149 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
149 lines
8.8 KiB
Markdown
Basic Rules
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**Remember the golden rule**: When a card's text contradicts these rules, the card's text takes precedence.
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The goal of the game is to attack your opponent directly five times. Each time a player is attacked directly, they place the top card of their deck face up in a separate pile called the **damage zone**. Once there are five cards in a player's damage zone, that player loses the game.
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The game takes place on a 5 by 7 grid (wider than it is long) called the **battlefield**. Players start the game with a face down **deck** of at least 40 cards, with no more than 3 copies of any one card, except for **Basics** (no limit) and **Singletons** (maximum of 1). Players draw 5 cards, decide to **mulligan** or not (see [Mulligans](#mulligans)), then take turns by placing certain cards on the closest row of the battlefield, known as their **entry zone**. If there are no empty spaces in a player's entry zone, excluding movable **units** that player owns, then the player cannot play a new card and loses the game. A player also loses the game if they try to draw a card from their deck while it is empty.
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Each unit you control may **move and/or attack** once per turn. A unit cannot move or attack in the same turn it was played, unless it has **haste**. If a unit moves, it must attack immediately, or forfit the attack for the turn. Units cannot move after attacking.
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When a card is **discarded**, it is placed face-up into a separate pile called the **discard pile**.
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Phases of a Turn
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* **Start Phase** (Do nothing unless told otherwise)
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* **Draw Phase** (Draw a card)
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* **Main Phase** (Play cards, move units, attack, etc.)
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* **End Phase** (Do nothing unless told otherwise)
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Types of Cards
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===
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Towers
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**Tower** units generally cannot move, but provide **bandwidth**, which can be used to play Mecha cards (Radio Tower is a **Basic Tower**, therefore it has no limit on the number of copies you can have in your deck). Towers may be placed anywhere in your entry zone, or in an empty space next to an existing Tower you control (Radio Towers have a durability of 2, so they can be destroyed as though they were any other unit).
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Mechas
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**Mechas** are cards which act as playing pieces. A Mecha card has three numbers down the side: their **cost**, their **power** and their **durability**. Players can play as many Mechas as they want, as long as their Mechas' **total cost** does not exceed that player's current bandwidth. If enough Towers are destroyed that the bandwidth drops below the current cost, then nothing special happens; the player simply can't play any more Mechas until enough bandwidth is available again. Mechas may only move one orthogonal space at a time. If a Mecha can move more than one space, such as with the **Speed** keyword, then they must move along each space one at a time, and they cannot pass through other Mechas or Towers.
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Commands
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**Command** cards are cards with miscellaneous **abilities**, and they can be played at any time, before being discarded. Some Commands may have unique requirements to be played, such as being placed on the battlefield. If this is the case, they can occupy the same space as a unit, and they do not count as a unit.
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Trigger Commands are a unique type of Command. If a Trigger Command is placed into a player's damage zone, it's ability takes effect as though it was played. Otherwise they can be played from a player's hand like any normal Command.
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Pilots
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**Pilots** are cards representing characters in the game's storyline. Pilots **attach** to Mechas, reducing that Mecha's bandwidth cost to zero, as well as granting various different abilities and stat boosts. Pilots must be attached to a Mecha in your entry zone. Once this is done, a Pilot's power and durability modifiers are immediately applied to that Mecha, and remain for as long as the pilot is attached. Each Mecha can have a maximum of one attached Pilot, and each Pilot can attach to only one Mecha at a time. Also, you may control at most one copy of each Pilot at any time. If you control more than one copy of a Pilot, you must discard them one at a time, until only one is left.
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Types of Counters
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===
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Various cards on the battlefield may have different types of **counters** on them. These counters mark various properties as listed below.
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Damage
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Damage counters represent how much **damage** a unit has taken. When another unit attacks with a power of X, you add X damage counters to this unit. When the number of damage counters equals or exceeds a unit's durability, that unit is **destroyed** and discarded. (Hint: Use six-sided dice to represent damage.)
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Armour
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**Armour counters** protect a unit's durability. Each time a unit is attacked, if it has armour counters, remove one armour counter instead of adding damage counters. Therefore, a unit with two armour counters can be attacked twice before taking damage. (Hint: Use small coins to represent armour counters.)
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Time
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**Time counters** represent the amount of time remaining before some action takes place. If a **permanent** you control has time counters on it at the beginning of your turn, then remove one of those time counters. (Hint: Use six-sided dice to represent time counters.)
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List of Keyword Mechanics
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A keyword is a word or phrase listed below which appear on cards to indicate a commonly used game mechanic. Some keywords are followed by an **X**, which represents a number used by that mechanic. For example, Armour 2 means that the mecha enters the battlefield with 2 armour counters on it. Multiple instances of certain keywords stack.
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Armour X
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If a permanent has the **Armour** ability, then it enters the battlefield with X Armour counters. Remove one Armour counter each time that permanent is attacked rather than having that unit take damage.
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Pierce
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Pierce is the opposite of Armour, allowing an attacker to ignore Armour counters. Instead of removing an Armour counter from the target of an attack, add damage counters as normal.
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Flight
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**Flight** represents units with some kind of areal movement. They cannot be attacked by other units unless the attacker also has Flight or **Reach**.
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Reach
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Reach Allows you to attack units with Flight.
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Speed X
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Speed represents the distance a unit can move in one turn. All units normally have a movement speed of 1 but, for example, a unit with Speed 3 can move up to three spaces in one turn, one at a time; they can also change direction mid-travel.
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Range X
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Range represents the distance that a unit can attack. Normally, a unit can only attack adjacent units, but an attacker with Range can attack up to X spaces away. When counting spaces for Range, count in orthogonal directions only; therefore attacking one space diagonally requires Range 2. Range allows a unit to fire "over the top of" friendly units, but not enemy units; do this by ignoring friendly units when counting the distance to a target.
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Haste
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A unit with haste can move and attack on the same turn that it was played.
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Provide Xu
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Not strictly a keyword, but Towers usually **provide** a number of units ('u' for short) towards your total bandwidth.
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Mulligans
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===
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When you first draw five cards at the beginning of the game, you have the option to mulligan, where you set aside your hand, draw five new cards, and shuffle your original hand into your deck. You can only do this once, if you are unhappy with your **opening hand**.
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Maximum Hand Size
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At the end of your turn, if you have more cards in hand than your **maximum hand size**, then you must discard cards, one at a time, until you are left with no more than your maximum hand size. The normal maximum hand size is 5.
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Corner Case Rulings
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Pilot Idiocy
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Some Pilot abilities and durability modifiers may instantly destroy a Mecha as soon as it's attached. In this event, the Pilot's and Mecha's abilities take effect for a moment before the Mecha is destroyed. Therefore, in the case of Jason "The Looks" Brannan being attached to a Mecha with 1 durability, both players reveal their hands and allow their opponent to take notes as needed, then the Mecha is destroyed, and finally both players hide their hands again.
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Duplicate Phase Skipping
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Some abilities may require you to **skip a phase** of your turn, or your entire turn to activate. If you do, you cannot activate multiple abilities with a single action this way. Therefore, in the case of having multiple copies of Pheonix in your discard pile, you may only skip your draw steps one at a time, and return one Pheonix to your hand at a time.
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Control-Alt-Delete
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If the controller of a card changes, any other cards attached to that card remain under their original controller's control.
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Battlefield Fatigue
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Any card attached to another card on the battlefield is also considered on the battlefield.
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Swing And A Miss
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Mechas must have at least 1 power to deal damage directly to an opponent.
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