New game

1. StartBoth of you begin on 10 HP, 0 energy and 5 XP. The deck is shuffled and split evenly, and you each hold 4 cards with the rest face down beside you.
2. Every turnYou gain +2 energy and +2 XP, plus whatever the supply gives.
3. The supply is a wheelIt turns one place each round and you both meet the same face of it, so it favours nobody. What is coming is shown on the turn bar — a lean round is something to spend ahead of, not something that happens to you.
4. Summon with XPPay a card's XP cost to bring it from your hand to the battlefield. Summon as many as you can afford.
5. Trade a bad handOnce a turn you may give up any cards in your hand and draw the same number from your pile. What you give up leaves the game — you will not see it again.
6. Play one, draw oneYour hand holds 4. Whatever you summoned is replaced from your pile at the start of your next turn — not mid-turn — until the pile runs out.
7. Attack with energyEach attack costs the energy shown as bolts. Attack as often as you like while the energy lasts.
8. Monsters shield youYou can only be hit directly once your side of the battlefield is empty. Until then, your monsters have to fall first — unless a card says its attack goes straight past them.
9. Read the cardCards break these rules in their own words: some shield the allies beside them, some hit harder every time they swing, some pay out XP each round. What is printed on the card wins.
10. The opening roundNobody can strike a player directly on their first turn — clear the board or build up before the blows land.
11. Players are tougherInstant kills only work on monsters. Against a player, an attack does its listed damage and no more.
12. Nothing left to fight withIf you have no monsters, no cards in hand and an empty pile while your opponent still has monsters on the battlefield, you lose there and then.
13. WinningBring your opponent to 0 HP — or leave them with nothing to fight with.

The italic line on a card is part of the rules, and the game plays it out for you. One card here for each kind of thing a card can do.

• 1
  Some attacks mend instead of hurting. Arwen lifts every ally at once; others pick one.
• 2
  “All opponents” hits every enemy monster at once, and the enemy player if their side is empty.
• 7
  ∞ kills a monster outright, whatever its HP. Players are immune to it.
• 2
  Drowning kills outright too — but eleven cards say they cannot be drowned, and it will not touch them.
• 1
  Poison keeps taking HP every round, for good. Burning works the same way. Her arrival also freezes their whole board for a round.
• 2
  Read the small print: Snow boulder also stops its target attacking next round.
• 2
  It never attacks. While it stands, nothing behind it can be targeted — so it has to be cut down first.
• 3
  The mighty fire goes over the top — it reaches the player while their monsters are still standing.
• 2
  Maul grows: 4 damage, then 5, then 6, for as long as it lives. Some climb faster.
• 2
  Pair it with Princess Arwen and the spear does double damage. Several cards are worth far more beside the right ally.
• 1
  Some cards pay you rather than fight. It costs nothing, never attacks, and hands you XP and energy every round it survives.
• 1
  Seduction takes one of their monsters and puts it on your side, damage and all. She is also untouchable by a long list of names.
• 2
  Necromancing brings one of your own destroyed monsters back, at full HP. It cannot reach theirs.
• 6
  Some cards rout on arrival: every enemy monster cheap enough runs back to its owner's hand.
• 3
  Fire follows him, and the fire-shy will not stand near it — on either side of the table.
• 1
  A free attack: it costs no energy at all, but only once a round.
• 1
  One blow that takes 6 off every monster on the table, its own side included, and then it falls.
• 3
  A few cards read one way or the other: the gates mend its fire allies by 10, or, with none there, take two enemy lives instead.
• 9
  He lives two turns and no more. Anything he turns to your side dies with him when his time is up.