How to play
Everything you need for your first match: cards, combat, and building a deck around a Hero.
- Goal
- Reduce the enemy's life total to zero
- Deck
- 30 cards, one of each
- Factions
- Up to two per deck
Two Heroes, one arena
You and your opponent each lead a Hero onto the arena and face each other across the field. Bring the enemy Hero's life total to zero and you win.
- Your Hero
- Fights alongside your Units, and carries the life total your opponent is trying to reach.
- Your row
- Holds up to a full row of Units, placed to attack or to stand between the enemy and your Hero.
- The field
- Positioning, timing, and knowing when to attack or hold back count as much as the cards you drew.
Pick a faction and a Hero
Every card belongs to one of five factions, the guilds of Ember. Build around one faction with its leader, or pair two under a broker Hero. Each Hero brings a power of their own to the field.
The Circuit
The city moves at their pace.
Fast and aggressive, built to outpace opponents before they can set up.
Read their storyHeroes you can play
Read your cards
Units and Spells are the core of your strategy. Units fight on the arena; Spells take effect at once. A Unit or Hero can also carry a Spell, ready to cast or to save for later.
Units stay in play until they run out of health. They enter play sleeping and can attack from the next turn.
Play your turn
A turn is simple to learn and hard to master: play what you can afford, then decide what attacks and what holds the line.
Spend your mana
Every card has a mana cost. Play Units and Spells from your hand for as long as your mana lasts.
Let new Units wake
A Unit enters play sleeping and cannot attack until your next turn. A Spell it carries can be cast straight away.
Attack
Your ready Units and your Hero strike the enemy's Units or the enemy Hero. Units with Guard shield their Hero, so clear them first.
Know the Traits
7 Traits change how a Unit fights, from shielding your Hero to striking the turn it arrives. Spells can carry Traits too.
Guard
Units with Guard protect your Hero from attacks, making them an indispensable frontline defense.
Trigger the Effects
Many Units have an ability that fires when a condition is met: when they are played, when they die, at sunset. Knowing when each one triggers is the key to combos.
Play
When a Unit with a Play effect is played from hand, its Play effect will activate, similar to a Spell, often immediately changing the tide of battle. A Unit's Play effect will not activate if it enters play in another way, so watch out!
Enchant allies and foes
16 enchantments can be attached to Heroes and Units to empower or weaken them. Each element has a Sigil and a Brand.
Sigils
Brands
Air Sigil
The enemy can't target the enchanted character with spells or play effects. Start Turn: Dust this enchant.
Build your deck
A deck is built around your Hero and their factions. It holds 30 cards, and every card in it is unique.
When your deck runs dry
If you would draw a card and your deck has none left, your Hero loses one life and you Conjure instead: the game draws a card from all the cards in your faction or factions. Cards you left out of your deck can turn up this way, and a Conjure can pull out a surprise win, but it is usually better to win before you run out.