Ivion: The Herocrafting Card Game
Ivion: The Herocrafting Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Introduction
Ivion is a dueling card game for 2 or 4 players set in a harsh fantasy world. Each player controls a character, comprised of a 45-card deck and 3 Feat cards. Players must utilize powerful proficiencies, innate talents, and cunning tricks to seize victory in a 4 by 4 tile arena.
Players begin the game in opposite corners at their maximum HP total, but as the distance closes, brutal attacks and devastating spells can cause even the hardiest of warriors to falter.
The first player to reduce their enemy's HP to 0 wins the game!
Game Contents
Cards
Classes: 60 Manifest, 60 Cryomancer, 60 Witch, 60 Druid, 60 Giant, 60 Warrior.
Specializations: 30 each of Incarnate, Avatar, Ebon Mage, Curseblade, Ancient, Jarl, Winterborn, Watcher, Wilder, Huntsman, Steward, Survivalist.
12 Ultimates, 42 Traits, 32 Tiles.
Dice
4 Action Dice, 4 Power Dice, 4 Slow Dice, 4 Silence Dice, 4 Disarm Dice, 8 HP Dice.
Tokens
16 Difficult Terrain Tokens, 6 Initiative Tokens, 12 Mitigate/Duration Tokens.
Other Components
12 Standees, Rulebook.
Parts of a Card
Skill Cards
Each character has a 45-card deck of skill cards. Skill cards represent the special techniques and attacks at your character's disposal. Most of the cards in the game display the following information:
- Card Name
- Action Pip
- Power Pip
- Range
- Card Types
- Control Banner
- Rules Text
- Color Indicators
- Archetype
Feat Cards
Each character has three cards that are kept separate: one Ultimate and two Traits. Most Feats have Action and Power pips, rules text, and other features present on skill cards. These three cards are collectively referred to as Feats, and reside in the Feat Zone (pg. 13).
Ultimates
Each deck has an Ultimate card which comes from their character's specialization. Ultimates function the same as all Feats, but also determine the starting HP total of the player.
Traits
In addition to their Ultimate, each character has 2 Traits. Traits have a bar at the bottom of the card which indicates what kind of decks can use them.
Card Types
Instant — Instant cards can be played "in response" to an enemy's card being played (pg. 11). Instants can also be played during your turn, like other cards.
Ability — Abilities have one-time effects that do not fall into categories covered by other card types. Cards with effects such as "Draw a card" are Abilities.
Buff/Debuff — Buffs/Debuffs have effects that temporarily impact the game. Some apply status effects, such as Control or Mitigate. Others attach to players or tiles and have an explicit condition that cause them to be sent to the discard.
Travel — Travel cards cause players to change locations on The Field. A Travel card will always have the word "Travel" in its rules text.
Aura — Auras last indefinitely, attaching to either a player or a tile. Auras that have resolved can be targeted by effects that Destroy cards.
Attack — The most important type of card for many decks, Attack cards deal damage to a target when they resolve.
Game Concepts
Don't Roll the Dice!
Ivion comes with a ton of dice. They are used to track effects and conditions that cards and players create during the game. There are no random dice rolls in Ivion, except to determine the first player.
Resources
Actions and Power are collectively referred to as Resources. Resources are used to Move (pg. 7), play cards (pg. 10), remove Control (pg. 12), and pay for effects. Unspent Resources are saved between turns, but a player can never have more than 5 of each Resource.
Actions
You gain 3 Actions at the start of your turn. There are very few other ways to generate Actions, so spend them wisely!
Power
You don't gain Power at the start of your turn. Instead, some cards give you Power, and others cost Power to play. The only way to gain Power is through card effects.
Initiative
You gain an Initiative token at the start of your turn. You can expend an Initiative token to either draw a card or to Move 1 tile (pg. 7). Unexpended Initiative tokens are lost at the end of your turn.
Control
Slow, Silence, and Disarm are collectively referred to as Control. Some cards place a number of instances of Control on enemies, which limits what cards they can play. Control persists between turns until it is removed, but you may never have more than 5 instances of a single type of Control affecting you.
The Golden Rule
If the rules text of a card directly conflicts with the rules in this book, the card takes precedence.
Playing a Card
Cards can be played from your Hand or Feat Zone. To play a card, first pay any negative Resource values. Then, if your enemy doesn't respond with an Instant, your card will resolve (pg. 11) and you gain any positive Resource values and apply the effects specified by the card's rules text. Finally, the resolved card is placed in your Discard.
Second Wind
Immediately after you are reduced to 20 HP or less for the first time during the game, use your Second Wind. Look at the top 5 cards of your Deck, and pick 2 to put into your Hand. Put the 3 you did not choose on the bottom of your Deck in any order.
The Field and Tiles
Ivion is played on a 4-by-4 grid of tiles called The Field. Each player has a standee on The Field which indicates the tile their character is in. Although represented by cards, tiles do not count as cards.
Movement
On your turn, you may Move your standee to an adjacent tile. This costs an Action. Tiles that are diagonal to one another are not considered adjacent.
Range
A card's Range is the maximum number of tiles away you can be from that card's target.
Attached Cards
Some cards are placed on The Field attached to a player or an empty tile when they resolve. A tile cannot have more than one card attached to it, and you cannot attach a card to a tile with a player in it. Cards on The Field are in the tile they are attached to, or in the tile of the player they are attached to.
Game Setup
Choose a Deck to play (pg. 16).
- Place 16 tiles in the center of the table with the Difficult Terrain side facing down.
- Place your standee in the bottom right tile.
- Make sure your enemy knows what 3 Feats you are using, then place them onto the table face up and set your starting HP to the value indicated by your Ultimate.
- Shuffle your Deck and place it onto the table face down.
- Take the top five cards of your Deck and place them face down in front of you to form your starting Hand. Do not show these cards to your enemy.
- Take an Action die, a Power die, and an Initiative token and place each in front of you. Set both dice to 0.
- Take all other dice and set them aside.
Randomly determine a player to go first, then the first player becomes the active player and takes their turn.
Parts of a Turn
Start of Turn
- Draw a card. The player going first skips their first draw.
- Gain 3 Actions.
- Gain an Initiative token.
- "At the start of your turn" effects occur.
Main Phase
During your Main Phase do as many of each of the following as you wish in any order:
- Play a Card. Choose a card from your Hand or Feat Zone and play it (pg. 10).
- Move. Spend 1 Action to Move 1 tile.
- Expend an Initiative. Expend an Initiative token to Move 1 tile or draw a card.
- Remove Control. Spend Resources to remove that many instances of Control.
End of Turn
When you are unable to continue your turn (or you do not wish to), your turn ends.
- Card effects that say, "at the end of your turn" occur.
- If you have more than 7 cards in your Hand, discard cards until you have 7.
- Cards that attach "until end of turn" go to their owner's Discard.
- Any unexpended Initiative tokens are set aside and removed. Unspent Resources are saved between turns.
- Your enemy becomes the active player and their turn begins.
Resolving Cards
Playing Cards
Cards can be played from your Hand and Feat Zone. Once a card is played, it is no longer in your Hand or Feat Zone, and is waiting to be placed into another Zone (pg. 13).
To play a card, go through these steps:
- Select a card to play and place it face up in front of you. This card can be from your Hand, or it can be from your Feats.
- 2a. If the card requires you to make a choice, decide now.
- 2b. If the card requires a specific target, select an appropriate target within Range (pg. 7).
- Allocate Resources by removing the appropriate amount from your Actions and/or Power.
Once these steps have been completed your card has now been played. Before it resolves and its effects occur, however, your enemy has a chance to respond by playing an Instant card (pg. 11). If they do, you have a chance to respond with an Instant card of your own after they play their Instant card.
Resolving Cards
When a player chooses not to respond, all unresolved cards attempt to resolve in reverse order in which they were played.
A card resolves in the following steps:
- If the card has been Countered or Meta-Countered, it has no effect and is placed in its owner's Discard (pg. 11).
- If the card attaches to a player or tile, it enters The Field attached to that player or tile. Otherwise, it is sent to the Discard.
- Resources that were allocated to play the card are spent, and Control is removed accordingly.
- If the card would cause a player to gain a Resource, those Resources are gained.
- The effects listed in the rules text of the card occur as listed, from top to bottom.
Feat Resolution
Once a Feat is played from your Feat Zone, that Feat cannot be played until the start of your next turn. If a Feat would be sent to the Discard, Hand, or Deck, it is instead sent back to the Feat Zone.
Responding to Cards
Instants
Some cards have the Instant type. Instant cards can be played one of two ways: either normally during your turn or in response to an enemy playing a card. You can only play one Instant card in response to an enemy playing a card. However, if they play an Instant card in response to your Instant card, you will have a chance to play another Instant card! This cycle will continue until one player decides to not respond, in which case all played cards will resolve in reverse order.
The only time you may play an Instant card during your enemy's turn is immediately after they play a card.
Counters
Some cards have the Counter keyword, which is a way of preventing your enemy's cards from resolving. A Countered card does not resolve and goes to its owner's Discard. When a card is Countered, Resources allocated to play it are spent. You can only Counter cards after they have been played, but before they resolve.
The Countered player does not gain the Resources they would have gained upon the card's normal resolution.
Meta-Counters
Sometimes, when a card you have played attempts to resolve, the conditions which allowed you to play that card are no longer met. If this is the case, your card is Meta-Countered.
A Meta-Countered card does not resolve, and any Resources you allocated to play it are refunded and returned to your Resource pool.
Generally, cards are Meta-Countered in one of two ways:
- The card's owner has received Control which would prevent that card from being played (pg. 12).
- The card no longer has any valid targets, usually because they are out of Range (pg. 7).
Control
There are 3 types of Control a player can be affected by: Slow, Silence, and Disarm. Control prevents players from doing certain things on their turn.
- Slow: If you are Slowed, you may not play or resolve cards with the foot symbol colored green on the Control banner. Additionally, you may not spend Actions to Move or expend an Initiative token to Move.
- Silence: If you are Silenced, you may not play or resolve cards with the speech bubble symbol colored blue on the Control banner.
- Disarm: If you are Disarmed, you may not play or resolve cards with the sword symbol colored red on the Control banner.
Removing Control
Any time a player spends Resources in any way, that player removes a number of instances of Control from themselves equal to the number of Resources spent. A player may also spend Resources during their turn for the sole purpose of removing Control.
Example
Kassidy's character is Slowed 3 and Disarmed 2. She wants to play Warrior's Slash to defeat her enemy, but cannot because she is Disarmed and out of Range, and cannot Move closer because she is Slowed.
- Kassidy plays Harmony, which costs 1 Actions and 2 Power. She can play Harmony, because it is not affected by Slow or Disarm.
- When Harmony resolves, Kassidy can remove 3 instances of Control, because she spent 3 Resources.
- She removes the 3 instances of Slow, so she can Move.
- She then spends 2 Actions to Move 2 tiles.
- Since she spent 2 Actions Kassidy can remove 2 more instances of Control.
- She removes the Disarm affecting her so she can play Warrior's Slash.
No longer under Control and now in Range, she then unleashes the mighty Warrior's Slash she couldn't play at the start of her turn to win the game!
Additional Rules
Exhaustion
When you have no cards left in your Deck, you are Exhausted. While Exhausted:
- Damage you take cannot be reduced.
- You cannot gain HP.
- If you would draw a card, instead take 5 damage.
Once Exhausted, win the game quickly with the cards you have left, or suffer defeat!
Destroying Cards
When a card is Destroyed, place it in its owner's Discard. Only cards currently attached to a player or tile can be Destroyed.
Terrain
When you make Terrain in a tile, place the appropriate Terrain token onto that tile, or flip that tile over. If Terrain is made on a tile that already has Terrain, the previous Terrain is replaced.
Tiles with Difficult Terrain cost 1 more Resource to move to.
Traveling
When a card effect causes you to change tiles, it is referred to as "Traveling". Traveling causes players to enter and leave tiles, but does not count as Moving. Traveling may only send players to tiles without enemies in them.
Simultaneous Effects
If multiple effects trigger at the same time, each player, in turn order, resolves their effects in whatever order they wish, starting with the active player.
Maximum of 5
The maximum value you can have on a non-HP tracker is 5.
- You cannot have more than 5 Mitigate.
- A card cannot have more than 5 Duration.
- You cannot have more than 5 instances of a Control type.
- You cannot have over 5 of a Resource.
Occupied Tiles
It is impossible for a player to Travel or Move into a tile that has an enemy in it. If a card's effect would cause this situation to occur, instead it does not and the card is Meta-Countered (pg. 11).
Zones
Cards exist in Zones. Zones can either be Public or Private. Cards in Public Zones are available for any player to look through at any time, while cards in Private Zones cannot be viewed by some or all players. Each player has their own Deck and Hand (Private), their own Discard and Feats (Public), and they share The Field (Public).
Feat Zone
Feats are played from the Feat Zone. Once you play a Feat, you cannot play that Feat again until your next turn. If a Feat would be sent to the Discard, Hand, or Deck, it is instead sent back to the Feat Zone.
Revealing Cards
When a card in a Private Zone is placed in a Public Zone, it becomes Revealed. When a card is Revealed it is shown to all players. The card then remains face up for the rest of the game, even if in a Private Zone.
Variant Rules
Ivion can be experienced beyond its core one versus one dueling mode. Check out the variants listed below, potentially combine them, or come up with your own!
Arena
In Arena, players form teams of two and work together to strategize, attack their enemies, and defend each other. With 4 players, Arena takes 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete.
One player from each team begins the game with their standee in the normal start location, and the other teammate begins two tiles to their left.
Players take their turns together, as the active team. They may Move, remove Control, play cards, and use their Initiative tokens in any order they wish. When a team plays a card, the other team has a chance to respond with one card collectively.
When a player is defeated, they remove their standee from the field, take each card from their Deck and shuffle it back together, and reset their HP to maximum. At the start of their team's next turn, they place their standee on The Field at least three tiles away from each enemy player.
The first team to get two kills immediately wins the game!
You may share a tile with an ally, but not an enemy.
Paragon
In Paragon, deckbuilding is significantly altered. Instead of picking one Specialization and two Classes, pick three Specializations.
Create a 45 card Deck with exactly 15 cards from each Specialization. Your three Feats are each Specialization's Ultimate.
Players start at the highest maximum HP total among their three Specializations.
May the greatest hero win!
League
In League, one game alone is not the deciding factor of victory. Each player builds two characters out of their box instead of one, playing Ivion over the course of either two or three games, called the set. To win the set, you must win a game with each of your two characters.
At the start of a League set, both players lay out their two characters' Feats face up. Each player has a chance to look over the Feats of their enemy, then secretly decide which of their own characters to play first. Players reveal their decisions simultaneously.
Once a player wins a game, they must play their other character for the rest of the set. The losing player then decides which of their characters to play.
When a player has won a game with each of their characters, they have won the set!
A Night of Winter
"Hammond, watch them, I'll be back down in a few moments."
He turned and strode up the stairs. That went well, he thought to himself as he knocked softly on the door before entering. Eira was skittish, and startling a winterborn was a poor idea.
She was already dressed, sitting silently on her bed.
Eira pointed towards the lone window in the room. On it, the word 'sorry' had been drawn in the frost.
"You didn't do anything wrong, she's just having a very bad night." Caldor began to pack his things into the large haversack by his bed. "In fact, we're going to go help make her night better."
Eira perked up noticeably at the notion, meeting Caldor's weary eyes with her hazel ones.
"We've got a long walk ahead." Caldor fastened his sheath to his side.
"Are you up for that?"
Eira nodded and smiled as Caldor dug into the haversack, pulled out two gold pieces, and placed them on the nightstand. He began to don the dark blue leathers of a watcher.
"Turning the cider to snow was a neat trick, have you been practicing when I was asleep?" Caldor asked.
Eira clasped her hands and rocked back and forth, smiling coyly.
Caldor nodded towards the window, "show me."
The young winterborn's eyes ignited in blue energy and outside the window the snow swirled into the silhouette of a hand, which waved to Caldor before dispersing into a flurry.
The grizzled watcher gave Eira a stern gaze, but then cracked a smile. She beamed back, and wiped the sleep from her eyes.
"Let's go save the day."
Deckbuilding
Creating your character is one of the most unique and exciting aspects of Ivion. We recommend new players build their first deck following the steps listed below.
1. Choose a Specialization
Choose one Specialization and its corresponding Ultimate.
An Ultimate is associated with each Specialization, determining your character's maximum HP, and is one of the three cards in your Feat Zone.
2. Choose Classes
Choose two Classes. At least one of your Classes must share a Color Pip with your Specialization.
The Color Pips of your Specialization (and your Classes) are on the bottom left and bottom right of each Specialization card, and the Ultimate.
3. Choose Traits
Pick two Traits. Each Trait has Color Pip requirements that your character must have.
Your character has six total Color Pips: two from your Specialization, two from your first Class, and two from your second Class. Color Pips are not expended when used to select a Trait.
4. Constructing Your Character
You are ready to construct your character!
- Pick 15 cards from your Specialization.
- Pick 30 cards from among your two Classes.
- Shuffle your 45 card Deck (Do not shuffle your Feats). You are ready to play!
Which Cards Should I Choose?
There are many critical aspects in your game-plan for a victorious character. Here are some basic concepts.
- Add many cards that generate Power.
- Add many Attack cards to deal damage.
- Add some cards that cost Power for big effects.
- Add a few cards that can Destroy other cards.
- Add a few Instant cards that can defend you.
Sample Deck: Steward
Ultimate - Shield Slam. Traits - Strike, Hold.
Steward Cards: 3 Hammer Strike, 3 Banner of the Steward, 2 Crushing Weight, 2 Determination, 2 Split Bone, 1 Hammer and Anvil, 1 Shield Bash, 1 Reflect.
Warrior Cards: 3 Tenacity, 3 Challenge, 3 Banner of the Warrior, 3 Crush, 3 Battle Lust, 2 Duck, 2 Block, 2 Fight with Honor, 2 Careful Strike, 2 Seize the Day, 2 Lame, 1 Warrior's Slash, 1 Dismember, 1 Intimidate.
Sample Deck: Winterborn
Ultimate - Winterburst. Traits - Icicle, Fragments.
Winterborn Cards: 3 Snowclutch, 3 Winterheart, 3 Ice Flurry, 2 Blizzard, 1 Freeze, 1 Frigid Gale, 1 Frostbite, 1 Shiver.
Cryomancer Cards: 3 Sleet Blast, 3 Attrition, 3 Icebolt, 3 Snowslide, 3 Rime Shock, 2 Snow Blast, 2 Wintertide, 2 Glacialize, 2 Flash Freeze, 1 Avalanche, 1 Hailstorm, 1 Coldshape, 1 Thin Ice, 1 Cryostasis, 1 Everfrost, 1 Frostsnatch.
Archetypes
Specializations
Avatar, Curseblade, Jarl, Watcher, Huntsman, Survivalist, Incarnate, Ebon Mage, Ancient, Winterborn, Wilder, Steward.
Classes
Manifest, Witch, Giant, Cryomancer, Druid, Warrior.
Glossary
Advantage - A card has Advantage if the targeted player is Controlled (pg. 12), enabling its additional Advantage effect.
- As long as the target is Controlled as your card starts to resolve, the Advantage effect occurs.
Breach - A card has Breach if the targeted player has a Revealed card in their hand (pg. 13), enabling its additional Breach effect.
- As long as the targeted player has a Revealed card in their hand as your card starts to resolve, the Breach effect occurs.
Counter - Countered cards fail to resolve, and the Resources allocated to play them are spent (pg. 11).
- To Counter a card, it must be within Range. An unresolved card counts as being in the same tile as its controller.
- Resources spent in any way remove Control, even if that way is getting Countered.
Destroy - When a card is Destroyed, send it from The Field to its owner's Discard.
- Cards in player's Hands and unresolved cards are not valid targets to be Destroyed.
- If a Feat card is Destroyed, instead send it back to its owner's Feat Zone (pg. 13).
Difficult Terrain - When a tile becomes Difficult Terrain, place a Difficult Terrain token onto that tile. You must spend 1 additional Resource to Move into Difficult Terrain.
- You can expend an Initiative token to Move into Difficult Terrain, but you must still spend 1 Resource.
- The cost is only applied when a player Moves into a tile with Difficult Terrain, not when a player Travels to it (pg. 13).
Duration - When you resolve a card with Duration, place it on The Field attached to the target. Place tokens on it indicating the instances of Duration the card begins with. At the end of your turn, the Duration effect occurs and an instance is removed. When the last instance is removed, the card is Destroyed.
Frenzy - A card has Frenzy if any player has used their Second Wind (pg. 7), enabling its additional Frenzy effect.
- As long as a player has used a Second Wind as your card starts to resolve, the Frenzy effect occurs.
- In Arena, cards have Frenzy if a player has had a Second Wind in their current life.
Hardcast - A card with Hardcast may only be played if it is Revealed (pg. 13). At the end of your turn, you may Reveal a single card with Hardcast from your hand.
- Since they Reveal themselves at the end of turn, usually you will not be able to play a card with Hardcast until the turn after you draw it.
- Once your Hardcast card has been Revealed, it stays Revealed for the rest of the game.
Mitigate - When you gain Mitigate, place tokens near your HP indicating the instances of Mitigate you have. Damage is first dealt to your Mitigate as though it were HP. If there is still damage left after your Mitigate is removed, remaining damage is dealt to your HP. Mitigate lasts until the start your next turn.
- Damage 'blocked' by Mitigate still counts as that player taking damage.
- If you take damage at the start of your turn, the Mitigate you had last turn won't apply.
- You cannot have more than 5 Mitigate.
Stun - When you Stun a player, they choose and remove one of their own Resources.
- If they have no Resources, they are still Stunned.
- If they have only one type of Resource, they must remove one of that type.
- The removed Resource is not spent, so it doesn't remove Control.
Quick Start
Setup
- Take one of the prebuilt Decks (pg. 16), set the 3 Feat cards aside, and shuffle the Deck.
- Take these game parts and place them next to you: Action die, Power die, Mitigate token, HP dice, Slow die, Silence die, Disarm die, Initiative token, Character standee. These dice are for tracking values. They are never rolled.
- Set your HP dice to the value on your Ultimate.
- Take 16 tile cards and place them in a 4 by 4 grid with the Difficult Terrain side facing down.
- Players place their character standees in opposite corners.
- Each player draws five cards to form their opening Hand.
- Randomly determine a player to go first.
How to Play
At the start of your turn, gain 3 Actions, an Initiative token, and draw a card. On the first turn, the first player does not draw a card.
During your turn, you may:
- Move to an adjacent tile by spending 1 Action. You may never be in the same tile as your enemy, and you cannot Move while Slowed.
- Play a card from your Hand or Feats, spending the Resource cost. If your card has a target, you must be within Range. Then the card resolves. Any specified Resources are gained, it is placed in your discard, and its effects occur.
- Use your Initiative token to either draw a card or Move to an adjacent tile for free.
- Remove instances of Control from yourself by spending that many Resources.
When you no longer wish to choose options, your turn ends. You remove any unused Initiative tokens, but keep unspent Resources.
Reduce your enemy's HP to 0 to win the game!
Destroying Cards
Some cards attach to a player or a tile, staying on The Field (pg. 7). These cards can be Destroyed, sending them to their owner's Discard.
Control
A Controlled player cannot play cards restricted by the type of Control that player is affected by. When you spend Resources in any way remove that many instances of Control from yourself.
Instant Cards
Instant cards can be played in response to your enemy playing a card, potentially stopping their card's effects.
- Some Instants Counter the card and send it to their Discard without the card resolving. The Resources allocated to play the card are spent, and the player may remove Control accordingly.
- Other cards render the card unable to resolve, such as applying Control. This Meta-Counters the card - the card does not resolve, but allocated Resources are refunded.
Second Wind
When you are reduced to 20 HP or below for the first time, pause the current player's turn. Look at the top five cards of your Deck, pick two to put into your Hand, and put the rest on the bottom of your Deck in any order. Then, the active player's turn resumes.
The maximum number you can have of each non-HP dice is 5.