SolForge Fusion Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
  • Faction Decks
  • Forge Token Card
  • Health and Attack Trackers
  • Play Mat
• Card Types
  • Forgeborn
  • Creature Cards
  • Minion Cards
  • Spell Cards
  • Exalt Cards
  • Solbind Cards
• Game Structure
  • Start of the Game
  • Turns
  • 1. Draw Phase
  • 2. Action Phase
    • Playing a Card
    • Playing Creatures
    • Playing Spells
    • Playing Exalts
    • Passing
    • Forgeborn Abilities
  • 3. Combat Phase
    • Damage and Armor
  • 4. End of Turn Phase
    • End Step
    • End of Deck Cycle Step
    • Maintenance Step
• Winning and Losing
  • Sudden Death
• Additional Rules
  • Resolving Abilities
  • Resolving Triggered Abilities
  • Resolving Multiple Triggered Abilities
• Battle for Whitefang Pass Expansion Rules
  • Solbind Cards
  • Transform
  • Exalts
  • Slay
• Glossary

Components

Faction Decks

Each faction deck consists of 10 sets of three matching Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 cards and a Forgeborn card (which lists the 10 card names on its back). Each Faction Deck comes with a 32nd card which could be a rules reminder card, a Minion card, or a Solbind card.

Each player selects two faction decks from different factions at the beginning of the game and shuffles their Level 1 cards together to form a 20-card Fused Deck and sets the Level 2 and Level 3 cards to the side. During the game they will replace the cards in the deck. The players also choose one of their two Forgeborn cards to use during the game.

Forge Token Card

During the game, one player will have the Forge (showing the colorful side of the token) and the other player will not. This affects whether you have an aggressive or defensive posture for the turn. Ownership of the Forge will change each turn.

Health and Attack Trackers

Each Starter Kit comes with 25 tracker cards. These cards can be used to help keep track of Health and Attack total changes on your creatures. Dice are a great alternative to the tracker cards if preferred.

Play Mat

The play mat will help all players know which of the five lanes your creatures are placed in. It also outlines places for players to keep their Deck, Discard Pile, Upgrade Pile, Banish Pile, Forgeborn card, and Forge Token.

There are five lanes that will contain creature and Exalt cards. Each player takes one side of the lanes and their sides have front (red) and back (blue) rows. When creatures enter play, they do so in the front row on the Forge player's side of the board and the back row on the non-Forge player's side of the board. Players can only have one creature in their half of a lane, but they can replace previously-placed creatures.

At the end of each turn, there is a Combat Phase that triggers fighting in each lane that has at least one front-row creature. If both players have creatures in such a lane then the creatures deal damage to each other. If only one player has a creature in a lane and it is in the front row then it deals damage to the opposing player.

Card Types

Forgeborn

Each Forgeborn has three single-use abilities. The icon beside an ability indicates the deck cycle in which they are available. Note that the exact set of abilities and their order varies on Forgeborn cards with the same name and many abilities are stronger when they appear at later levels.

Creature Cards

As mentioned above, creatures are played into lanes. When they leave play, creatures are put into their owner's Banish Pile.

Each creature card has Attack (red swords icon) and Health (green plus icon) values printed at the top of the card. During the game, these values will change and the changes persist between turns. Use dice or tokens to indicate the current values. These values cannot go below 0. If Health is reduced to 0, the creature is destroyed and is banished (even if it is Level 3). Abilities may still be triggering that care about the creature's lane and attack value, so you may wish to temporarily put the creature beneath its lane until the abilities are done resolving.

Creatures have a small box that describes them beside their level icon. For example, the Scorchmane Dragon says "Creature - Dragon" so other cards that refer to level 2 cards, creatures, and Dragons can all refer to Scorchmane Dragon. The larger box gives abilities if the creature has any. Scorchmane Dragon's abilities are "Mobility" and "Deploy" (bold keywords are explained in the Glossary).

Creatures can be either Ready (upright) or Exhausted (sideways). Creatures enter play ready. The only difference between an Exhausted creature and a Ready one is that it cannot use abilities that require Exhausting it to activate.

Creatures can also be in the Front Row or Back Row. Creatures enter play in the Front Row when you play them while you have the Forge. Otherwise, they enter play in the Back Row. Creatures in the Front Row will initiate combat at the end of each turn (see Game Structure below).

Minion Cards

Each faction has two types of Minion cards. Set them aside, organized by faction and level. Most Minion cards are two-sided with different levels on each side. Minions never go in decks, but otherwise, behave as creatures (see above).

Spell Cards

Spells are another type of card in decks. Unlike creatures, spells are not normally played into a lane. In most cases, you'll immediately resolve the abilities in a spell's text box and then banish the spell.

Exalt Cards

Exalts are a type of spell that one may find in the Faction Deck. Unlike normal spells, Exalts are played in lanes similarly to creatures. They will be played in a player's Exalt Row. A player may still have a creature in a lane with an Exalt in it, but can only have one Exalt in each lane. Players may replace Exalts similarly to creatures.

Solbind Cards

Some cards that are double-sided are not Minions. These are Solbind cards. Solbind cards are a card type introduced in Battle for Whitefang Pass that are played by a normal card in a player's Faction Deck and can be Transformed (see Glossary) into another card at some point in the game. When a Solbind card leaves play, it is returned to the Upgrade Pile.

Game Structure

Start of the Game

To start a game of SolForge Fusion, players each select two faction decks from different factions and one of their faction decks' Forgeborn. They then shuffle their Level I cards together face-down to form their starting deck and set aside any Level II and Level III cards for later use. Then, each player sets their Health to 50. Finally, a player is randomly chosen to start the game with the Forge, and the first turn begins.

Turns

A turn has four phases:

1. Draw Phase
   • Trigger "at the start of the turn" abilities
   • Players Draw 5 Cards
2. Action Phases
   • Forge player's first Action Step
   • Non-Forge player's first Action Step
   • Forge player's second Action Step
   • Non-Forge player's second Action Step
3. Combat Phase
   • Trigger "at the start of combat" abilities
   • Players resolve combat damage
4. End of Turn Phase
   • 4.1. End Step — trigger "end of turn" abilities; players discard their hands
   • 4.2. End of Deck Cycle Step (once every 3 turns) — trigger "end of deck cycle" abilities; ready exhausted Forgeborn; players each shuffle their draw and discard piles together to make new decks; Level Up Forgeborn; after four deck-cycles, the game enters Sudden Death; after five deck-cycles, the player with the Forge wins
   • 4.3. Maintenance Step — remove "this turn" abilities; Armor is restored to its printed value; ready Exhausted creatures; put back-row creatures in the front row; pass the Forge to the player without it

1. Draw Phase

The Draw Phase is the first phase of a turn. At the start of the Draw Phase, all "start of the turn" abilities are triggered and resolved. Then, each player draws five cards from the top of their Deck. If they have less than five cards in their Deck, they draw all remaining cards from their Deck instead.

2. Action Phase

Each Action Phase is broken up into two Action Steps per player. The Forge player starts with their first Action Step, followed by the player without the Forge. Players continue passing Action Steps going clockwise until every player has performed two Action Steps.

During an Action Step, a player must perform one of the following basic actions, if able:

1. Play a card (see "Playing a Card" below).
2. Pass

If a player can't perform a basic action during their Action Step, that player passes their Action Step after performing any free actions they wish to perform (their unused basic action is not carried over to the next Action Step).

Players may also perform any number of the following free actions any number of times during their Action Step:

1. Play a Free card.
2. Exhaust one of their Ready cards to use one of its activated abilities:
   • Their Forgeborn's ability for the current deck cycle (starting with the second deck cycle).
   • A creature's Activate: ability.
   • A creature's Mobility (X) ability (see the Glossary).

Players may perform basic actions and free actions in any order. While most action phases will consist of a single card play, players should indicate that they are done taking free actions.

Playing a Card

To play a card, follow these steps:

1. Reveal and announce the card being played from your hand. If that card has a higher level than your Forgeborn, it can't be played. Note: If that card is being played by a card effect that specifically names it, it can be played regardless of what Level it is. (Example: If a spell allows a player to "Play an Oakfather Minion," they may play that Oakfather while their Forgeborn is Level 1.)
2. Declare whether the card is being played for Free. If an ability on the card you are playing says that the card can be played for Free and you wish to do so, you must meet any preconditions ("If you have gained Health this turn, this is Free") and/or pay any costs required ("You may have this deal 5 damage to you to play this for Free."). If the card already meets any conditions to be played for Free, playing the card will automatically count as a free action.
3. If it is a creature or Exalt, play it in one of your lanes (see "Playing Creatures" and "Playing Exalts" below). If it is a non-Exalt Spell, resolve all of its abilities (see "Playing Spells" below).
4. Put the next sequential level of the card from your Upgrade Pile into your Discard Pile (Level 3 cards do not have a higher level version to place in your Discard Pile).
5. Resolve all abilities triggered by playing the card (see "Resolving Abilities" below).

Playing Creatures

When you play a creature, choose a lane. If it contains a friendly creature, banish that creature before you place the new creature in that lane: this is called replacing a creature. If you have the Forge, place the creature in the front row; otherwise, it goes in the back row. The Aggressive and Defender keywords override this behavior, forcing you to put the creature in the front or back row, respectively. When you Replace or Reanimate (see the Glossary) a creature, the new creature is placed normally no matter whether the original one was in the front or back row.

Playing a creature will trigger "Deploy:" abilities. If you replace another creature, it will trigger "if this replaces a creature" and "when a creature replaces this" abilities.

Playing Spells

When you play a non-Exalt spell, you will resolve its abilities. Non-Exalt spells can have several abilities. You must resolve all abilities on a spell in order before resolving any triggers created by the spell. For spells that can be played for Free, see "Playing a Card" above.

Playing Exalts

When you play an Exalt spell, choose a lane. If it contains one of your Exalts, replace the previous Exalt by banishing it at the same time that you place the new Exalt in that lane. Exalts are played into a player's Exalt Row in the chosen lane.

Passing

When you take a Pass action, your Action Step immediately ends. You can still perform Free Actions before performing a Pass action.

Forgeborn Abilities

Forgeborn are printed with three abilities, one representing each Level of the Forgeborn. During the End of Deck Cycle Phase, a Forgeborn's Level increases and this gives the Forgeborn access to its ability at its current Level. When a player uses their Forgeborn's ability, they may only use the one of its current Level and they do not have access to previous Level abilities. Also, a Forgeborn doesn't Ready until the End of Deck Cycle Phase and so it can only be activated once each Deck Cycle.

3. Combat Phase

At the start of the Combat Phase, all "start of combat" abilities are triggered and resolved. Then, lanes engage in combat simultaneously, ignoring lanes that don't have a creature in a front row. In lanes where at least one creature is in the front row and is opposing an enemy creature, those creatures deal combat damage to each other equal to their respective Attack values. Otherwise, if a creature in a front row is unopposed then it will deal combat damage equal to its Attack value to the opposing player instead. Creatures in the front row that are exhausted still deal combat damage to an opposing creature or player as normal. Any abilities that trigger as a result of combat resolve after all lanes have engaged in combat.

Combat examples:

• A creature in the front of its lane and unopposed deals its combat damage to the enemy player's Health.
• Two creatures both in the front of their lanes deal combat damage to each other.
• A creature in the back of its lane does not normally deal combat damage itself, but it will return combat damage to the opposing creature that is dealing combat damage to it.
• If neither creature in a lane is in the front, no combat damage is dealt.
• A creature that is not in the front of its lane will not deal combat damage to the enemy player even if the opposing lane is empty on the front row.

Damage and Armor

A creature with Armor first applies damage it takes to its Armor value before its Health is reduced. If a creature with existing Armor would gain additional Armor, it cumulates. A creature's Armor resets during the Maintenance Phase each turn to its printed value or to 0 if it has no printed value.

For example, if a creature with 2 Armor would be dealt 3 damage, its Health would only be reduced by 1. Any additional damage taken by that creature in the same turn would further reduce its Health.

4. End of Turn Phase

The End of Turn Phase is made up of three steps: the End Step, the End of Deck Cycle Step, and the Maintenance Step.

End Step

At the start of the End Step, all "end of the turn" abilities are triggered and resolved. Then, players will discard all of the cards remaining in their hands.

Players will normally advance to the Maintenance Step. However, at the end of the third turn of a deck cycle, players will advance to the End of Deck Cycle Step before the Maintenance Step.

End of Deck Cycle Step

At the start of the End of Deck Cycle Step, all "end of deck cycle" abilities are triggered and resolved. Players will then ready their exhausted Forgeborn and increase its Level. Players should use a means of tracking their Forgeborn's current level. Finally, players will shuffle their Deck and Discard Piles together to make a new deck for the next deck cycle.

If players have reached the Fourth End of Deck Cycle Step, Sudden Death rules apply (see "Winning and Losing" below).

If players have reached the Fifth End of Deck Cycle Step, the player with the Forge wins.

Maintenance Step

During the Maintenance Step, players will perform the following operations:

1. All abilities that last "this turn" will expire.
2. Each creature's Armor will be restored to its maximum value.
3. Each Exhausted creature and Exalt will become Ready.
4. All back-row creatures that don't have the Defender ability will be moved to the front row.
5. The Forge will be passed to the player without the Forge and the next turn will begin.

Winning and Losing

When a player's Health is reduced to zero or below, if they have less Health than the enemy player, they lose the game.

If two or more players' Health totals are equal AND at zero or below, OR if the Fourth End of Deck Cycle Step is resolved (Turn 12), follow the Sudden Death rules.

Sudden Death

At any time during Sudden Death, if a player has more Health than their enemy, they win the game. At the resolution of the Fifth End of Deck Cycle Step (Turn 15), if players are still tied, the player with the Forge wins the game.

Additional Rules

Resolving Abilities

When resolving a single ability, resolve each step of the ability in the order written. If a step tells you to do something more than once then do each thing one at a time ("Play two Gizmos" can replace the first Gizmo with the second). If a step tells you to do something to multiple players and/or creatures, do it simultaneously to each if possible. If a choice is required by one or more players at the same time, and the card doesn't clarify an order, start with the player who has the Forge and go clockwise before resolving those choices.

If an ability refers to "your creatures" or "enemy creatures", it is referring to creatures a player currently controls. The exception to this are abilities that refer to one of your creatures having been destroyed this turn such as "Deploy: If one of your creatures was destroyed this turn, give this +3 Attack, +3 Health." which would look to see if a creature was under your control when it was destroyed that turn.

You must resolve as much of an ability as possible. When a player resolves a part of an ability that says "You may" that player decides whether they want to perform that action or not.

Some abilities just modify other steps in an ability, such as "If you have a Scientist in play, you may Reanimate up to two creatures instead" replacing the text "You may play a Gizmo Minion." in the same ability.

Some abilities may have conditions that need to be fulfilled. If that condition isn't modifying another step in the ability and it can't be fulfilled, stop resolving that ability in its entirety unless it has an alternative condition. In the case of "Deploy: If this replaced a creature, give it +4 Attack. This turn, it gets Aggressive and Breakthrough." since a creature needs to be replaced to resolve the first step of the ability, not replacing a creature will cause the entire ability to fail on resolution. On the other hand, "Deploy: If this is in your leftmost lane, give this +3 Attack. If this is in your rightmost lane give this +3 Health." will successfully resolve if either condition is met.

Resolving Triggered Abilities

Card abilities tell you when to trigger their abilities. For example, Spell Sprite has the ability "When you play a spell, give this +2 Attack." An ability can only trigger if it is in play before the triggering event starts. If you have a Spell Sprite in play and play a spell with the ability "You may play a Spell Sprite" then the original Spell Sprite's ability will trigger but the abilities of the new Spell Sprite created by the spell will not. If a creature has an ability that triggers when creatures are destroyed, this ability will trigger even when that creature is destroyed and it will take into account all creatures that are destroyed at the same time. For example, if a creature with "whenever a creature is destroyed, you gain 1 Health" is destroyed along with one other creature during Combat then you gain 2 Health.

Resolving Multiple Triggered Abilities

Combat or playing a single card can create several events that trigger many abilities before there is an opportunity to resolve them, creating a batch. After Combat, playing a card, or resolving an ability that requires you to exhaust a card, there will be an opportunity to resolve triggered abilities. If part of an action with multiple steps or effects creates a new trigger event, the new trigger will be completed after each step of the original action is complete. The player with the Forge resolves all of their accumulated triggered abilities in the order of their choice and then the player without the Forge resolves theirs. If resolving abilities triggers more abilities, accumulate the new triggers until after the original batch is completely resolved by both players and then repeat this process for the new batch of triggered abilities.

Battle for Whitefang Pass Expansion Rules

Solbind Cards

Solbind cards are a card rarity that debuts in Battle for Whitefang Pass. They are represented as an extra double-sided card that can show up in a player's Faction deck. This card is kept in a player's Upgrade Pile at the start of the game. Cards in a player's deck will reference a Solbind Card and bring that card into play from the Upgrade Pile.

If a card ability instructs a player to play a Solbind card while one of its two sides is in play, that ability will fail to play the Solbind card.

If a Solbind Card leaves play, it is put back into a player's Upgrade Pile instead of the Banish Pile. They can't be Reanimated.

Transform

When an effect instructs a player to Transform a card, flip that card over to its other side without changing its lane or row unless specified to do so otherwise. This doesn't count as replacing the other side of the card and it does not Ready the card. Cards that Transform are still treated as the same card and not a new card play.

When a creature Transforms into another creature, set its Attack and Health to the printed Attack and Health of its new version.

When a card Transforms from one card type into another card type, remove all lasting effects affecting that card. Otherwise, all lasting effects affecting that card remain.

When a creature Transforms into another creature, subtract its previous printed Armor from its Armor then add its new printed Armor value to its Armor.

Any counters on the previous version are removed.

When a card Transforms, if there is no legal lane to place the card, it is put into its owner's Upgrade Pile instead.

Only a card in play can be Transformed.

Exalts

Battle for Whitefang Pass introduces a powerful type of Spell, Exalts, that create a persistent effect on the game.

Exalts are a type of spell which, unlike normal spells, are put into play in the bottom of lanes like creatures. Some Exalts have Deploy abilities similar to creatures which trigger when they are played. Exalts have abilities that affect the lane they are in.

When an Exalt is played, it doesn't replace a creature in the lane it is played into. Further, a player may play a creature in the same lane in which they control an Exalt. A lane in which there is an Exalt, but no creature, is still considered an empty lane.

If a player plays an Exalt into a lane in which they already control an Exalt, the previous Exalt is replaced with the new Exalt.

A player's Exalt can't be moved into the same lane as another Exalt they control.

Slay

Slay is a keyword that means "When this destroys an enemy creature."

A creature's Slay abilities can be triggered by destroying an enemy creature through combat damage, Battle, Strike, or one of its abilities.

Glossary

Activate: (ability) — Keyword. "Exhaust this creature to use the following ability:".

Adjacent — Creatures are considered to be adjacent if they are controlled by the same player and in lanes next to each other (they can be in different rows).

Aggressive — Keyword. "Put this creature in the front when played (even if you don't have the Forge) or when it gets Aggressive. This creature cannot be put in the back row unless it has Defender."

Armor — See "Damage and Armor" above. When a creature with existing Armor gains Armor it is cumulative. If a creature has 0 Armor, it is not considered a creature with Armor. If a creature with Armor loses all printed abilities, subtract the amount of Armor printed on the creature.

Battle — Keyword. Creatures that Battle deal damage equal to their Attack to each other.

Breakthrough — Keyword. "While this creature is in the front row, excess combat damage it deals to an enemy creature is dealt to the opposing player instead."

Decreased Attack/Health — A creature has decreased Attack/Health while it is below its printed value.

Defender — Keyword. "Put this creature in the back row when played (even if you have the Forge) or when it gets Defender. This creature cannot be put in the front row (even if it has Aggressive)."

Deploy: (ability) — "When this creature comes into play, trigger the following ability:".

Destroy — Destroy an in-play creature by banishing it. A creature whose Health is reduced to 0 or less is considered destroyed, but creatures that are replaced are not. When a creature with Level 3 is destroyed, it is placed in your Banish Pile in the same manner as any other creature.

Discard — Put a card from a player's hand into their Discard Pile. The card does not level up.

Enemy Creature — Creatures currently on (or just banished from) your enemy's side of the lanes.

Enters — A creature enters a lane and row when it is played. Afterwards, it enters a row or lane when its row or lane changes (usually only one or the other changes at a time).

Exhaust — Rotate an upright card to the sideways position. An Exhausted card behaves as normal; the only effect is that it cannot be Exhausted to activate abilities.

Exalted — Keyword. "While this creature is in a lane with one of your Exalts, it gains the following ability:"

Free — A card that can be played for Free does not count as the one card that you can play or level up during one of your action phases.

Increased Attack/Health — A creature has increased Attack/Health while it is above its printed value.

Level (I,II,III) — Cards have their level (1/2/3) indicated by an icon on their middle-left of the card.

Minion — A card type that appears on some creatures. Minion is not a creature type. Minions do not go in decks or Banish Piles. When a Minion would leave play, set it aside out of play.

Mobility (X) — Keyword. "Activate: Move this to one of your empty lanes up to X lanes away from its current lane." Intervening lanes do not need to be empty. When a creature with existing Mobility gains Mobility it is cumulative.

Move — To change a creature's lane or row to another lane or row. When a creature changes lanes, it stays in the same row unless explicitly specified. A creature can only move to an empty lane, except if the card effect instructs you to swap it with another creature. When a creature changes rows, it stays in the same lane unless explicitly specified.

Opposed — A creature is opposed if it has an enemy creature in its lane.

Opposing Creature — An enemy creature in the same lane as one of your creatures is your creature's opposing creature.

Opposing Player — The enemy player across from one of your creatures.

Owner (of a card) — The player whose deck the card came from (named at the bottom of the card).

Overlay — When a Forgeborn gets overlaid onto another Forgeborn, the Forgeborn that overlays your current Forgeborn gets placed on top of it, but keeps the previous Forgeborn's Level and Ready/Exhausted state.

Ready — Return an Exhausted (sideways) card to the upright position.

Reanimate — Keyword. "Play a card from your Banish Pile." A creature can't Reanimate itself unless its effect specifically calls itself out.

Replace (a creature) — Play a creature to an occupied lane, banishing the original creature simultaneously. The banished creature is not considered destroyed. When a card effect causes a creature to be replaced, the player whose creature is being replaced plays the new creature. For example, if Dendrify is played on an opposing creature, the player using Dendrify chooses which creature will be replaced, but the player whose creature is being replaced plays the Oakfather. That creature is put in the front or back row according to who has the Forge, not where the replaced creature was previously.

Slay — Keyword. "When this destroys an enemy creature, trigger the following ability:".

Stealth — Keyword. "While this creature is in your front row, if there is an opposing creature in the back row, this deals combat damage and is dealt combat damage as though it were unopposed."

Strike — Keyword. A creature that Strikes deals damage equal to its Attack to another creature.

Swap — To swap a creature, there must be another valid target for that creature to swap with. Move the creatures to each other's lane without changing their rows.

This — If unqualified, "this" always refers to the card on which it is written.

To — If an ability says you perform an action "to" do something, you must perform that action before resolving the rest of the ability. You must be able to perform anything before the "to" as well as after to resolve the effect.

Transform — Keyword. When an ability instructs you to Transform a card, flip the card over to its other side without changing its lane, row, or Ready/Exhausted state unless specified otherwise. If a card that Transforms has no lanes it can be put into due to a change in card type, it is put back into its owner's Upgrade Pile.

Unopposed — Not opposed.

Upgrade — Keyword. When an ability instructs you to Upgrade a card, if the next level version of that card is in your Upgrade Pile, banish that card and put the next level version of that card in the same zone. Upgrading a Level 3 card has no effect, but is considered to have succeeded. Subsequent references to the card that was Upgraded refer to the higher-level version that replaced it instead. "When a card is Upgraded" only refers to using this keyword, not the leveling of cards from them being played or from using the Level Up action.

You — For spells this means the player playing it, but for creatures it is the player whose side of the lanes the creature was on when the effect was triggered.

Your Creatures — Creatures currently on (or just banished from) your side of the lanes.