137. Units

138. Unit is:

• 138.1. A Game Object

  • 138.1.a. While on the Board:

    • 138.1.a.1. Units are at one of several Locations while on the Board: a Battlefield or their Base.

    • 138.1.a.2. Units and their details are Public Information while on the Board.

    • 138.1.a.3. Units can be chosen, affected, or manipulated by spells, affects, or game actions that specify Units.

    • 138.1.a.4. Units can be Killed. See rule 415. Kill for more information.

  • 138.1.b. While in the Trash:

    • 138.1.b.1. Units are treated as Cards, similar to when in the Hand.

    • 138.1.b.2. They retain the properties of being a Unit, but are not on the Board and thus cannot take actions or be affected by spells, abilities, or game actions that target Units on the Board.

    • 138.1.b.3. Units can be affected by spells and game effects that target Units in the Trash.

• 138.2. A Card Type

  • 138.2.a. This is a unique identifier that some spells or abilities will use to restrict what they can choose or affect.

  • 138.2.b. The card type is relevant in all zones.

139. Damage is a marked value that is applied to Units.

• 139.1. Damage is not a Game Object.

• 139.2. Damage is a value tracked per-Unit.

• 139.3. Damage tracks how close a Unit is to being Killed. See rule 415. Kill for more information.

• 139.4. Damage can be Healed. See rule 405. Heal for more information.

140. Units have multiple Intrinsic Properties unique to them:

• 140.1. Tag: A Unit has zero or more Tags representing one or more champions, regions, factions, or species it belongs to.

  • 140.1.a. These have no intrinsic rules or behaviors by themselves.

  • 140.1.b. Spells, abilities, and game actions can reference these types as part of their execution.

• 140.2. Might: The combat statistic of a Unit. Used to determine a Unit's contribution to Combat, as well as when it is Killed by damaging effects.

  • 140.2.a. If a Unit ever has nonzero damage marked on it equalling or exceeding its Might, it is Killed.

  • 140.2.b. If a unit's Might is ever less than 0, it is treated as 0 for all purposes.

• 140.3. Units can have damage marked on them.

  • 140.3.a. When spells, abilities, or other game effects deal damage, Units mark that damage on them temporarily. This can be tracked with coins, dice, or other markers, or by memory.

  • 140.3.b. Damage is Healed from Units at two specific times:

    • 140.3.b.1. At the end of each player's turn.

    • 140.3.b.2. During a Combat Cleanup. See rule 440.1. for more information about Combat Cleanups.

• 140.4. Units enter the Board exhausted.

  • 140.4.a. This can be altered by Accelerate or similar game effects. See rule 721. Accelerate for more information.

141. Units have the Inherent Ability to perform a Standard Move.

• 141.1. This action is limited in when it can be performed.

  • 141.1.a. This action can be done any time during a player's Action Phase.

  • 141.1.b. This action cannot be performed during a Closed State.

  • 141.1.c. This action cannot be performed during a Showdown.

• 141.2. Exhausting the Unit is the Cost for this action.

• 141.3. Players may perform multiple Units' standard move simultaneously.

  • 141.3.a. When a Move like this is declared by a player, the units' Destination must be the same.

  • 141.3.b. When a Move like this is declared by a player, the Origins do not need to be the same.

  • 141.3.c. The Costs of Exhausting the Units are also paid Simultaneously.

• 141.4. The Destinations where Units can Move to with their Standard Move are restricted:

  • 141.4.a. Units may move from their Base to a Battlefield.

    • 141.4.a.1. Units cannot Move to a Battlefield that already has units from 2 other players present.

  • 141.4.b. Units may move from a Battlefield to their Base.

  • 141.4.c. Ganking is a unique ability that affects a Unit's Standard Move

    • 141.4.c.1. Units with Ganking may use their Standard Move to Move from Battlefield to Battlefield. See rule 726. Ganking for more information.

142. Units may have Activated Abilities.

• 142.1. Activated Abilities are Game Effects that are written as Costs followed by a ":", and then succeeded by an effect. See rule 369. Activated Abilities for more information.

• 142.2. The Activated Ability of Units may be executed at any time during the controlling player's Action Phase during an Open State, and not during a Showdown.

  • 142.2.a. This follows the same process as playing a card. See rule 346. Playing Cards for more information.

    • 142.2.a.1. This behaves, once activated, like a spell without an associated card.

143. Gear

143. Gear are:

• 143.1. A Game Object

  • 143.1.a. While on the Board.

    • 143.1.a.1. Gear can only be played to a player's Base.

    • 143.1.a.2. Gear and their details are Public Information while on the Board.

    • 143.1.a.3. Gear can be chosen, affected, or manipulated by spells, effects, or game actions that specify Gear.

    • 143.1.a.4. Gear can be Killed. See rule 415. Kill for more information.

  • 143.1.b. While in the Trash

    • 143.1.b.1. Gear are treated as Cards before Game Objects, similar to the Hand.

    • 143.1.b.2. They retain the properties of being Gear, but are not on the Board and thus cannot take actions or be affected by spells, abilities, or game actions that affect Gear on the Board.

    • 143.1.b.3. Gear can be affected by spells and game effects that affect Gear in the Trash.

• 143.2. A Card Type

  • 143.2.a. This is a unique identifier that some spells or abilities will use to restrict what they can choose or affect.

  • 143.2.b. The card type is relevant in all zones.

144. Gear have several Intrinsic Properties unique to them.

• 144.1. Gear enters play Ready.

• 144.2. Gear can only be played to a player's Base.

• 144.3. If a Gear is at a Battlefield for any reason, then it is immediately recalled to its controller's Base as a corrective action. See rule 428. Recalls for more information.

145. Gear may have Activated Abilities.

• 145.1. Activated Abilities are Game Effects that are written as Costs followed by a ":", and then succeeded by an effect. See rule 369. Activated Abilities for more information.

• 145.2. The Activated Ability of Gear may be executed at any time during the controlling player's Action Phase during an Open State, and not during a Showdown.

  • 145.2.a. This follows the same process as playing a card. See rule 346. Playing Cards for more information.

    • 145.2.a.1. This behaves, once activated, like a spell without an associated card.

146. Spells

147. Spell is a card type.

148. A spell can be played during an Open State Outside of Showdowns on its controller's turn.

149. A spell is controlled by the player who played it.

150. A spell creates a game effect according to its instructions and is then placed in the Trash of the player who owns it.

151. When a spell is successfully played, a player executes the rules text of the spell. This is called Resolving the spell.

• 151.1. Spells have their rules text executed from top to bottom when they are Resolved.

• 151.2. If a later part of a spell applies a Replacement Effect that alters earlier parts of the spell, apply those replacement effects as appropriate. Example: A spell says "Choose a unit. Kill it the next time it takes damage this turn." and "[Legion] — Kill it now instead. (Get the effect if you've played another card this turn.)" If the Legion condition is satisfied, the unit is killed immediately and the instruction to kill it the next time it takes damage is ignored, even if the unit remains on the board somehow.

• 151.3. While a spell or ability on the chain is Resolving, no other spells or abilities can be finalized on the chain or resolved, including triggered abilities or game effects that would occur as a result of the execution of the spell.

  • 151.3.a. Finish resolving all effects of a spell before addressing anything the spell may have triggered or caused through execution.

152. Certain Keywords on spells are not executable rules text, but instead intrinsic properties of the spell.

• 152.1. These determine inherent properties and behaviors of the spell before being played or while on the chain.

• 152.2. These keywords are:

  • 152.2.a. Action

    • 152.2.a.1. This indicates that, in addition to being able to be played during an Open State, this spell may also be played during Open States during Showdowns.

  • 152.2.b. Reaction

    • 152.2.b.1. Grants all cases and rules of Action.

    • 152.2.b.2. In addition to all prior cases, may also be played during all forms of Closed State.

    • 152.2.b.3. This will result in this spell resolving before spells and abilities that are already on the chain.

153. Runes

154. Rune is a Card Type.

• 154.1. A Rune is not a Main Deck card.

  • 154.1.a. This means, despite remaining on the Board until Recycled or otherwise removed from the board, it is not a Permanent.

• 154.2. Runes are kept in the Rune Deck.

  • 154.2.a. Exactly 12 Rune cards chosen during Deck Construction. See rule 103.3. Rune Deck for more information.

  • 154.2.b. When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck. See rule 403. Recycle for more information.

155. Runes produce the resources needed to pay costs.

156. Runes produce Energy and Power.

• 156.1. Energy is used to pay numeric Energy costs.

  • 156.1.a. Energy has no Domain.

  • 156.1.b. Energy has no type.

• 156.2. Power is used to pay Domain-associated Power Costs.

  • 156.2.a. Power has a Domain.

    • 156.2.a.1. Power's Domain usually corresponds to the Domain of the Rune that produced it.

  • 156.2.b. Some Power is Universal and can be used to pay for costs of any Domain.

157. Basic Runes

• 157.1. There are six Basic Runes, each with a Domain corresponding to its name: Fury Rune Calm Rune Mind Rune Body Rune Chaos Rune Order Rune

• 157.2. A Basic Rune always has the following two Abilities:

  • 157.2.a. [E]: [Reaction] — Add [1].

  • 157.2.b. Recycle this: [Reaction] — Add [C].

    • 157.2.b.1. The Power added this way corresponds to the Domain of the Rune that is being Recycled.

158. Rune Pools

159. The Rune Pool is a conceptual collection of a player's available Energy and Power available to pay Costs.

• 159.1. When a card adds Energy or Power, it is added to the controlling player's Rune Pool.

• 159.2. Players must first add Energy and Power to their Rune Pool in order to be able to spend it to play cards or pay for Abilities with costs.

• 159.3. Energy and Power do not have a physical marker or tracker, although players may wish to use a physical tracker if they are retaining unspent Energy and Power over the course of their turn.

160. Every player's Rune Pool empties at the end of each player's draw phase and the end of each player's turn.

• 160.1. Any unspent Energy or Power are lost.

161. All Abilities that include the action "Add" are abilities that are adding Energy or Power to the Rune Pool. See rule 416. Add for more information.

162. Battlefields

163. Battlefields are Game Objects.

• 163.1. Battlefields are Owned by a player.

• 163.2. Battlefields are not shuffled into Decks at the start of a game.

  • 163.2.a. Battlefields are not played during the course of regular play.

  • 163.2.b. Battlefields are established at the start of a game and remain in place for the duration of regular play.

• 163.3. Battlefields cannot be Killed during the course of regular play.

• 163.4. Battlefields cannot be Moved.

• 163.5. Battlefields are Locations.

  • 163.5.a. Battlefields can be Origins of moves.

  • 163.5.b. Battlefields can be Destinations of moves.

• 163.6. Any number of Units can be present at a Battlefield.

• 163.7. Battlefields can be targeted by spells or game effects.

• 163.8. Battlefields can have Passive Abilities. See rule 360. Passive Abilities for more information.

• 163.9. Battlefields can have Triggered Abilities. See rule 375. Triggered Abilities for more information.

164. Battlefields are not Permanents.

165. The number of Battlefields on the Board is determined by the Mode of Play.