characters that they control.
Character, Ally, and Rival — Each character is represented by a Standee in the Arena (the game board). Characters on your team are considered to be allies, while characters on the other team are rivals.
The Chaptered Learning System
Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances is a game for 2 or 4 players where your team of characters battles against a team of rival characters. To help players get a feel for the strategic choices they'll encounter in the game, these rules are broken into four chapters. After reading a chapter, pause and play a game (or several) to let the rules sink in. Here is what you can expect to learn in each chapter.
Chapter 1 (page 05) teaches the basic form of the game using a pre-selected team of 2 characters per player — or Summoner — and a limited number of components. There are fewer choices to make per turn so you can get familiar with the structure of the game. This chapter is intentionally quick to play once you know the rules, so you can play multiple games back-to-back. Chapter 1 is a 2-player game.
Chapter 2 (page 13) unlocks all 8 characters and expands each Summoner's team to three characters. This adds several layers of depth to the strategic choices. To give you time to explore these, the number of Victory Points required to end the game is increased. We recommend trying out several different team groupings before moving on to Chapter 3. Chapter 2 is a 2-player game.
Chapter 3 (page 16) introduces a more detailed setup. You will now be using all of the components for each character, as well as playing with a new phase in each turn: Skills. It is important to note that some characters' most basic abilities also change at this time. Chapter 3 is a 2-player game.
Chapter 4 (page 19) completes the full game rules! You will learn about upgrading your characters to give them better abilities for the remainder of the game. The upgrading system adds strategy not only in how you play the game, but also in how you select your team to best take advantage of the upgrade mechanic. Chapter 4 is a 2-player game.
After Chapter 4, you'll find rules for bringing everything together into an epic team game (page 20), pitting you and an allied Summoner against two rival Summoners. The team game rules are for a 4-player game.
In the end, you get to choose your preferred complexity. Make sure all players agree before starting a game, but feel free to play only the chapters you enjoy!
Chapter 1
Game Objective
Have the most Victory Points (VP) when the game ends.
Chapter 1 Set Up
For this game, Summoners will choose between playing Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey and Aladdin (the blue team) or Gaston and Ariel (the red team).
Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey and Aladdin Summoner needs:
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey Standee, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile
- Aladdin Standee, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile
- 2 Blue Summoner Indicator Rings
- Chapter 1-2 Reference Card — flipped to the Chapter 1 side
Gaston and Ariel Summoner needs:
- Gaston Standee, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile
- Ariel Standee, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile
- 2 Red Summoner Indicator Rings
- Chapter 1-2 Reference Card — flipped to the Chapter 1 side
Setting Up the Shared Pieces
Place the Arena so a set of blue starting spaces is in front of each Summoner.
Place the Turn Order Tiles next to the Arena in the following order, rotating each tile to face its Summoner and flipping them to their Summoner's color:
- Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey
- Ariel
- Aladdin
- Gaston
Place the Turn Marker on the Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey Turn Order Tile.
Setting Up Each Summoner's Pieces
Maximum Health Points — A character's Health Points may never exceed the starting Health Points shown on their Standee base and their Turn Order Tile (shown on page 5).
Each Summoner places a Summoner Indicator Ring on their characters' bases, with the arrow pointing to that character's maximum Health Point (HP) value on the base.
As a character takes damage in the game, adjust their ring to point to their current HP.
Place your characters in the two blue starting spaces closest to the center, on your side of the Arena. Starting spaces can also be identified by a dark solid line within the space.
For Chapter 1, you need these Status Effect Tiles:
- Magic Broom
- Immoblized
- Stealthy
Place them to one side of the Arena, away from the Character Turn Order Tiles, with the Status Counters and Victory Point (VP) Tokens near them.
Each Summoner shuffles their Character Decks together. This is your deck for the duration of the game. Draw the top six cards to form your hand. This is both your starting hand size and the maximum number of cards you can hold at the end of your turn.
Parts of a Battle Card
The cards within each character's deck are called Battle Cards. However, for brevity, any time they're referred to here in the rules or in in-game directives, they're simply referred to as "cards."
Character Portrait & Name — You may play this card on the indicated Character's turn.
Slashes — Indicates the number of copies of this card in your deck.
Phase Banner — This indicates the phase or phases the card can be played in.
Card Types — These indicate the types that the card has.
Set Symbol — Indicates the set the card comes from.
Gear Type — This is the gear produced by this card starting in Chapter 4.
Card Number
Phase Banner Symbols
- Action
- Movement
- Action or Movement — A card with this symbol counts as both an Action and a Movement card that can be played in either phase.
Card Types
- Attack — This card is used to deal damage
- Magical — This card's effect is magical in nature
- Status — This card produces a status effect
Parts of a Character Turn Order Tile
Health Points — This is the character's starting and maximum Health Points.
Victory Points — These are awarded to the rival Summoner whenever this character is Knocked Out.
Character Portrait
Initiative Value — This is used for setting up the game starting in Chapter 2.
Summoner Indicator — The color of the sand, blue or red, shows which Summoner controls this character.
On the Active Character's Turn
Round — The sequence it takes for each character in the game to take one turn. A round ends when the last character — in order of the Turn Order Tiles — has completed their turn.
One of the most important rules in this game is that during your turn, only one of your characters is active!
Starting Phase
These are the steps for the Starting Phase of each turn. In the early turns of the game, not all steps may occur. For example, if the active character has no status effects on them, then Step 1 doesn't happen.
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Remove one Status Counter from each Status Effect Tile on the active character. If the last counter is removed from a Status Effect Tile, return the Status Effect Tile to the supply.
Status Effect — a special kind of temporary effect that gives a boost to a character (or hinders them) during the game, and may last for one or more rounds. We'll talk more about these on page 10.
Status effects can be categorized in one of two ways, Constant and Triggered:
Constant Effects — These are active at all times.
Triggered Effects — These are only activated when a Status Counter is removed during this Starting Phase. For Chapter 1, only Magic Broom is a Triggered Effect.
-
If the active character is standing on one of the three golden Victory Point spaces, take 1 Victory Point (VP) from the supply.
-
If the active character is currently Knocked Out (page 11) or "KO'ed", restore the character's HP to their starting amount. Place the character standee back in the Arena on an unoccupied space in the back row of either Summoner's side of the Arena. These spaces have a star symbol in them to help you identify them.
(If there are no unoccupied back row spaces available at either side of the board, the character may be placed in any unoccupied space closest to a back row space.)
-
Draw one card from your deck.
Main Phases
Movement and Action
This is when the battle begins. For now, we suggest sorting the cards in your hand by character. You may only play cards that correspond to the active character. Hint: As you get better at the game, you may not want to sort your cards this way to make it harder for your opponent to guess what types of cards are in your hand.
There are two main phases in your turn, Movement and Action. These can be completed in any order (or skipped), but for the first turn or two you will usually want to move first.
Before We Talk About the Main Phases, Some More Important Game Terms...
Range — Range is measured by counting spaces from one character to another. A range of 1 means the spaces adjacent to the character, while range 2 would be any space up to two spaces away from the character, and so on.
Direct Effects — Most attacks, cards, and effects will require their Summoner to choose one or more characters to affect. These are called Direct Effects. Direct Effects on cards will have a symbol to help you identify them.
Indirect Effects — Other effects will specify a set category of characters that are affected. These are called Indirect Effects. Some examples of Indirect Effects might be cards that affect "each rival", "each adjacent character", or "each ally within range 2". Indirect Effects on cards will have a symbol to help you identify them.
Movement Phase
In your Movement Phase you may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Movement
- Play a Movement Card
Standard Movement
The active character may move up to 2 spaces in any direction. They may move through spaces occupied by allies, but not spaces occupied by rivals. In all instances, a character's movement must end in a space not occupied by another character.
Note: Some game effects may prevent movement.
Movement Cards
Play a Movement card corresponding to your active character by following all directions on the card in the order they are printed, then place it on your discard pile. See Completing Card Effects on page 10.
Action Phase
In your Action Phase, you may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Attack
- Play an Action Card
Standard Attack
The active character may attack an adjacent character causing 2 damage. Reduce the HPs of the attacked character by 2. Your standard attack is considered a Direct Effect.
Note: Some game effects may prevent this or reduce the damage dealt.
Action Cards
Play an Action card corresponding to your active character by following all directions on the card in the order they are printed, then place it on your discard pile. If the card's text indicates it has a Direct Effect, there must be a valid character available to choose in order to play that card. See Completing Card Effects on page 10.
Completing Card Effects
Sometimes a card will have multiple effects, the latter of which become impossible to complete after a prior effect of that card is resolved. In these cases, resolve as much of the card's text as possible, in the order that it is printed. However, you may never choose to not follow an instruction on a card if you are able to complete it, even if it means damaging one of your own allies.
On Gaston's Shove, the card directs you to deal 3 damage to an adjacent rival. If the rival is KO'ed by this, the movement directed by the second half of the card is ignored.
On Aladdin's Stun and Run, the card directs you to deal 2 damage to up to one adjacent rival. If the rival is KO'ed by this, Immobilized is not applied to it. Either way, you may still move Aladdin up to 1 space.
Some cards ask you to choose "up to" a certain number of characters to affect; you may always choose zero as the number of characters.
Status Effects
Status effects are temporary effects that are applied to a character. These effects will modify how that character takes its turn and/or interacts with other characters. Some status effects are positive, boosting the abilities of the character they are attached to, while other effects will hinder that character.
The first time a status effect is created, place the corresponding Status Effect Tile next to the character's Turn Order Tile. Next, place a number of Status Counters on the Status Effect Tile equal to the number shown on the card or ability that created the status effect. It is important to note that the Status Effect Tile itself is not considered a counter — only the Status Counters placed on the tile indicate the value or length of time the status effect will remain. If multiple copies of the same status effect would be added to a character, instead, add that many more Status Counters to the existing tile. If a Status Effect Tile ever has no Status Counters on it, return that tile to the supply.
A character may have two or more different types of status effects on them at the same time. If more than one status effect triggers, the character's Summoner may choose the order the effects are resolved in.
If a status effect is removed from a character by a card or effect, the Status Effect Tile and all counters on it are returned to the supply. This does not cause Triggered Effects to activate.
Status Effects in Chapter 1
Immobilized (Constant Effect)
This character cannot be moved with any card or other effect. Any time this character would be moved one or more spaces, instead they do not move.
Stealthy (Constant Effect)
A rival Summoner may only use a Direct Effect on this character if they first banish a card of their choice from their hand. Indirect Effects do not cause the Summoner to banish a card (see Banished Cards on page 12).
Magic Broom (Triggered Effect)
When a Status Counter is removed from Magic Broom during the Starting Phase, this character's Summoner looks at the top two cards of their deck and returns them in any order. They then reveal the top card of their deck. If that card is a Magical card, this character gains 1 Magic Broom (returning the Status Counter removed to trigger the effect). This effect represents Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey's command of magic; as long as he keeps finding Magical cards to "study", it will help Mickey draw better cards during his turn.
Knocking Out Characters
Whenever a character's HP are reduced to zero, that character is immediately Knocked Out (or KO'ed). Remove the character from the Arena. All status effects and counters are removed from that character's Turn Order Tile. The character's rival Summoner takes VP from the supply equal to the value shown on that character's Turn Order Tile. A KO'ed character cannot be affected by Direct or Indirect Effects, unless a card or ability specifically says otherwise.
The KO'ed character stays out of the Arena until Step 3 of the Starting Phase of their turn. Their Summoner then restores that character's starting HP and can place them on any unoccupied space in the back row of either Summoner's side of the Arena. (See Starting Phase, page 08).
Ending Phase
If you are currently holding more than six cards, choose card(s) to discard until you have six cards in hand.
Slide the Turn Marker to the next Character Turn Order Tile in the row, or, if the Turn Marker is on the last tile, return it to the beginning of the row. Whenever the Turn Marker is moved off the last Character Turn Order Tile, the round ends, and a new round begins.
The game ends at the end of any round in which either:
- A Summoner scores their 12th VP
- A Summoner needs to draw a card but has no more cards in their deck
The Summoner with the most VPs wins.
Additional Game Rules
Minimum Victory Points
A Summoner's Victory Points can never go below zero. If A Summoner's Victory Points would go below zero, they are set to zero instead.
Banished Cards
A card that is Banished is removed from the game; return banished cards to the box.
Revealed Cards
All Summoners may look at a revealed card or cards. Once everyone has seen the card, that card is returned to wherever it was revealed from. For example, if a Summoner is instructed to reveal a card from the top of their deck, the card returns to the top of their deck face down after all Summoners have had an opportunity to view it.
Running Out of Cards
If a Summoner ever needs to draw a card when there are no cards left in their deck, they simply skip that draw. This is now the final round of the game. At the end of the current round, the game ends and the Summoner with the most Victory Points wins.
If a Summoner has no cards left in their hand or deck, they continue playing using only the standard movement and attacks for their characters.
Tiebreakers
If the final score of the game in Chapter 1 is a tie, there is no tiebreaker; the game simply ends in a draw.
Damaging Multiple Characters at Once
Whenever damage would be dealt to two or more characters at the same time by a single card or other effect, the player who controls the source of that damage chooses the order in which characters are damaged.
Chapter 2
Once you are comfortable with Chapter 1, you're ready for Chapter 2. When learning or teaching Chapter 2, we recommend using only the characters from Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances — Core Set. In this chapter, several things are added or will be modified. To help you identify these differences between the two chapters, the text will be highlighted in orange.
The primary changes in Chapter 2 are:
- Summoners will now control three characters each instead of two
- Standard movement and attacks can be increased by discarding cards
- The final round is triggered by a player reaching 20 Victory Points instead of 12
Game Objective
Have the most Victory Points (VP) when the game ends.
Chapter 2 Set Up
For this game, each Summoner selects a team of three different characters. Players may want to select their team by drafting characters from those available.
Drafting Characters
The player who has most recently watched a Disney movie will pick first. Alternately, you may let the player who last lost a game pick first for the process of the draft. The first to pick will be called "Summoner A", and the other player will be "Summoner B". Summoner A selects one character from all of those available. Next, Summoner B selects two characters from those remaining. Summoner A then selects two characters and Summoner B gets one final pick.
- Pick 1: Summoner A
- Pick 1: Summoner B
- Pick 2: Summoner B
- Pick 2: Summoner A
- Pick 3: Summoner A
- Pick 3: Summoner B
Each Summoner needs:
- The Standee, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile for each of their selected characters
- 3 Summoner Indicator Rings in their color
- 1 Chapter 1-2 Reference Card — flipped to the Chapter 2 side
Setting Up the Order Tiles
Character Turn Order Tiles are placed alongside the Arena to show the order of character turns. Because the teams are now selected by the Summoners, there isn't a pre-set order for character turns like there was in Chapter 1. From now on, you'll use the following method to set up the Character Turn Order Tiles.
Each Summoner chooses the order their three characters will take turns. Summoners secretly stack their Turn Order Tiles, with their first character on the top. Once both Summoners have chosen an order, they each reveal their stack.
The Summoner whose first revealed character has the lowest initiative value (the number in the sand on the tile) places their Character Turn Order Tiles, in their selected order, next to the board in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th positions. The other Summoner then puts their tiles, in the chosen order, in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th positions (see diagram). Place the Turn Marker on the 1st Character Turn Order Tile.
Example: Aladdin has the lower initiative value so the blue team will have the 1st, 3rd, and 5th positions. Ariel has the higher initiative value so the red team will have the 2nd, 4th, and 6th positions.
If you have multiple copies of Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances, Summoners may each have the same character on their respective teams (i.e., both Summoners might choose Gaston).
In the event of a tie for lowest initiative value on first characters, compare the second character, if still tied check the third character. If there is still a tie, a coin flip will decide who places the first Character Turn Order Tile.
Drawing Your Opening Hand
Each Summoner draws a hand of six cards. If you don't like your starting hand of cards, you may optionally shuffle those cards back into your deck and draw a new hand of cards. You must accept these cards.
On Your Character's Turn
During your turn, only one of your characters is active.
Starting Phase
- The active character's status effects deplete by one. Remove one Status Counter from each Status Effect Tile. If the last counter is removed, return the Status Effect Tile to the supply.
- Check if the active character is standing on one of the three golden Victory Point spaces. If so, take one VP from the supply.
- If the active character is currently knocked out, put the character standee back in the Arena per the rule described in Chapter 1 (page 08).
- Draw one card from your deck.
Main Phases
The two phases (Movement and Action) may be completed in any order.
- Movement
- Action
Movement Phase
You may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Movement
- Play a Movement card
Standard Movement
When using standard movement, before moving, you may first discard ANY one Movement card to add 1 to your standard movement for the Phase. (The discarded card does not need to match the active character.)
Movement Cards
You may still only play cards that correspond to the active character in this phase.
Action Phase
You may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Attack
- Play an Action card
Standard Attack
When using a standard attack, you may first discard ANY one Attack card to add 1 to your standard attack for the Phase. (The discarded card does not need to match the active character.)
Action Cards
You may still only play cards that correspond to the active character in this phase.
Status Effects
In Chapter 2, you are able to use most of the status effects found in Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances – Core Set. For reference, these are defined on the back page of this rulebook.
Game End
The game ends at the end of any round in which either:
- A Summoner scores their 20th VP
- A Summoner needs to draw a card but has no more cards in their deck
The Summoner with the most VPs wins.
Chapter 3
Now that you've mastered the rules from Chapters 1 and 2, it's time for some new mechanics! In Chapter 3, several things are added and/or modified, including more updates to the setup and the actions within turn phases. To help you identify these, whenever there is a significant change or addition in this chapter, the text will be highlighted in orange.
The primary changes in Chapter 3 are:
- The introduction of Character Ability Cards
- Changes to hand sizes
- Changes to standard movement and attack values for characters
- The introduction of the Skills Phase
Game Objective
Have the most Victory Points (VP) when the game ends.
Chapter 3 Set Up
For this game, each Summoner selects a team of three different characters. Summoners may want to take turns drafting their characters from those available (See Drafting Characters on page 13).
Each Summoner needs:
- The Character Standee, Character Ability Card, Character Deck, and Turn Order Tile for each of their selected characters
- 3 Summoner Indicator Rings in their color
- 1 Chapter 3 Reference Card
Reveal and place each of your Character Turn Order Tiles as in Chapter 2.
Each Summoner arranges their three Character Ability Cards in front of themself, starting side up, from left to right in turn order.
The combined "Hand" size shown on the three Character Ability Cards for your team are both the number of cards you draw to start the game and the maximum number of cards you can hold at the end of your turn. If you don't like your starting hand of cards, you may optionally shuffle those cards back into your deck and draw a new hand of cards. You must accept these cards.
Parts of a Character Ability Card — Starting Side
Character Portrait & Name
Character Attributes
Standard Values
Gear Distribution — These will be used starting in Chapter 4.
Gear Upgrade Cost — These will be used starting in Chapter 4.
Set Symbol
Skill Name & Description
Victory Point Value
Health Points
Hand Size
Example — Gaston: Standard Move 2 (Movement); Standard Attack 2 (Action).
Skills — Boast: Reveal the top card of your deck. If that card is a Magical card, Gaston gains 1 Strong. Otherwise, Gaston takes 1 damage.
On Your Character's Turn
During your turn, only one of your characters is active.
Starting Phase
- The active character's status effects deplete by one.
- Claim 1 VP if the active character is standing on one of the VP spaces.
- If the active character is knocked out, return the character to the Arena per the rule described in Chapter 1 (page 08). Restore their full HP.
- Draw one card from your deck.
Main Phases
The three phases (Movement, Action, and Skills) may be completed in any order.
Movement Phase
You may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Movement up to the number of spaces indicated on your character's Character Ability Card. You may first discard ANY one Movement card to add 1 to your standard movement for the Phase.
- Play a Movement card corresponding to your active character.
Action Phase
You may choose to do one of two things:
- Use the Standard Attack of the amount of damage indicated on your character's Character Ability Card. You may first discard ANY one Attack card to add 1 to your standard attack for the phase.
- Play an Action card corresponding to your active character.
Skills Phase
Each character has one or more skills that may be used once each during the Skills Phase on that character's turn. If a character has multiple skills, you may choose any number of them to use, and may use them in any order by following the instructions shown.
Example — Aladdin: One Jump Ahead — Discard any card from your hand to give Aladdin 1 Stealthy. Thief's Cure — Reveal the top card of a rival Summoner's deck. If the rival character matching that card is adjacent to Aladdin, Aladdin recovers 1 HP.
If a skill requires discarding a card to activate it, any card that meets the requirement may be discarded for it. You may not discard a single card to activate multiple skills.
If the skill's text indicates it has a Direct Effect, there must be a valid character available to choose in order to use that skill.
Your character has only one Skills Phase during their turn. If your character has multiple skills, you may not use one, move to another phase, and then return to your Skills Phase to use another skill.
Status Effects
In Chapter 3, you are able to use all of the status effects found in Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances – Core Set. For reference, these are defined on the back page of this rulebook.
Ending Phase
After you have completed or skipped each of the main phases, you may end your character's turn.
If you are currently holding cards in excess of your maximum hand size, choose cards to discard until you have the maximum number of cards in hand.
There are no other changes to the Ending Phase between Chapter 2 and Chapter 3.
Additional Game Rules
Tiebreakers
If the final score of the game in Chapter 3 is a tie, continue playing until a round ends with one Summoner having more VP than the other.
Chapter 4
Chapter 4! You've made it! It's all been building up to this! In this chapter, we're going to teach you the final mechanics of Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances — Core Set. These will add more power to your characters' abilities and shape the way you choose characters for your team. There are no changes to the setup, goals, or phases of the game between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4.
The primary changes in Chapter 4 are:
- Gears
- Character upgrades
Collect Gears
On each battle card, there is a symbol in the lower right corner. These represent magical objects called "gears". There are four kinds:
- Fire
- Shell
- Heart
- Wind
Once a card is in your discard pile, you have collected that card's gear. The type and number of gears you have collected is public information, so as you place cards into your discard pile, be mindful that the gear symbols are always visible.
Use your collected gears to upgrade your characters' abilities.
Upgrading
On the starting side of each Character Ability Card, there is an "Upgrade" box that shows the quantity and types of gears needed for that character to upgrade. At any point between phases on your turn, you may upgrade your active character by banishing the required gears from your discard pile. Flip that character's Ability Card over to the upgraded side.
An upgraded character has a new ability in a purple cloud. Each ability describes when it can be used and what is needed to activate it.
Unless a character has a specific condition in their upgraded ability text that causes a Character Ability Card to be turned to the starting side, a character that has been upgraded remains upgraded even if it gets Knocked Out.
Each character's deck has a different distribution of gears that it can produce. This distribution is shown at the left edge of that character's Character Ability Card. To optimize your chances of upgrading your characters, consider picking three characters with different gear distributions and upgrade costs.
Example — Gaston: Upgraded ability, Overwhelm — Whenever Gaston KO's a rival, Gaston recovers 3 HP. Then, move Gaston up 2 spaces and gain 1 gear.
Team Play
After learning the head-to-head gameplay mode of Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances, you and a friend may want to challenge another team of two Summoners to a match in Team Play mode. Many things are added or modified in the setup of the game. To help you identify these, whenever there is a significant difference between individual and team play, the text will be highlighted in orange.
Game Objective
Have the most Victory Points (VP) when the game ends.
Draft Characters
If Summoners do not have pre-selected characters for the game, we recommend drafting your characters. The Summoner who has most recently seen a Disney movie will pick first. For the process of the draft, the blue team will have Summoners "A" and "D", and the red team will have Summoners "B" and "C". Picks proceed in the following order:
- Pick 1: Summoner A
- Pick 2: Summoner B
- Pick 3: Summoner C
- Pick 4: Summoner D
- Pick 5: Summoner D
- Pick 6: Summoner C
- Pick 7: Summoner B
- Pick 8: Summoner A
Similar to the rules from Chapter 2, if you have multiple copies of Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances — Core Set, a team may not have more than one instance of a character. However, each team may have one or more characters found on the other team (i.e., both teams might include Gaston).
Team Play Setup
Each team consists of four different characters, with two of those characters assigned to each Summoner on the team. Each Summoner shuffles their two Character Decks together.
Each Summoner secretly chooses the order their two characters will take turns in the game by stacking their Turn Order Tiles in one hand, with their first character at the top of the stack. Once Summoners have chosen an order, they each reveal their first Character Turn Order Tile. The Summoner whose character has the lowest initiative value will be the first to place their Character Turn Order Tile next to the board, with the Turn Marker on it. The Summoner from the opposing team with the next lowest initiative places their first character next, then the second player from the first team, followed by the last player. Each players' second character is placed in that same order.
In the event of a tie between multiple Summoners, compare the initiative values on their teammate's first character. If needed, a coin flip will decide who places the first Turn Order Tile.
In reverse order of the Character Turn Order Tiles, Summoners take turns placing their Character Standees in any of the empty blue spaces at their end of the Arena.
Example: Summoner A, on the blue team, has chosen Aladdin as her first character. Since Aladdin has the lowest initiative of all the revealed Turn Order Tiles, Summoner A places Aladdin's Turn Order Tile in the first position, with the Turn Marker on it. Next, Summoner B places Demona's Turn Order Tile in the second position, as she has the lowest initiative among the red team's chosen first characters. Summoner D, on the blue team, places the Turn Order Tile for Sulley next, and Summoner C, on the red team, places the Turn Order Tile for Dr. Facilier. The players then place the Turn Order Tiles for their second characters.
Each Summoner draws cards equal to their two characters' combined hand sizes, plus two. This is their maximum hand size for the game. Any Summoner who doesn't like their starting hand of cards, may optionally shuffle those cards back into their deck and draw a new hand of cards. They must accept these cards.
Game End
The game ends at the end of any round in which either:
- A team scores their 20th VP
- A Summoner needs to draw a card but has no more cards in their deck
The team with the most VPs wins.
Special Rules for Team Play
Allies and Rivals
Each team's characters are allies to all other characters controlled by that team. Any character controlled by either opponent is a rival.
Individual Decks, Hands, Discard Piles, and Banished Cards
Each Summoner has their own deck, hand, discard pile, and set of banished cards.
Spending a Teammate's Gear for Upgrades
If playing with Chapter 4 rules, when the active Summoner upgrades a character, they may spend up to one gear from their teammate's discard pile in order to upgrade their active character (with their teammate's permission).
Shared Information
Teammates may confer on play during the game and show each other cards in their hands. When teammates discuss the game, they are not obligated to allow their opponents to hear their discussion.
Credits
Game Design & Development: Sean "Fletch" Fletcher
Development Support & Rules Editing: Kami Mandell, Pat Marino
Playtester Recruitment & Support: Wes Ferrer
Product Management: Carol Johnston
Art Direction: Jed Lomahan
Creative Direction: Adam Sblendorio
Graphic Design: Summer Furzer
3-D Design: Darren Donahue
Illustration: Patrick Spaziante
Special Thanks to... Walt Disney Games Team & Glu Mobile
Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances — Core Set Status Effects
Cursed (Triggered Effect)
Whenever a Status Counter is removed from Cursed during the Starting Phase, this character is dealt 1 damage.
Flustered (Triggered Effect)
Whenever a Status Counter is removed from Flustered during the Starting Phase, this character's Summoner banishes a random card from their hand.
Immobilized (Constant Effect)
This character cannot be moved with any card or other effect. Any time this character would be moved one or more spaces, instead they do not move.
Magic Broom (Triggered Effect)
When a Status Counter is removed from Magic Broom during the Starting Phase, this character's Summoner looks at the top two cards of their deck and returns them in any order. They then reveal the top card of their deck. If that card is a Magical card, this character gains 1 Magic Broom (returning the Status Counter removed to trigger the effect).
This effect represents Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey's command of magic; as long as he keeps finding Magical cards to "study", this helps Mickey draw better cards during his turn.
Shrunken (Constant Effect)
This character's standard attack is 1, and its Summoner cannot play any card with an Attack symbol during this character's turn. (They may still discard an Attack card to add 1 to this character's standard attack.)
Stealthy (Constant Effect)
A rival Summoner may only use a Direct Effect on this character if they first banish a card of their choice from their hand. Indirect Effects do not cause the Summoner to banish a card (see Banished Cards on page 12).
Strong (Constant Effect)
Add 1 to any damage dealt by this character.
Taunt (Constant Effect)
This character's rivals may only choose characters with Taunt when using Direct Effects. Other characters may still be affected by Indirect Effects.
Tough (Constant Effect)
Subtract 1 from any damage dealt to this character.
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