Mystic Vale FAQ
129 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
General
- Does the base game have a solo mode?
- Are the expansions meant to be mixed with the base game, or played stand-alone?
- Do you need the base game to play an expansion, and do the expansions depend on each other?
- After adding expansion cards, do you still use all level 2 and level 3 advancements?
- When two expansions add leaders, does each player still take only one leader?
Setup
- Are the 20 starting cards sleeved before the first game, and do advancements stay unsleeved?
- Must you use every level 2 and level 3 advancement at setup, or can you leave some out?
- Do 5-point VP tokens count toward the setup number of VP tokens?
- Does the mana token start the game on its active or spent side?
Card Anatomy
Taking a Turn
- Does a growth symbol cancel a decay when deciding whether to keep prepping my field?
- Does a growth symbol on your on-deck card cancel decay again when it moves into your field?
- Can you stop revealing cards during the Prep Phase before three decay symbols show?
- Does drawing cards during the Prep Phase count as a push?
- Does a card with two decay automatically make you spoil during the Prep Phase?
- When does the Prep Phase happen, at the end of your turn or the start of your next?
- Can you choose to push when your on-deck card has two decay, or are you forced to push?
- When you push, is each new card revealed a separate push, and does the push continue until you stop?
- When you push, does a played card's When Played ability resolve before the next on-deck card is revealed?
- If you spoil during the Prep Phase, what happens on your next turn?
- Do the VP symbols on the left side of an advancement score every time the card is played?
- Where do you keep a vale card after buying it, and is it ever discarded or shuffled?
- When you spoil, is your on-deck card discarded with the rest of your field?
- Do the two-advancement and two-vale buy limits share one total in a turn?
- When buying two advancements, must one of them be a Fertile Soil?
- When buying two advancements or two vales, when do you refill the empty slots in the commons?
- Can you buy any Fertile Soil you want, or only the one on top of its stack?
- Can the mana and symbols from one card pay for both a vale and an advancement?
- Can you use the symbols or abilities of an advancement or vale you just bought in the same turn?
- Does a buy-for-free effect count as one of your two advancement purchases?
- Can an advancement's Discard-phase ability be used on the turn you buy it?
- When you flip a leader during Harvest, can you use the flipped side's Discard ability that turn?
- Can you cover a Cursed Land with Fertile Soil or another advancement to remove its decay?
- What happens when your draw deck runs out during the Planting Phase?
- In what order do abilities resolve when several happen at once, such as multiple Harvest abilities?
- If several copies of the same Harvest advancement sit on one card, does each copy pay out?
- Can you buy an advancement during Harvest and score its VP that same turn?
- Can you buy a second copy of a vale card you already own, or two copies in one turn?
- Do the points in the bottom-right corner of a card give you VP tokens during play?
End of the Game
Additional Rules
- How do you use and recharge your mana token?
- Does the mana token become active again each time you spoil?
- Can unused spirit symbols be turned into victory points after buying vales?
- Can you spend your mana token during the Planting Phase to use Silver Tree's discard?
- If Moss Troll and Primal Power are on the same on-deck card and you spoil, what order do you resolve them in?
- Can you look through your own discard pile before deciding whether to push, or to count spoil symbols?
- Do decay symbols that appear during the Harvest Phase cause you to spoil?
Card Clarifications
- If two Grovetenders and a Stag are sleeved on one card, does each Grovetender count only itself or all Grovetenders?
- Can you use several Peacekeeper Druids to avoid spoiling in the same turn?
- After Peacekeeper Druid discards your on-deck card to avoid a spoil, do you flip another on-deck card?
- If an advancement has both Calm Weather and Cleansing Rain on it, which one resolves first?
- If Snapjaw lets you buy the top level 3 advancement for free and the top card is a level 4, can you take it?
- Does Moss Troll stop you from spoiling when it is your on-deck card?
- Can Primal Power give you more than one extra turn in the same round?
- Does Fertile Soil cancel decay on Cursed Lands?
- Does Gaia's Outcast score if you are tied for the most decay, and do two copies double the points?
- Does buying a second Stream of Vigor let you buy a fourth advancement in one turn?
- Does Blooming Arbor's growth make you discard a card?
- When Deadwood Harvester discards a card, do you keep that card's mana?
- If Calm Weather is played from the on-deck position, do you reveal a new on-deck card before resolving its effect?
- What do you do with Cleansing Rain if you choose not to discard the card you found?
- How does Sacrificial Altar work when it is on deck or played?
- Is Taskmaster with two Beastbrother Ambassadors legal for 4 growth?
Mystic Vale: ConclaveExpansion
- Can the Conclave expansion take the game up to 6 players?
- How do you set up Conclave: do you sort every advancement and vale into its Conclave and then choose six?
- With Conclave, do you mix all three copies of each advancement and still choose level 1 cards by player count?
- Does the Conclave expansion include the day/night (Equinox) mode for two players?
- In a 5-player Equinox game, which player gets the day token?
- How many level 1 advancements does Equinox setup need for six players?
- What are the different coloured dividers in the Conclave box for?
- Which expansion introduces the Totems?
- Do decay symbols covered by Cursed Totem still count as canceled at end-game scoring?
Mystic Vale: HarmonyExpansion
- When does the Cursed Mana Crystal amulet's spent-side penalty apply, and does it give +3 mana in the turn you evoke it?
- Does Sanctified Arboretum give you two wild spirits to spend?
- How does Deputy Peacekeeper score for Guardian and Growth symbols when you have 5 of each?
- Does Sad Grumple discard or sleeve advancements, and does he touch vales?
- How does the Sacred Scroll Copse discard-phase ability work?
- If you spoil during Prep, does a later 'cannot spoil' effect undo that spoil?
- When can an on-deck ability, such as Celenia's, be used?
Mystic Vale: Mana StormExpansion
- Which expansion introduces Amulets?
- Are amulets mandatory, or can players use the basic mana token?
- When mixing amulets and standard mana tokens, which side do they start on?
- Can a leader be sleeved on a card that has a Cursed Land, as the Yaquei note suggests?
- Does Medusa Grotto double negative victory points on advancements?
- When does Xanos's upgraded side apply, and when does she flip back?
- Can Old Barkarb sleeve an advancement on the turn he is flipped?
- Does Frostcrown Crest's +2 mana stack with the mana token's output?
- Does Deepriver Crystal Amulet let you reset Xanos back into your deck before the end of Harvest?
Mystic Vale: NemesisExpansion
- In solo Nemesis, what does the hourglass number on the Nemesis track mean?
- Can Nemesis be played without the base game?
- Can Stormbrew Titan's discard ability sleeve an advancement over a Cursed Land?
- Does an eclipse advancement's hidden cost count toward Murkwater Stalker's combined advancement cost of 6 or less?
- Does Fairy Dance's When Played ability let you discard Fairy Dance itself?
- Do rituals pay out once, or every Harvest, and can a ritual be completed by an advancement bought this turn?
- How can Watcher in the Wood or Blighted Dragon claim their VP if they are added during Harvest?
- Can a card that re-enters your field during Harvest use its Harvest ability again that turn?
- Can you use a card's ability and then sacrifice that card in the same turn?
- Does Scout's Ritual accept a purple wild spirit symbol as one of its spirits?
- Does Vale Vanguard's no-reshuffle rule still apply when he is drawn during Prep?
- Where do advancements unsleeved by Gargoyle Summoner go?
Mystic Vale: Twilight GardenExpansion
- How many cards must you choose with Le Que's Harvey ability, and can you pick any single card?
- Does Althena's carried-over card trigger its When Played ability at the start of your next turn?
- Is Twilight Garden an expansion or a replacement for base cards?
- Can a Legendary (two-slot) advancement cover an eclipse advancement?
- Can a double-slot Legendary advancement be sleeved onto Kojen and Khan's bottom slot?
- Does Wayfarer's pass-left ability trigger once when bought, or every time it is discarded?
- If Wayalieh removes Wayfarer from a field, can its owner still pass Wayfarer left at discard?
- Does Althena stay as your first card indefinitely while her condition holds?
- Does Wailing Caverns' four-or-fewer check count the cards flipped during Prep?
Mystic Vale: Vale of MagicExpansion
- Does Hatchery's Discard-phase ability trigger on the turn you buy and sleeve it?
- Does a card's When Played ability trigger again when Hatchery keeps it in the field?
- Does Ley Line Overflow double all your uncollected mana, including mana from When Bought abilities?
- When Earth Cradle gains points for vales, does it count every vale you own or only the one you buy?
Mystic Vale: Vale of the WildExpansion
- Can Cyrilla copy Old Barkarb and take a card from his Workshop?
- How are leaders set up and flipped in Vale of the Wild?
- Can an eclipse advancement be slid under an advancement that is already sleeved on a card?
- Can an eclipse advancement cover another advancement's vertical strip, be covered, or cover another eclipse?
- Does an eclipse advancement make the advancement covering it cheaper?
- Why are some Nymph, Pack Leader and Totem Chief advancements missing from my Vale of the Wild set?
- Does drawing Gingan's decay during setup count as busting on your first turn?
- Do the red and green tree symbols on the upgraded GinGan cancel each other?
- Can the Fertile Soil that Nepeto lets you sleeve during Harvest pay for purchases that same turn?
- Is Nepeto's Harvest ability mandatory?
- When Cyrilla copies a neighbour's ability, does the neighbour still have a field to copy during your turn?
- Can Dione copy an on-deck card while its owner is still in Prep after a spoil?
- Can Deepriver Crystal move a card you use via Dione's on-deck ability into your own deck?