Rules

For your first few playthroughs we recommend using the pre-built decks. Once you've gotten used to those, explore building a new deck with the rules below.

Select your Hero

You will build your deck around a Hero. Once you choose, this determines which cards can be in your deck.

Deckbuilding Rules

• Your Hero has a Class. You can include any card from that class regardless of Mastery Requirements.
• You can include cards from any class as long as your Hero has enough Mastery for it. For example — Maya has 3 Arcana and 2 Instinct, so along with any Pyromancer card you may include any card with 3 or less Arcana or 2 or less Instinct.
• Mastery is a set of values on your Hero card (Arcana, Instinct, Martial, Expertise, Will) representing aptitude in different disciplines. A full Mastery rules section is forthcoming.

Deck Numbers

• Your deck must have at least 40 cards and no more than 60 cards.

Disc Deck

Your Disc Deck consists of 10 cards. These generate your resources (RP) and double as an action by destroying the disc.

• Choose 5 Small Discs, 3 Medium Discs, and 2 Large Discs.
• You may have at most 2 copies of any Disc (Small Discs allow 3 copies).
• Class Specific Discs (marked with the Class Symbol) require your Hero to share that Class.

Find the Stage I card of the Mission you want to play. The Mission Card shows icons indicating recommended sets. Most Missions ask for a Modular Set, Standard, and the Mission's own card set.

Setting Up the Mission

• Follow any SETUP instructions on the Stage I card — these may place cards into play or set cards aside.
• Place the Mission Card itself into play on the side.
• Shuffle the Enemy Cards (Zone Cards) into the Zone Deck.

Preparing the Player

• Each player starts with their Hero in play. Complete any SETUP effects now.
• Each player selects two different Disc Cards as their Starting Discs.
• Set your Legacy to 5.

Starting Hand

Draw 6 cards. You may Mulligan: place any number of cards face down at the bottom of your deck, then draw back up to 6.

Start Up Phase

• Draw 1 card and place the top card of the Disc Deck into play.
• Generate RP equal to the RP Value on all Discs in play. Discs generate passively and can still be activated the same turn.
• Idle all of your cards.

Main Phase

You can do any of the following in any order:

• Play Cards from your Hand by spending RP. Characters enter play Idle and can be Engaged on the same turn.
• Activate Engage Abilities on Characters.
• Activate Engage or other effects from Items in play.
• Engage allies or your Hero to Challenge enemies or Outposts, or to Rally at Locations, or to increase your Legacy.
• Activate Disc Effects by discarding that Disc.
• Activate Legendary Actions — some Missions have additional actions that cost Legacy.
• End the Turn.

End Phase

• Mission Check — If the requirements to advance or complete the Mission have been achieved, advance the stage here. Resolve any When Revealed effects on the new stage.
• Reputation Check — If your Hero has any Trophy cards in their Hero Journal, gain Legacy equal to the combined Trophy X values of those cards.

Start Up Phase

• Idle all cards.
• Resolve any Start of Enemy Turn effects.

Then proceed through the Reveal Phase (4.3), Intent Phase (4.4), and Resolve Phase (4.5).

This ends the Round. It then passes back to the Player.

Reveal the top card from the Zone Deck. It enters play. If it has a When Revealed effect, resolve it now.

Some effects may increase or decrease the number of cards revealed during this phase.

Take the top card of the Zone Deck and read its Intent Icons at the bottom. You must attempt to place all intent icons — you may not ignore them.

Intent Icons

• Attack — The card this icon is placed on will Attack this turn.
• Rally — The card will Rally, decreasing your Legacy by its Influence value.
• Standby — The card does nothing this turn.

Mission Priority

The Mission Card gets top priority. If it has an intent icon slot you could fill, you must fill it first.

Priority Keyword

If a card has the Priority keyword you must attempt to activate its intent effect when possible.

Play to your Advantage

You can choose intent placement to your benefit — baiting one intent to avoid another. The game forces you to place icons somewhere, but only Priority cards dictate where.

Resolve all enemy cards in play. For character cards read their Mode icon and resolve accordingly. Intent effects may alter what a card does this turn.

4.5.1 — Enemy Action

Each Enemy character resolves one Enemy Action. Some Locations or other cards may also have an Enemy Action — if so, resolve it once per Resolve Phase. If an enemy has both a Mode and an Enemy Action triggered by intent, resolve the Enemy Action and ignore its Mode.

4.5.2 — Enemy Modes

• Attack — The Enemy enters combat with one of your characters. You choose which.
• Rally — The Enemy Rallies against your Legacy. You lose Legacy equal to their Influence.
• Standby — The Enemy does nothing. Usually requires an Intent or trigger to activate.

During the Player Turn you can play cards, activate effects, and move the story forward by completing Mission objectives.

5.1.1 — Unique Character

Some characters have Unique in their class type. You can only have 1 of this named card in play. If you play another copy, the previous one is replaced and discarded. You cannot choose to replace non-Unique characters.

5.1.2 — Replacing Characters

Replacement only occurs in two cases:

• You play a second copy of a Unique Character.
• You have reached the party limit and play an additional character card.

Engage an ally or your Hero to start Combat with an enemy. Both characters deal their Attack as damage to each other simultaneously. Damage remains across turns until it equals or exceeds the card's HP — then it is destroyed.

This game differentiates between attacking (your turn) and defending (during the Enemy Turn).

Combat Keywords

• Assault +X — Deals X additional damage when attacking.
• Quick Attack — Deals damage first when attacking. If the defender has no Quick Attack or Ranged, it takes damage before dealing any.
• Retaliate +X — Deals X additional damage when defending.
• Ranged — Does not receive combat damage when attacking, unless the target also has Ranged.

In addition to Engaging for combat you can Engage characters to Rally:

• Rally to increase your Hero's Legacy — gain Legacy equal to the Rallying character's Influence.
• Rally to add Influence to an Enemy Location. When it reaches its completion value it is discarded.
• Rally to add Influence to the Mission Card if the Mission requires it.
• Some Missions have Legendary Actions — unique actions that cost Legacy to activate.

Legacy Loss

Your Legacy can fall to 0 and end the game. Enemies in Rally Mode decrease your Legacy by their Influence value each turn.

You can have 5 characters in play including your Hero. In addition you can have any number of Items and Active Abilities in play.

Disc Deck

Your Disc Deck is separate. Each turn you add the top Disc Card to play. Maximum 6 Discs in play — if you would add a 7th, discard one first. When the Disc Deck is empty and you need a new Disc, shuffle all discarded Discs into a new deck.

Deck Refresh

If your deck is empty at the start of your turn (before drawing), you may pay 5 Legacy to shuffle your discard pile into a new deck. This can only be done at the start of your turn.

Weapons

Each Weapon is labeled 1H or 2H. You may have one 2H Weapon or two 1H Weapons in play. If you play a new Weapon beyond the limit, destroy one you have first.

Item Keywords

• Deplete — When Depleted, the card goes to Exile. At the start of your next turn return it to your hand. You cannot replace a Depleted Item while in Exile.
• Weardown — When you Engage this item add a Worn counter. When it would gain a second Worn counter, destroy it instead.

Enemy Units

Enemies with an Attack Mode icon attack during the Resolve Phase. You choose which of your characters they fight. Resolve each combat one at a time.

The Hero as a Target

Your Hero is considered an Ally. When a card refers to an Ally it includes the Hero unless it specifies non-Hero Ally. Enemies normally cannot choose to attack the Hero — you choose which character defends. Some cards specifically target the Hero or force the Hero to act.

Enemy Locations

Rally at an Enemy Location by Engaging a character and adding their Influence. When it reaches its completion value it is immediately discarded. Resolve any On Complete effects.

Enemy Outposts

Attack an Enemy Outpost by Engaging a character against it. Outposts do not deal combat damage back. When an Outpost's Defense reaches 0 it is destroyed.

Win Conditions

Each Mission has its own Win Conditions and may have unique Lose Conditions. Read the Mission Cards for specifics.

Some cards have the keyword Trophy X. When you defeat or complete a Trophy card, add it to your Hero Journal — a separate pile kept apart from play.

At the end of each of your turns, gain Legacy equal to the combined Trophy X values of all cards in your Hero Journal.

Some cards have Trophy 0 — these still go to the Hero Journal but do not grant Legacy.

Counter and Reaction Effects

• Counter — Cards with Counter have a specific timing window. The card states when it can be played (e.g. "When a Zone Card is revealed" or "When an enemy is attacking").
• Reaction — Reaction cards can be played at any time including the Enemy Turn. When played, resolve the card's effect first then resume the game flow.

Examples of Reaction timing:

• A Zone Card is revealed, intent activates a strong effect — you play a Reaction to deal damage before its Attack resolves.
• A Zone Card is revealed — you play a Reaction to destroy it before Intent Phase, so the intent icon resolves on another card.

You can play a Reaction at the start or end phase of the Enemy Turn and on your own turn.

Active Abilities and Active Events

Most Abilities and Events resolve immediately and go to discard. Some have the Active keyword — these enter play and remain until an effect or action discards them.

Common Keywords

• Strategize X — Look at the top X cards of your deck. Place them in any order at the top and bottom.
• Level Up — The character gains +1 Attack, +1 Influence, and +1 Max HP. Maximum 4 times. A character with no Level is Level Zero.
• Deplete — See section 5.4.