Ashes Ascendancy
Ashes Ascendancy Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Object of the Game
- Using This Rulebook
- Player Components
- Dragonborn Components
- Player Setup
- Dragonborn Setup
- Round Overview
- End of Game
- Taking a Turn
- Card Types
- Card Text Boxes
- Resolving Card Text
- Exhaustion Tokens
- Status Tokens
- Wound Tokens, Damage, and Destruction
- Main Action: Attack
- Main Action: Pass
- Side Actions
- Dragonborn Turn
- Dragonborn Card Types
- Special Dragonborn Considerations
- Advanced Timing Considerations
- Deck Building
- Preconstructed Decks
- Dragonborn Campaign
- Glossary
- Dice Power Reference Cards
- Credits
Object of the Game
In Ashes, you are a Phoenixborn—a powerful magic-wielder battling others in a duel of wits and magical prowess. Cast spells and summon allies in an effort to defeat your opponent and win the game. Ashes can be played as a battle between two players and their Phoenixborn (PvP) or as a solo or cooperative battle of Phoenixborn versus a shared Dragonborn enemy (PvE).
Using This Rulebook
This rulebook covers Ashes for both PvP and PvE, but is primarily formatted for PvP. The dragon icon and/or gold text indicates PvE-specific information, while the two-player icon is for 2-player PvE.
If this is your first time playing, we recommend using the Quick Start Guide first, and returning to the Comprehensive Rulebook afterwards.
For additional rules information (FAQ, Organized Play, revisions), visit ashesdb.plaidhatgames.com.
Player Components
Phoenixborn Card
Your Phoenixborn is your most important card. You lose the game when your Phoenixborn has wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value. Its battlefield and spellboard values dictate how many units and ready spells you can have in play at a time. A Phoenixborn is not a unit.
Phoenixborn card key: 1. Name; 2. Type; 3. Life Value; 4. Battlefield Value; 5. Spellboard Value; 6. Ability; 7. Activation Cost.
Example — Issa Brightmore, Phoenixborn of Emeridia. Battlefield 5, Life 18, Spellboard 5. Inspiration: [Side Action] [Exhaust] 1 [Artifice Class]: Draw 2 cards. Place an artifice die from your exhausted pool onto a card you control. "Where you would tear down, I would build better."
Unit Cards
Allies and conjurations are the two types of units that you will summon to your battlefield. Units in play on your battlefield are under your control.
Unit card key: 1. Title; 2. Type; 3. Placement; 4. Play Cost; 5. Attack Value; 6. Life Value; 7. Recover Value; 8. Activation Cost; 9. Abilities; 10. Conjuration Limit.
Example — Skybreak Captain (Ally, Battlefield). Play cost 1 [Artifice Class] 1 [Astral Class]. Uplift: When this unit comes into play, place an astral die from your exhausted pool onto it. Aerial Command 1: [Side Action] [Exhaust]: If this unit has an astral die on it, increase the attack value of another unit you control by 1 for the remainder of the turn. Attack 3, Life 3, Recover 2.
Example — Thunder Hulk (Conjuration, Battlefield). Conjuration limit 2. Dormant: This unit cannot attack unless it is charged. Overkill 1: After this unit destroys a unit an opponent controls by attacking, deal 1 damage to that opponent's target Phoenixborn. Attack 3, Life 3, Recover 0.
Spell Cards
There are a variety of different spell types, each with their own placement locations. Action spells and reaction spells have one-time effects, and are then discarded. Ready spells remain in play on your spellboard, while alteration spells remain in play attached to other cards.
Spell card key: 1. Title; 2. Type; 3. Placement; 4. Play Cost; 5. Activation Cost; 6. Effect(s); 7. Value Bonuses.
Example — Supercharge (Ready Spell, Spellboard). [Side Action] [Exhaust]: If this spell is charged, add 2 to the attack value of a target unit for the remainder of the turn. "Enough juice, and I can make anything hurt."
Example — Thunder Suit (Alteration Spell, Unit). When attaching this spell, place an artifice die from your exhausted pool onto the attached unit. Attack +2, Life +2, Recover +1.
Dice
Dice are the magic that let you cast spells and summon units. There are nine different magic types, two of which are included in the Starter Set. Each die has three levels: power > class > basic. Higher-level dice can be used to pay for lower-level costs.
- A power symbol can be used as that die's power, class or basic symbol.
- A class symbol can be used as that die's class or basic symbol.
In addition, each die's power symbol can be spent to activate a dice power effect (see Dice Reference Cards, pg. 32).
Each die shows a power symbol, a class symbol and a basic symbol. The Starter Set includes the astral die and the artifice die.
Tokens
The game uses wound tokens, exhaustion tokens, status tokens, and the first player token.
Dragonborn Components
Dragonborn Card
A Dragonborn is your opponent in a PvE game of Ashes. To win the game, you must place wound tokens on the Dragonborn equal to or greater than its life value. A Dragonborn is considered a Phoenixborn and a player for all purposes.
Dragonborn card key: 1. Name; 2. Type; 3. Player Count; 4. Life Value; 5. Ability; 6. Threat Value.
Example — Scatha Kalani, Dragonborn, Adorned in Feathers. Life 30, Threat 4. Poach: At the start of the Dragonborn's turn, remove 1 status token from this card. If you do, deal 1 damage to the opposing player's target leftmost unit, or their target Phoenixborn if they control no units.
Threat Tokens. You can adjust a Dragonborn's difficulty when setting up a game by adding threat tokens to increase its threat value.
Aspect Cards
Aspect cards represent different aspects of a Dragonborn that it will deploy to its battlefield throughout the course of its battle against you. Aspects are a type of unit and are considered to be all other types of unit (i.e. an aspect is also an ally and a conjuration).
Aspect card key: 1. Title; 2. Type; 3. Placement; 4. Intent Icon; 5. Ability; 6. Attack Value; 7. Life Value; 8. Blood Value; 9. Shield Icon.
Example — Sear (Aspect, Battlefield). Sear: At the start of the Dragonborn's turn, remove 1 status token from this unit to deal 1 damage to the opposing player's target Phoenixborn. Attack 3, Life 2, Blood 2.
Example — Aegis Feathers (Aspect, Battlefield). Aegis Feathers: When this unit is destroyed, remove 1 exhaustion token from the leftmost aspect on this battlefield. Attack 1, Life 1, Blood 1.
Behavior Card
The behavior card dictates how a Dragonborn will take its turn.
Behavior. At the start of the Dragonborn's turn, resolve the Dragonborn's status ability, and then its aspects' status abilities from left to right. Then resolve one of the following turns:
If there are ANY face down aspects:
Roll a basic dragon die and resolve the corresponding behavior.
- [Attack symbol]: Attack, if able. If not, Reveal.
- [Ready spell symbol]: Activate the Dragonborn's ready spell.
- [Reveal and attack symbol]: Reveal. Attack with the revealed aspect, if able.
If there are NO face down aspects:
- [Attack symbol]: Attack, if able. If not, Pass.
Ready Spell Cards
The Dragonborn starts the game with a stack of three ready spells (stacked in order with Ready Spell I on top). They have an Activated effect that may be activated by the behavior card and a Progress effect that resolves during the dragon phase.
Ready spell card key: 1. Type; 2. Activated effect; 3. Progress effect.
Example — Ready Spell I. ACTIVATED: The target opposing player must lower 1 non-basic die in their active pool one level. PROGRESS: Deal 1 damage to all opposing players' units. Remove this ready spell from the game, progressing to ready spell II.
Dragon Dice
The Dragonborn has 5 dragon dice. These dice determine the Dragonborn's behaviors and power it up with status tokens. Each dragon die has a power symbol, a class symbol and a basic symbol.
Stamina Card
This card is placed under the Dragonborn's draw pile during setup. When the Dragonborn empties its draw pile, follow the steps on the Stamina Card.
Stamina card key: 1. Effects; 2. Player Count.
Stamina 3: When the Dragonborn's draw pile becomes empty, rotate this card so that Stamina 2 is at the top. Shuffle the Dragonborn's discard pile to create a new draw pile, keeping this card beneath it.
Stamina 2: When the Dragonborn's draw pile becomes empty, flip this card so that Stamina 1 is at the top. Shuffle the Dragonborn's discard pile to create a new draw pile, keeping this card beneath it.
Player Setup
To set up a game of Ashes, each player should do the following:
- Choose a preconstructed deck or build a custom deck to play with (see pg. 26).
- Place your Phoenixborn in your play area.
- Place your conjuration pile face down in your play area.
- Place the dice power reference cards that correspond to the dice you are using in your play area and take a phases of play reference card, if needed.
- Place all ten of your dice to the right of your dice power reference cards. This is your exhausted dice pool.
- Choose your First Five by taking five cards of your choice from your deck to form your starting hand. These cards must all be different from each other and cannot include more than one Phoenixborn unique card. Shuffle the rest of your deck and form a face down draw pile in your play area.
- Make sure you have easy access to wound, exhaustion and status tokens.
Note: Your play area does not need to be organized like the example, but the different sections must be easily recognizable by your opponent.
The play area holds: the Phoenixborn card, the draw pile, the conjuration pile, the discard pile, the active dice pool, the exhausted dice pool, the battlefield, the spellboard, and the dice power and phases of play reference cards.
Dragonborn Setup
- When playing a PvE game, choose a Dragonborn to battle, collecting all of its corresponding cards (Dragonborn, behavior, ready spell, aspect, and conjured cards).
- Place the dragon board in the play area.
- Place the chosen Dragonborn on the dragon board. Place it on the 1-player or 2-player side based on the number of players facing the Dragonborn.
- Select the difficulty you wish to play, adding threat tokens to the dragon board accordingly:
- Standard: +0 threat tokens
- Heroic: +1 threat token
- Campaign: If playing a campaign (see pg. 27), add 1 additional threat token for each completed game of the campaign.
- Place the behavior card onto the dragon board.
- Place the stack of ready spells onto the dragon board, in order, with Ready Spell I on top.
- Place a number of randomized face down aspect cards equal to the Dragonborn's threat value onto its battlefield from left to right, beginning with a 1-blood aspect, and alternating between 1- and 2-blood aspects.
- 2-player: Create two full battlefields for the Dragonborn, one facing each player.
- Shuffle the remaining aspect cards together to create the Dragonborn's draw pile. Place the stamina card on the bottom of the draw pile, rotated so that Stamina 2 is face up at the top of the card in a 1p game (use Stamina 3 in 2p). Place the draw pile onto the dragon board.
- Set all 5 dragon dice to their basic sides and place them in the active dice pool of the dragon board.
- If the Dragonborn has 1 or more conjured cards, create an independent Dragonborn conjuration pile for each of its battlefields, with a number of copies of each card equal to its conjuration limit.
Round Overview
Ashes is played over a series of rounds. Each round is divided into three phases (or four in PvE) that must be resolved in order:
Dragon → Prepare → Player Turns → Recovery
Most of the game takes place during the player turns phase.
Dragon Phase
This phase only occurs in a PvE game. Skip this phase on the first round of the game.
- Cleanse: The Dragonborn discards all cards it controls but does not own.
- Gain Status: Place 1 status token on the Dragonborn for each face up aspect. For each face up aspect with a status ability (see pg. 14), refill it with status tokens up to the number of circles over the ability text.
- Replenish Aspects: Add face down aspect cards to each of the Dragonborn's battlefields until each battlefield has a number of aspects (face up or face down) equal to the Dragonborn's threat value.
- 2-player: Add these aspects one at a time, alternating between battlefields, starting with either battlefield.
- Progress: Resolve the bottom text box of the Dragonborn's ready spell.
Prepare Phase
During the prepare phase, each player simultaneously resolves the following three steps in order:
PvE: The Dragonborn skips the prepare phase steps.
- Roll Dice: Roll all of the dice in your exhausted pool and place them to the left of your dice power reference cards. This is your active dice pool. On the first round of the game, the player who rolls the most basic symbols chooses which Phoenixborn player goes first, giving that player the first player token. If there is a tie for most, all players must re-roll all of their dice until there is no tie.
- Discard Cards: You may discard any number of cards from your hand.
- Draw Cards: Draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand.
- Fatigue Damage: Starting with the First Player, players alternate placing 1 wound token on their Phoenixborn until all players have placed wounds equal to the number of cards they should have drawn but could not.
Player Turns Phase
In this phase, starting with the First Player, players take their turns, each of which consists of a main action and an optional side action, taken in either order. Players will alternate taking turns until each player has consecutively taken a Pass main action during their turn, at which point play proceeds to the recovery phase.
Main Actions (required): Pay a cost; Attack; Pass.
Side Actions (optional): Pay a cost; Activate a dice power; Meditate.
PvE 2-player: Both Phoenixborn players take their turn together. During that turn, each player takes a main action and an optional side action, one action at a time, in any order of the players' choice.
Recovery Phase
During the recovery phase, each player simultaneously resolves the following three steps in order:
- Recover: Remove a number of wound tokens from each unit you control equal to that unit's recover value.
- PvE: Aspects do not have recover values, so they do not recover.
- Remove Exhaustion: Remove 1 exhaustion token from each card you control. Rotate your Phoenixborn so that it is upright.
- Exhaust Dice: Move all dice on cards you control to their owners' exhausted pools. Move any number of dice from your active pool to your exhausted pool.
End of Round
Each player, one at a time and starting with the First Player, resolves all "end of round" effects they control in the order of their choice. Then, pass the first player token to the next player. Then, end effects that last a specified duration (e.g. "until the start of your next turn").
PvE 2-player: Both Phoenixborn players resolve "end of round" effects together. When a Phoenixborn player passes the first player token, they pass it to the Dragonborn, pointing it toward their teammate. When the Dragonborn passes the first player token, it passes it to the player the token is pointing toward.
End of Game
If a player's Phoenixborn has a number of wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value, their opponent has won the game!
PvE: If the Dragonborn has a number of wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value, the Phoenixborn players win the game.
PvE 2-player: If either Phoenixborn player loses the game, both of those players have lost the game.
Taking a Turn
During a player's turn, they must take 1 main action, and may take 1 side action, in the order of their choice. This section covers the types of main and side actions available to players.
Main Action: Pay a [Main Action] Cost
To take this main action, play or activate a card where the [Main Action] symbol appears in the play or activation cost.
Playing a Card
Many turns in Ashes consist of playing a card or activating a card that was played on a previous turn. It is common for your entire turn to consist of playing or activating just one or two cards.
To play a card from your hand, first pay its play cost, then place it as directed by the card's placement.
Paying Costs
There are 5 different types of costs:
- Main Action: Take your main action for the turn.
- Side Action: Take your side action for the turn.
- Exhaust: Place 1 exhaustion token on this card.
- Discard: Discard a number of cards from your hand equal to the number shown.
- Magic: Exhaust dice of the appropriate type and number by moving them from your active pool to your exhausted pool. That number is known as the magic play cost. Remember that higher-level dice can be used to pay for lower-level costs.
Parallel Costs
Some cards have two connected costs in their play cost or their activation cost. These costs are called parallel costs. To pay a parallel cost, pay one of the options, plus any other costs.
Example: Paying Costs. To play Summon Thunder Hulk from your hand to your spellboard, take your main action for the turn. On a future turn, to activate its effect, take your main action, place 1 exhaustion token on the card, and exhaust dice equivalent to 1 [Artifice Class] and 1 [Astral Class].
Card Types
There are 5 different types of cards that can be included in a player's deck (ally, alteration spell, ready spell, action spell, reaction spell), and 2 types that can be included in a player's conjuration pile (conjuration, conjured alteration spell).
Action Spell
Action spells have a one-time effect. Recharge is an action spell which will be played to your discard pile. To play Recharge, pay its play cost, carry out its effect, and then discard it.
Unit (Ally, Conjuration)
Allies and conjurations are the two types of units you will place onto your battlefield. The number of units your battlefield can contain is equal to your Phoenixborn's battlefield value. If your battlefield is full, discard any units that would be placed onto it. Units have 3 values listed at the bottom of their cards:
- Attack value: how much damage a unit deals in battle.
- Life value: how many wound tokens it takes to destroy a unit.
- Recover value: how many wound tokens are removed from a unit during the recovery phase.
Ally: To play an ally, pay its play cost and then place it onto your battlefield.
Conjuration: Conjurations start in a conjuration pile, are brought into play by other card effects, and return to that conjuration pile when they leave play. Conjurations also have a conjuration limit that defines how many copies of that card your conjuration pile starts with. If your conjuration pile does not currently contain a copy of a conjuration, you cannot put that conjuration into play.
PvE — Battlefield Management: When you place units on any battlefield, they must be placed to the right of all other units on that battlefield (including face down cards). The relative position of units cannot be changed. As units leave the battlefield, shift the remaining units to the left to fill in gaps. This is important because the Dragonborn will attack and resolve effects based on the positions of units.
Ready Spell
Ready spells usually do not have an immediate effect, but will remain in play to be activated later. Summon Thunder Hulk is a ready spell which will be played to your spellboard. To play Summon Thunder Hulk, pay its play cost, and then place Summon Thunder Hulk in an empty slot on your spellboard. The number of spellboard slots is equal to your Phoenixborn's spellboard value.
If you already have 1 or more copies of the same ready spell on your spellboard, place the new one on top of the existing one(s)—it does not take up an extra slot. Otherwise, if you have no empty spellboard slots, you cannot play new ready spells.
On a subsequent turn you can activate Summon Thunder Hulk by paying its activation cost, taking a Thunder Hulk conjuration from your conjuration pile, and placing it in an empty slot on your battlefield.
Focusing a Ready Spell: Each copy of a ready spell in a spellboard slot is an independent card, and copies do not share tokens, dice, etc. If multiple copies of a ready spell are in a spellboard slot, those spells are considered focused (once for each additional copy). A ready spell's Focus effects are active for all copies of a spell when that spell has been focused at least that many times, e.g. Focus 1 is active when there is at least 1 additional copy of that spell (at least two total).
Reaction Spell
Reaction spells can be played on any player's turn, when their conditions are met. Reactions can only be played during a player's turn, and each player can only play one reaction per turn. Dodge is a reaction spell which will be played to your discard pile. You have Dodge in your hand when your opponent declares attackers. You respond by playing Dodge, paying its play cost, carrying out its effects, and then discarding it.
PvE 2-player: Each player may play one reaction during their shared turn and during each Dragonborn turn.
Alteration Spell
Alteration spells modify the cards they are attached to. Gust Spear is an alteration spell which can be played (attached) to any unit in play on either battlefield. To play Gust Spear, pay its costs, and then target any unit in play and attach the spell by placing it underneath that unit. As long as Gust Spear remains attached to the unit, its card text and value bonuses modify the unit. In this case, the unit's attack value is increased by 1.
Conjured Alteration Spell
Conjured alteration spells are considered to be alteration spells, not conjurations. Conjured alteration spells start in a conjuration pile, are brought into play by other card effects, and return to that conjuration pile when they leave play. The conjuration limits of these cards work identically to those of conjuration units.
Card Text Boxes
A card's text box can contain any of the following:
Abilities: A named block of text that can be activated for a cost, triggered by a game event, or resolved passively.
Non-ability effects: Any text outside a named ability, such as activated text on a ready spell, triggered effects on a reaction spell, or passive text (e.g. "X = ").
Flavor text: Italicized text with no function.
Inexhaustible Text Box
Text inside a yellow box is inexhaustible, making it unaffected by exhaustion (see next pg). Even if a card is exhausted, text inside an inexhaustible text box will still trigger, can still be activated, and is otherwise still in effect. Inexhaustible text remains inexhaustible if one card grants it to another.
Example: Inheritance 1: When this unit is destroyed, you may place 1 status token on a target unit.
Status Ability Text Box
Text inside a green box describes a status ability, and is also inexhaustible. When a card with a status ability comes into play, place a number of status tokens on that card equal to the number of circles on that text box.
Example: Sear: At the start of the Dragonborn's turn, remove 1 status token from this unit to deal 1 damage to the opposing player's target Phoenixborn.
Reaction Text Box
Text inside a blue box allows a card to be played from hand as a reaction. These cards are also considered reactions until they are in play, and count towards each player's limit of one reaction per turn when played as a reaction.
Example: Hidden: After an opponent has declared attackers, you may play this unit from your hand without paying its main action cost.
Resolving Card Text
Text boxes and abilities can contain multiple effects, separated by periods, "and", or "to". When playing cards or resolving effects:
- Resolve the card text from top to bottom, one effect at a time. Exception: Replacement effects, such as doing X "instead" of another effect, will modify prior effects.
- Resolve as much of each effect as possible.
- If a card leaves play while effects on it are resolving, continue fully resolving those effects.
- If an effect on a card triggers another effect, pause resolving the current card until all related triggered effects have been resolved.
- An effect that says something "cannot" be done supersedes any other effects stating something "must" be done.
- Card text always supersedes game rules.
Exhaustion Tokens
Some game events place exhaustion tokens on cards. While a card has 1 or more exhaustion tokens on it, it is considered to be exhausted. The ability and effect text on exhausted cards is not in effect. An exhausted card retains everything else, including all of its values (attack, life, etc.) and value bonuses (on alteration spells). In addition, exhausted units cannot attack, block, guard, or counter. Some cards have inexhaustible effects or abilities, indicated by a yellow or green box. These effects or abilities are unaffected by exhaustion.
Status Tokens
Status tokens can have various effects based on the cards that are in play. Those cards will detail how the status tokens are to be used.
Wound Tokens, Damage, and Destruction
If at any point a Phoenixborn has a number of wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value, its owner loses the game. If at any point a unit has wound tokens on it equal to or greater than its life value, it is destroyed. Wound tokens do not reduce a card's life value. Wound tokens are placed on cards as a result of damage (and occasionally by other effects).
When 1 or more damage is dealt to a unit or Phoenixborn, follow these steps to determine how many wound tokens to place on that card:
- Deal damage.
- Effects may trigger "after damage is dealt".
- Damage is received. Place wound tokens equal to the damage received on the damaged card.
- Effects may trigger "after 1 or more wound tokens are placed".
When a unit is destroyed, follow these steps:
- Remove the destroyed unit from play.
- PvE: If it was an aspect, place wound tokens on the Dragonborn equal to that aspect's blood value.
- Effects may trigger "when this unit is destroyed".
- Then, effects may trigger "after a unit is destroyed".
- Discard the destroyed unit.
Note: None of the following is considered dealing damage: dealing 0 damage, effects that place wound tokens, effects that directly destroy units.
Main Action: Attack
To take this main action, first target an opponent's Phoenixborn/Dragonborn or unit/aspect.
PvE 2-player: You may target a unit on either Dragonborn battlefield.
1. Declare Attackers
If the attack is targeting a Phoenixborn/Dragonborn, declare ANY NUMBER of unexhausted units you control as attackers.
If the attack is targeting a unit/aspect, declare ONE unexhausted unit you control as an attacker.
2. Opponent Declares Blockers/Guard
If the attack is targeting a:
Phoenixborn: For each attacker, your opponent may declare one unexhausted unit they control to block that attacker.
Unit: Your opponent may declare their Phoenixborn or one unexhausted unit they control with the Unit Guard ability to guard against that attacker. A Phoenixborn can only guard once per round, but may guard even if it is exhausted. When a Phoenixborn is declared as a guard, rotate it 90° to indicate that it cannot guard again this round.
Dragonborn: For each attacker, the Dragonborn will declare one unexhausted shield aspect to block that attacker, as able, assigning blockers from left to right. The Dragonborn will not declare non-shield aspects as blockers unless forced to by a card's effect.
- PvE 2-player: Only shield aspects opposing the attacking player will block.
Aspect: The Dragonborn may declare a guard if the attacked aspect is not a shield aspect. It chooses whether and how to guard as follows:
- The Dragonborn will declare the leftmost unexhausted shield aspect as a guard, if able.
- PvE 2-player: Only shield aspects on the same battlefield as the attacked aspect will guard.
- If it cannot declare a shield aspect as a guard, the Dragonborn rolls 1 basic dragon die. If a [guard symbol] is rolled, the Dragonborn will declare itself as a guard. If any other symbol is rolled, it declares no guard. Unlike a Phoenixborn, the Dragonborn can guard any number of times per round.
Non-aspect unit: The Dragonborn will not declare a guard.
3. Battle
Each attacker and its defending unit or Phoenixborn are now in battle with each other. If there are multiple battles, resolve them one at a time in the order of the Active Player's choice.
In battle, the attacker deals damage equal to its attack value to the defender. Simultaneously, a defending unit will sometimes counter, dealing damage equal to its attack value to the attacker:
- If the defending unit was declared as a blocker or guard, it MUST counter.
- If the defending unit was the original target of the attack, its controlling player CHOOSES whether or not to counter.
- An exhausted unit cannot counter.
- PvE: Aspects will always counter, if able.
Then, place 1 exhaustion token on each unit that attacked or countered in that battle, and that battle ends.
PvE: Unlike normal units, aspects do not receive exhaustion tokens as a result of countering.
When an aspect in play is discarded or destroyed (for example, as the result of an attack), place a number of wound tokens on the Dragonborn equal to that aspect's blood value.
Example of an Attack (PvP)
- Fernanda takes an Attack action, targeting Isaac's Phoenixborn, Arren Frostpeak, and declares both of her Core Suppliers and her Thunder Hulk as her attackers.
- Isaac blocks a Core Supplier with his Skybreak Captain and the Thunder Hulk with his Stellar Oracle. The other Core Supplier's attack will make it through to Arren.
- Fernanda decides the order of resolution:
- (a) The unblocked Core Supplier deals damage to Arren and is exhausted.
- (b) The blocked Core Supplier and the Skybreak Captain deal damage to each other. Core Supplier is destroyed, and Skybreak Captain becomes exhausted from countering.
- (c) The Thunder Hulk and Stellar Oracle deal damage to each other, and the Stellar Oracle is destroyed. Then, Fernanda triggers Overkill 1 on her Thunder Hulk after the Stellar Oracle is destroyed. Finally, the Stellar Oracle is discarded and the Thunder Hulk is exhausted.
Example of an Attack (PvE)
- Kendall takes an Attack action, targeting the Dragonborn's aspect, Birdhunter, declaring her Cirrus Ranger as an attacker.
- Kendall checks to see if there are any shield aspects on the Dragonborn's battlefield that will guard. Aegis Feathers is in play, but it is exhausted so it cannot guard (a). Thus, the Dragonborn will roll a dragon die to determine whether it will guard. If it rolls a basic icon, it will guard; since it rolled a class icon (b), the Dragonborn does not guard.
- Kendall's battle resolves as planned. Cirrus Ranger and Birdhunter deal damage to each other.
- The Cirrus Ranger is destroyed from the damage it received. Birdhunter did not receive enough damage to be destroyed, and it does not exhaust from countering since it is an aspect.
Main Action: Pass
When you Pass, your main action is to do nothing. You may still take a side action. If your opponent does not Pass on their next turn, then when it is your turn again, you may take any main action. If all players Pass on consecutive turns, the player turns phase ends and players move on to the recovery phase of the round.
PvE: If a Phoenixborn player Passes while there are face down aspects on the Dragonborn's opposing battlefield, raise 1 basic dragon die 1 level.
Side Actions
Pay a [Side Action] Cost
To take this side action, play or activate a card where the [Side Action] symbol appears in the play or activation cost.
Activate a Dice Power
To take this side action, exhaust a die that is on its power side to activate its dice power effect. The effect for each die type is detailed on the corresponding dice power reference card and on the back of this rulebook.
Example — Astral Dice Power Effect: [Side Action] 0 [Exhaust]: Place this die on a unit or Phoenixborn you control. After a card you control with an astral die on it is dealt damage, exhaust that die to prevent 1 damage from being received. A card cannot have more than 1 astral die on it.
Meditate
To take this side action, discard any number of the following, one at a time:
- Cards in your hand
- Cards off the top of your draw pile
- Ready spells from your spellboard
For each card discarded, you may change a die in your active pool to a side of your choice.
Dragonborn Turn
When the Dragonborn takes its turn, it will resolve the following steps:
- Resolve Status Abilities: At the start of the Dragonborn's turn, it resolves all status (green box) abilities on cards it controls, starting with its own card, and then its aspects from left to right.
- Determine Behavior: Following the instructions on its behavior card, the Dragonborn will either roll a dragon die, Attack with a face up aspect, or Pass.
- Roll: If there are one or more face down aspects on the Dragonborn's battlefield, the Dragonborn will roll 1 basic dragon die and take the corresponding main/side actions listed on the behavior card.
- Attack: If there are no face down aspects, the Dragonborn will take an Attack main action with its leftmost unit that can attack.
- Pass: If there are no face down aspects and no units that can attack, the Dragonborn will take a Pass main action.
PvE 2-player: The Dragonborn takes two consecutive turns, first taking a turn against either the player with the first player token or the one the token is pointing to, and then a turn against the other player. During its turn, the Dragonborn will only act (e.g. resolve status abilities, Reveal, Attack) using its own card and the battlefield opposing the player it is taking a turn against. For cards on the Dragonborn's battlefield, the "opposing player" is always the player facing that battlefield. For the Dragonborn itself, the opposing player is the player it is currently taking a turn against.
Dragon Dice
The Dragonborn's active pool contains 5 dragon dice. If at any time this pool contains no basic dice, place 1 status token on the Dragonborn, then set all dragon dice to their basic sides.
When dragon dice are rolled for any reason (e.g. behavior, aspect abilities, or Dragonborn guarding), the rolled dice remain in the active pool on the side that was rolled.
When rolling or changing the sides of multiple dragon dice, do so one die at a time.
The Dragonborn does not have an exhausted pool, and its dice can never be exhausted.
Attack
When the Dragonborn is instructed to Attack, look at either the leftmost unit that can attack, or another unit if specified. Declare the target and attacker(s) by using this unit's intent icon:
- Center: This unit and all other aspects with the center icon that can attack will target and attack the opposing player's Phoenixborn.
- Left/Right: Only this unit will target and attack the opposing player's leftmost or rightmost unit that it can target, respectively. If no unit can be targeted, the attack targets the opposing player's Phoenixborn.
- None: If this unit is an aspect, it cannot be declared as an attacker. If it is not an aspect, only this unit will target and attack the opposing player's Phoenixborn.
PvE 2-player: When the Dragonborn declares attackers, only the opposing player may declare blockers or a guard.
Reveal
When the Dragonborn is instructed to Reveal, flip over its leftmost face down aspect. If the revealed aspect has a status ability, it comes into play with status tokens on it equal to the number of circles over the ability text.
Dragonborn Card Types
Ready Spell
The Dragonborn starts the game with a stack of 3 ready spells, numbered I, II, and III. Only the topmost is considered to be in play, and the Dragonborn will progress through these over the course of the game.
The Dragonborn will sometimes be instructed to activate its ready spell, such as by the behavior card roll result. When it does so, resolve the top text box on the ready spell card.
Ready spells also have a bottom text box that is resolved during the progress step of the dragon phase. Any tokens on a ready spell are carried over to the next ready spell when progressing.
Aspects
Aspects are the main way that the Dragonborn and players will interact with each other. Aspects are a type of unit (see "Unit", pg. 13), and are considered to be all other types of unit as well (i.e. an aspect is also an ally and a conjuration). Aspects do not have recover values, and have blood values instead. After an aspect leaves play as a result of being destroyed or discarded, place wound tokens on the Dragonborn equal to that aspect's blood value. Aspects always counter if unexhausted, and they do not exhaust as a result of countering. Face down aspects are not considered to be in play.
Example — Birdhunter (Aspect, Battlefield). Overkill 1: After this unit destroys a unit an opponent controls by attacking, deal 1 damage to that opponent's target Phoenixborn. "You fledglings shall not hinder me!" Attack 3, Life 3, Blood 2.
Conjured Aspects
Conjured aspects are aspects that begin the game in a Dragonborn conjuration pile, are brought into play by other card effects, and return to that conjuration pile when they leave play. There are no conjured aspects in the Starter Set.
Special Dragonborn Considerations
The following rules cover uncommon situations that may arise when playing with an extended Ashes collection.
Choices
When the Dragonborn is instructed to resolve multiple effects simultaneously, it resolves them from left to right, as able. For all other choices, the players decide what the Dragonborn will choose. For added difficulty, the players may opt to choose whatever is worst for them.
Stamina and Fatigue
The Dragonborn's stamina card is placed beneath its draw pile during setup as a rules reminder. When it is revealed, resolve the text on the stamina card.
When Stamina 0 is reached, set it near the Dragonborn as a reference card. The Dragonborn is fatigued, and the following rules on the stamina card are now active:
- Effects cannot cause the Dragonborn to draw cards.
- Each time a card is discarded off the top of the Dragonborn's draw pile, place 1 wound token on the Dragonborn.
- When the Dragonborn's draw pile becomes empty, place 1 exhaustion token on the Dragonborn, then shuffle the Dragonborn's discard pile to create a new draw pile.
- For all other effects, treat the Dragonborn's draw pile as empty.
Exhaustion
When the Dragonborn is instructed to activate its ready spell, if that ready spell is exhausted, remove 1 exhaustion token from it instead. The progress effect is inexhaustible.
When the Dragonborn removes status tokens from itself while resolving its status ability, if it is exhausted, also remove 1 exhaustion token from it and cancel the remaining effects of that ability.
Obstructed Targeting
Some card effects may prevent the Dragonborn player from targeting a leftmost/rightmost unit. In this case, the Dragonborn will target the next eligible leftmost/rightmost unit.
Removing from the Game
When a conjured card the Dragonborn owns is removed from the game, return it to its conjuration pile.
When any other card the Dragonborn owns is removed from the game, set it aside as normal. However, if the Dragonborn needs to place an aspect onto its battlefield while its draw and discard piles are both empty, it places a random aspect that was removed from the game.
Hand and Drawing Cards
A small selection of cards in Ashes may interact with an opponent's hand. Because the Dragonborn does not use a hand in the traditional sense, when the Dragonborn's hand would be affected in the following ways, resolve accordingly:
- Cards are drawn: Discard that many cards off the top of the Dragonborn's draw pile.
- Cards in hand are discarded: Discard that many cards off the top of the Dragonborn's draw pile.
- Cards in hand are looked at: Look at an equal number of cards from the top of the Dragonborn's draw pile and return them in any order. If the entire hand is looked at, treat that as 5 cards.
- Cards are returned to hand: Place those cards on the top of the Dragonborn's draw pile in any order.
Two-Player Range of Effect
You may target cards on either battlefield, as well as cards your teammate controls. If an effect affects all/each/every instance of something in play (e.g. dealing damage to all units), it only affects your own play area and the Dragonborn's opposing battlefield.
Advanced Timing Considerations
The rules in this section deal with the precise timing of certain game events. While they are uncommon in most games of Ashes, these rulings will assist in navigating those circumstances.
Discarding Cards
When a card in play is discarded or otherwise removed from play, set it aside along with any cards underneath it. After resolving any triggered effects, return any tokens on these cards to the supply, discard the cards that are underneath, and place that card in its final destination. When discarded, cards that began in a conjuration pile return to that conjuration pile. All other cards go to their owners' discard piles.
Attack Resolution
Attackers are declared simultaneously, followed by any effects that trigger when and after units are declared as attackers. Then, blockers/guards are declared simultaneously, followed by any effects that trigger when and after units are declared as blockers/guards.
If an attacker, blocker, or guard leaves play or becomes exhausted prior to its battle resolving, resolve as follows:
Attacker leaves play or becomes exhausted: No battle occurs. The defender neither counters nor exhausts, and a guarding Phoenixborn is rotated upright again.
Blocker/guard leaves play: The attacker will resolve a battle with the original target of its attack.
Blocker/guard becomes exhausted: The attacker will resolve a battle with the blocker/guard, but that blocker/guard cannot counter.
Attacker ends up with no valid target: The battle resolves without dealing damage. An exhaustion token is placed on the attacker as normal.
Simultaneous Effects
Sometimes multiple game events will occur in the same timing window. Resolve these cases as follows.
Effects with the same trigger timing: If players have 1 or more responses to the same triggering game event, each player (starting with the Active Player—the player whose turn it is) has one opportunity to play any cards and activate any effects they wish to in response to that trigger, resolving them one at a time and then passing the opportunity to another player of their choice that has not already had the opportunity.
Effects that trigger "when" a game event occurs: Some effects occur "when" a game event occurs, e.g. "When this unit comes into play, you may deal 1 damage to another target unit." In this case, complete the triggering game event ("when this unit comes into play") and then resolve the triggered effect ("deal 1 damage") along with any other effects with the same trigger timing as detailed above. After all "when a unit comes into play" effects are fully resolved, "after a unit comes into play" effects can now trigger.
Example: An Anchornaut with the above example ability comes into play. You may then deal 1 damage to a target unit. After that damage is fully resolved, and no player chooses to activate any other "when" effects, your opponent could play the reaction spell Ice Trap ("after a unit... comes into play") and destroy the Anchornaut.
Units that deal damage to each other: Units that deal damage to each other, most commonly when attacking and countering, deal damage simultaneously. The Active Player then chooses which damage to resolve first (see Wound Tokens, Damage, and Destruction, pg. 15).
Effects that affect multiple units or other game elements (e.g. spells, cards, etc.): Some effects can affect multiple units at once, e.g., "Deal 1 damage to all units." In these cases, the player who controls the effect:
- Selects all units to be affected.
- Resolves the effect for one unit at a time in the order of their choice.
The resolution process may cause a selected unit to no longer fit the selection criteria, or may cause new selectable units to appear. In all cases, the original selection cannot change.
Example: Fernanda plays Mist Typhoon and deals 1 damage to each unit controlled by an opponent. She destroys one of Isaac's units and he reacts with Summon Sleeping Widows and places 2 Sleeping Widow conjurations into play. These new units will not be dealt damage from Mist Typhoon.
Example of Complex Effect Resolution
Isaac has one empty battlefield slot and he has the Summon Gilder ready spell in play. He activates the spell, causing two effects. (Summon Gilder: [Main Action] [Exhaust] 1 [Magic]: Place a Gilder conjuration onto your battlefield. You may deal 1 damage to a target unit.)
- Place Gilder: Isaac resolves these effects in order, starting by placing a Gilder onto his battlefield.
- After a unit comes into play: Fernanda reveals the Ice Trap reaction spell in her hand, which was triggered after the Gilder came into play. Fernanda plays the Ice Trap, destroying the Gilder. (Ice Trap: You may play this spell after a unit with a life value of 2 or less comes into play. Destroy that target unit.)
- When this unit is destroyed: The Gilder's Inheritance 1 ability now triggers. (Inheritance 1: When this unit is destroyed, you may place 1 status token on a target unit.)
- After a unit is destroyed: Now Isaac reveals the Summon Sleeping Widows reaction spell in his hand, which was triggered after his Gilder was destroyed. He plays it, placing one Sleeping Widow conjuration onto his battlefield. He cannot place the second one because his battlefield is now full, but he resolves as much as possible. (Summon Sleeping Widows: You may play this spell after a unit you control is destroyed. Place 2 Sleeping Widow conjurations onto your battlefield.)
- Deal damage: Now that all effects that triggered off of placing the Gilder have been resolved, Isaac resumes resolving the next effect on Summon Gilder by dealing 1 damage to a target unit.
Deck Building
To build a deck, you must do the following:
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Choose a Phoenixborn.
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Choose exactly 30 cards to be included in your deck. You can have at most 3 copies of any one card with the same title.
You can have at most 3 Phoenixborn unique cards (marked by a Phoenixborn portrait in the lower right corner), and those cards must match your chosen Phoenixborn.
Do not include related conjured cards in this total. These cards are only brought into play by the effects and abilities of other cards.
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Choose any 10 dice to be included in your dice pool.
Example: 2 astral dice, 6 artifice dice, 2 dice of another magic type — 10 total dice.
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Identify all cards in your deck with printed effects that produce conjurations and/or conjured alteration spells. For each conjured card your deck can produce, collect a number of copies of that card equal to its conjuration limit. These copies form your conjuration pile. The number of cards in your conjuration pile is public information.
Preconstructed Decks
The highlighted cards are a suggested First Five, but you can choose your own.
The Spark of Invention
Harness the power of artifice magic to charge up your mechanical marvels, unleashing a brilliant display of electrifying might!
Phoenixborn: Issa Brightmore
Dice Pool: Artifice x 10
Cards:
- 3 x Brilliant Display
- 3 x Summon Spark Drone (First Five)
- 3 x Summon Thunder Hulk (First Five)
- 3 x Reconfigure (First Five)
- 3 x Supercharge (First Five)
- 3 x Core Supplier
- 3 x Systems Drafter (First Five)
- 3 x Recharge
- 3 x Barrier
- 3 x Thunder Suit
Conjurations:
- 3 x Spark Drone
- 2 x Thunder Hulk
The Sentinels of Skies
Strike from above with the power of flight, executing precisely targeted hunts on your prey.
Phoenixborn: Arren Frostpeak
Dice Pool: Astral x 10
Cards:
- 3 x Aerial Strike
- 3 x Summon Frost Talon (First Five)
- 3 x Summon Stellar Oracle (First Five)
- 3 x Whirlwind (First Five)
- 3 x Skybreak Captain (First Five)
- 3 x Cirrus Ranger
- 3 x Javelineer (First Five)
- 3 x Retreat
- 3 x Dodge
- 3 x Gust Spear
Conjurations:
- 3 x Frost Talon
- 2 x Stellar Oracle
Dragonborn Campaign
Put your skills to the test in a series of three escalating games against the Dragonborn. This game mode can be played with one or two players, and requires an expanded collection of Ashes cards beyond what is included in the Starter Set.
To set up a campaign, follow these steps:
- Choose whether to take on a standard difficulty campaign, or a more challenging heroic campaign.
- Each player chooses a preconstructed deck as their base deck, along with 10 dice of their choice.
- Select a Dragonborn as your first opponent, and set up a game against it. Remember to place 1 threat token on the dragon board in a heroic campaign.
Campaigns feature a catalog of cards (usually empty to start) that can be used to customize your deck. After winning each game in a campaign, each player may choose any preconstructed deck, and select 3 copies each of 3 different cards from that deck to add to their personal campaign catalog. Before each game in a campaign, you may customize your deck using any cards from your base deck and campaign catalog, following normal deck building rules. You may also adjust your dice pool freely at this time.
After customizing, choose a Dragonborn to be your next opponent (it can be the same Dragonborn, or a different one). During setup for this game, place 1 threat token on the dragon board for each game you have won (in addition to the +1 threat token when playing on heroic difficulty). After winning three games, you achieve a campaign victory!
Optional Modifications
The following are optional modifications to the campaign system for veteran players. If you use any of these modifications, you may revise your deck before the first game of the campaign.
- After choosing your base deck, if your chosen Phoenixborn has more than one unique card option, add the extra cards to your campaign catalog.
- At the start of a heroic campaign, you may add 3 copies of any card in your collection to your campaign catalog.
- At the start of any campaign, you may add 3 copies of the card Channel Magic (found in the Corpse of Viros deluxe expansion) to your campaign catalog.
Glossary
Ability: A named block of text that can either be activated for a cost, triggered by a game event, or resolved passively. An ability with a numeral after its name will stack if a card receives multiple copies of that ability. When an ability stacks, add the numerals in the ability names together, and change the corresponding numeral(s) in the ability text to that sum. Focus effects and abilities without numerals after their name do not stack.
Activated Ability/Effect: Card text that only resolves when you pay its activation cost, which will always include a main and/or side action.
Active Player: The player whose turn it is or, if it is not during the player turns phase, the First Player.
Adjacent: Units on the same battlefield are adjacent if they are immediately to the left or right of each other.
Affect: A card or dice power affects a spell if it does any of the following to that spell: places or removes tokens/dice, adds or removes effects, causes the spell to be attached to a different card, or moves it in or out of play.
Attach: To attach an alteration spell, target the card being attached to, then place the alteration spell underneath it, applying its effects and value bonuses to the card above.
Battle: Battle is the third step of an Attack action (see page 16).
Blocker: Unexhausted units may be declared as blockers when a Phoenixborn is targeted with an Attack action. Up to one unit may be declared as a blocker per attacking unit. Blockers must counter. If a blocker is destroyed before its battle is resolved, the attacker it was blocking resumes its attack on its original target. Blocking is not the same as guarding.
Blood Value: When an aspect is destroyed or discarded from the battlefield, place a number of wound tokens on the Dragonborn equal to its blood value.
Cancel: When an effect is canceled, immediately stop resolving that effect and all remaining effects that are in the process of being resolved on the canceled effect's card.
If a behavior card lists a main and side action, only the remaining effects in the current action are canceled.
Chained List: Cards that cannot be in a First Five or played in the first round. See the latest Ashes Organized Play document for full details (ashesdb.plaidhatgames.com). The Chained List is primarily for competitive PvP gameplay.
Choose: Some effects ask players to choose something, e.g. targets, options, or other game elements. Choosing does not, by itself, affect or target, but may cause an effect to affect or target. (See Choices, page 22)
Conjured Cards: A group of card types that begin the game in a conjuration pile, such as conjurations, conjured aspects, and conjured alteration spells.
Control: The following are under your control: your Phoenixborn and its abilities, any face up cards on your battlefield or spellboard and their abilities and effects, and any action or reaction spells, dice powers, attacks, or counters that you are resolving. Alteration and conjured alteration spells are under your control while you are attaching them, and then are under the control of the player who controls the card they are attached to.
Counter: Countering is when a defender deals counter damage equal to its attack value back to the attacking unit. Blockers and unit guards must counter.
Aspects always counter if unexhausted, and they do not exhaust as a result of countering.
Current / Currently: The words "current" and "currently" in an effect refer to the game state before the effect resolves.
Current Value: The attack, life, recover, and blood values of a unit after modifiers have been applied. When an effect references the "current" values of a unit, it refers to the values before the effect resolves.
Damage: See page 15.
Dice Power: An effect that can be activated by spending a side action and a die on its power side. Each die type has a different dice power (see page 32).
Discard Pile: A face up stack where your discarded cards are placed. Discard piles are public information.
Draw Pile: A face down stack of cards that you draw from during the game. The number of cards in any draw pile is public information.
Effect: An effect is any text that is resolved. Some cards have multiple effects. Attack and counter damage are not effects.
Exhaust: The process of placing exhaustion tokens on a card OR the process of moving dice from anywhere else to an exhausted pool (most commonly from an active pool).
Exhausted: A card that has 1 or more exhaustion tokens on it OR a die that is in your exhausted pool. Exhaustion modifies how cards function (see page 15).
Face Down: A card that is face down underneath a card in play is not considered to be attached to that card, is not considered to be in play, and is public knowledge.
Aspects that are face down are not considered to be in play and are not public knowledge.
First Five: When setting up a game of Ashes, select 5 different cards from your deck to become your starting hand. You cannot include more than one copy of a card or more than one Phoenixborn unique card in your First Five. Additional First Five rules may be in effect for competitive PvP games; see the latest Ashes Organized Play document for information.
First Player: The player who currently possesses the first player token. The First Player takes the first turn of each round.
Focus: Some ready spells have focus effects that are active while you control multiple copies of that spell (see page 13).
Game Event: Anything that could occur in the game as a result of following the rules or resolving effects. Examples: a unit comes into play, an alteration spell is attached, a player declares attackers, wound tokens are placed on a Phoenixborn, etc.
Guard: A Phoenixborn or an unexhausted unit you control with the Unit Guard ability can be declared as a guard when a unit you control is targeted with an Attack action. A Phoenixborn may only guard once per round, indicated by rotating a Phoenixborn 90° when guarding. A guarding unit must counter. Guarding is not the same as blocking.
The Dragonborn may guard multiple times per round. If a player's attacking unit cannot be guarded against (such as from the Bypass or Stalk ability), the Dragonborn does not roll to guard. If a shield aspect cannot guard due to effects such as Terrifying or Gigantic, select the leftmost shield aspect that can be declared as a guard.
Inexhaustible: Text that remains in effect even if that card is exhausted (see page 14).
Level: Dice have 3 levels: basic, class, and power. When an effect raises a die one level, basic dice turn to their class sides, and class dice turn to their power sides. When an effect lowers a die one level, power dice turn to their class sides, and class dice turn to their basic sides.
Life Value: The number of wound tokens that a card can have on it before it is destroyed. A card's life value is constant unless modified by a game event. Wound tokens do not reduce life values.
Magic Play Cost: The magic play cost of a card is the total number of dice that must be exhausted to play the card from your hand. Action, exhaust, and discard costs are not included and "X" equals "0" for the purpose of calculating magic play costs.
Move: When a game element (e.g. token) is moved from one location (e.g. card) to another, it is removed from the first location and placed on the second location in a single resolution. If a move effect is canceled, leave the game element in the first location.
Opposing: Your battlefield and the Dragonborn battlefield that is directly facing yours are opposing one another. For cards on the Dragonborn's battlefield, the "opposing player" is the player facing that battlefield. For the Dragonborn itself, the opposing player is the player it is currently taking a turn against.
Owner: A card's owner is the player whose deck or conjuration pile that card started the game in, and not necessarily the player who controls it.
Passive Effect: A card effect that is active just by being in play. It may always be active or it may only be active while a certain game state exists. Example: "While this unit is attacking" is a passive effect, whereas "When this unit is declared as an attacker" is a triggered effect.
Phoenixborn: Each player controls a Phoenixborn, which is not a unit. When your Phoenixborn is destroyed, you lose the game.
In a 2-player PvE game, if either player's Phoenixborn is destroyed, both players lose the game.
Play; In Play: A card is in play if it is a Phoenixborn, if it is face up on a battlefield or spellboard, or if it is attached to a card that is in play.
Printed Value: The values (attack, life, recover, blood) printed on the card, without accounting for any value bonuses or modifications.
Reaction Text Box: A blue text box that allows cards other than reaction spells to be played as reactions (see page 14).
Spellboard: The part of your play area where ready spells are placed (see page 13).
Status Ability: A type of inexhaustible ability that uses status tokens, indicated by a green text box (see page 14).
Target: An effect targets a game element only if it uses the word "target" in relation to that game element or if it is an alteration spell being attached to that game element. Choose the target of a targeted effect immediately before resolving that effect.
Threat Token: Tokens placed during setup to adjust a Dragonborn's threat value. Threat tokens cannot be affected in any way.
Triggered Ability/Effect: A card effect that can only be used when or after a game event occurs, such as "when this unit comes into play" or "after an opponent declares attackers." Some triggered effects are mandatory, some are optional ("you may"), and some require an additional cost.
- When: Triggered effects that happen "When" a game event occurs are resolved immediately after the game event completes.
- After: Triggered effects that happen "After" a game event occurs are resolved after that game event, and after all related "When" effects.
If players wish to resolve multiple triggered effects off of the same game event, start with the Active Player (see page 24).
Type: Each card has a type, such as Phoenixborn, Dragonborn, Chimera, Ally, Conjuration, Aspect, Alteration Spell, Conjured Alteration Spell, Ready Spell, Action Spell, Reaction Spell.
Unit: An ally, conjuration, or aspect. A Phoenixborn is not a unit.
Value: Life, attack, recover, blood, and threat are the five values a card could have. If modified, after all calculations a negative value is considered 0.
Wound Tokens: Tokens related to damage and destruction (see page 15).
Wounded: A unit or Phoenixborn is considered to be wounded if it has 1 or more wound tokens on it.
X: Cards may list "X" in their costs, effects, and values. Once the value of X is established for a card, it applies to all instances of X on that card. For most cards, the definition of X will be listed on the card. If X is in the cost and there is no definition, choose a value for X when paying the cost. When determining a card's magic play cost, X = 0.
Dice Power Reference Cards
Each of the nine magic types has its own power, class and basic symbol. A power symbol can be used as that die's power, class or basic symbol; a class symbol can be used as that die's class or basic symbol. Each die's power symbol can be spent as a side action to activate the dice power effect below.
Astral — [Side Action] 0 [Exhaust]: Place this die on a unit or Phoenixborn you control. After a card you control with an astral die on it is dealt damage, exhaust that die to prevent 1 damage from being received. A card cannot have more than 1 astral die on it.
Artifice — [Side Action] 1 [Exhaust]: Place this die on a card you control. A card with an artifice die on it is considered to be charged (once for each artifice die on it).
Natural — [Side Action] 1 [Natural Power]: Deal 1 damage to a target unit.
Ceremonial — [Side Action] 1 [Ceremonial Power]: Search your discard pile for an ally and place it into your hand. Deal 1 damage to your Phoenixborn.
Charm — [Side Action] 0 [Charm Power]: Place this die on a target unit an opponent controls. The attack value of a unit with a charm die on it is reduced by 1. A unit cannot have more than 1 charm die on it.
Illusion — [Side Action] 1 [Illusion Power]: Lower 2 dice in a target opponent's active pool one level (power to class, class to basic).
Divine — [Side Action] 1 [Divine Power]: Place this die on a unit you control. The attack value of a unit with a divine die on it is increased by 1. A unit cannot have more than 1 divine die on it.
Sympathy — [Side Action] 1 [Sympathy Power]: Draw 1 card. You may choose 1 card in your hand and place it on the top or bottom of your draw pile.
Time — [Side Action] 1 [Time Power]: Place 1 status token on a target unit you control. Then, you may remove 1 status token from a target unit or spell.
Credits
Game Designers: Isaac Vega, Nick Conley. Producer: Colby Dauch. Illustrators: Fernanda Suarez, Ade Surya, Polar Engine Studio, Sonderflex Studio, Gunship Revolution, Jen Santos, Kyxarie Peralta, Marcus Reyno. Editors: Jonathan Liu, Ray Clark. Graphic Designers: David Richards, Kendall Elmen. Writer: Mr. Bistro. Ascendancy Playtesters: Alfred Lai, Carl Burns, Corey Halter, Devon Swank, Ethan Fritz, Flora Snow Sharp, James Phillips, John J. Ryan, Matthew Saldaña, Nathan Fritz, Nathan Huttner, Peter Lozinak, Rafał Wrzosek, Ray Clark.
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