Elemystic
Elemystic Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 9 Element Cards
- 2 Reference Cards
- 2 Thunder Tokens
- 1 Air Token
- 1 Light Token
- 1 Shadow Token
- 1 Draft First
- 1 Play First
- 1 Energy Dial
Game Setup
At the start of the game, place the Energy Dial between both players and set both sides to 10 (1). Give each player a Reference Card (2) and a Thunder Token Card (3) to keep to the side of their player area for the game. Keep the Air, Light, and Shadow Tokens close by (4).
Randomly choose one player to be the starting player. Lay down both the Draft First (5) and Play First (6) reminder cards with their arrows pointing to that player for this round. In subsequent rounds, these arrows will rotate between the players [see the "End of Round" section].
Round Setup
Shuffle all nine Element Cards into a facedown stack. Take the top element card and set it aside facedown on the table (7). This is the Unknown Element that neither player can look at this round.
Deal one element card to each player facedown (8). These elements are secret, and form the start of each player's four-card hand. You may look at your own secret element at any time, but not your opponent's.
Flip the remaining six element cards faceup on the table into a drafting pool (9), making sure that both players can read all six easily. These are the elements that the players will choose from during the Draft Elements Phase to form the rest of their hands.
Anatomy of a Card
A full round setup example is pictured above.
Card anatomy key:
- A. Element Name - The name of the card
- B. Strength - Adds damage dealt by your attack
- C. Defense - Reduces damage dealt by your opponent's attack
- D. Invocation Strength - Additional Strength added only by your front element
- E. Invocation Defense - Additional Defense added only by your front element
- F. Ability - Unique effect your element in front provides
- G. Speed - Determines which attack resolves first
Phase 1: Draft Elements
Each round, you'll perform the following phases in order: Phase 1: Draft Elements, Phase 2: Play Elements, Phase 3: Resolve Attacks.
The player with the Draft First arrow pointing to them starts the draft by selecting two of the six elements that are faceup on the table. They place the two cards face up in front of themselves, adding them to their hand [which already contains their facedown secret element].
Player 1 has drafted the Water and Light element cards to their hand face up.
Next, the second player selects two of the element cards remaining on the table, placing them face up in front of them like the first player did. The first player then takes one of the remaining two element cards on the table, and the second player gets the last element card. Now you should each have a hand of four element cards in front of you - one secret, three faceup!
Both players have drafted three element cards to their hand face up alongside their facedown secret element card.
You're now ready to start playing your elements!
Phase 2: Play Elements
Players alternate turns, playing one of their four element cards each turn, until they've both played three. The player who has the Play First arrow pointing to them starts by playing one element card in front of them face up, which is the beginning of a column of three elements that form their attack for the round. After the first player plays their first element, the second player will play their first element, and so on. When choosing which element to play on your turn, you can always choose one of your faceup elements or your secret element.
When playing your second and third elements, you can choose to play them to the front or back of your column. If you play an element to the front, the top half of that card covers up the bottom half of whatever element is currently at the front of the column.
If you play an element to the back, tuck its bottom half underneath the back element card of the column, so only its top half is visible.
Only the front element card of a column uses its ability and bottom numbers in the Resolve Attacks Phase.
Note: Each of you will always have one element that is not played each round.
Once both players have a column of three elements, it's time to resolve attacks!
Phase 3: Resolve Attacks
Check to see which column has the higher Speed to determine which attack resolves first. The Speed of each column can be found on the bottom center of the front element card, in the yellow diamond:
These two front elements have Speed values of 2 and 6; since 6 is higher, the player with the 6-Speed element in front attacks first!
To resolve your column's attack, follow these steps:
- Perform the ability of your front element, if any, making sure to use Token cards where applicable.
- Add up all of the visible Strength values on the left sides of all cards in your column to calculate your total Strength. There are typically four Strength values in a column - both values of the front element are counted!
- Your opponent adds up all of the visible Defense values on the right of their own column to calculate their total Defense. There are typically four of those as well, counted the same way.
- Subtract their total Defense from your total Strength, and your opponent loses Energy equal to the difference. [Any number lower than 0 is treated as 0 instead.]
Once the higher-Speed attack has finished resolving in full and the defending player adjusts their Energy Dial to reflect any Energy they lost, the lower-Speed attack resolves following the same steps above.
Note: You win immediately if you reduce your opponent's Energy to 0 or less. It is possible to defeat your opponent before they attack!
After both attacks resolve, follow the steps in End of Round to set up the next round!
Attacks Example
Since Fire's Speed is higher than Light's, Player 2 attacks first! They begin by resolving Fire's ability, setting Light's Invocation Strength to 0, which will factor into Player 1's attack. Player 2 then adds up all their visible Strength values - Fire's Invocation Strength of 4, Strength of 3, and the two Strength values from their supporting elements, which are both 2. That makes Player 2's total Strength 11.
Now, Player 1 adds up all their visible Defense values in the same way: 3 Invocation Defense from Light, then 2, 1, and 3 Defense from the top halves of the three cards in their column. That totals 9 Defense, which is subtracted from Player 2's 11 Strength - as a result, Player 1 loses 2 Energy.
After Player 2's attack is complete, Player 1 attacks following the same steps. Light's ability is active until the end of the next Play Elements Phase, so Player 1 takes the Light Token to remind them that it's active next round. They have 3 total Strength - they would have 5 but Fire set Light's Invocation Strength to 0. Player 2 has only 2 total Defense, so they lose 1 Energy.
End of Round
At the end of the round, rotate the Draft First arrow to point at the opposite player. This arrow will alternate each round.
Set the Play First arrow to point at the player with the highest total Strength at the end of the round - keep in mind some abilities can change this mid-round!
Gather all nine elements and shuffle them into a new facedown stack, and start a new round with the Round Setup. Continue playing rounds until one player wins the game by reducing their opponent's Energy to 0.
Reference Guide and FAQ
Element Cards
- Earth - A strong invocation with no ability.
- Light - Your opponent's secret element is revealed until the end of the next Play Elements Phase. Take the Light Token to show this effect is active.
- Air - Next round: Take a fourth turn to play the Air Token to the back of your column. You'll play the Air Token after both players have played all three elements for the round.
- Storm - Immediate: When you play Storm to the front, your opponent must play their next element to the front. This is an instant effect that resolves when Storm is played to the front of a column, instead of when the attack resolves.
- Water - If you have less Energy than your opponent, set Water's Invocation Strength to 5. If your Energy is tied, this ability doesn't resolve.
- Fire - Set your opponent's Invocation Strength to 0. If your attack resolves second, this effectively does nothing.
- Shadow - Before or after you attack, swap one player's total Strength and total Defense. Place the Shadow Token next to your chosen column. You can resolve this ability AFTER you attack, unlike other abilities which always happen before the attack.
Tokens
- Thunder Token - At the end of this round, flip this Token over and return it to your opponent.
- Air Token - This round, you take a fourth turn to play the Air Token to the back as +2 Strength or +3 Defense.
- Light Token - Your opponent's secret element is revealed until the end of the next Play Elements Phase.
- Shadow Token - This column's total Strength and total Defense are swapped.