Shadow Era Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Types of Cards
  • Hero
  • Ally
  • Ability
  • Ability Types
  • Item
  • Item - Artifact
  • Item - Weapon
  • Item - Armor
• Deck Building Rules
• Preparing for the Physical Game
• The Game Board
• How To Play
  • Key Concepts
  • Turn Structure
  • Game Start
  • Start of turn
  • Draw
  • Sacrifice
  • Action
  • Target
  • Combat
  • Finished
• Damage
  • Ability Damage Sub-Types
  • Combat Damage Sub-Types
  • Damage Reduction and Prevention
• Negative Effects
• Quick Reference
  • Key Terms
  • Keywords
• Ability Triggering and Resolution
• Additional Resources

Types of Cards

Since Shadow Era is a trading card game, the first step to understanding the gameplay rules is to examine the different types of cards available. Shadow Era has four basic types of cards: Hero, Ally, Ability and Item (which always has a sub-type of Artifact, Weapon, Armor or Trap).

Below is a description of how each type of card is used in the game, along with a breakdown of the different icons and text on that card type.

Hero

Your hero is the foundation of your deck. Every deck has exactly one hero card, which starts in play. You win the game when the health of your opponent's hero reaches zero while yours still has health remaining. If both heroes reach zero health at the same time, the game is declared a draw.

Each Hero has a faction (Human or Shadow) and one of seven classes. Each valid combination of faction and class is represented by the ten pre-constructed Class decks you can buy in physical form or within the digital game: Human Warrior, Human Mage, Human Hunter, Human Priest, Human Rogue, Shadow Warrior, Shadow Mage, Shadow Hunter, Shadow Wulven, and Shadow Elemental.

Card anatomy (Hero):

A) Class icon. Where a non-hero card has one or more class icons, you may only include that card in your deck if your hero shares at least one of those class icons. (The icon shown on Nishaven above is the Mage icon.)

B) Card type. This line indicates the card's faction, type and class. (In the card shown above, these are Human, Hero, and Mage, respectively.)

C) Card effect. This area explains any extra effects or abilities that the card possesses.

D) Health. A player loses the game when their hero's health is reduced to 0.

Ally

Allies can be crucial to helping your hero achieve victory. They assist in controlling the battlefield as well as acting as the primary source of damage for most decks.

Card anatomy (Ally):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Card type. This line indicates the card's faction and/or class, type, and any sub-types. (In the card shown, Shadow is the faction, Ally is the type and Undead is the sub-type.) If the word "Unique" is present here, you may not play another copy of that ally if you already control one.

C) Card effect. This area explains any extra effects or abilities that the card possesses.

D) Attack damage. This is how much damage the ally will inflict on its target when in combat.

E) Health. When an ally's health drops to 0, it is killed and placed in the graveyard.

Ability

An ability card represents the non-combat skills and actions your hero can take throughout the game. Ability cards can only be played on your turn, and cost resources to play.

Card anatomy (Ability):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Class icon. A card with one or more of these icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon.

C) Card type. This line indicates the ability's faction and/or class, type, and any sub-types.

D) Card effect. This area explains what effect the ability has when it is cast.

Ability Types

There are three different kinds of ability cards in Shadow Era:

Ability: An ability card with no sub-type is simply a one-shot effect, which goes to your graveyard after its effect has resolved.

Support Ability: These abilities are played to your Support row on the board, and provide a continuous effect until their duration expires, after which they are sent to your graveyard.

NOTE: You may not play a Support ability if you already control one with that name.

Attachment: These abilities are attached to a target specified in the card's text, and provide a continuous effect until destroyed – either directly, through a card effect, or indirectly, due to reaching the end of a specified duration or when the card the attachment is attached to leaves play. Destroyed attachments go to the graveyard.

NOTE: You may not play an attachment on a card if there is already another copy of that attachment on the card.

Item

An item is always one of four sub-types: Artifact, Weapon, Armor or Trap. The first three are explained below. (Traps are very similar to Artifacts, and their differences are explained on the Trap cards themselves.)

Card anatomy (Item):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Class icon. A card with one or more of these icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon.

C) Card type. This line indicates the item's faction and/or class, type, and any sub-types.

D) Card effect. This area explains what effects the item provides.

Item - Artifact

Artifacts are items that are summoned to your Support row. Some artifacts have passive abilities that are always in effect, while others display a cost to the left of the ability text, denoting an activated ability that you may use once per turn by paying that cost.

NOTE: You may not play an Artifact if you already control one with that name.

Card anatomy (Artifact):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Class icon. A card with one or more of these icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon.

C) Card type. This line indicates the item's faction and/or class, type, and any sub-types.

D) Card effect. This area explains what effects the item provides.

Item - Weapon

Weapons are summoned to your Support row, and provide your hero with the ability to attack other allies and heroes, as well as strike back when attacked by others. A hero may only have one weapon in play at a time. (Playing a second weapon will destroy the one already in play.)

Card anatomy (Weapon):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Class icons. A card with one or more of these icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon.

C) Card type. If the weapon has a sub-type, it will be indicated here. (In the card shown, the sub-type of the weapon is Bow.)

D) Card effect. This area explains any extra effects or cool abilities this weapon might possess.

E) Attack damage. This is the amount of damage the weapon will do when striking an enemy.

F) Durability. Each time a weapon is used by your hero in combat, it loses 1 durability. When its durability reaches 0, the weapon is destroyed.

Item - Armor

Armor is summoned to your Support row, and provides your hero with protection by reducing incoming combat damage for as long as it is on the board. A hero may only have one armor in play at a time. (Playing a second armor will destroy the one already in play.)

Card anatomy (Armor):

A) Casting cost. This is the number of resources you must spend to play this card from your hand.

B) Class icons. A card with one or more of these icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon.

C) Card type. This line indicates the card's type, and any sub-types.

D) Card effect. This area explains any extra effects or cool abilities this armor might possess.

E) Defense. The armor reduces combat damage to your hero by this amount.

F) Durability. Each time your armor prevents some amount of combat damage to your hero, it loses 1 durability. When its durability reaches 0, the armor is destroyed.

Deck Building Rules

The most important thing you need to play a game of Shadow Era is your deck of cards. For a standard game of Shadow Era, your deck must follow a few basic rules:

1. Every deck must have one hero card, and at least 39 other non-hero cards.
2. Each deck may contain a maximum of four copies of any card with the same name.
3. Cards which specify a faction in their type line may only be put into decks with a hero from that faction. (Cards with "Neutral" as their faction can be used in any deck.)
4. Cards that have one or more Class icons may only be used in decks with a hero that has at least one matching icon. (Cards with no Class icon can be used in any deck, providing the faction-restrictions above are adhered to.)

NOTE: The class and faction restrictions apply only to deck construction, and do not restrict which cards can be played during the game. (There are several effects in the game that allow you to use cards that originated from an opponent's deck, regardless of your hero's faction and class.)

Preparing for the Physical Game

In addition to your deck, you will need methods to keep track of the following:

• The amount of damage on your hero and allies
• The amount of shadow energy your hero has accumulated
• Remaining durability on weapons and armor
• Status effects on your hero and allies (Poisoned, Frozen, etc.)

Any method for tracking these things is acceptable as long as both players are able to clearly determine the state of the game at any time. Common gaming supplies such as dice, counters, or a pen and paper work very well.

The Game Board

Before you get your game started, it's important to understand how the playing area is set up. Below you can see an example game board from the digital game.

A) Your allies row. All of your summoned allies will be placed here. The first ally you summon when the board is empty is placed close to your hero, and each ally after that is placed to the right of the previous one.

B) Your support row. This is where items and support abilities are placed. The first card you summon to the Support row when the board is empty is placed close to your hero, and each one after that is placed to the right of the previous one.

C) Your hero.

D) Your deck. This is where the cards you draw throughout the game come from.

E) Your graveyard. Allies that are killed, items, Support abilities or attachments that have been destroyed, and abilities that have resolved are placed in the graveyard. All players are allowed to know the contents of each graveyard, and the order of the cards in the graveyard may not be changed.

F) Your resource pile. The cards you choose to sacrifice each turn are placed here to indicate how many resources you may spend on your turns.

How To Play

Key Concepts

Exhausted Cards – When an ally or hero attacks, it becomes exhausted and is unable to attack or activate abilities (an exhausted hero or ally can still defend). At the end of each of your turns, all of your exhausted cards become "ready," which means they are no longer exhausted. Allies enter play exhausted.

Summoning – When you play a card from your hand onto the board, you have "summoned" that card.

"Target" – This word in a card's text indicates that you may select the target of an attack, ability, or other effect. For example, the card text "Deal 4 damage to target hero or ally" means that you may select the hero or ally to which 4 damage is dealt.

Recurring Effects – When a card or effect indicates that it occurs "each turn," this means that an effect takes place during the controller's Start of Turn phase. Note that if the card is attached to a target, the effect takes place on the turn of the target card's controller, rather than the attachment or effect's controller.

Turn Structure

• Start of turn
• Draw
• Sacrifice
• Action
  • Target
    • Combat
• Finished (End of turn)

Game Start

At the beginning of the game, each player places their hero card onto the game board. Players then shuffle their decks, place them onto the game board, and draw 6 cards. Players should randomly decide who will take the first turn. The player going first will skip their first Draw phase and their hero's first shadow energy increase.

Start of turn

At the start of this phase, your hero gains 1 shadow energy. After that, any abilities which occur at the start of the turn are triggered.

Draw

At the start of the Draw phase, you draw a card from the top of your deck. Each player has a maximum hand size of seven, so if you have seven cards already, you cannot draw any additional cards.

NOTE: When you do not have any cards in your deck and a card is required to be drawn or discarded from it (whether due to entering your Draw phase or due to a card effect), your hero will take 1 damage each time a card should have been drawn or discarded.

Sacrifice

During the Sacrifice phase, you have the option to choose a card to convert into a resource. To do so, select a card in your hand and put it face-down in your resource pile. Sacrificing is optional; you may choose not to sacrifice if you do not want to. Resources gained during the Sacrifice phase may be used immediately.

Action

During the Action phase, you may play cards from your hand, attack with an ally, attack with your hero, or use activated abilities. You may perform any number of these actions during each Action phase.

In order to play a card from your hand, you must spend the number of resources specified in its casting cost. In order to activate abilities, you must pay the cost specified to the far left of the ability's text.

NOTE: Activated abilities can only be used once per card per turn.

Summoned allies enter play exhausted (they are unable to attack or use any activated abilities).

Target

Whenever you play a card or use an ability which requires you to select a target, you will enter the Target phase. Once you have selected the target(s), the Target phase ends and the effect is resolved. After this, you will return to the Action phase.

You also enter the Target phase when you decide to attack with an ally or hero. Once the target has been selected, the Combat phase occurs, and then you return to the Action phase.

Combat

When attacking with an ally or your hero, you are free to choose which ally or hero you wish to attack unless there are special effects in play that limit you.

Once the target of an attack has been selected, the attacker and target enter the Combat phase, which plays out in the following order:

1. Both attacker and target enter combat.
   • 1.1. Effects that trigger on entering combat resolve (if any).
2. The attacker performs its attack on the target. The amount of damage dealt is equal to the attack value on the attacking ally or the weapon being used by the attacking hero, plus any relevant modifiers.
   • 2.1. Effects that trigger on the target being attacked resolve (if any).
   • 2.2. Damage reduction or prevention effects resolve (if any).
3. If there is damage remaining, it is dealt to the target, reducing its current health.
   • 3.1. Effects that trigger on combat damage being dealt resolve (if any).
4. If the target's health has been reduced to 0, it is killed.
   • 4.1. Effects that trigger on death resolve (if any).
5. If the target is still alive after the attack, it will "defend." This means the target of the attack deals damage back to the attacker (following the same process outlined above).

NOTE: Heroes require a weapon to be able to attack or defend.

Finished

When you have completed all your desired actions for the turn, you may announce that your turn is over. This brings you to the Finished phase. All your exhausted allies are readied, all your resources are renewed, and any end of turn effects now trigger. Once all these steps are complete, the next player begins their turn.

Damage

When a hero has been dealt enough damage to reduce its health to 0, that hero is dead and the game ends. When an ally has been dealt enough damage to reduce its health to 0, it is killed and put into its owner's graveyard.

When an ability or effect causes an ally to be instantly killed, that ally is dealt enough damage to drop its health to zero (rendering any kind of damage reduction ineffective). For example, the card Assassination allows you to kill a target ally. The ally targeted by this effect will have exactly enough damage dealt to it to kill it when the effect resolves.

Ability Damage Sub-Types

When an ability causes damage, it will have one of the following sub-types:

• Normal (just referred to as "damage")
• Fire
• Ice
• Electric
• Arcane
• Poison

Combat Damage Sub-Types

Every ally and weapon in Shadow Era has a combat icon shown in the bottom left corner of the card. These icons indicate the sub-type of combat damage the card will deal.

The combat damage sub-types are (each shown on the printed page as an icon with the name beneath it):

• Armed
• Unarmed
• Ranged

Damage Reduction and Prevention

Any effect which reduces or prevents damage may specify damage types or sub-types it affects. When the damage type or sub-type is specified, these effects will reduce/prevent damage only of the specified type and/or sub-types. (If neither type nor sub-type is mentioned, then damage of any kind is reduced by that effect).

For example, the card text "Ability damage is reduced by 2" will reduce ability damage (regardless of sub-type, if any), but have no effect on combat damage. The card text "Fire damage is reduced by 2" will reduce both combat damage of the Fire sub-type and ability damage of the Fire sub-type. The card text "Damage is reduced by 2" will reduce both combat and ability damage, regardless of type and sub-type.

NOTE: Other than reducing and preventing damage, there are other effects in the game that respond to damage being dealt, and the same type and sub-type rules are applied there. For example, a card that responds to "damage" being dealt to it, will respond to both "combat damage" and "ability damage".

Negative Effects

A negative effect is an ongoing state that continuously causes some impairment or harm to the target. It can have a limited duration, last until a condition is met, or last indefinitely.

Negative effects can be tied to a source (e.g. an enemy attachment) or be active independent of their source (e.g. being poisoned by an attack). To remove a negative effect tied to a source, you must remove the source; to remove negative effects that exist independently, you will require a card that removes the negative effect itself.

The negative effects currently found in Shadow Era are:

• Ablaze: At the start of your turn, the affected ally or hero is dealt 1 fire damage.
• Poisoned: At the start of your turn, the affected ally or hero is dealt 1 poison damage.
• Disabled: A disabled ally or hero can't attack, defend, or use any activated abilities.
• Frozen: A frozen ally or hero can't attack, defend, or use any activated abilities.
• Can't Attack: The affected ally or hero can't attack.
• Can't Defend: The affected ally or hero can't defend.

NOTE: Stat reductions (such as reduced attack) are not considered a negative effect.

Quick Reference

Key Terms

"Target" – This word in a card's text indicates that you may select the target of an attack, ability, or other effect. For example, the card text "Deal 4 damage to target hero or ally" means that you may select the hero or ally to which 4 damage is dealt.

"Attack" – This has two meanings depending on the context. As an action, it means to initiate combat against target ally or hero. As a card stat, it shows the damage that will be dealt by that card in combat.

"Defend" – In combat, the act of dealing damage to an attacker.

"Summon" – To play a card from your hand onto the board.

"Exhausted" – When an ally or hero attacks, it becomes exhausted and is unable to attack or activate abilities. An exhausted ally can still defend.

"Ready" – The act of making an exhausted card no longer exhausted. NOTE: All your exhausted cards are readied at the end of your turn.

Keywords

Keywords are shorthand ways of writing common abilities on cards. A keyword represents a larger ability text, but saves space on the card and can be read more quickly. Below you can find the keywords used in Shadow Era and their corresponding ability text.

Protector – Allies without Protector can't be targeted by other players.

Defender – This ally/hero attacks first when defending.

Ambush – Allies or heroes attacked by this ally/hero cannot defend.

Stealth - This ally/hero can't be attacked.

Haste – This ally can attack and use abilities on the turn that it's summoned.

Hidden – This ally/hero and all of its attachments cannot be targeted. (Note that you need to be able to target an ally/hero to attack it.)

Ablaze, Poisoned, Disabled, Frozen – see "Negative Effects" above.

Ability Triggering and Resolution

When more than one card or effect is set to resolve simultaneously, Shadow Era uses a simple process to determine which cards or effects get priority at what times. Cards and effects trigger one at a time, recursively, based on who controls them and their type. Below you can see the top-level order of resolution:

1. Active Hero
2. Allies friendly to that hero
3. Items/Support Abilities belonging to that hero
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for opposing hero and its allies, items and support abilities.

When 2 or more cards in the same category are supposed to trigger at the same time, such as two friendly allies, they are triggered in the order in which they appear on the board (from the perspective of their hero) from left to right (which should match the order they were played). For example, if you played a weapon on turn 5 and then an armor card on turn 6, and they both had an ability that triggered when you dealt combat damage, the weapon's ability would trigger first. This is because they are both part of the items/support abilities category.

Where a card has an attachment, that attachment has the opportunity to resolve immediately after the card it is attached to, before any further non-attachment cards are processed. (Multiple attachments on the same card are processed in the order they were attached.)

If multiple cards are sent to the graveyard simultaneously, they are placed there in the order they were played. The card which was played the earliest is sent to the graveyard first, followed by the next earliest, until all the cards required to move to the graveyard are moved (the most recently-played card should be on top).

It is important to note that effects on cards in play are triggered even just before dying. However, after an ally has been dealt lethal damage (had its health decreased to 0) it will no longer be able to gain life to stay alive, because its death has already been triggered.

Additional Resources

Thank you for taking the time to learn how to play Shadow Era! You have now taken your first step into a huge world of fun and adventure. For additional card rulings and the latest game information, as well as a terrific community and organized events, be sure to visit our web site and forums at http://www.shadowera.com