Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game
Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 4 sets of 8 metal tokens (32 total)
- 4 character cards
- 4 player Training tracks
- 4 health dials and 4 matching tracking cubes
- 4 starter decks (10 cards each)
- 82 Market cards
- 36 Lord Ruler challenge cards
- Lord Ruler card and Dominance track card
- 8 Mission cards
- 16 Atium tokens
- 14 Boxing tokens
- Target standee
- Lord Ruler dial and 8 tracking cubes
Assembling the Health Dials
Align the health dials from the back following the letters and attach grommets.
The player health dials only have numbers going from 0 to 4 on dial A, while the Lord Ruler dial has 0 to 6 on dial A.
Setup
- Give each player:
- A — A randomly selected character card.
- B — A Training track and a tracking cube in their color (placing the tracking cube on the first step of the Training track).
- C — A set of 8 metals (placing them on the marked spaces above the Training track).
- D — The 4 starting cards marked for their character, along with 6 "Funding" cards, shuffled together to form a starting deck.
- E — A health dial set to 36 Health.
- If playing with fewer than 4 players, remove the remaining player components, including the extra starting cards and funding cards, from the game.
- Shuffle the Market deck and place it in the center of the table. Reveal the top 6 cards and lay them out in a row. This is the "Market."
- Place all the Boxings and Atium metal tokens near the Market, within reach of all players.
- Shuffle and reveal 3 random Mission cards. Put the rest away. Take three tracking cubes in the color of each player and place one on each of the three Mission cards, on the image on the right side of each card.
- Choose a player to be the first player. Give the second player (counting clockwise from the first player) an additional 2 health, the third player (if playing) an additional 4 health, and the fourth player (if playing) an additional 4 health and one Boxing.
- If playing with more than 2 players, give the Target to the last player (again counting clockwise from the first player).
- Each player should draw 5 cards from their personal decks as their starting hand.
Game Overview & Major Concepts
Deckbuilding
Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is a "deckbuilder," which means you start with a weaker deck and over the course of the game build a stronger deck by buying and eliminating cards. Here are some core deckbuilder rules:
- Each player has a hand of 5 cards, a facedown deck, a faceup discard pile, and cards in play.
- A player can look through their own hand and discard pile at any time, but may not look through their deck.
- Cards can be played on a player's turn, in any order of that player's choosing. They'll be placed visibly into the play area where they'll stay until the end of the turn.
- Whenever a player would gain a card, unless stated otherwise, it goes into their face-up discard pile immediately.
- At the end of a player's turn, all cards in play (except for Allies) are moved to the discard pile, as well as any unplayed cards in the player's hand.
- To finish their turn, a player draws 5 new cards from their deck.
- If at any point a player needs to draw cards and there are no cards in the deck — whether during their turn or when drawing a new hand — the player shuffles their discard pile to form a new deck.
- If a card is eliminated, it is taken away and put into an "eliminated" pile shared by all players. Anyone may look through the eliminated pile.
Strategy Note: A player's deck is always growing and changing, and winning usually means making the best deck. What determines the best deck, though, can be affected by what strategy the player is going for. They could make a "lean" 5 card deck that they can play in whole every turn, or they could make a very diverse deck that keeps their opponents guessing. A powerful deck could focus on one metal in order to activate powerful cards, or include a variety of metals that fill every niche they need. It could be combat based, or focus on Mission points, or balance the two, or focus on Atium. There are many ways to win, and your strategy should depend on your character and what's available in the market.
Starting Deck
Each player starts with 4 Training cards and 6 funding cards in their deck. The 4 Training cards will be different for different players, but each player will have one card from each metal pairing, and the same 4 effects will be present in each deck. The funding cards are used to buy new cards from the market.
Each character has 4 starting "Training" cards, marked with their name in the bottom left corner of the card.
Metals
The fuel that powers a Mistborn's allomancy is the metal they swallow and Burn, and that is represented in Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game by the 8 different metal tokens each player has. The metals can be used in a variety of ways.
Burning
To activate most Action card abilities in the game, a metal must be "Burned." At the start of the game, you'll only be able to Burn 1 metal token per turn, but moving up along the Training track, as well as playing certain cards and completing specific Missions, will allow you to Burn more.
You can see how many metal tokens you can Burn by counting the amount of the Burn icons you have gained on your Training track.
To Burn a metal token, remove it from its space on the Training track and place it on the card that you want to power with it. At the end of the turn, put it back on the Training track. You can only power cards by using the metal they call for (explained under Anatomy of an Action Card).
You can also use Action cards as metals to power other cards. To do so, play a card sideways so the metal vial on the right is showing underneath another card that calls for one of those 2 matching metals. Using cards in this way does not count as one of your limited metal tokens you can Burn each turn, which is helpful for allowing you to play more cards. There is no limit on the number of cards that can be used as metals each turn.
Example: Iron Training is being Burned to provide Steel, since it can be used as either Iron or Steel. The Steel metal token is also being Burned to unlock Soar's powerful second ability as well.
Strategy Tip: A metal token or card can be Burned for no direct effect; just place them in an empty space in play. This can be helpful for things like Savant abilities and Ally effects.
Metals Continued
Flaring
You can only Burn as many metals as you have Burn icons. If you want to use more metal tokens above this limit, you must Flare them. To Flare a metal, take an unflared metal token that hasn't been used this turn and flip it over, placing it on the card you want to power, or empty space if you're Flaring it for no direct effect. The metal acts like a regular metal you are Burning but, at the end of the turn when you return it to your Training track, you keep it flipped over. You may not use that metal token again — for Burning or Flaring — until you refresh that token.
Flare a metal by turning it over to its darker bordered side. Flared metals may not be used again until they are refreshed.
Flaring counts as Burning a metal for all effects that check if a metal is being Burnt. You can Flare as many metals you wish each turn.
Refreshing
To refresh a Flared metal you may discard a card from your hand. If you do, you must turn over one metal token matching one of the metals shown on the bottom right of the card in the vial. Refreshing a metal does not count as Burning that metal for the purpose of activating allies, character abilities, or Savant abilities.
There are also certain cards and Mission abilities that will allow you to refresh any Flared metal, represented by the Refresh symbol.
You may refresh a metal you Flared this turn. When you refresh a metal, you may use it that turn if you haven't already used it, whether through regular Burning or by Flaring it again, but you can only use each metal once per turn. You cannot Flare a metal, refresh it, and then use it again.
Example: A Tin Training is being discarded to refresh the Flared Pewter, since they're both part of the same metal pairing.
Atium
The game's most powerful metal, Atium, is not available at the start of the game. You can gain Atium from the Training track and certain Missions. You can use those tokens to power Atium cards, or as a "wild" token in place of any other metal. If Atium is used to power a non-Atium card, such as a Pewter card, it is considered both an Atium and a Pewter for Ally and character ability purposes.
At the end of a turn after using an Atium, return it to the Atium supply. Each Atium token is single use only.
An Atium token cannot be Flared; you must have enough metal token Burns remaining in order to use it.
Atium cards can be used to power any card or refresh any metal token, if turned sideways or discarded, respectively. Atium tokens are not a limited resource. If they run out, use a placeholder to represent more Atium tokens.
Example: This player is using Atium to activate the top ability of Survive. That Atium will also count as a Pewter for the purposes of activating the Soldier's power.
Metals and Their Effects
Tin
Tin cards focus on Mission Points and Coins, often providing different effects depending on your placement on the different Mission Tracks.
- Sense: Sense stops other players from advancing on the Mission Track, and affects the whole turn. For example, if a player has 2 Mission Points and a Sense 3 is played on them, and then they gain 2 more Mission Points the same turn, they would only advance once, resolving the effects of the Sense 3.
Pewter
Pewter cards provide Combat and Healing.
- Defender: Both Pewter allies are Defenders, which means that damage cannot target you nor your non-Defender allies while the Defenders are out.
Bronze
Bronze cards give you Mission Points and allow you to use abilities in the market.
- Seek: Seek allows you to use the top effect of any Action card — not Ally — in the market up to the listed cost.
Copper
Copper cards provide a variety of effects, with several Healing focused cards, along with cards that can block damage.
- Cloud: Cloud either prevents damage to a player or their allies, depending on the card. If it reduces incoming damage to a player, the player takes less damage. If they have the target and this reduces the damage to 0, they cannot pass along the target. If Cloud protects allies, those allies are safe from dying, but they can be attacked again immediately if the opponent has enough combat.
Zinc
Zinc cards primarily provide Coins, along with a way to use Allies without Burning metals.
- Riot: Riot allows you to activate any Ally's top effect, if it hasn't been used yet, without having to burn any metals. You may not activate that effect again this turn, even by Burning a metal.
Brass
Brass cards provide Mission Points and Coins, as well as the ability to eliminate cards.
- Soothe: Soothe allows you to eliminate any of your cards from your hand, discard pile, or in play. If you eliminate a card in play, you still receive its effects this turn.
Iron
Iron cards are Combat focused, and allow you to prepare for future turns.
- Pull: Pull allows you to move cards from your discard pile to the top of your deck. Remember that when cards are bought, they go immediately to the Discard Pile, and cards can be discarded from your hand at any time, allowing them to be affected by Pull, but cards in play are only discarded at the end of your turn.
Steel
Steel cards provide Combat, Coins, and ways to affect the Market, and even ways to gain cards from the Eliminated Pile.
- Push: Push allows you to eliminate any card from the market. Replace eliminated cards immediately.
Atium
Atium cards provide powerful Mission Points and Combat Points, but need the valuable Atium to play. Atium Action cards can also be used to power any other card, or to refresh any Flared metal when discarded.
Cards
There are 2 kinds of cards in the Market deck: Actions and Allies. Action cards are always vertical, and Ally cards are always horizontal.
Anatomy of an Action Card
Action cards have the following features:
- The Name of the card.
- The cost of the card when acquiring it from the Market.
- The metal needed to activate the primary ability. This can be a metal token Burned, or a card used as a metal.
- The effect gained when the metal is activated. Card abilities activate as soon as you Burn the metal to activate them. Note that this ability activates only once, no matter how many times Iron is Burned on your turn.
- Some cards have additional abilities that can be unlocked when additional metals are Burned, in this case a second Iron. Remember that you only have one of each metal token, so you'll need to use Atium or cards as metals to unlock these powerful abilities. The top ability must be activated first — you can't skip to the second.
- Some cards have more than one metal token here, like a card which requires 2 additional Iron Burned to unlock the ability. Placing only a 2nd one won't unlock any effect.
- The secondary ability unlocked by additional metals Burned.
- The metal pairing this card is from. This card can be used to power cards that require one of these two metals (in this case Steel and Iron), or be discarded to refresh a Flared metal token from this pairing.
- Some cards have Savant abilities that only trigger when the card is used as a metal, instead of as an Action. Such a card gains 2 combat when it's used as a metal, but not if it's discarded to refresh a card or if it's used for its main abilities.
- Some cards have an effect that can be played off-turn (always indicated with a vertically oriented ability name bar). To use one of these effects, discard the card at the relevant time. No metal needs to be Burned, but the card is instantly discarded and can't be used for any other purpose.
Strategy Tip: Cards with the Soothe ability and certain Missions allow you to eliminate cards from play. This can be a powerful ability as it allows you to remove less powerful cards from your deck, increasing the likelihood of drawing a more powerful card. When eliminating cards, you may choose a card from your hand, your discard pile, or even from cards you've played and already activated this turn. Cards eliminated this way should be placed in a separate pile near the market that will include cards eliminated from the market using the Push power, or the Level II power on all character cards.
Cards Continued
Ally Cards
Ally cards work differently from Action cards. They're horizontal, and when they're played they go above your character card, where they'll stay until they are defeated by another player, after which they'll be moved to their player's discard pile. Thus, you can get their benefit every turn they remain alive. They can't be used as a metal or to refresh cards, and aren't powered directly by metals as Action cards are.
Anatomy of an Ally Card
Ally cards have the following features:
- The name of the Ally.
- The cost of the Ally while in the Market.
- The Defense of the Ally.
- The metal associated with the Ally (if any). If you are Burning this metal anywhere, whether through a token or a card, you gain this effect. You only gain this ability once, no matter how many times you Burn the specified metal. For example, for this Pickpocket, if you were Burning an Iron to power the Crash from earlier, you would also get 1 coin.
- Some allies have an effect if an additional metal is Burned. For the Pickpocket, this second effect would only occur as well if you are Burning at least 2 Iron.
- Some Ally cards have ongoing effects that don't require a metal to be Burned. Those effects are always active.
Funding
Funding cards only exist in your starting deck. Funding cards give 1 coin that can be used to buy cards and Boxings from the market, and don't have metal costs, or associated metals.
Boxing tokens may be bought during your turn for 2 coins. You may then discard the Boxing to gain 1 coin later on.
Strategy Tip: Don't forget you can always Burn metals or use cards as metals without directly powering a card. This can be used to power Allies.
Characters & Training Track
Each player has a character card and a Training track that will improve throughout the game.
Training Track
Every player, at the beginning of each of their turns, moves their tracker cube one space up the Training track. This will unlock new abilities as they play. They may also move up whenever a card or Mission effect has the Train symbol.
If you unlock an ability during your turn by moving up the Training Track, you unlock that ability instantly.
There are four types of rewards unlocked by the Training track:
- Burn an extra metal. Each time you reach one of these points, you're permanently able to Burn an additional metal token each turn. By the time you reach the end of the track, you'll be able to Burn 4 metal tokens each turn.
- Unlock a character ability. Reaching one of these points permanently unlocks one of your character abilities.
- Atium. Gain an Atium token. These are single use metals.
- Continuous Atium. Once you reach this point at the end of the track, each time you'd go up on the Mission Track (including at the start of every turn), you gain an additional Atium token.
Example: The purple player begins their turn by moving up one spot on their Training track. They receive an Atium token immediately. At this stage of the game, they can Burn three metals at a time, and have unlocked the first and second powers on their character card.
Character Card
Your character card provides special abilities that you will unlock as you move up the Training track.
- The name of the character.
- The abilities that are unlocked by moving up the Training track. These abilities don't do anything until they're unlocked, and once they're unlocked, they can be used every turn.
- The signature metal: Each character has a signature metal that gives them an effect. Like an Ally effect, whenever you Burn this metal (Pewter in Vin's case), gain the effect. As elsewhere, character abilities will only activate once, no matter how many times you Burn the indicated metal.
- The Second Ability: Every character has the same ability here. After unlocking this effect, once per turn a player may immediately eliminate an Action card when they buy it from the market. When they do, they complete that card's top effect without Burning any metal.
- Atium Effect: Every character has the same ability here. After unlocking this effect, whenever a character Burns Atium for any reason (as an Atium or as a different metal), they gain this effect.
For Example: Player health is tracked on a health dial. Players start the game with between 36 and 40 health, and may never have more than 40 health. Damage assigned from other players reduces your health, while Heal, typically played on yourself, increases it. Once a player's health is reduced to zero, they are out of the game.
Missions
Each game is played with 3 out of 8 available Missions. One of the 3 ways to win the game is to reach the top of every Mission track first. Players can move up the Mission track whenever an effect gives them Mission points. If they gain multiple Mission points in one turn, they can spend all their points on one track, or split them up between several.
A Mission card has several features:
- The name of the Mission.
- The starting area where the tracking cubes are placed at the beginning of the game. This is not considered on the track. If a player moves up 1 Mission point on a track from here, they move to the lowest step on the track.
- The track that the cubes travel up. It takes 12 Mission points to reach the top.
- The Mid-Track Rewards: Each Mission card has different rewards along the track, including different spacing. Some have more, some have less. Whenever a player reaches this point on the track, they gain that effect immediately. These rewards will always be one time effects.
- The Mid-Track First Player Rewards: Every Mission Track reward has an extra reward or rewards only available to the first person to reach those points on the track.
- The placement spots. Whenever a player reaches the top of the track, place them in the first available open space from left to right, to record the order finished in.
- The Top First-Player Reward: The first player to reach the top receives an extra reward. This reward is always One-Time, even if the top reward is Permanent.
- The Top Reward: Whenever a player reaches the top of this Mission track, they receive this reward. This can be either One-Time (as shown here) or Permanent.
Strategy Tip: Some cards measure if a player is the highest or lowest on a Mission track. Cubes that are on the image portion of the card aren't considered on the Mission track, so if a cube is the only cube actually on the track, it is automatically the highest cube — but not the lowest. Likewise, when 3 or more cubes are on the track, ties at the top and bottom of the track count for being highest and lowest on the track, respectively. The first player to finish a Mission track is permanently the highest on that track.
Strategy Tip: You can move up a Mission track at any point on your turn, which may give you the resources you need to do something else.
Combat
Another way to win the game is to be the last character alive. Each player has a health pool of 36 (or more) points. If a player's health reaches 0, they are removed from the game. Their cards remain in their deck and discard pile, and their cubes remain on the Mission tracks.
Many effects give a player damage points, represented by Combat. A player can only use their damage at the end of their turn, and may split it between Allies and players.
Each Ally has a health total reflected in their Defense value and can be killed by other players. Allies cannot take partial damage. To kill them, they must take damage equal to or greater than their Defense value in one attack. If an Ally is killed, it is moved to its owner's discard pile immediately. Certain allies have the off-turn ability Defender, which prevents other players from targeting their characters. Those allies must be killed before any damage can target the player or their non-Defender allies. If the attacker doesn't have enough damage to kill the Defender ally, they cannot use their damage.
Attacking other players works slightly differently in 2 player games and 3-4 player games.
2 Player Game
In a 2-player game, at the end of your turn you may — but do not have to — direct all your combat at your opponent and their allies. If that brings your opponent to, or past, 0 health, they are eliminated from the game and you win.
3-4 Player Game
In 3-4 player games, there is an added mechanic called the "Target." The last player from the first player (counting clockwise) starts with the Target. At the end of your turn, after attacking any allies (you may target anyone's allies during this phase), you must direct your damage points at whoever holds the Target. After a player with the Target takes any amount of damage to their health total from another player, they may pass the Target to another player. Target passing only happens after all damage has already been used for that turn.
Strategy Tip: Certain Tin cards have a Sense ability that lets a player slow down another player's progress. Since a player can win the whole game by reaching the top on all 3 tracks, those cards can prove a helpful deterrent. Another deterrent if someone is beating you with Mission Points? Kill them.
Strategy Tip: You do not actually have to attack whoever holds the Target. You may choose not to use your damage points if you'd prefer, which can prevent the Target from moving, if you're worried it will find its way to you next or you think the next player can deal more damage.
Strategy Tip: Dealing damage to all other players is powerful, but don't forget, the longer you hold the Target, the more you'll be attacked. Only hold onto the Target when you have a high damage turn coming up!
Combat Continued
Allies are not affected by the Target. You can kill any Allies on your turn, regardless of who has the Target.
If you have the Target on your turn, after attacking allies, your damage points deal their full damage to every other player at the end of your turn. If one of your opponents has a Defender Ally, the damage you would deal to that player is dealt to their Defender Allies first. If a Player would play a Cloud off-turn ability for defense, that would only reduce the damage directed at them, and not at anybody else.
If a player with the Target is eliminated, the attacking player can move the Target to any other player, and any remaining damage points are dealt to that player. If a player elimination would lead to only 2 players left, the Target is removed from the game.
Strategy Tip: Some cards with the Cloud ability have an off-turn ability to protect allies from being eliminated. If that card is used, the damage that would be used against the Ally is wasted, but that Ally can be attacked again this turn if the attacker has enough damage points left.
Regaining Health
Some effects allow you to regain Health using the Heal symbol. When you do, set your dial higher by that amount. A character can never have more than 40 health.
Market
Market cards can be purchased and immediately added to your discard pile. When buying cards, count all coins on your played funding cards, activated Action effects, Savant abilities, Allies, character card, Missions, and spent Boxings to determine how much you have to spend.
At any point during your turn, you may buy a card in the Market, as long as you can afford it. Deduct your remaining coins by that amount. After you buy a card, immediately replace it with the top card of the Market deck. You may buy any number of cards.
Coins do not all need to be spent, but do not carry over to future turns.
Boxings
Boxings are a resource available near the Market. They can be purchased for 2 coins, and can, at any future point, be sent back to their supply to gain 1 coin. Boxings never expire. Boxings are an unlimited resource; if you run out, just use a placeholder token to represent more Boxings.
For Example: The player has 6 coins to spend from all the cards they played this turn. They choose to buy two cards for a combined cost of 4 and spend their last 2 coins on a Boxing.
Wrapping Up
Turn Structure
A Player's turn follows the structure of:
- Move one space right on the Training track.
- In any order, any number of times:
- A — Play cards from hand.
- B — Burn or Flare metals on cards.
- C — Use a card as a metal.
- D — Discard a card to refresh a Flared metal.
- E — Activate Ally and character abilities.
- F — Move up on Mission Tracks.
- G — Buy cards and Boxings from the Market.
- Attack Allies.
- Attack players (reducing player's health).
- A — The Target may be moved after this step if the Target holder took damage.
- Discard any cards in play (besides Allies) and any remaining cards in hand.
- Draw 5 new cards from their deck.
End of Game
The game can end in one of three ways:
- If a player reaches the top of all three Mission tracks, they instantly win.
- If a player is the last remaining player, with all others eliminated, they win.
- If a player plays 4 Atium on the card Confrontation, they win.
Card Icons
- Train — Advance to the right on your Training track.
- Combat — Deal damage to an opponent or their Ally.
- Mission — Move up any Mission track.
- Heal — Restore your character's health.
- Coin — Gain coins to use for purchasing cards and Boxings.
- Burn an Extra Metal.
- Draw — Draw a card from your deck.
- Refresh a Metal — Flip over a Flared metal.
- Eliminate a Card.
- Dominance Up — Advance the Lord Ruler's Dominance card one row.
- Player Count Indicator.
- Slash between icons — Choose one of the icons, not both or all.
Solo & Co-op
Mistborn can also be played as a team, working together to defeat the Lord Ruler, or as a single Mistborn in solo mode, going at it alone against the Final Empire.
Setup
Complete setup like normal, but leave the Target Standee in the box. It is not used in Solo or Co-op. Do not give starting bonuses to any players.
Place the Lord Ruler's Dominance track card within easy view of all players. Place the Lord Ruler card on top of it, so only the title bar of the Dominance track is visible. On the Lord Ruler's unique health dial, set his health to 48. Place his deck of 36 cards near his Dominance card and health dial.
Dominance
The Lord Ruler's Dominance track measures both his power and his focus on the players. He begins the game with just 1 Dominance. As the game goes on, he becomes more and more focused on destroying the players. Edicts push his Dominance higher, to a maximum of 6. Not every move on the Dominance track will increase his Dominance. Some movements on that track just activate one time attacks on the players.
The X on Edicts and Adversary cards represents a variable number determined by the Dominance card. Whenever you see this symbol, it references the highest number shown on the right side of the Dominance track. Dominance is not cumulative. Ignore earlier Dominance values and only use the highest one showing.
Gameplay and Turn Order
In Co-op mode, all players work together. They do not attack each other or each other's allies, and can even use effects like Cloud to protect each other. Their goal is to destroy the Lord Ruler, but he has some tricks of his own.
Starting with a randomly determined first player, players will take turns where they play cards, purchase cards from the market, and attack the Lord Ruler or his allies. Each player's turn plays very similarly to how it does in competitive play, but you are never allowed to attack your fellow players.
After each player's turn (after they've drawn their new hand), they draw and play the top card of the Lord Ruler's deck, which will contain one of two kinds of cards:
Adversaries
Adversaries are the Lord Ruler's minions and underlings. If you draw an Adversary at the end of your turn, place that card in front of you. Adversaries will stay on the table until they are dispatched with effects or damage. Each adversary has several pieces of important information on it:
- A — The Adversary's name.
- B — The Effect: That Adversary will have either a permanent negative effect or one that happens at the end of every turn (before drawing cards) of the player they are in front of.
- C — The Shields: Each Adversary has from 1-3 shields. All of an Adversary's shields must be destroyed before it is dispatched. To destroy a shield, a player must deliver damage equal to or greater than the amount listed on the shield. Note that an "X" means that you must deliver damage to the shield equal to the Lord Ruler's current Dominance value. Whenever a shield is destroyed, place a black cube on that shield. Shields may be attacked separately, but must be destroyed from left to right. If you have enough damage to assign, you may destroy more than one of an adversary's shields in the same turn. Once the last shield is destroyed, the ally is moved to the Lord Ruler's discard pile. Adversaries can be attacked by any player, even ones they're not in front of. Effects that allow a player to kill an Ally — like Assassinate — can remove one shield on any Adversary.
For Example: The Vin player completes their turn and draws a card from the Lord Ruler's Deck. Oh no! It's an Inquisitor. They place the Inquisitor in their play space and — starting next turn — will suffer its effect until it is slain.
Edicts
Edicts represent the Lord Ruler's will. Whenever a player draws an Edict, they complete the effects on the card in order, and then discard it. Each Edict has 4 potential effects. If a player dies before completing all the effects, finish the effects before moving on to the next player.
- A — Dominance Up: Each Edict moves the Lord Ruler's Dominance up 1-2 times. Sometimes you'll only move the Dominance up if there's fewer than 4 players. To move Dominance up, slide the Lord Ruler card one space down on his Dominance card, revealing and completing the revealed effect immediately. Repeat as necessary. (At one point, you'll need to flip the Dominance card. When that happens, flip the card, then place the Lord Ruler's card under the first effect on the other side.)
- B — Additional Effect: Some Edicts have an additional (usually negative) effect. Complete them as the card describes.
- C — Lord Ruler Healing: For each Mission that is not completed by the Players, the Lord Ruler heals 10 Life points (to a max of 48). For a Mission to be completed, only one player needs to have reached the top reward. It's very hard to kill the Lord Ruler before most — if not all — of the Missions are completed!
- D — Market Clearing: The Lord Ruler eliminates two cards in the market, marked by the illustration on the bottom of his card. Instantly replace these with cards from the top of the Market deck.
If a player is eliminated due to damage from the Lord Ruler or an Adversary, that player is out of the game. Keep playing, skipping that player's turn and not drawing any Lord Ruler cards for them. The player count is considered whatever the new number of players is, for any cards that reference that.
End of Game (Solo & Co-op)
The solo/co-op game ends in one of four ways:
- The Lord Ruler's deck runs out of cards, in which case the Players have run out of time and failed.
- The players are all eliminated due to damage, in which case the Lord Ruler has triumphed over the upstart rebels and the players have failed.
- The Lord Ruler reaches 0 health, in which case the Rebels triumph and the Final Empire is destroyed.
- A player plays 4 Atium on Confrontation, in which case the players beat the Lord Ruler in a glorious confrontation.
Note: The game does not end if a player reaches the top of every Mission track. However, completing the Mission tracks does have implications for the Lord Ruler's healing due to Edicts.
Solo & Co-op FAQ
What do Sense abilities do in Solo/Co-op games? Sense abilities have no effect on the Lord Ruler.
If I'm playing Solo, am I always the Highest and Lowest on every Mission track? Do I get first player rewards on the track? In solo mode, a player is only the lowest on a track if they have started on the track but have not reached the track's first reward. They're the highest on the track if they've received the highest reward on the track before the final reward. Solo players get first player reward for every reward on the Mission tracks.
What does Collective mean on the Lord Ruler's Edict cards? Collective means shared between all the players. If three players must take 10 Collective damage, one player could take all of it, or they could split it up between themselves however they wish. If there is one player, they must take all the damage.
Credits
Design: John D Clair. Development Lead: Hayden Dillard. Art Direction: Johnny O'Neal and Katie Payne. Graphic Design: Stephanie Gustafsson.
Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game — 1st Edition; 1st Printing. Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game is © 2024 by Brotherwise Games, LLC. Based on The Mistborn Saga novels by Brandon Sanderson, copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC and used with the express permission of Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC. Published in 2024 by Brotherwise Games, LLC.