Skytear Horde
Skytear Horde Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Start Here
- Overview
- Components and Card Anatomy
- Tokens
- Setup
- Key Concepts
- Abilities
- Minions & Back Line
- Outsiders
- How to Play: Horde Phase
- Alliance Phase
- Treachery Phase
- Fight Phase
- Pillage Phase
- End Phase
- Cooperative Mode
- The Lore
- The Battle Plan
- Alliance Overview
- Horde Overview
- Campaign Mode
- Campaign Setup
- Scenario Setup
- Recruit Action
- Limited Format
- Customizing Decks
- Clarifications
- Glossary
- Common Keywords
- Universal Abilities
Start Here
1-2 Solo or Co-op. 20-30 minutes per game. 1-2 hours per Campaign.
Prefer a video? Watch a video tutorial at www.playskytear.com/horde.
Overview
In a Nutshell
During your turn, you deploy allies and towers to the six lanes of the battlefield to stop waves of monsters from destroying your castle and pillaging your resources.
However, just defending will not be enough to win! Some of your allies must counter-attack and tear down the portal that is spawning the horde.
The turn after the first portal is destroyed, the outsider (the final boss leading the horde) will join the battlefield. Destroy the outsider to claim victory over the horde!
Lose your castle or all your resources and you will be defeated instead.
This was just a summary to help you get the big picture, it does not include any rule you need to remember.
Winning and Losing
All players win at the end of the turn in which the outsider is destroyed.
All players immediately lose when either:
- The castle is destroyed, or
- An alliance deck is empty.
Game Flow
The game is played over a series of turns until all the players either win or lose together.
Each turn has six phases:
- Horde Phase — Summon a new wave of horde cards
- Alliance Phase — Play alliance cards and plan for the fight phase
- Treachery Phase — A boon for monsters that might undermine your plans
- Fight Phase — Allies and monsters fight and strike the castle or portal
- Pillage Phase — Minions force you to discard cards from your deck
- End Phase — Various upkeep activities including checking for victory
Use the player aid cards as a checklist for these phases.
Components and Card Anatomy
These are the 256 cards in the Skytear Horde: Campaigns base box:
- 87 Horde Cards — Organize into three decks, one for each horde, based on the symbol in the top right corner (Horde). During setup you will only pick specific power levels based on the desired difficulty.
- 6 Scenario Cards — Two for each Horde. With an outsider henchman on the back of the card.
- 120 Alliance Cards — Organize into three decks, one per faction, based on the color of the banner behind the card name.
- 6 Castle Cards
- 7 Portal Cards
- 8 Outsider Cards
- 2 Player Aid Cards
- 12 Dragon Tokens
- 4 Minion Cards
- 1 Bar Code Card — The bar code card is only used to identify the card sets.
- 3 Errata Cards — These completely replace cards from previous sets.
Card Elements
- A. Name
- B. Abilities
- C. Health (see page 8)
- D. Attack (p. 8)
- E. Mana Boost (p. 12)
- F. Horde: Skybooter, Animerk, Scaleson (p. 7)
- G. Treachery (p. 14)
- H. Horde card type: monster, spell, or attachment (p. 12) and a possible qualifier such as Epic (p. 24)
- I. Horde Rarity (p. 5)
- J. Related Hero (only relevant for custom decks, p. 17)
- K. Deck-building rules (p. 17)
- L. Mana cost (p. 9)
- M. Type: ally, tower, spell, or attachment (p. 13)
- N. Subtype: Order, etc. (p. 18)
- O. Alliance rarity (p. 5)
- P. Wave and reinforce (p. 12)
- Q. Portal Mana Boost (p. 12)
- R. Game mode: solo, or 2-player cooperative (p. 16)
- S. Portal stage: I, II, III, IV (p. 7)
- T. Type: enchanter, colossal, immortal, henchman (p. 11)
- U. Enchantment (p. 11)
- V. Mandatory effect, or flavor text (p. 21)
- W. Cost (or income), action, and effect (p. 21)
- X. Scenario income (p. 21)
Cards also show a CODE and an ARTIST credit.
Card Inventory Explained
All cards from the Campaigns set have a unique code (like CAM.014 2x) with this structure:
- CAM: three letters to identify the set.
- 014: three digits to identify each unique card.
- 2x: this number tells you how many copies of the card are included in the set. If there is no number, it means there is only one copy of the card.
These are the range of unique identifiers for the four products from the Campaigns set:
- Campaigns base box: 001 to 184
- Nupten Travelers and Faefolk expansion: 185 to 265
- Deluxe Promo pack: 266 to 282
- Year 3 Promo pack: 283 to 300
For customer support, email [email protected]. To buy products, visit https://www.playskytear.com.
The Alliance Factions
The color of the banner on the castle and alliance cards indicates their faction.
There are four factions in the game: Liothan (blue), Taulot (green), Kurumo (red), and Nupten (yellow).
An overview of each faction is on page 18.
A card's faction is only relevant during setup when assembling the pre-made alliance decks or when building custom decks.
If you have trouble distinguishing between the colors, each faction also has a different rune watermarked on the ability scroll.
Horde Rarity
The icon indicates the set (e.g. the original Skytear Horde or Monoliths).
Its color indicates the power level, from weakest to strongest.
During setup you will only pick specific power levels based on the desired difficulty.
Alliance Rarity
The icon indicates the set.
Its color indicates one of the four possible rarities: base, rare, mythic, and legendary.
The alliance rarity is only relevant in between games when building decks, see page 22.
Tokens
There is no limit on tokens in the game. If you run out of tokens from the box, use alternate components to represent these tokens.
- 2 Lane Markers
- 1 Castle Health Token
- 5 Large Health Tokens
- 18 Health Tokens
- 10 Attack Tokens
- 8 Temporary Attack Tokens
- 8 Armor Tokens
- 6 Temporary Armor Tokens
- 2 Mana Tokens
- 2 Gold Tokens
- 2 Large Attack Tokens
- 3 Large Temporary Attack Tokens
- 2 Large Temporary Armor Tokens
Setup
1. Tokens
Place the two lane markers in the center of the table so that the numbers progress from 0 to 10.
Leave room for a row of cards above and below the lane markers for monsters and allies (area for monsters above; area for allies and towers below).
Each player places their mana token on the 0 of the lane marker.
Place the remaining tokens within reach.
2. Castle Card
Place a castle of your choice to the right of the lane markers (for your first game, use "Pools of Flyema").
Place the castle health token on the lane marker to track the castle's starting health. If needed, use the token's +10 side to add 10 to the number on the track.
If there are two players, choose another castle that will remain out of play. This castle will only be used for determining the second player's alliance deck restrictions.
3. Alliance Deck
To play with pre-made decks, each player shuffles together 40 alliance cards from the same set and of the same faction as their castle. (For your first game, use the blue and/or green decks from the Campaigns set).
Page 18 has an overview of each pre-made alliance deck and page 22 has rules for building your own custom alliance decks.
Each player places their alliance deck within reach and leaves room next to it for a face-up discard pile.
If you have the Nupten & Utsesh expansions, you have 41 cards per faction instead of 40. Remove 1 heroic ally at random (e.g. Vorhild, Akimo, etc.) to end up with your pre-made deck.
4. Portal Cards and Token
Portal cards are double-sided with one side for each player count, either solo or cooperative.
Portals also have a stage ranging from 1 to 4.
For your first game, take the stage 1 portal for either solo or co-op that does not have a horde name after the stage.
Form a face-up pile of 4 portal cards ordered by stage with stage 1 on top and stage 4 on the bottom.
Place these portals to the left of the lane markers making sure the right player count is shown face up.
5. Minion Cards
Place the four minion cards above the space reserved for monsters (their order does not matter).
A health token symbol on the setup diagram represents a health token.
For solo games, place 1 health token on two different minions of your choice (e.g. Zephylite Minions and Ratamil minions). For cooperative games, place 1 health token on each minion card.
6. Horde Deck
For your first game, form the horde deck using the 18 Skybooter horde cards with the Skybooter symbol in their top right corner and with the two weakest power levels. This will set the difficulty to level 2.
To build your horde deck in future games, choose one or more hordes to fight and a difficulty level from the table below.
Then, form the horde deck using all the horde cards from the chosen hordes that have the corresponding power level icons.
| Difficulty | Cards* |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | 9 |
| Level 2 | 18 |
| Level 3 (and also add 1 random) | 10 |
| Level 4 | 20 |
| Level 5 | 11 |
The exact number of cards is not important and may vary from set to set and also depending on the expansions you have.
Now shuffle all the horde cards you have selected to form the horde deck and place it within reach. Leave room next to it for a face-up discard pile where you will place destroyed monsters, spells, etc.
7. Outsider Card(s)
Choose an outsider and place their cards face-up and within reach.
For your first game, use "Atlas". It consists of 3 cards with the same name.
Any outsider can be paired with any horde, even though some outsiders are thematically connected with a specific horde as indicated on page 19.
8. Draw and Mulligan
Each player draws five cards from their alliance deck.
Players may take a mulligan: discard any number of cards, draw back the same amount, and then shuffle the discarded cards back into the deck.
For your first game we suggest you mulligan any card that is not of the "ally" type and/or has a mana cost of 5 or higher.
You are now ready to start playing!
Key Concepts
On the next few pages, you will find the key concepts needed to start playing. For more complete definitions see the additional rules and glossary at the end of the rulebook.
Monsters and Allies
Monster and ally cards both show attack and health values.
Monsters and allies are the two most important types of horde and alliance cards respectively.
They both have attack and health values that can be modified during the game.
Once they enter play, they remain in play until they are destroyed (their health is 0 or less).
Front Line and Lanes
- Ally strikes portal.
- Engaged monster and ally strike each other.
- Monster strikes castle.
The main game zone is called the front line. It consists of 6 lanes identified by the 2 lane markers.
Each lane can have at most:
- One monster above the lane markers
- One ally or tower below the lane markers
During the fight phase:
- Monsters and allies in the same lane strike each other.
- Unengaged monsters strike the castle.
- Unengaged allies strike the portal.
Strike and Damage
Example: this monster has taken 3 damage and has zero health, it is destroyed.
When an ally or monster strikes, it deals an amount of damage equal to their attack.
When a card takes damage, you put that many damage tokens on it to keep track of its lower health.
Tokens
Abilities use symbols that represent tokens that modify the attack and health of cards underneath them.
- +1 Health, +1 Attack, -1 Attack (Temporary, this turn)
- -1 Health (Damage), +1 Attack (this turn), -1 Attack (this turn)
Opposing tokens of the same type on the same card, cancel each other out immediately. E.g. If a card with a damage token gains a health token, both tokens are discarded.
Temporary and permanent tokens are a different type of tokens. E.g. A card can have a -1 attack token and a +1 attack token at the same time: while they effectively even each other out, the -1 attack token will be removed at the end of the turn, whereas the +1 attack token will stay.
Tokens in Lane
Some scenario cards have abilities that place tokens on either side of the lane marker, in a specific lane.
When a monster or ally is in a lane with tokens on their side, they gain those tokens.
Destruction
When the health of a card is 0 or less, follow these steps:
- Resolve the card's "Destroyed:" ability.
- Discard the card's tokens and attachments.
- The card leaves play. Depending on the card type:
- Monster or Ally — Place it in the proper discard pile.
- Minion or Outsider — Set the card aside.
- Portal — Replace the card with the next stage portal in its upright orientation, any excess damage is lost. If this was the stage I portal, place the outsider in the outsider pile (see page 11).
Drawing Cards — All non-token monsters have this additional ability: "Destroyed: One player may draw 1 card." In other words: every time a non-token monster is destroyed (be it a normal monster, outsider, or even a minion) one player of your choice may draw 1 card. This is very important to remember because it is the main way to draw cards in Skytear Horde!
Mana
The mana tokens track your mana.
Mana is the resource spent to play alliance cards.
Each player must always have their mana token next to the corresponding number on the lane markers to track their available mana.
Mana can be kept from turn to turn, however it cannot be more than 10 or less than 0, and it cannot be traded between players.
Card Tokens
Card tokens are special monsters and allies created by specific abilities rather than played from hand or summoned by the portal.
Remember that monster tokens do not let you draw a card when destroyed.
Card tokens are not limited. If you run out of components, use alternate components for them instead.
Rules for edge cases: if a card token would enter a deck, discard pile, or would be drawn, it is placed in the reserve out of play instead. The Troop token's mana cost is zero.
Hands, Decks, and Discard Piles
Each player has their own deck and hand of cards.
Players can have at most 7 cards in hand at the end of the turn.
Each deck has its own discard pile. When you discard a card, place it face-up in the appropriate discard pile (the order of the cards in the discard piles does not matter).
If an alliance deck runs out of cards, all players lose.
If the horde deck runs out of cards, shuffle its discard pile to form a new horde deck.
Abilities
General Rules for Abilities
You must always resolve abilities as much as possible. (E.g. "Destroy 2 monsters" will destroy only 1 monster if there is only one in play.)
If something is tied or not specified, you are free to decide. (E.g. "An ally gains 1 [token]" lets you choose any ally in play. Or if multiple abilities would resolve at the same time, you decide the order in which they resolve.)
These are the 2 most important rules to know. On page 22, you can see additional rules to help you resolve all kind of abilities in case you have any doubts as you play.
Ready and Exhausted
Ready allies. Exhausted ally and tower. Exhausted castle.
Cards in play can be in one of two possible states: ready or exhausted.
Cards enter play in the ready state and must become exhausted in order to use one of their "Exhaust:" abilities.
Exhausted cards are pulled away from the lane markers to represent their exhausted state.
Exhausted cards can still be used in the Fight phase.
Additional Costs
Some abilities might have additional costs that you must pay in order to use them. These costs are highlighted in bold.
For example, the ability of most castles requires you to pay 1 mana in addition to exhausting the castle in order to resolve the ability.
Minions & Back Line
The four minions are a special type of monster threatening your resources (your alliance deck) instead of your castle.
The back line is a game zone where the four minion cards stay in play.
During the pillage phase, the stronger the minions in the back line, the more cards you will have to discard from your alliance deck. Remember: all players lose if an alliance deck runs out of cards!
Abilities can target monsters in the back line as long as they do not specify the targeted monster must be in a lane or in the front line.
All four minions have the same abilities, one of which is the "Pillager" keyword.
Pillager means minions remain in play in the back line unless an ally engages and pulls them into a lane during the alliance phase.
The health of the minions will be increased above zero with health tokens during the setup and, most likely, also during the game due to horde cards' abilities.
A destroyed minion only exists for abilities giving health to it. As soon as a destroyed minion gains health, it enters play in the back line.
Outsiders
The outsider is the boss leading the horde and your goal is to destroy it. The outsider starts out of play and will be summoned from the outsider pile.
Outsider Pile
At the start of the game the outsider pile is empty. The outsider will go in this pile once the Stage 1 portal is destroyed. Occasionally, other cards will also go in the outsider pile as well.
The outsider pile is face-up and, unlike the discard piles, it is ordered. (i.e. the order of the cards matter and should not be changed.)
Outsider Types
Outsiders can be of four types: enchanter, colossal, immortal, or henchman. The type is identified by the symbol at the bottom of their card.
The outsider recommended for your first game is an immortal, so you can skip reading the other types for a quicker start.
Immortal Outsiders
An immortal outsider is made of two or more cards, each representing one stage that is indicated at the bottom of its cards with roman numbers.
You win at the end of the turn in which you destroy the last stage of an immortal outsider.
The Stage 1 portal "Destroyed:" ability will only place the stage 1 outsider in the outsider pile.
Once an immortal outsider is destroyed, place its next stage, if any, at the bottom of the outsider pile.
This means you do NOT have to destroy the stage 2 portals to summon the stage 2 outsider.
Destroying stage 2 or 3 portals is just an optional strategic choice.
Enchanter Outsiders
Enchanter outsiders have a special ability at the top of their card called "enchantment".
The enchantment is always active for the whole game, even while they are out of play. (e.g. Waiting to enter the outsider pile, in it, or even destroyed!).
You win at the end of the turn in which you destroy the enchanter outsider.
Colossal Outsiders
A colossal outsider has one or more connected cards, effectively separate monsters, representing its appendages.
In order for a colossal outsider to be summoned, there must be enough free adjacent lanes to contain the outsider and all its appendages (you must compact all the horde cards in the lane toward the left, if that makes any difference in this regard).
The outsider and its appendages enter play at the same time before resolving any of their "Play:" abilities and must be placed in the order indicated by the diagram at the bottom of their cards.
If the outsider leaves play, the appendages remain in play and vice versa: they are effectively independent monsters for all purposes except you remove them from the game when destroyed. You do not need to destroy the appendages to win at the end of the turn, just destroying the outsider is enough.
Outsider Henchman
These outsiders are on the back of scenario cards and are primarily designed for the campaign game mode.
To play them in one-off games, you can use two of them as if they were two stages of an immortal outsider.
How to Play: Horde Phase
To start a new turn, follow these steps.
1. Gain Mana
Each player gains mana equal to the mana boost of the portal (the number in the corner). As the portal rotates, the wave and reinforce numbers at the top will change — e.g. on the second turn, you will use these numbers.
2. Summon from the Horde Deck
Summon a number of horde cards equal to the portal wave number. Summon these cards from the horde deck, one at a time, following the steps in the "How to Summon Horde Cards" sidebar below.
How to Summon Horde Cards — Take the card and follow these two steps:
- Depending on the card type do the following:
- Monster — Place it in the leftmost lane not currently occupied by any monster cards and resolve its "Play:" abilities. If all six lanes are full, place the card on the bottom of the outsider pile instead (it cannot be summoned until the next turn).
- Spell — Resolve its "Play:" abilities and discard it.
- Attachment — Resolve its "Play:" abilities that will instruct you to attach it to another card (slide the attachment card beneath the target card). When the attached card leaves play, discard the attachment as well. In the unlikely case in which it is not possible to attach to another card, place the card on the bottom of the outsider pile instead.
- One player gains mana equal to the mana boost of the card, if any. In cooperative games you may split the +2 mana boost between the players. (Cards may show +2 mana boost, +1 mana boost, or no mana boost.)
3. Reinforce Minions
Place a number of health tokens equal to the reinforce number.
Place these tokens one at a time, each time on the minion with the lowest health (in case of a tie, you decide). Make sure to also consider minions with 0 health.
4. The Outsider Pile
Summon all the cards in the outsider pile, one card at a time, top to bottom.
Since the outsider pile starts empty, nothing will happen in the first turn. All Stage 1 portals have a "Destroyed:" ability that places the outsider in the outsider pile, so it will likely be summoned during the next horde phase.
5. Rotate the Portal
Rotate the portal 90° clockwise so that a new wave and reinforce number will be used in the next horde phase.
Proceed to the alliance phase.
Alliance Phase
Each player may take these actions any number of times, and in any order, during the alliance phase. Fully resolve one action before taking another. Once all players are done taking actions, proceed to the treachery phase.
Play Alliance Cards (∞)
Follow these three steps:
- Pay the mana cost of a card in your hand.
- Then, depending on the card type:
- Ally or Tower — Place it in a lane without alliance cards and in the ready state.
- Spell — Discard it. (Spell never enters play, you will only resolve its "Play:" abilities in the next step).
- Attachment — Attach it (slide it beneath) to another card in play or discard it with no effect. There is no limit to how many attachments a card can have.
- Resolve the card's "Play:" abilities, if any.
Use "Exhaust:" Abilities (∞)
Exhaust a card with "Exhaust:" abilities to resolve one of those abilities.
In addition to the abilities written on the cards, all allies and castles have universal "Exhaust:" abilities as explained below. These are also repeated on the last page of the rulebook as reference.
For more details on the exhaust mechanic see page 10.
Universal Ally "Exhaust:" Abilities — All allies have these universal abilities that you can use despite not being explicitly written on their card text.
- Move or Swap Position — "Exhaust: Move this ally to a free lane (one with no alliance cards)." / "Exhaust this ally and another one: These two allies swap positions." While you can play allies in any free lane, you might want to move them from turn to turn in order to choose what they will strike during the fight phase.
- Engage (Minions) — "Exhaust: Move a monster from the back line to the lane of this ally." You may want to do this in order to strike minions later on during the fight phase. If you don't, they will pillage and force you to discard cards from your deck.
Universal Castle "Exhaust:" Ability — All castles have this universal ability that you can use despite not being explicitly written on their card.
- Draw — "Exhaust, pay 1 mana: Draw a card."
Discard Alliance Cards (∞)
Discard one ally or tower in play.
You usually take this action to discard towers without charges left or, occasionally, an ally that you do not need anymore.
Tower Charges — Tower "Play:" abilities will often add tokens to them. These tokens are basically charges, since their abilities will often read: "Exhaust, remove 1 [charge]:" If a tower enters play with charges you must discard it as soon as it remains without any.
Treachery Phase
Follow these two steps.
1. Resolve Treachery Card
Reveal the top card of the horde deck and place it face up on top of the horde discard pile. This is the treachery card for this turn.
Ignore all abilities and just look to the sides of the treachery card for any attack-bonus or treachery-ability symbols.
Depending on the symbol on the treachery card resolve the appropriate effect below.
Attack Bonus — The boosted monster (see box below) gains a number of temporary attack tokens equal to the number of symbols on the treachery card. Each temporary attack token increases the boosted monster's attack for the remainder of the turn, as explained on page 8.
Treachery Ability — Resolve the "Treachery:" ability written on the treachery card and ignore ALL other abilities. (Such as "Play:", "Destroyed:", etc.) Sometimes the ability will not even reference the boosted monster. In these cases, identifying the boosted monster is not relevant. If the ability says "an ally" or "a monster" without specifying other conditions, you are free to choose. (This is a general rule for all abilities.)
The Boosted Monster — The boosted monster is the leftmost monster in the front line, if the symbols are on the left, or the rightmost monster in the front line, if the symbols are on the right. If there is only one monster in the front line, it is considered both the leftmost and rightmost. Example: if the treachery card shows symbols on the left, the leftmost monster gains 1; if on the right, the rightmost monster gains 2.
2. Alliance Reactions
Each player may take the two actions below any number of times and in any order.
- Play cards with a "Play:" ability.
- Use "Exhaust:" abilities on ready cards.
Please note: cards and abilities with the treachery-phase symbol can also be used during the alliance phase.
You may want to use these special cards and abilities to adjust your plans according to the treachery effect.
Once all players are done taking actions, proceed to the fight phase.
Fight Phase
Follow the steps below for each lane from left to right. Make sure to completely resolve a lane before proceeding to the next one.
1. Horde Fight
Resolve the "Fight:" abilities of any monster in the lane.
2. Alliance Fight
Resolve the "Fight:" abilities of any ally or tower in the lane.
3. Strike
Towers do nothing in this step while monsters and allies in the lane will strike each other, as follows:
- Unengaged Ally — If the lane has an unengaged ally (ready or exhausted), the ally strikes the portal, dealing damage to the portal equal to their attack. If the portal is destroyed, resolve its "Destroyed:" ability and replace it with the next stage portal in its upright position.
- Unengaged Monster — If the lane has an unengaged monster (i.e. not opposed by an ally), the monster strikes the castle, dealing damage to the castle equal to its attack. For your convenience, if the castle would gain or lose health you simply adjust the castle health token on the lane marker. Please note: a tower is not an ally and, therefore, a monster in a lane with a tower strikes the castle.
- Monster versus Ally — If the lane has both a monster and an ally (ready or exhausted it does not matter) they simultaneously strike each other, dealing damage to each other equal to their attack.
4. Resolve the Next Lane
Repeat the three previous steps for the next lane to the right until you have resolved all lanes.
If all six lanes have been resolved, proceed to the pillage phase.
Minions Fighting — All four minion cards have 0 attack and an ability giving them +1 attack for each health token on them. All minions with 4 or more attack also have Trample, meaning that when they strike, all the excess damage is dealt to the castle instead.
Pillage Phase
Follow these steps.
1. Pillage
Each monster in the back line, usually just minions, pillages. When a monster pillages, they pillage a number of cards equal to their attack.
To pillage a card, each player places the top card of their alliance deck into their discard pile.
"Pillage:" abilities of monsters in the back line resolve during this step too.
You can decide the order in which monsters pillage and resolve their "Pillage:" abilities (this is a general rule for all abilities triggering at the same time).
2. Return Pillagers
Move each monster with the "Pillager" keyword to the back line. Usually, this will mean returning the minions that were engaged during a fight back to the back line.
Finally, proceed to the end phase.
Example: the minion on the right has 0 attack because it has 1 health and a -1 attack token, so they will not pillage any cards. The other two minions in the back line have 3 and 1 health, therefore all players must discard the top 4 cards of their decks. In the second step of the pillage phase, the minion engaged in the lane (that did not pillage) will return to the back line. (Minions in a lane do not pillage.)
End Phase
If the outsider was destroyed this turn, you win!
Otherwise, follow these steps:
- Armor regenerates: flip armor tokens to their plus side. Remove all temporary tokens.
- Ready all exhausted cards.
- Players discard cards down to 7.
- Start another turn from the horde phase.
You are ready to play! You do not need to read further in order to play your first game. As you play, make sure to have the player aid cards nearby and reference the glossary at the end of the rulebook to look up the meaning of the keywords found on cards. Good luck and have fun!
Cooperative Mode
The rules you have read so far are valid for both the solo and cooperative game mode. These are the key points to keep in mind for 2-player cooperative games:
- Both players gain the mana indicated on the portal. Just remember that there are different portals for cooperative games.
- Both players defend the same castle using the same 6-lane battlefield.
- Both players are affected by pillage at the same time. (E.g. To pillage 3 cards, both players discard 3 cards from the top of their decks.)
- Only one player of your choice may draw a card when a monster is destroyed.
- Only one player gains mana from a horde card's mana boost (but it can be split, if the boost is 2 or more).
The Lore
"The Hordes are still pushing at our gates, but their strength is getting weaker day by day. Our faith in the Alliance has been reinvigorated, and so has our power. Only by supporting each other can victory be finally achieved. One goal, one enemy, one front." — Ekhrit, Mistress of the Gales
These are crucial times for Olan Taa. Despite the new armies created by Temrup and their merciless attacks, the Alliance and the Realms still resist. Many lands have fallen, but not the Capital cities. The core of their dauntless defense dwells in the mutual trust and collaboration between the Sovereigns. Since Queen Freyhel has gathered the Council of Beraph, most old conflicts have been set apart to the benefit of a single and cohesive line towards all the borders.
The admixture of regiments from one Realm to another represents the quintessence of this new chapter. Soldiers who fought against each other in the past are now fighting side by side, reciprocally absorbing the new cultural influences and learning from their former enemies. Maybe called by the chance of shaping a better future or simply taking advantage of the renewed energy that imbues the Alliance, new forces emerge from the shadows to increase the ranks. From the mysterious Spiritists, a sect of warrior monks from Kaeno whose power relies on unknown combat techniques, to the Burrowers, a weird race of magic lizard people who have been lurking in the Xotlanian unexplored caves before now, new allies have joined the fight against the Horde.
Temrup is far from being defeated, though. His previous attempts to create new threats to the four Realms granted him the ability to expand throughout the Free territories but did little for his plans to penetrate the Realms and overthrow them. It's time to consider new strategies to leverage the rotten corners of the Realm and its ephemeral Alliance. Secret cults allured by forbidden powers, abandoned sons seeking new creators, and ruthless mercenaries could be the key to victory. If his forces cannot breach the walls, they will simply strike from within.
Learn more about the lore of Skytear in the four hard-cover lore books from www.playskytear.com.
The Battle Plan
In the next pages you can see an overview of each alliance and horde with their play style, difficulty, and recommended outsider.
The game is designed so you can randomize every setup choice and have a fair and fun experience.
If you prefer a non-random approach, here we share some recommendations for setting an order instead.
Which Alliance?
For the alliance decks the main recommendation is to leave the Nupten (yellow) decks last, because they're particularly complex compared to the others.
A possible order is to play all the Liothan (blue), Taulot (green), Kurumo (red), and Nupten (yellow) decks in the release order: first set, Monoliths, and Campaigns.
Which Horde and Outsider?
The hordes were designed with slightly increasing difficulty levels as indicated in the next pages.
Play them from easier to harder and for the outsider use the first one indicated for each horde, and then the second indicated for a more challenging difficulty.
Keep in mind that the main way to set the difficulty is by choosing the difficulty level during the setup, and the difference in difficulty of the hordes and outsider is only marginal.
Which Portals and Scenarios?
The most thematic approach is to use the stage 1 portal (and scenarios) related to the horde you are playing against.
Alliance Overview
Liothan Shapeshifters — Ramp up your Skytear mana production in order to play massive allies. Make sure to keep them healed after each fight, and they will lead you to victory.
Liothan Enforcers — Disposable troops will boost your spells and towers and enable more powerful allies. This alliance deck has strong healing and mana generation.
Liothan Zealots — Bless your troops to get temporary boosts and dominate the battlefield. Towers and attachments can exploit the bonuses to create devastating combos.
Taulot Followers — Grow the strength of your allies, while lowering the enemy's strength. Slow and steady, gain more and more of an advantage until you are ready for anything.
Taulot Custodians — Rely on a wide array of towers and totems to achieve anything you need to win: from summoning allies and mutaforming them to hunting down minions.
Taulot Dwellers — Debuff is the way. Set your traps along the lanes and make the Hordes weaker and weaker. When the time is right, crush your enemies under your attacks.
Kurumo Warriors — Speed is the name of the game! Attachments will empower your relatively weak allies. Remember: the best defense is a good offense!
Kurumo Artificers — A Kurumo deck that uses bigger warriors. Make the best use of attachments and upgrades to build unstoppable allies!
Kurumo Disciples — A frenetic run against time. Your warriors enter the battlefield with impressive buffs, decreasing their power time after time. Do not let your foes retaliate.
Nupten Illusionists (Complex) — Everything in your deck serves a singular purpose: stall the Horde until the three powerful mentalists are able to decimate the Horde's forces!
Nupten Diviners (Complex) — Curate your hand as you beat back the Horde with time magic. The effects in this deck are surprisingly varied and unpredictable.
Nupten Travelers (Complex) — From the fabric of time and parallel universes, unleash your troops in a continuous cycle of play and draw.
Horde Overview
Renegade (Easy) — Legendary black knights coordinate the siege operations of trolls, yetis, and frost giants, relying on their toughness to keep your allies away. Outsiders: The Hate Bringer, Rider of Hate.
Undead (Medium) — An endless army of undead, supported by spirits and onis, has risen to fill the lanes of the battlefield. Hope you like skeletons. Outsiders: The Death Dealer, Rider of Death.
Monoliths (Easy) — Huge Monoliths empower minions to charge into the lanes, threatening your castle and your alliance deck. Outsiders: Purple Circle, The Lost Legion, The Lost City.
Sinklings (Medium) — These monstrous sea creatures crash into the battle concealed. Will you face them blindly or wait for them to reveal themselves? Outsiders: Damsel of Silence, The Coral Beast, Abyssal Terror.
Skybooter (Easy) — Fire in the hole! While taking cover from the pirate's impressive firepower, keep an eye on the captains, who crave your resources more than anything. Outsider: Atlas.
Animerk (Medium) — Watch out for the scraps! These rusty robots know how to recycle the junk around. Get ready to be trampled by a galore of buffs. Outsider: WAST-3.
Predator (Hard) — A wild Horde of strange, mutating carnivores will assault your castle, leaving you no resources to prepare for the arrival of their leader. Outsiders: The Beast Lord, Slaver of Beasts.
Nightmare (Harder) — Nightmarish monsters such as harpies, golems, and chimeras will lull your Alliance into submission. Outsiders: The Dreaming Matriarch, Rider of Dreams.
Slitherers (Hard) — Try to beat back this infested portal as it creeps into the lanes, overwhelming everything with its dangerous plants and spores. Outsiders: Doom Vines, Toxic Breath, Living Portal.
The Brood (Harder) — A ravenous swarm proliferates in the back line while pillaging anything within reach. No alliance deck is safe from their appetite! Outsiders: Brood Mother, Genesis Monolith, Titan Brood.
Scaleson (Hard) — Magic eggs have been hidden inside your castle, ready to hatch into dreadful Dragons. Cultists protect them at any cost. Beat them before it's too late. Outsider: Scalesider.
Faefolk (Harder) — Do not underestimate the power of these little creatures. Their size is compensated by mischievous tricks they love playing on your troops. Outsider: Wishmaker.
Campaign Mode
We recommend you play a few stand-alone games before venturing into a campaign.
A campaign is a series of four games in which the health of the castle is carried over from one game to the next and you start with a 20-card deck that may gain new cards before each game.
You lose a campaign if you lose any game of it. You win if you win all four games of it!
Each game has a scenario card that is resolved on setup and a different outsider with increasing power as you advance.
| Game # | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scenario | ||||
| Outsider |
In the first game, the stage 1 portal is the outsider, you win at the end of the turn in which you destroy the portal.
In the second and third games, the outsider is an outsider henchman, a type of outsider weaker than usual that is on the back of scenario cards.
In the fourth and last game, the outsider is like the ones you've seen in stand-alone games.
While playing campaign games, there is only one new rule to remember: gold.
Gold
Gold is a resource shared by the Alliance that is spent to take scenario actions during the game setup.
You track your gold using a gold token on the mana track (use the sides with +10, +20, etc. as needed).
Gold cannot be negative and nothing happens if it is 0.
Gold can be at most 40.
Each time a number of cards are pillaged, decrease your gold by the same amount to a minimum of zero (in addition to discarding cards from each Alliance deck, as usual).
In cooperative games, when both players pillage X cards at the same time, the Alliance only loses X gold.
Campaign Setup
Campaign Castle
Choose a castle to use for the campaign.
With two players, one of them will be the visiting army. They will choose another castle, which will only be used to determine that player deck's restrictions.
Alliance and Market Decks
Each player chooses a "market deck" for the campaign. This can be any regular deck that follows the restrictions on the back of that player's castle.
Each player now takes at most 18 base cards and 2 legendary cards from their market decks to form their starting alliance deck.
The cards left in the market deck will be acquired during the campaign with the Recruit action, explained on the next page.
Gold, Scenarios, and Portals
Set your gold to 10.
Choose three different Hordes for this campaign and take six scenario cards to form the scenario pile.
Take four stage 1 portals to form the portal pile.
You may take the portals and scenarios connected to the hordes you have chosen but you do not have to. You can look at these piles anytime and they have no order in particular.
During each game setup, you will remove cards from the scenario and portal piles to use them and return them to your collection after the game.
You will potentially use all these four portals and six scenarios throughout four games (two scenarios will be used as outsider henchmen).
Horde Deck and Final Outsider
Form the horde deck using the cards from all the 3 hordes of this campaign.
You can choose between the 5 difficulty levels as usual, but never take cards with the treachery-only symbol, not even at the highest difficulty levels.
Choose one outsider for the final game of this campaign; it can be any non-henchman outsider.
You are ready to set up your first game!
Scenario Setup
Remove a random card from the scenario pile to use it as the scenario for this game.
Then, follow the usual steps to set up a game using the castle, Horde deck, and Alliance deck from this campaign and take into consideration the points below.
For the stage 1 portal, remove a random card from the portal pile to use for this game.
Set the castle's gold and health to the level it was at the end of your previous game, if any. (You start with 10 gold and the castle is at full health.)
For the outsider:
- In your first game: the outsider is the stage 1 portal; you win at the end of the turn in which you destroy it!
- In your second and third games: remove a random card from the scenario pile and use that henchman.
- In the fourth and last game: use the outsider determined during campaign setup.
Finally, just before drawing 5 cards and taking a mulligan, resolve the scenario from this game.
Resolving the Scenario
- The scenario card may have some mandatory effects at the top that must be resolved first. Alternatively, it may have italic text that is just flavor without gameplay implications.
- Players may now take any number of the listed actions in any order. The Alliance must spend the gold indicated next to the action effect to take an action. If the number is positive, the Alliance earns that gold instead. Each action may only be taken once unless there is a "∞" symbol next to it.
Scenario card layout: A. Name; B. Mandatory effect or flavor text; C. Cost (or income), name, and effect; D. Scenario income (see next step); E. Related horde; F. Difficulty.
- Once you are satisfied with your choices:
- earn the gold indicated in the bottom left corner of the scenario card;
- draw 5 cards;
- take a mulligan, and start playing!
Recruit Action
A common action you will find in most events is the Recruit X action, which allows you to grow your deck. (Especially for your first campaigns, we recommend taking the recruit action first and foremost!)
To "Recruit X" take these steps:
1. Form Three Offers
Each player places their market deck face-down within reach and forms three offers.
To form an offer, place the top X cards of your market deck face-up next to each other.
For example, to Recruit 2, each player should form three offers with 2 cards each.
If the market deck is empty, just form as many offers as possible even though some might have fewer cards than others.
2. Recruit One Offer
Each player takes all the cards from one offer and places them on the top of their deck in any order.
Then, place all the cards left in the market at the bottom of the market deck in a random order.
It is important to note that when you resolve the recruit action you have not drawn your cards yet... so you will draw what you have just recruited (even though you can mulligan as usual).
Limited Format
The name of this format originates from the "limited format" of trading card games where you form the best deck you can out of what you find in random booster packs.
If you would like to try this format, simply form the market deck shuffling together any three decks of your choice (either pre-made or custom built).
Pausing a Campaign
If you cannot play an entire campaign in one session, you need to note down your gold and castle's health.
Then, set aside the alliance and market decks as well as the scenario pile, portal pile, castle, and final outsider.
Customizing Decks
The rules for building custom alliance decks are based on the castle you are using.
The back of the castle card indicates, for each rarity, which faction (color) of cards can be included and any additional rules.
In the example above, you can only have 6 Mythic cards of the blue Liothan faction (the rune indicating the faction is also watermarked on the scroll of the cards, if you have trouble distinguishing between the colors).
You can include cards from any set when building custom decks, regardless of the set icon on the castle card.
The only general rule not written on the castle card is: across all players' decks, there can be at most 1 copy of any Mythic or Legendary card, 2 copies of any Rare card, and 3 copies of any Common card.
Visit www.playskytear.com/horde to get more decks and share your own with the community!
Clarifications
The previous sections of this rulebook omitted these rules for abilities that were not needed to start playing. The glossary has also extended entries of concepts introduced earlier.
General Rules for Abilities
If a card's ability contradicts this rulebook, the ability takes precedence. If an ability says to do something and another says you cannot do it, the "cannot" takes precedence.
Abilities can only interact with cards in play. (Specifically: the castle, the portal, allies, towers, monsters, and their attachments.)
Triggered Abilities and Timing
Triggered abilities are resolved at a specific time.
They are either preceded by a bold trigger (Play, Fight, Destroyed) or otherwise a specific time ("After striking").
"After X is destroyed", "When X is destroyed", and "Destroyed:" all trigger at the same time. The same is said for "Play:", "When X enters play", "After X enters play" etc.
You must fully resolve an ability in the order it is written before resolving any other ability.
A triggered ability that is resolved remains active for the specified duration even if the card is destroyed (E.g. Wind Riders reads: "Fight: a minion with attack 4 or less cannot pillage for the remainder of the turn." Once it is resolved the ability will remain active for the remainder of the turn even if Wind Riders are destroyed).
Static Abilities
Static abilities do not specify a time like triggered abilities. They are simply active as long as their card remains in play.
For instance "All monsters gain +1 attack." will grant this bonus to all monsters in play until the card with this ability leaves play.
Static abilities modifying attack and armor do NOT apply tokens. If you want to use tokens as a reminder for static abilities, place the tokens next to the card rather than on top of it because card abilities will NOT be able to interact with these tokens (E.g. Remove or move them, etc).
Replacement Abilities
These are abilities worded with a structure similar to: "if THIS would happen, do THAT instead".
Armor is the most common example of this kind of ability. (E.g. If this card would take 1 damage, consume 1 armor instead.)
The effect being replaced is not happening.
If there are multiple replacement abilities trying to replace the same effect, resolve one at a time in the order of your choice. This means that, very likely, only one of these replacement abilities will actually resolve, because the others will not have anything to replace anymore.
Abilities from the Original Set
Skytear Horde, the first set of the series, did not feature temporary tokens to keep track of attack and armor variations that lasted "for the remainder of the turn".
All abilities from the first set written as "... gains +X attack for the remainder of the turn" are equivalent to "... gains X temporary attack tokens".
The same goes for all abilities written as "-X attack and +X armor for the remainder of the turn".
The word damage is equivalent to a damage token.
Glossary
A
ABILITY — With the exception of the universal abilities, all abilities are written on the cards. The card title and subtype (e.g. Shapeshifter) or qualifier (e.g. Epic) are not considered abilities. If a card loses or copies all abilities of a card, it includes the universal abilities as well. See page 10 for general rules about abilities and page 22 for additional details.
ADD X MANA — One player of your choice gains X mana. Players cannot have more than 10 mana.
ADJACENT — Two lanes are adjacent if they are next to each other. Two cards are adjacent if they are in adjacent lanes. Note the left-most and the right-most lanes are not adjacent (no wrapping!).
ARMOR — Each turn, a card with armor prevents a number of damage the card would take equal to their armor value. For example: a card with Armor 2 can prevent 2 damage each turn or 1 damage twice from different effects during the same turn. Place armor tokens on cards with armor and flip them to their minus side to keep track of the armor used this turn. (Flip them to the plus sign again during the end phase.) A card with Armor X that gains Armor Y (or +Y Armor) will end up with X+Y armor. Armor values that would be negative are considered to be zero when the card is taking damage. If all the incoming damage is prevented, the card is not considered damaged. Armor must be used before Barrier.
ASSAULT X — Deal X damage to the portal or to the outsider. The outsider must be in play to be damaged and it is not in play while in the outsider pile.
ATTACK — When an effect references the attack of a card, you must consider the printed value modified by tokens and temporary effects. There is no maximum nor minimum attack value but if attack ends up being negative because of abilities, it is considered to be zero instead.
B
BAIT — The baited monster gains 1 temporary attack token and you may move it to any lane without monsters.
BARRIER — If a card with Barrier and no damage would gain any amount of damage, put a single damage on that card instead. Armor must be used before Barrier.
BENEATH — Some cards may end up with other cards "beneath/underneath" them. Let's call the former the hosting card and the latter the hosted cards. Hosted cards are considered out of play. Unless noted otherwise, you must follow the destruction steps (see: Destruction) if they were in play before going beneath another card. When the hosting card leaves play, place the hosted cards in the owner's discard pile.
BLESS X — Choose damage or health tokens. Add X tokens of the chosen type to the ally.
C
CANNOT ENGAGE / BE ENGAGED — If a monster would be summoned engaged with an ally that they cannot engage, summon them in the closest free lane instead (or place them in the outsider pile if there is no available lane). An ally cannot enter a lane of a monster that they cannot engage.
CHARGE LEFT/RIGHT/ETC — To Charge Left or Right, place the monster in the leftmost or rightmost lane without monsters (not considering the monster itself). To Charge the weakest/strongest ally, if that ally is unengaged, place the monster in the lane of that ally.
COLLECTION — The collection includes every Skytear Horde card the player has access to (both in and out of play).
CONCEALED HORDE CARDS — A concealed horde card is a face-down horde card in a lane that is considered a monster token with 1 health and 0 attack. At the end of the alliance phase, all concealed cards in the lanes are revealed from left to right and then the ones in the back line, in any order of choice. To reveal a concealed card, flip it face-up and summon it following the usual rule with one exception: if it was a monster it stays in that lane instead of being summoned in the leftmost empty lane as usual. If a concealed card would gain any token or be affected by an ability, reveal it first. Then, after summoning it, if it was a monster, it gains the tokens and is affected by the abilities that were targeting the concealed monster. Otherwise, if it is not a monster, discard the tokens and resolve the ability as much as possible. Monsters with attachments or tokens on them cannot be concealed.
D
DAMAGE — When a card takes damage, you put that many damage tokens on it to keep track of its new lower health. It is considered damage any ability worded as: "Deal/gain X damage" or "Deal X damage". Abilities worded as "-X health for the remainder of the turn" or "remove/loses X health" (like Guerrilla) are not considered damage. This distinction is particularly important for applying Armor.
DAMAGED — A card is damaged when it gains one or more damage tokens.
DEFENDER — An unengaged ally with defender does not strike the portal during the fight phase.
"DESTROYED:" — See "Destruction".
DESTRUCTION — When the health of a card is 0 or less, follow these steps: 1) Resolve the card "Destroyed:" abilities. 2) Discard the card's tokens and attachments. 3) The card leaves play. Depending on the card type: Monster or Ally — place it in the proper discard pile; Minion or Outsider — set the card aside; Portal — replace the card with the next stage portal in its upright orientation (since portals are double sided, the next stage might be on the back of the destroyed portal). This sequence of steps interrupts any ability that is being resolved and cannot be interrupted by other abilities. The sequence is also irreversible, meaning that any card tagged for destruction will be destroyed even if their health goes back above zero. This sequence is also triggered when the card is about to leave play without being destroyed. (e.g., the card is drawn back in hand or it is placed in the outsider pile). In these cases, the third and last step of the sequence is replaced since the card is going to another zone like in hand, outsider pile, etc.
E
ELUSIVE X — After striking a monster for the first time in a turn, an ally with elusive may move to a free lane within X lanes. This might allow them to strike again this turn. Moving this way does not require the ally to exhaust. Elusive triggers before any engaged monster "Destroyed:" ability.
EMPTY LANE — For a horde card: a lane without horde cards. For an alliance card: a lane without alliance cards.
ENGAGED (MONSTER/ALLY) — An ally is engaged if there is a monster in the same lane, and vice versa. The engaged monster of an ally is the monster in the same lane. The engaged ally of a monster is the ally in the same lane.
EPIC — Epic is a class of stronger monster cards. Some abilities are not able to target epic cards, for example "destroy non-epic monster". An ability that targets a monster can also target epic monsters.
EXILE — To exile a card remove it from its deck for this and future games of the campaign. If it is an alliance card, return it to the bottom of its market deck.
F
FAST — Allies with fast have "Exhaust: resolve the Move and Engage universal abilities in any order". E.g. they can exhaust to move and then engage a minion or even engage a minion and then move.
FLUX X — To Flux X reveal cards from the bottom of your deck until you reveal a card with mana cost X or less. Then, draw that card and put back your deck without shuffling it.
FREE LANE — For a horde card ability: a lane without horde cards. For an alliance card ability: a lane without alliance cards.
FRONT LINE — The game area consisting of the 6 lanes.
G
GUERRILLA X — Remove X health tokens from a minion, either in the front or back line (Armor does not prevent this effect).
H
HEALTH — When an effect references the health of a card, you must consider the printed value modified by tokens and temporary effects. There is no maximum or minimum health value.
HEROIC X — As long as this card has 1 or more health tokens, it gets +X attack. A card with Heroic X that gains Heroic Y will end up with Heroic X+Y. Please note: the card does not actually gain any health tokens, even though you can place those next to the card as a reminder (see Static Abilities on page 22).
M
MOST WOUNDED — The card with the highest number of damage tokens. Do not consider cards without damage.
MUTAFORM X — Repeat X times: "put 1 attack token or 1 health token" on the card. If the target is an ally, you can choose a different type of token each time.
N
NEIGHBOR — The neighbors of a card are the cards in adjacent lanes on the same side. (i.e. horde cards will never be the neighbor of an alliance card and vice versa.)
P
PILLAGE — To pillage X cards, each player places the top X cards of their alliance deck face up in the respective discard pile (the discard pile is not ordered, so you can put them in any order). When a monster pillages, it pillages a number of cards equal to their attack.
"PILLAGE:" — "Pillage:" abilities on a card in the back line (i.e. not in the front line) trigger on the first step of the pillage phase.
PILLAGER — You must move to the back line a monster with pillager when it enters play and at the end of the pillage phase.
"PLAY:" — "Play:" abilities on a card trigger when that card is played. Monsters, allies, and towers must enter a lane before any "Play:" ability is resolved.
R
REBUILD X — Place up to X cards of any alliance discard pile on the bottom of the respective deck, in any order. The alliance discard piles are unordered, you can take any card of your choice when rebuilding.
REINFORCE X — To resolve the keyword "Reinforce 1", place 1 health token on the minion card with the fewest health tokens. Make sure to also consider destroyed minions. (in case of ties you decide which minion.) To "Reinforce 2", "Reinforce 1" twice. After every "Reinforce 1", check for the new minion with the fewest health tokens. This effectively means that the health tokens will be distributed across different minions, prioritizing destroyed minions first.
S
STRIKE — When an ally or monster strikes, it deals an amount of damage equal to its attack.
STRONGEST CARD — The card in play with the highest attack, after all modifiers and tokens. In the case of a tie, consider the highest health, considering all modifiers and tokens. If there is still a tie, players choose.
SUMMON — To summon a horde card, see page 12. To summon an alliance card, place it in any lane without alliance cards.
SURROUNDED — A card is surrounded if it has no empty adjacent lanes. For a horde card, a lane is empty if it has no horde cards. For an alliance card, if it has no alliance cards.
T
TAUNT — At the end of the alliance phase each unengaged monster with Taunt from left to right taunts an ally. To taunt an ally, place the closest ally not engaged with a monster with taunt in the monster's lane.
TRAMPLE — When an engaged ally or monster with Trample strikes and they deal enough damage to destroy the enemy, any excess damage is dealt to the portal or castle. For instance, if a monster with an attack of 3 and Trample would strike an ally with 1 health left, that monster would deal 1 damage to the ally and 2 trample damage to the castle. If that ally had 1 armor, the castle would only take 1 damage. If that ally had Barrier and no damage, the castle would take no damage.
U
UNDERNEATH — See Beneath.
UNENGAGED — An ally is unengaged if there is no monster in the same lane, and vice versa.
W
WEAKEST CARD — The card in play with the lowest attack, considering all modifiers and tokens. In case of a tie, check for the lowest health, considering all modifiers and tokens. If there is still a tie, players choose.
WITHIN 1 LANE — A card is within 1 lane from another if they are in the same or adjacent lanes.
WOUNDED — A card is wounded as long as there are damage tokens on it.
X
X — X is a number to be determined. If that is not determined by the ability referencing it, the player is free to choose any number greater than or equal to zero.
Common Keywords
These are copied from the glossary for your reference.
ASSAULT X — Deal X damage to the portal or to the outsider. The outsider must be in play to be damaged and it is not in play while in the outsider pile.
BAIT — The baited monster gains 1 temporary attack token and you may move it to any lane without monsters.
BLESS X — Choose damage or health tokens. Add X tokens of the chosen type to the ally.
ELUSIVE X — After striking a monster for the first time in a turn, an ally with elusive may move to a free lane within X lanes. This might allow them to strike again this turn. Moving this way does not require the ally to exhaust. Elusive triggers before any engaged monster "Destroyed:" ability.
FAST — Allies with fast have "Exhaust: resolve the Move and Engage universal abilities in any order". E.g. they can exhaust to move and then engage a minion or even engage a minion and then move.
FLUX X — To Flux X reveal cards from the bottom of your deck until you reveal a card with mana cost X or less. Then, draw that card and put back your deck without shuffling it.
GUERRILLA X — Remove X health tokens from a minion, either in the front or back line (Armor does not prevent this effect).
HEROIC X — As long as this card has 1 or more health tokens, it gets +X attack. A card with Heroic X that gains Heroic Y will end up with Heroic X+Y. Please note: the card does not actually gain any health tokens, even though you can place those next to the card as a reminder (see Static Abilities on page 22).
MUTAFORM X — Repeat X times: "put 1 attack token or 1 health token" on the card. If the target is an ally, you can choose a different type of token each time.
REBUILD X — Place up to X cards of any alliance discard pile on the bottom of the respective deck, in any order. The alliance discard piles are unordered, you can take any card of your choice when rebuilding.
REINFORCE X — To resolve the keyword "Reinforce 1", place 1 health token on the minion card with the fewest health tokens. Make sure to also consider destroyed minions. (in case of ties you decide which minion.) To "Reinforce 2", "Reinforce 1" twice. After every "Reinforce 1", check for the new minion with the fewest health tokens. This effectively means that the health tokens will be distributed across different minions, prioritizing destroyed minions first.
Universal Abilities
Allies have these universal abilities:
- Move — "Exhaust: move this ally to a lane without alliance cards."
- Swap — "Exhaust this ally and another one: these two allies swap positions."
- Engage — "Exhaust: Move a monster from the back line to the lane of this ally."
Castles have this universal ability:
- Draw — "Exhaust, pay 1 mana: Draw a card."
All non-token Monsters have this ability:
- "Destroyed: One player may draw a card."
Stage one Portals have this ability:
- "Destroyed: Place the outsider at the bottom of the outsider pile."