Aeon's End: War Eternal FAQ
185 questions players ask · Updated Nov 8, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup and the Market
- What is in the turn order deck in a two-player game?
- How many basic Nemesis cards do I add per tier in a two-player game?
- What is a Market Setup card and how do I use it?
- Do the Market Setup cards allow 5-cost spells?
- What does the < or > symbol on a Market Setup card mean?
- Does a random market have to be 4 spells, 3 gems and 2 relics?
- Can I use Market Setup cards or randomizers with the original Aeon's End box?
- How many supply piles and how many copies of each card are in the market?
- Does War Eternal include life dials, or are the d10s from the accessory pack used?
- Can I mix War Eternal mages, Nemeses and market cards with the original game and other expansions?
- What are the breaches with a +2 damage bonus for?
- What rules changed in War Eternal compared with the first Aeon's End?
- What are the black gem tokens in the accessory pack for?
Turn Order and Turn Flow
- Do unplayed cards stay in my hand at the end of the turn, and how many do I draw?
- Can I discard a card I do not want, such as Mage's Totem, or discard a card to avoid its effect?
- Can I play a gem just to gain aether and not spend it?
- Can I save aether from earlier in my main phase and spend it later in the same phase?
- Can I look at my own hand during other players' turns?
- If a Nemesis card makes me discard my whole hand, when do I draw a new one?
- Where does a card I gain go relative to the gems I played to buy it?
- What happens if the turn order deck is empty when I must draw or reveal from it?
- How do the semi-wild turn order cards work in a four-player game?
- When an effect reveals a wild turn order card, who is affected, and must that player take the turn?
- Can I use a spell's "While prepped" effect on the turn I prep it?
- Can a "While prepped" effect be used more than once per turn, and does returning the spell to hand reset it?
- What happens to a spell I cannot prep to any breach?
Breaches, Focusing and Prepping
- Does a focus effect open a breach, and what if the breach is already one step from open?
- Which breach does a "focus the breach with the lowest focus cost" effect (such as Jagged Lightning) pick, and is it free?
- If another player focuses my breach, can I prep a spell to it right then?
- Can I focus or open another mage's breach on my turn?
- Can I focus a breach that already has a spell prepped, and focus it again after prepping?
- Can I prep more than one spell on a single breach?
- Can a spell that fills two breaches be prepped to a closed breach I focused this turn?
- Does a breach's bonus damage apply once per spell or once per damage instance?
- Does a III or IV breach's +1 damage apply to a spell that normally deals no damage, or to a spell cast by another spell?
- Do two spells sharing an open +1 damage breach both get the bonus?
- Does a spell that occupies two breaches get the bonuses from both?
- Can Remnant's Void Shard aether be spent to open a breach, or only to focus one?
- Does Yan Magda's Illuminate deal damage for every breach I focus or open in a turn?
Casting Spells and Damage
- When I cast another player's prepped spell, whose spell is it for the card text and where does it go?
- Can I choose to deal less damage than a spell says?
- Can damage be split between several targets?
- How does Garu's Colossal Force divide its damage?
- Does Inner Fire's "additional damage" apply once or to every instance?
- If I have several copies of a spell that gains damage from other prepped spells (Thoughtform Familiar, Fiery Torrent, Blaze), how is each counted?
- Can I cast Spark first to give Fulminate its bonus when both are prepped?
- Does a "you may destroy" or play effect still trigger if another effect destroys the card?
- What happens to a revealed card if I choose not to destroy or discard it (Reduce to Ash, Living Gauntlet)?
- With several copies of Reduce to Ash prepped, do I resolve one reveal before the next?
Aether, Charges and Abilities
- Do I need all of a mage's charges to use its ability, and are they all spent?
- Is a mage's ability triggered automatically when fully charged, and how many times per turn can I use it?
- When do I lose charges if I use my ability to cast Feedback Aura?
- After I am exhausted, can I still collect charges and use my ability?
Nemesis Cards, Powers and Tiers
- Is the Nemesis tier set by the next card in the deck, and can it drop back?
- Can a player with an empty discard pile still resolve Chaos Flail's shuffle?
- When does a Nemesis power card's effect resolve?
- Does an "Immediately" effect repeat every round, and when do persistent effects start?
- Can several players share the cost of a power card's TO DISCARD effect?
- What happens when the Nemesis deck is empty but cards remain in play?
- How do I resolve "Unleash twice"?
- When Maul says to destroy the two most expensive prepped spells, are they chosen across all players?
- When Throttle Attack destroys the 3 most expensive cards in hand, which player is chosen?
- Must Black Solstice target a player who has a prepped spell?
- What does Dire Abbatoir do to the player with the most life?
- Does a hit reduced to zero discard Rising Dark, and what if no 0-aether spell is prepped?
- Can Auspex Rune cancel Shadow's Reach?
Exhaustion and Game End
Game Terms and Ambiguity
- What is the difference between destroying and discarding a card?
- If an effect targets the most or least and several players or minions tie, who chooses?
- What does "the players collectively discard 3 cards" mean?
- What must I choose when an OR effect has an option I cannot fully resolve?
- What if an effect cannot be fully resolved?
- Can healing raise a mage, Gravehold, a Nemesis or a minion above its starting life?
- Does "ally" include me?
- Does "any player" or "any ally" let me pick more than one player?
Spell and Mage Card Rulings
- Can Pyrotechnic Surge destroy itself when it is cast?
- Are Kindle and the Spark prepped with it counted as two separate spells?
- Can several Kindles in one breach each allow another Spark?
- When can I destroy Conjure the Lost to heal Gravehold, and can it still return to hand if destroyed via another spell?
- Does Amplify Vision's extra damage apply if I have no breaches at all?
- Can Amethyst Paragon prep a spell to a closed breach, and does that focus it?
- Can Tempest Sigil give a breach to a player who has no destroyed breach?
- Does a card taken with Gex's Shattered Geode return to its owner, and does it count as a gain?
- Can Mist put spells cast from Aurora into her own hand to prep them again?
- Can I gain Aurora's charge the turn I prep it?
- Can Mist's unique starter prep a spell onto an already-occupied breach?
- How does Quilius earn trophy tokens with Extinguish?
- Do husks, acolytes or Troggs give Quilius trophies, and can Extinguish hit them?
- Are trophies spent when Quilius uses her ability, and how many can she have?
- Which mage starts with the unique breach token?
- Does Yan Magda's second clause happen in addition to gaining from a supply pile?
- Is Xaxos's charge power optional when an ally must discard?
Gem and Relic Rulings
- Does Worldheart Shard's 2-aether option send the first card I gain to an ally?
- Can two Frozen Magmite plays put two purchased cards on top of my deck, and what if my deck is empty?
- When does the 3 aether bonus from Bloodstone Jewel trigger?
- How does Volcanic Glass's aether and ally copy work?
- When Mazahaedron buys a card for an ally's deck, who gets the gain effect?
- Does Mazahaedron's Unearth Mantra give both the gem and the life?
- Can I choose Destroy on Primordial Fetish while exhausted?
- Does Tourmaline Shard hit every ally, and does Auspex Rune stop its destroy clause?
- When does the Nemesis tier count as 2 for Scoria Slag's bonus?
- Can Dread Diamond or Delirium Veil act on another mage's cards or breach?
Hollow Crown
- How do I win against Hollow Crown?
- When Hollow Crown acolytes tie for highest or lowest life, how many Blood Magic effects resolve and who picks?
- Do Hollow Crown acolytes count as minions for card effects?
- Do Hollow Crown acolytes' Blood Magic effects trigger every Nemesis turn?
- How is the Hollow Crown deck built, and is the acolyte deck part of it?
- Do I draw a replacement acolyte when setting up Hollow Crown for a beginner game?
- Do I keep three acolytes in play after Infernal Domain adds a third?
- How do cards that resolve every acolyte's Blood Magic "without suffering damage" work?
- When a spell's damage is split and acolytes die, can the damage reach replacement acolytes?
- Does an acolyte placed on the bottom of the acolyte deck keep its damage?
- If Reign's first part kills an acolyte, do the two unleashes still happen?
- Does Holadran's "two different players lose 1 life" shrink in true solo?
Magus of Cloaks
- How do damage instances interact with Magus of Cloaks' nemesis tokens?
- What happens when Magus of Cloaks cannot add all the tokens his Unleash calls for?
- How many damage instances does Monstrosity of Omens need to die?
- How is Magus of Cloaks' token loss handled when Thoughtform Familiar is cast with other spells?
Other Nemeses
- Does an exhausted mage count as the player with the lowest life for Lurzan's damage?
- Can Void Shard or Flexing Dagger be used when turning back a Knight of Shackles breach?
- Do Knight of Shackles' breaches open when rotated to 12:00?
- If Knight of Shackles brings a discarded minion back, does its persistent effect trigger that turn?
- Can Reeve's damage be spread onto husks, and what does it cost?
- Does Umbra Titan's Unleash hit both a player and Gravehold when there are two Nemesis turn order cards in the discard?
- What happens when Umbra Titan's Maul OR option cannot be fully resolved?
- When Gate Witch has 5 or more tokens, which Nemesis card goes into the turn order deck?
- Is arranging Nemesis cards in order for Prince of Gluttons' advanced setup a mistake?
- How does Maiden of Thorns' token work with ties and purchasing?
- What if Cryptid asks me to discard my most expensive prepped spell or lose a nemesis token and none is prepped?
- If the Thrice-Dead Prophet's deck runs out on a draw, does that card's effect resolve?
- Does Negate's "unleash twice" apply to both of its choices?
- Is the Horde Hybrid's extra Trogg type re-evaluated at each Trogg activation?
Aeon's End: The NamelessExpansion
- If Wayward One is already on Gate IV, does Fractured Nebula's shift go round all the gates?
- What does "all spells are aligned to minions that are not aligned" mean for Wayward One?
- Can Wayward One's unleash choose the shift-and-discard option when no spell is aligned?
- How is an "unleash twice" Wayward One card resolved?
- When a Jade Impur is gained, does it go to hand or to the discard pile?
- How much damage does Blaze deal when several are prepped?
Aeon's End: Past and FutureExpansion
- Can Link Tokens let me prep a second spell in a breach with a "fully occupies" spell?
- Do multiple prepped Apocalypse spells stack Echo on a cast spell?
- Does Beaded Crown trigger with four qualifying cards or only exactly three?
- When Consume Magic or Detonate kills a minion, when does the spell swap?
- If I cast another player's spell that swaps, who gets the new card?
- Can a later effect find a card after it has been swapped, and do its triggered effects still apply?
- Does gaining Propel swap it, and does a relic Auren swaps in go straight onto a breach?
- Where does the city token go for Erythiza, Consumed after the mega breach opens?
- Can any player cast a spell prepped at the active Mega Breach?
- Is Erythiza's Mega Breach a breach during the Nemesis turn, and can an exhausted player destroy it?
- Does developing a card from the develop zone count as gaining it?
- Do I need a specific card in hand to develop from the supply, and how does Dorian's starter spell help?
- How do Corruption's Core Void tokens work with multi-hit spells?
- How does Bayli's ability work, and why not just cast three prepped spells?
- How does breach adjacency work for Rhys's artificial breaches, and which spells can he gain?
- When is the extra card drawn for "draw an additional card at the end of your turn"?
- Can a "before you draw" treasure return a card I played this turn?
- What do I need from other sets to play Past and Future expeditions?
- When do I gain Level 1, 2 and 3 treasures during an expedition?
- Can Past and Future Nemeses be combined with basic Nemesis cards from other boxes?
- Which Nemesis uses the big crosshair token?
- When Ohat and Ulgimor cast a spell from an exhausted IV breach and split damage, does the breach life gain resolve first?
- How do Greedy Compulsion cards clear, and how much damage reaches Gravehold when they exhaust you?
- Can Tethered Smith's divided damage go to Maggots in several rows?
- Does Naftir's ability discard the link token from a breach?
- Where does Lily's minion go when she casts it as a spell?
- Is the bottom row of the Miasma track a separate track?
- Do minions' persistent effects resolve the turn they come into play under Herald of the End?
- Does returning and re-prepping Arcane Nexus reset its once-per-turn gem return?
Aeon's End: Buried SecretsExpansion
- Does silencing a Hollow Crown acolyte do anything?
- Does Double Tap let me hit two different targets?
- Can Buried Secrets be mixed with Aeon's End: Legacy content?
- Can Stunning Force damage minions?
- Can Burning Current's pulse-token bonus be used more than once in a casting phase?
- Can Mailed Shade be damaged by anything but a spell cast from a III breach?
Aeon's End: The Outer DarkExpansion
- Do I have to play Haunted Berylite to use it, and can I discard several cards for charges?
- Does Pulsing Madness's claim of terror tiles include tiles other players have already claimed?
- Do terror tiles resolve as soon as I obtain them?
- If an effect says remove 2 charges or Gravehold suffers damage and I have only 1 charge, what happens?