Shards of Infinity FAQ
233 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
SetupExpansion
- Can you add Ally and Champion cards from expansions when playing solo?
- Can Shadow of Salvation be played solo?
- What is Rez's 11th card in solo mode?
- Can you play Relics of the Future solo mode with only the base game?
- Can the player use Relics in Nemesis solo mode?
- Which cards does Shadow of Salvation add to the center deck?
- Can Into the Horizon be added to a base game only?
- Does the center deck get shuffled as one pile during setup?
- What are the grey-bordered Saved Ally cards, and should they be in a standard game?
- How many copies of a promo card can I add to my deck?
- Does the Health Auction replace the second player's +1 Mastery?
- Can I use all Shadow of Salvation cards when playing Relics of the Future?
GameplayExpansion
- Do players take their phases one after another or at the same time?
- Must you destroy Champions before attacking the opposing player?
- Can I attack a player directly if they control a Champion?
- Can a player's health go above 50?
- Once you attack a player, does your turn end?
- How does the Nemesis assign its power when it cannot defeat you?
- Does the Nemesis use the Mastery-threshold effects printed on its cards?
- Does the Nemesis's card play apply copy effects, or can you ignore them?
- Can Armageddon's damage to players be prevented by Champions?
- In what order can you take actions in the Play Phase, and can you repeat them?
- What happens when a draw effect runs with both the draw pile and the discard pile empty?
- In Shadow of Salvation co-op, do players draw and resolve Fate cards one at a time?
- When a saved card's Upgrade replaces a starting item, what happens to the replaced card?
- Can a Boss's Mastery go above 30?
- If a Boss loses Mastery and later regains it, does its one-time Mastery threshold trigger again?
- How do you know when Dominatus returns to normal mode?
- Does Vox's Shard Mines 50 damage override the Twin Traps 'Vox deals 10 instead' text?
- In a Vox Omega boss turn, do traps detonate before or after Fate cards are drawn?
- How much damage does Planar Instability deal when several Rifts are in play?
- If Moc Sai gives a player two Fate cards, how are they resolved?
- If your damage destroys a Shadow Champion with damage left over, can the rest go to the Boss?
- On a campaign Boss turn, does every player draw a Fate card?
- Do you gain Mastery when a Shadow Champion in front of you is destroyed?
- Does a card you played this turn count as discarded for cards that refer to discarded cards?
- When a card copies another card's effect, does the copy include that card's Mastery Threshold bonus?
- Are attacks on Champions resolved one at a time, and can leftover damage go to another target?
- Does Zetta's protection stop other Champions from being destroyed by non-attack effects?
- Can you destroy one of your own Champions, for example to return it to your hand with Korvus Legionnaire?
- When do you shuffle your discard pile back into your deck?
- Can you buy any Mercenary, Ally or Champion, or only cards that match your faction?
- What happens when the center deck runs out of cards?
- If an effect returns a card from your discard pile to your hand, can you play it that turn, and is there a hand size limit?
- Can you spend Gems or Power from your pool before playing a card so that it meets its Mastery bonus or Dominion requirement?
- Does the Nemesis's center row refill during its turn, so it can play newly arrived cards?
- In Relics solo mode, which center row cards are played when a card is revealed?
- When does the Nemesis start using Unify, Echo, Inspire and Domination effects?
Card TypesExpansion
- If a card draws a card and also has Unify or Dominion, can the drawn card count toward it?
- If Shardwood Guardian draws an Undergrowth Ally, does its Unify trigger?
- How does Unify's reveal option work on an Undergrowth Ally?
- If you play two Le'Shai Knights, do both Unify effects trigger?
- How does a Champion's 'this turn' Unify text work, for example Additri, Gaiamancer?
- What do the Unify and Dominion keywords mean?
- Can you fast-play a Mercenary or buy a card while resolving another card's Dominion effect?
- Does Warp 5 mean a value of exactly 5, or any value 5 or below?
- What does the Synthesis Destiny card's 15 Mastery mean: do you gain 15 Mastery?
- Does one Querry Monk count as Homodeus, Wraethe and Undergrowth for Giga Source Adept?
- Must you destroy Zetta, The Encryptor before attacking other Champions or the player?
- Once Zetta is destroyed, can leftover damage go to its controller or other Champions?
- How can you destroy Li Hin, The Shattered, when she cannot be attacked with Power?
- When Taur, Arachpriest copies an Undergrowth Ally, does the copy get that card's Unify effect?
- Can copy effects copy Item cards such as Shard Reactor, Blaster, or Shard?
- Does the Shard Defiant destiny card's recruit cost the revealed card's own price too?
- Does damage left after a shield count as unblocked for Blood for Blood?
- With Project Yggdrasil in play, do Wraethe and Undergrowth cards count as each other for faction checks?
- Does Entropic Talons give Power for health gained earlier in the same turn?
- Does Entropic Talons still give Power once your health is already at 50?
- Does Entropic Talons give Power equal to your current health, or to the health you gain?
- Can Numeri Drones' put-into-play effect carry over to a later turn?
- Must you be able to fulfil Numeri Drones' Homodeus Champion effect before you exhaust it for the Gem?
- If Numeri Drones puts a Homodeus Champion straight into play, does its 'When you play this champion, draw a card' trigger?
- When a Rift is in play, does Moc Sai still gain its Mastery if you discard the Rift by paying its cost?
- When can players pay to discard a Rift in a Moc Sai game?
- When does an Ingeminex attack, and does it keep attacking every turn?
- Does the Corruption reward require 10 Mastery?
- When Corruption Ingeminex lets you recruit an additional relic, may you take any relic left in the game?
- In Relic Draft play, does Slipstream Shard's extra turn go to Rez's player?
- Does Fao Cu'tul, The Formless double all players' damage or only its owner's damage?
- Do 'each' card-count effects include the card itself, such as Ferrata Guard's each Homodeus Champion?
- Do two Ferrata Guards' extra health bonuses stack?
- Are Champions a type of Ally?
- Can Ojas, the Genesis Druid copy the effect of a fast-played Mercenary?
- Does a fast-played Mercenary count as played for Unify and Dominion?
- Does Phasic Technology's +2 Shield apply to Homodeus and Order cards that have no printed Shield?
- Does Phasic Technology's shield bonus protect your Champions or add health to them?
- Does Scion of Nothingness's Echo count Wraethe cards in your draw pile, and does it recalculate later?
- Can Umbral Scourge banish one card from your hand and another from your discard pile?
- Can Ojas, Genesis Druid copy a Champion you played this turn?
- What does Portal Monk's 15 Mastery bonus let you do?
- Does Venator of the Waste's Inspire need one Champion in play or more than one?
- Does Rue Bo Vai's Mastery ability that ignores shields apply to one card or to the whole turn?
- Does General Decurion's copy effect trigger each time you exhaust it?
- Does General Decurion copy Homodeus Allies played after it, and does Unify look at later cards?
- Where do fast-played Mercenary cards go after they are used?
- If Cache Warden's Mastery gain reaches 10, do you also draw from its threshold bonus?
- How does Unify decide whether it triggers when you play an Undergrowth Ally?
- Does one Undergrowth Ally's played status trigger Unify on several other cards in the same turn?
- Does Le'Shai Knight's Unify bonus grow with more Undergrowth cards played or revealed?
- Does Ojas, Genesis Druid copy the Unify bonus of the card it copies?
- Does Zetta, The Encryptor's protection stop attacks on Zetta herself?
- Does Taur, Arachpriest's copy of an Undergrowth Ally count as playing an Ally for Additri, Gaiamancer?
- Can Taur, Arachpriest copy the effect of an Undergrowth relic?
- Is Praetorian-01 an Ally or a Champion?
- Can you use Focus more than once a turn by paying more Gems?
- If you buy a Mercenary and do not play it right away, where does it go?
- Do you discard a Shield card after using it, or can you keep it for later turns?
- Why do some Champions say 'When you play this, draw a card' while Allies say 'Draw a card'?
- Can you fast-play a Mercenary from the center row with Breaker's Warp ability?
- Does Cobalt Chaplain's Ambush destroy enemy Champions every time he attacks?
- In competitive play, does Cobalt Chaplain's attack also hit you?
- Does fast-playing a card count as recruiting it for Anomaly Cleric's 'next card you recruit goes into your hand' effect?
- Does a copy of Cinder Scars get its own 3-power bonus?
- Can Warpquartz Rez's banish effect be used if you reach 20 Mastery only with its own 3 Crystals?
- Can Warpquartz Rez's banish effect banish Crystals from your hand or discard pile?
- If two Dispossessed cards are in your discard pile and you play a Wraethe card, are both returned to your hand?
- Do Relics count as faction cards for Echo and Homodeus Champion abilities?
Game Actions
- Can you recruit a card you fast-played with Swyft without paying its cost a second time?
- Can Portal Monk recruit Axia when Homodeus lowers her cost?
- When a card says to discard, can you discard cards in play?
- Can you spend a card's Gems and then banish that same card from your hand or discard pile in the same turn?
- If an Echo effect comes first on a card and you then have to reshuffle to draw, does the Echo still apply?
- Do Mastery Threshold effects on Champions trigger every turn while the Champion is in play?
- Can General Decurion copy Homodeus Allies that were already played this turn as well as ones played later?
- Can you spend Gems gained partway through a card's effect to acquire a card before that effect finishes?
- Is drawing a card from a card's effect mandatory?
- Can effects that return cards from your discard pile use a card you recruited this turn?
- Do you have to destroy the opponent's Champions before attacking the player?
- Once you start assigning Power to the opponent, can you go back and attack their Champions?
- Can you damage the opponent player and then keep playing cards this turn?
- Can the same Shield card prevent damage from several attacks in one turn, or from attacks on later turns?
- Can Shield cards be used to prevent damage dealt to your Champions?
- Does a Champion's printed Shield value protect that Champion from damage?
- Do cards drawn by a card's own effect count toward its Dominion requirement?
- If you play several cards with Unify in one turn, do they all trigger?
- Do Champions count as a played card for effects that need a card played or in hand, such as Omnius?
- Does an Infinity Shard at 30 Mastery win even with several players in the game?
- Does damage absorbed by a Shield count as dealt damage for cards that check for 10 or more damage dealt?
- Does a card's Mastery Threshold Bonus replace or add to its base effect?
- If a card's own Mastery gain takes you past a threshold, does the card's threshold bonus trigger?
- Can I use a card's Exhaust ability more than once in a turn?
- When do exhausted cards become ready to exhaust again?
- Must a Dominion effect's faction requirement be met when the card is played, or can it be met later in the turn?
- If a card tells me to draw Portal Monk, can I play it right away?
- Do non-Champion cards have Exhaust effects?
- Do Mastery Threshold bonuses printed below an Exhaust ability apply when the card is exhausted?
Glossary
- Does a Dominion effect count Champions that were already in play from earlier turns?
- Does a Homodeus Champion put directly into play by another Champion count toward Dominion?
- Does a repeated or copied card effect trigger its Unify again?
- Can Unify trigger from an Undergrowth Ally revealed on an opponent's turn?
- Is '+1 Gem' the same as 'Gain 1 Gem' on cards?
General
- Can cards from Into the Horizon and Shadow of Salvation be used with the base game and Relics of the Future?
- Do you need Relics of the Future to play the solo Nemesis mode?
- When a card has a same-type 'instead' bonus, like Damage 4 and then Damage 8, do both apply?
- Does the base game have special multiplayer rules?
Shards of Infinity: Into the HorizonExpansion
- Can Into the Horizon be played without the base game?
- Can Into the Horizon cards be added to the base game and earlier expansions, including solo and co-op play?
- If you play two Cinder Scars, does the first copy's gain-3-Attack part trigger when the second is played?
- Does Phasic Technology's +2 Shield apply to every Homodeus and Order card, or only to those that already show a shield?
- When Legion Carrier reveals the top 3 cards, do the non-Champion cards go to the discard pile?
- When Ingeminex makes each player discard two cards, does each player choose which cards to discard?
- When an Ingeminex is drawn and not defeated, when do the discards happen?
- How does The Dispossessed return from your discard pile to your hand?
- When does an Ingeminex attack, and does it attack more than once?
- How are Destiny cards set up, and when can you take one?
Shards of Infinity: Relics of the FutureExpansion
- Can Relics of the Future be played without the base game?
- If you play a Champion that says to draw a card while Praetorian-01 is in your discard pile, does Praetorian-01 return to your hand first?
- Does Praetorian-01's return effect trigger if you play a Champion on the turn you play Praetorian-01?
- When Pall Shades' Echo and Draw a card both apply, which one resolves first?
- Does the Nemesis gain Relics in solo mode?
- Does the Nemesis ignore copy effects, such as one revealed by Duplication Fabricator?
- How does Warp work for the Nemesis in solo mode, and who chooses its Ally?
- When the Nemesis assigns damage, does it hit your Champions or you?
- If your Mastery drops below 10 and then returns to 10, do you get a second Relic?
- Does Praetorian-02 count as a Homodeus Champion toward Primus Pilus' requirement of three Homodeus Champions?
- If you are at maximum health while Entropic Talons is active, do you still gain its Power?
- Does Ru Bo Vai's ignore-Shields effect apply to all damage this turn or only the Champion's damage?
- Can you heal another player in 3-player free-for-all, Bloodbath, or 2v2 team mode?
- In 2v2 team attack, do all players start with 0 Mastery?
- How many cards does The Heart of Nothing draw after you deal 10 damage in a turn?
- When the Nemesis plays a Champion from the Center Row or the deck, does that Champion stay in play?
- What is the order of the Nemesis's turn in solo mode?
Shards of Infinity: Shadow of SalvationExpansion
- What does Warp let you do?
- Is the boss in Shadow of Salvation considered an enemy player?
- Which Cloud Oracles card should you use, and does its new wording matter outside co-op games?
- When you draw a Shadow Champion from the Fate deck, does it deal damage in that same Boss turn?
- Who gains the 2 Mastery when a Shadow Champion is defeated, the player who dealt the killing blow or the player it sits in front of?
- Can you use Mastery gained by defeating Shadow Champions in the same turn?
- When a player is defeated, do Shadow Champions in front of them stay in play?
- After a player is defeated in co-op, do the surviving players get one final turn?
- When the team leader is defeated in co-op, who becomes the team leader?
- Can one player trigger another player's Unify or Dominion?
- Does Breaker's infinity symbol on its Warp ability let you fast-play any Center Row card for free?
- Does Warp trigger when an Aion card is played on its own?
- After Spider Mines banishes Center Row cards, is the Center Row refilled before the next turn?
- Does Spider Mines keep banishing cards that replace the ones it already banished?
- Can a Boss gain health above its starting value?
- Does a Boss's health scale with the number of players?
- Must you defeat Shadow Champions before directing the remaining damage to the Boss?
- Will a Shadow Champion attack one of your Champions even when it could kill your Hero?
- If a Shadow Champion can't destroy any of your Champions, does its leftover damage go to you?
- Do Shadow Champions attack every turn they are in front of you, or only on the turn they are drawn?
- Can you switch characters between games of the Shadow of Salvation campaign?
- In co-op, can players heal each other or spend Crystals on each other's cards?
- Does copying a card with Quartz of Distorsion count as playing it for Dominion?
- When a Trap detonates, do you also apply the Trap card's own 'if this Detonates' effect?
- With Twin Trap, does every enemy player take 10 damage even without a trap in front of them?
- Can another player help you remove a Trap by buying the required card?
- Does fast-playing a Mercenary count as recruiting it to remove a Trap?
- When Ambush says each player draws the top card of the player on their right's deck, do players end up with six cards?
- When drawing the six saved cards at random, is the pool limited to Allies?
- Does Aion have only two saved cards while the other factions have four?
- Do you need Relics of the Future to play Shadow of Salvation?
- Must players use Relics of the Future cards in the Shadow of Salvation campaign?
- Do players start the Shadow of Salvation campaign with an 11th starting card?
- Does Shadow of Salvation add solo rules, and can its cards be used in Relics' solo mode?
- Can you play multiple hands solo in a co-op game?
- Can the Shadow of Salvation campaign be played solo?
- Do Li Hin, Zetta and Raidian's protection abilities change in the Shadow of Salvation campaign?
- Does Moc Sai's Rift removal happen automatically at the start of his turn, or must you pay?
- When a boss attack is resolved, does it hit your Champions or go straight to the players?
- Do Boss Attack cards and Shadow Champions stay in play after their effect resolves?
- When do Shadow Champions attack, and do they attack when revealed?
- Does damage on a Shadow Champion carry over between rounds?
- Do effects that hit all enemy Champions also hit Shadow Champions in other players' lanes?
- How does the co-op campaign handle more than one player?
- What are the Relic cards in Shadow of Salvation, and how do they work?
- In Shadow Summoning Draft mode, is Shadow Champion text other than the Ambush effect ignored?
- In Shadow Summoning Draft, does Vector Fiend's Boss refer to the player who played it, and does its Glitch count include other players' Champions?
- In Shadow Summoning Draft, does Costcutta Scourge's draw effect also apply to its owner?
- In Shadow Summoning Draft (PvP), does the player who destroys a Shadow Champion gain 2 Mastery?
- How do you deal Shadow Champions in a 5-player Shadow Summoning Draft when the deck has only 24?
- What is a Rift in the Shadow of Salvation campaign?