Trials of Maya
Trials of Maya Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Core Concepts
- General Components
- Player Components
- Player Setup
- General Setup
- Constructing your Deck
- The Champions
- Card Anatomy
- Player Mats
- Stats and Upgrades
- XP
- The Arena
- Basic Actions
- Modifiers
- Status
- Action Value Modifiers
- Minions
- Round Structure
- Player Turns
- Aggroed Minions Attack
- Round End
- Other Concepts
- Icon Index
Core Concepts
Trials of Maya takes place over several rounds. Each round is broken up into several phases.
At the start of each round, the three cards on every player's mat slide one space right. The rightmost card slides off the mat into each player's discard pile. The card that slides off gives them Energy. This is the primary way to gain energy every turn. Meanwhile, every player simultaneously places a card from their hand face down in the empty left slot on their player mat. Then, all players flip this card face-up. The lower the Energy gain on the card, the earlier that player goes in turn order for that round.
On your turn, you may spend Energy to activate cards on your mat. Each card gives you actions your champion may take in the arena, such as moving and attacking enemies. Deal enough damage to enemies to reduce their HP to zero and kill them.
Death is temporary in Maya, as you will respawn at the start of your turn. However, killing enemies is often still important for winning the game.
Additionally, each champion has several asymmetric abilities and actions that you can use during your turn. You will use all of these actions to progress towards victory, stall other players, or even complete special objectives that earn you XP. Spend earned XP to unlock new skills, upgrade your stats, or make your cards stronger by unlocking traits.
Each game mode comes with a different map, rules, and win conditions. Strategize and adapt better than your foes to win!
General Components
- A) Initiative Track: 1
- B) Objective Mat: 1
- C) Objective Cards: 19
- D) Tokens:
- HP Tokens: 120
- Debuff Tokens:
- Root: 10
- Bleed: 10
- Vish: 7
- Engrams: 3
- Flight: 1
- Foundation Tiles: 4
- XP: 32
- E) Memory Fragments (Setup cards): 24
- F) Additional cards: 48
- G) Manuals:
- Game Modes Manual: 1
- Systems Rulebook: 1
- Reference Book: 1
- H) Game Mode Components:
- Game Mode Arenas:
- Siege 2v2 Arena: 1
- Siege 1v1 Arena: 1
- Headhunters Arena Zones: 4
- Minion Heads: 13
- Minion Cards: 13
- Towers: 2*2
- Arena Plungers: 6
- Game Mode Arenas:
Player Components
There are four sets of the following components. Each player takes one set during setup. A set contains the following:
- a) Player Mat: 1
- b) Champion's miniature: 1 (Mauravi has an additional set of detachable wings.)
- c) Champion Portrait: 1
- d) Starter deck: 24 cards (in future games, you can construct your own custom deck, described under Constructing your Deck)
- e) Player Tokens in your colour: 3
- f) Minion Control Snap-on in your colour: 5
- g) Champion Snap-on in your colour: 1
- h) Three stat trackers:
- HP Tracker: 1
- Defence Tracker: 1
- Energy Tracker: 1
- i) Player Aid: 1
Each champion comes with:
- j) Passive Ability tokens: 3
- k) Skill Cards: 3
- l) Max HP tokens: 3
- m) Energy modifier tokens: 3
- n) Symbol tokens: 4
Player Setup
This section describes the setup for each player. Choose a game of your choice from the Game Modes Manual immediately after completing Player Setup.
- Place your Player Mat (a) in front of you.
- Pick a champion, and take their miniature (b). Attach a snap-on (g) to it that matches the colour of your player mat. The miniature will be placed when your first turn begins. Keep it beside your mat for now.
- Slot the champion portrait (c) of your chosen champion into the left side of your mat. It tells you your stats and their potential upgrades.
- Place your Deck (d) in the designated area on your champion portrait.
If this is your first game, we recommend you use the starter deck crafted for your character. However, you may craft your own desired deck before the game begins. To see how, turn to Constructing your Deck.
- Place the Player tokens (e), as well as the minion control markers (f) matching your colour, near your mat.
- Place your champion's three Passive Powers (j) in their respective slots (in any order).
- Place your champion's Skill Cards (k) in their respective slots (in any order), such that only their locked (red side) is visible. These are your potential Skill unlocks/upgrades.
- Place your champion's three Max HP Tokens (l) in ascending order in their slots. Keep only the leftmost token unlocked (white side); this is your champion's current Maximum HP. The other two tokens will stay locked (red side) for now. These are your potential HP upgrades.
- Similarly, place the three Energy Modifier Tokens (m) in ascending order in their slots. Keep all of them locked (red side). These are your potential Energy Gain upgrades.
- Place your four symbol tokens (n) in any order in their respective slots. These tokens will be placed locked (where the symbols are greyed-out). These are your potential Trait unlocks.
- Take your stat trackers (h) and place them on their matching tracks.
- Your Energy tracker goes on the 0 space of the Energy track.
- Your HP tracker goes on the number equal to your champion's current Max HP token on the HP Track (see your face-up Max HP token).
- Your Defence tracker goes on 0 on the same HP Track.
- Take a player aid (i).
General Setup
Pick a Game Mode and follow its setup instructions. This will include an arena, Minions, and other components.
If this is your first game, or if you only have the core box, we recommend starting with Siege (see Game Modes Manual).
- Place the Initiative Track (A) near the arena. Take two player tokens from each player. Place one each near the track. Then shuffle the remaining tokens and place them in a random order in the 'tiebreak' section of the track.
- Place the Objective Mat (B) near the Arena. Place the two starting Objective Cards (C), 'Lay of the Land I' and 'Whetstone I', on their respective 1 XP sides next to it. Then shuffle the remaining Objective Cards and place three (two if playing a game with two players) of them face up below the starting two. Keep the remaining deck of cards facedown on the draw pile of the Objective Mat.
- Keep tokens (D) for easy access to the entire table of:
- XP
- Statuses: Root, Bleed, etc.
- Then, give each player the following if their champions have traits of:
- Garuda: 1 Flight token (placed in their Status pool)
- Naag: 7 Vish tokens (in their personal supply)
- Manushya: 4 Foundation tiles (in their supply)
- Artificer: 3 Engram units (in their supply)
- Finally, shuffle the deck of Memory Fragments (E) and distribute three to each player, placing the remainder aside. These are your starting cards. Place them face up on your player mat in the order of your choice.
You are ready to play!
Constructing your Deck
This is only recommended for experienced players. Feel free to skip this section and use your champion's starter deck.
Before the game begins, you may opt to customize your deck.
Each champion has three traits that decide the pool of cards they have access to, as well as three Signature Cards.
You may customise your deck following these rules:
- You may only pick cards that have at least one trait in common with your champion, or that are Signature Cards specifically naming your champion
- You cannot have more than two copies of a card in your deck
- You cannot have more than one copy of each Signature card in your deck
- You must have at least 10 Action Cards in your deck
- Your deck must be at least 24 cards, up to a maximum of 40
Ideally, your deck should contain all three signature cards, as they synergize well with your champion's playstyle.
The Champions
Champions are legends from the MAYA narrative universe.
Each belongs to a species, and is trained in two different classes. These three traits make up their core identity, as shown on their Champion Portrait. Each trait is represented by a unique icon.
- Before playing the game, choose a champion.
- Then, construct a deck to play with of 24-40 cards (for restrictions on deck construction, refer to Constructing your Deck).
- Additionally, each trait your champion has comes with its own unique passive abilities. These are abilities that are automatically active during the game, and strongly inform your playstyle.
- Champions also have base stats that can be improved as the game progresses. These are explained under XP.
- The four champions in Base Set I are Dangsa, Kshar, Prabhakar, and Mauravi. To learn more about them, refer to the Champion Portraits.
Transcriber's note: the per-champion details printed on the Champion Portraits (species, classes, traits, playstyle ratings and strategy tips) are small print that could not be reliably read from the source scan and are not transcribed here. Refer to the physical Champion Portrait.
Card Anatomy
The cards that comprise your deck are the heart of the game. Each champion has a deck of cards that are of one of three types. The most important type of card is Action Cards.
The card diagram labels these parts of a card: Card Type, Card Name, Traits, Energy Cost, Effect Type, Card Effect, Action Value, Action Icon, Range Modifier, and Energy Gain. (Example card shown in the rulebook: "Whirling Weights", an Action card with a Modifier effect.)
Action Cards
Action Cards on your player mat represent techniques or skills that your champion currently wields. They primarily have action icons that show the actions your champion may take when the card is activated. Action icons will be described later.
They may also have unique effects that may be of three types:
- Modifier: they may modify the existing actions on that card.
- Passive: they may be passive abilities that do not require the card to be activated to use.
- Or, they may give additional actions.
An effect that refers to actions always refers to the actions in that slot. The only exception to this is Passive abilities: these refer to every relevant action you take while the card is on your mat.
If an effect refers to components (such as Vish, Engrams, Foundations etc), it is always referring to your personal components, unless specified.
Effects and action icons can be used in any order, once each. You cannot split up a single action.
For example, if an action allows you to Move 3 and you choose to Move only 1, you cannot come back and use the rest of it later.
Cards have trait symbols, depicting which champions can use them in their decks. Some cards even have multiple trait symbols of the same type. Actions sometimes scale off of the number of traits on your player mat, so these cards can boost actions on other cards as well.
- Single Trait: one trait symbol.
- Double Trait: two trait symbols of the same type.
- Shattered Trait: a shattered symbol.
- Signature (no trait): a signature card naming a champion.
Some symbols are shattered. These symbols are not included when actions check the number of symbols on your mat. However, cards with shattered symbols are still considered to be of that trait, and are eligible to be drafted to a champion's deck.
To activate a card, you'll need to pay its energy cost at the top of the card (shown as the Energy Cost icon).
Eventually, when sliding off your mat, cards give you energy gain back, as shown by the energy gain number at the bottom. This number also decides the turn order for the round when it is placed on your mat.
You may activate other effects/abilities in the middle of two distinct actions on an activated card. However, once you activate a different action card, you cannot use any actions/effects from previously activated cards, even if you did not use them earlier.
Only activate a card when you are sure you are done with all prior effects on an already activated card.
After an Action Card is activated, it will not be available for use until your next turn. Choosing what cards to play and in what order is a key tactical element in the game!
Relic Cards and Spell Cards
The other two types of cards are Relic Cards and Spell Cards. These are not Action Cards and cannot be played face-up on your mat.
Relic Cards. A Relic Card is played by paying its Energy Cost as shown at the top of the card, then tucking it under any one slot of your player mat such that the effect is still visible. If there was already a Relic card in that slot, discard that Relic first. There can only be one Relic tucked under each slot at a time. You cannot voluntarily discard Relics otherwise.
When you activate a card, the effect of a Relic card attached to that slot becomes available to be used. Think of the Relic like an extension to the activated card.
When you die, discard all equipped Relic cards.
A Relic is only activated when you activate the card in its slot. This means that if you equip a Relic in an already activated slot, you will not get to use its effect.
Spell Cards. Play a Spell Card directly from your hand by paying its Energy Cost, then activating its effect. Once it is resolved, discard it.
Some spells have the 'Reaction' keyword. These can only be played in response to an opponent's action, and are not played on your turn!
If a reaction spell is played, it is resolved before the action it was activated in response to. You can even react to a reaction spell! In such a case, resolve all cards and effects in reverse order of when they were played.
It is advised not to play with Reaction Spell cards for your first game. If you haven't found any Reaction spells in the box, try searching more thoroughly…
Player Mats
The player mat has these areas: Champion Mat, Space for Deck, Max HP (Stat Upgrade), HP Track, Energy Track, Passive Abilities, Locked Skill Card, Upgraded Skill Card, Unlockable Dual Trait Symbols, Wild Trait Symbol, Card Slots, and Energy Modifier (Stat Upgrade).
Slots
Each player's player mat has three card slots. These will be filled with action cards at all times. At the start of the game, they will be filled with Memory Fragments. Memory Fragments represent weaker echoes of action cards that your champion has access to while they become accustomed to Maya's simulation.
In each slot, you may equip at most one Relic card each (see Relic Cards and Spell Cards).
At the start of the round, every player slides all their action cards one space to the right on their mat. The card that slides off will generate energy, tracked on their Energy track.
Tracks
Your champion's health or HP is on their HP Track. This is also where any defence is tracked as well. When their HP hits zero, the champion dies and is removed from the arena (see Death, under Other Concepts).
- If your HP or Defence ever goes above 9, flip the tracker over to its +10 side and track it accordingly.
- Your HP and Defence tracker can also stack on top of each other if you ever have the same amount of both.
- If your energy goes over 9, flip the corresponding tracker to its +10 side.
Example: It is the start of the game. Your Champion has 0 energy. You slide a card off that gives you 4 energy, moving up on the Energy Track.
Every card needs some energy to be activated, so stronger cards typically cost more energy. Or, they take an eventual toll on your stamina by giving less energy when leaving your mat.
Don't worry- unlike in most games, dying in Maya is not nearly as permanent. A dead champion respawns at the start of their turn.
Stats and Upgrades
Your Hand stat is the minimum number of cards you will have in your hand at the start of a round. This cannot be upgraded, and is not on the player mat, but rather on your champion portrait. Therefore, it is not tracked.
At the end of your turn, you may discard any cards from your hand. At the start of a round, you draw up to this stat. You may go over your Hand stat during your turn, and you need not discard down to your hand size at the end of it.
The cards in your hand are hidden information: do not show them to any opponents!
Passives
Every champion has three in-built passive abilities on the left side of their Player Mat, informed by their traits. They are available to use from the beginning of the game with no additional restrictions, but typically inform your champion's playstyle.
Upgrades
On your player mat are your potential upgrades. They are of three kinds: stats, symbols, and skills. All upgrades cost XP.
Stat Upgrades
- Your Max HP stat determines the maximum amount of HP you can have. To upgrade your Max HP stat, pay the XP on your next Max HP token and flip it face-up. This is your new Max HP.
- When you upgrade your Max HP, immediately increase your current HP by the difference between your new and old Max HP.
- When you spawn/respawn, your starting HP is always your Max HP.
- Your Energy Modifier stat changes the amount of Energy you gain from cards sliding off your mat. Initially, this number will typically be 0. As you upgrade your Energy stat, you will gain additional energy every turn instead. Track your Energy modifier stat similarly to how you track your Max HP, keeping only one token face up at a given time.
Unlike your HP Upgrade, there is no immediate bonus for upgrading your energy stat. Only the rightmost face-up token is in effect.
Additional Traits
Many cards in the game have actions that scale off of the number of trait symbols you have on your player mat, so unlocking more symbols directly makes these actions stronger.
There are two kinds of symbols you can unlock:
- There are three dual trait symbols. An unlocked dual trait symbol can count as either one of the depicted symbols at any time.
- You may also unlock a Wild trait symbol, which can count as any trait- even one that your champion would not normally have.
Example: This unlocked Trait token may count as a Vaanar symbol for an action, and a Vanguard symbol for a separate action. But it could not count as both symbols for any one action.
Skill Cards
Additionally, there are three skill cards that are unique to your champion. They begin locked, slotted into your mat, red side up. When upgraded, rotate the card to its Level 1 side. That skill is now in effect for the rest of the game.
You may upgrade Level 1 skills to one of their Level 2 sides as well. Pay the XP cost, and flip the skill card around, choosing either Level 2-A or 2-B to be active for the remainder of the game. Once a skill reaches Level 2, it cannot be changed or removed.
Example: All your skill cards are on their red side, and yet to be unlocked. You spend 2 XP to unlock the middle skill card and rotate it to Level 1.
Now you have 2 skill cards which are still locked, and 1 unlocked skill card at Level 1. You spend 2 more XP and flip the card to Level 2-B.
XP
Over time, your champions may gain XP. When your champion is adjacent to an eligible Upgrade Point, you may spend XP to unlock any of their skills, abilities or stats (see Stats and Upgrades).
You gain XP by completing the requirements on Objective Cards.
Objective Cards
Objective Cards are feats that can be completed by players to gain XP. Only units under a player's control are eligible to complete Objective Cards, and only during their Action Phase. Ally champions and minions are unable to contribute to these requirements, because they cannot act during your Action Phase.
At the start of the game, there are two basic Objective Cards: 'Lay of the Land' and 'Whetstone'.
Other Objective Cards comprise the deck. At the start of each round, Objective Cards are opened up from this deck such that there are a total of five face-up on the table. Each Objective Card has different requirements and hence may award differing amounts of XP.
Each round, your champion may complete only one Objective Card.
- If you completed a non-starter Objective Card, place a player token in your colour on it. If you are the first player to place a token on it, gain the listed reward. If another player's token was already on the card, gain 1 XP instead.
- If you complete 'Lay of the Land' or 'Whetstone', you gain the XP shown on it. Do not place a player token on it. If another player completes the same objective card later in the round, they still obtain the entire reward.
- When completing either of these Objective Cards, you may be required to follow the instructions on it: either flipping it or removing it permanently from play.
New Objective Cards are only opened at the start of a round, so go earlier in turn order if you intend to secure a specific Objective Card.
At the start of every round, new Objective Cards are opened up such that five Objective Cards in total are available to be completed.
If playing with two players, open up four Objective Cards in total instead.
The Arena
The main game board, or the Arena, is where all the action takes place. Arena setup depends on the game mode.
Terrain
The arena is made up of a grid of hexagons called terrain. Each terrain space is an eligible space for a unit to be on.
Elevation. The highest natural layer of terrain is high ground. High Ground is depicted with the High Ground icon on the arena. The lowest layer is called low ground. Low Ground is depicted with the Low Ground icon on the arena. Between these two is flat ground. Flat Ground is not depicted with any icon on the arena.
If your champion's effect requires higher or lower ground, it needs that relative difference in elevation between your champion and their targeted terrain space.
Elevation is important to strategically deal damage. If an attacking unit is on higher ground than its target, the attack deals +1 damage. This is known as the high ground rule. This +1 damage buff does not increase if there is more than one tile's worth of elevation.
When attacking an enemy champion on high ground while you are also on high ground, your champion is not considered to be on higher ground, thus will not deal additional damage.
Aside from the high ground rule, there is no restriction on, or bonus for moving from one elevation to another.
Walls. Walls restrict movement and range. You cannot attack or move through a wall unless otherwise specified.
Units are not considered adjacent if there is a wall directly between them. The terrain spaces are still considered to be surrounding one another.
Spikes. Some terrain spaces have spikes. When you enter or pass through a space with spikes, take 1 damage.
Spikes do not deal damage over time- you only take damage when you enter a space with spikes.
Voids. Voids are completely impassable. Unlike walls, no attacks or moves of any kind may pass onto or through Void spaces.
Voids represent glitches in Maya's simulation. These spaces simply do not exist, and therefore cannot be interacted with in any way whatsoever.
Zones. A collection of connected hexes each of the same colour and pattern is called a zone. Certain effects may refer to zones.
Units
Pieces that are placed on the arena and occupy terrain spaces are units. No more than one unit may exist on a given terrain space.
No unit can ever move onto a terrain space with another unit. However, if they are friendly (controlled by you or your team's), they can be passed through (but still never stopped on top of).
Units are of two broad types: entities and IDOs.
Entities
Units with circular bases are entities.
- Champions are the main units of the game. Each is controlled by a single player, mainly by taking actions through activating cards on their player mat.
- Minions are the other kind of entities. Initially, most minions are neutral, and will get aggroed at anyone who deals damage to them or encroaches on their territory. Unlike champions, they take fixed actions. When a unit you control destroys a minion, it becomes yours.
Minions are explained in detail under Minions.
IDOs
Immovable Destructible Objects, or IDOs for short, are shaped like six-pointed stars.
IDOs can be game mode-dependent, or built by some champions on the map. These are non-living units that do not consistently take actions. Rather, they typically take actions when certain effects let them. They cannot be attacked or moved in any way. IDOs also cannot be debuffed.
Example: If Kshar wants to move past this enemy IDO, he either has to move around it or destroy it first.
Arena Points of Interest
Points of interest can exist at the vertices of spaces on the arena. The three spaces surrounding each point are where they can be interacted with.
The exact rules of points of interest will be defined as per the game mode you select. Points of interest of different kinds can coexist by stacking on top of one another.
Spawn Points. Depicted by poles with a spawn motif. Spawn Points can be neutral, or of either of the two team colours.
When you spawn or respawn a champion or friendly minion, you must spawn as close to an eligible spawn point as possible. This means that unless all three spaces surrounding a spawn point are blocked, you must spawn next to a spawn point.
Example: You can spawn a space away from the lower spawn point, in the above image.
Upgrade Points. Depicted by poles with an upgrade motif. You can only upgrade adjacent to an eligible upgrade point.
Items
Square pieces are interactable items. They are often linked to objectives.
Multiple items can overlap on the same space and under a unit as well. In that case, the unit is placed on top of any items there, blocking them off. When on top of an interactable item (at the end of an action), you may choose whether to pick it up or not. If you do, place it on your Player Mat.
In summary, each space on the arena may have up to one unit, up to one terrain tile, and any number of items.
Items are not in the base game box, but may be included in future game modes.
Basic Actions
For these examples, each action's value is X. In the game, the values of each action will either be a fixed number, or will scale based on some other metric (see Action Value Modifiers).
The basic actions your champion often takes are: Move, Attack, Defend, Draw, Pull, and Push.
Move X
Move your champion up to X adjacent spaces on the grid. You cannot move onto or through enemies, walls, or voids. You cannot move onto a friendly unit (but you may move through them). As soon as you choose to stop moving, your move action is complete.
Reminder: An attack action can be modified by the High Ground Rule.
Attack X
Attempt to target and deal exactly X damage to a unit. Unless specified, the target must be adjacent to you. The amount of HP the target loses is your attack value minus any defence the target uses to reduce it.
Defend X
Move your defence tracker up your HP track by exactly X. When you would take damage, you must move your defence tracker down by the value of damage you took, to the extent you are able. This reduces the damage you take by the amount of defence reduced.
You can never have more defence than your Max HP.
Defending is the act of gaining defence. Blocking is the act of reducing incoming attack damage by spending your defence. Blocking is not an action.
Draw X
Draw exactly X cards from your Deck. If your Deck is empty when you attempt to draw, shuffle all cards in your discard pile to reform the Deck. Then continue drawing.
Pull X
Target an entity up to X spaces away in a straight line. Move them in a straight line directly towards you, stopping at the closest legal space nearest to you. Pulling does not deal collision damage. You cannot pull through walls, voids, or enemies. You may pull an ally, or even pull through allies, but the pulled target must follow all movement rules.
Push X
Target an adjacent entity, moving them exactly X spaces in a straight line directly away from you. If at any point they would be unable to be pushed to the next space during this action, because a wall, void or unit (even a friendly one) is blocking their way, they immediately stop being pushed and take damage equal to the number of spaces that they would have moved if not blocked. This is called collision damage. If they were blocked by another unit, that unit takes collision damage as well.
Only enemies can take damage during a push. Any allies involved in a collision take no damage.
You cannot push IDOs, since they cannot be moved. However, IDOs can still take collision damage if a unit is pushed into them.
Example: Prabhakar targets an ally with a push 2. In the first case, the enemy takes 2 collision damage. In the other, the enemy takes only 1. The ally takes no damage in either case.
Modifiers
While not actions by themselves, some effects are modifiers on your Actions. These are: Range, Projectile, Piercing, All Adjacent, and Status.
Range X
An attack with a range modifier X may target an enemy at a distance of up to X spaces in a straight line. A ranged attack cannot pass through walls, voids, or other enemies. You may attack through allies.
Figure key: spaces within range are marked as eligible; spaces not in range are marked as not in range.
Projectile X
A subset of range. A projectile attack has the same properties as a regular ranged attack, with two added benefits:
- A projectile attack need not be in a straight line.
- A projectile attack can hit a target over other units and walls (tracing a path similar to movement).
Piercing X
A subset of range. A piercing attack has the same properties as a regular ranged attack, with an added benefit:
- A piercing attack does not stop upon hitting a target. It continues in a straight line, hitting all enemy units within its range. Each unit hit is considered a target.
All Adjacent
An all adjacent action affects all adjacent spaces simultaneously.
Status
Statuses are Bleed, Root, Vish, and Flight.
Bleed
After you activate and finish resolving an action, take 1 True damage for each Bleed token on you.
End of turn: Remove all Bleed tokens.
For minions: Take 1 True damage whenever they use an action.
Root
Reduce your next move action by the number of Root tokens you have, then remove that many Root tokens. Excess Root tokens, if any, stay.
For example, you could spend a move 3 to remove 2 Root tokens. Your champion would then only move 1 space.
For minions: Functions similarly.
Vish (Poison)
Inflicted by Naagas, and can also be placed on the map. Vish does nothing on its own; however, Naag champions have several effects that convert Vish into all sorts of deadly debuffs.
Flight
Special state. During setup, Garudas take a Flight token and place it grey side up on their Player Mat. Flip the Flight Token golden side up when in Flight; flip to gray when not.
When in Flight, you are always considered to be on higher ground than all other units, and may convert any move action into Fly.
Action Value Modifiers
Some actions have flat values, but some are variable. The types of icon modifiers are as follows:
- Trait: Equals the number of matching Trait Symbols on your mat. Shattered symbols do not count towards this number. Count all the matching symbols on cards on your mat, as well as on your trait unlocks.
- Unique: Equals the number of unique Trait Symbols visible on your mat.
- Equipped Relics: Equals the total number of your equipped Relic cards.
- Activated: Equals the number of activated Action cards on your mat.
In this scenario, the attack value on the first card would be 4, and the attack value on the third card would be 3.
Additionally, some actions also inflict debuffs on their target, and will have status icons attached.
Card example: The Toecrusher. For example, if your champion used the attack on this card, it would deal damage equal to the number of Vanguard icons on your mat. Also, it would inflict one Root.
Card example: Elite Security (passive: after ending a move adjacent to an enemy, gain 1 defence). And on this card, the attack deals damage equal to the number of unique traits. Also, it has a range of 2 spaces, and is a Projectile.
Minions
Minions are territorial beings that populate the map. Any icons on the minion's head chip are actions that it is guaranteed to take. Each minion has a set HP that will be determined based on the game mode. When placing a minion on the Arena, stack HP chips under it, such that the total number of chips (excluding the minion's head) equals the minion's HP.
If a minion would be damaged by you or a unit you control, remove chips from the bottom of its stack equal to the damage dealt, and keep them with you. These HP chips make up your HP Bank.
Only Minion HP goes to the HP Bank; never put HP from any other units here.
When the last chip underneath its head is removed, the minion is killed. When you kill a minion, place its head with your HP bank, and snap a minion control marker under it in your colour. On your turn, you may spawn that minion by placing any amount of HP from your bank underneath its head (minimum 1). Then place it at an eligible spawn point. This minion is now your ally. You may take its actions at the start of your turn. Allied minions cannot get aggroed.
If an allied minion loses HP to a neutral unit (neither friendly nor enemy), remove that HP from the game (it does not go to any player's HP Bank). If an allied minion is killed by a neutral unit, remove it permanently from the game.
Aggroed Minions
Initially, most minions are neutral. If you ever deal damage to a neutral minion, or if you or an entity you control ends their turn adjacent to a neutral minion, you aggro it. That minion is now hostile towards you and will attempt to attack you in self-defense using its actions after your turn ends.
- The enemy player closest clockwise from you executes the minion's actions. In case of ambiguity, they decide the choices the minion makes.
- If multiple minions are aggroed at once, they decide the order of resolution.
- Each minion must finish its actions before the next begins taking theirs.
- In a team game, the enemy team may discuss and take the minion's actions together.
An aggroed minion may take its actions in any order, unless specified. However, it must follow these rules:
- It must always target the champion it is aggroed to, if able.
- If it can already target the champion, it will not move.
- If there are multiple spaces on the arena the minion can attack to deal damage from, it will always pick the closest. The minion does not prioritize maximum damage.
- If it cannot target the champion, it will target that champion's controlled minions, if any.
- If it cannot, it will target that champion's controlled IDOs, if any.
- If it cannot target any of the above units, it will attempt to move as close as possible to the champion.
If playing in teams, a minion is aggroed to the player who dealt damage to it. If it cannot target the unit that aggroed it, it cannot target their teammate even if they are nearby.
- A minion will only move if it can end its move closer to its target than it was previously.
Effectively, this means a minion never runs away.
All modifiers and signature effects on any actions it takes are mandatorily applied.
If you do not aggro a minion, the minion does nothing.
Minion Roster
These are the minions currently in the game:
Big Stepper
- First, attack for 5 damage to all adjacent spaces.
- Then, move 2 spaces.
Warden of Knots
- Either attack for 1 damage, and inflict 1 Root, at 3 range. This is a Projectile.
- OR move 2 spaces.
Kanstap-Wanstap
- First, move 3 spaces in a straight line. It must move 3 spaces if possible. Only move less than 3 spaces if blocked by a wall, unit, or void.
- Then, attack for 3 damage OR pull 3 spaces.
Elder Komon Reversible minion. When spawning Elder Komon, you may choose which side to use. If Elder Komon would be placed neutral on the map, randomise its side.
- Side A: Does any of the following actions in any order:
- move 2 spaces
- attack for 3 damage
- pull 2 spaces
- Side B: Does any of the following actions in any order:
- move 2 spaces
- attack for 4 damage, at 2 range. This is a Projectile.
Mama Malevolence Note: This is an extremely challenging minion! It is not included in any game mode by default. However, you may play the Expert Mode of any game by swapping any Big Stepper minions with Mama Malevolence minions during setup. This is not recommended unless you have played Trials of Maya several times.
- First, attack for 4 damage OR move 2 spaces.
- Then, attack for 3 damage OR move 1 space.
- Then, attack for 2 damage.
Round Structure
Many concepts mentioned earlier are explained in detail in this section.
A game of Trials of Maya is played over rounds. Each round has several phases. Except for the Action Phase, all play is simultaneous.
-
Refresh Phase
- Reset XP Cards
- Draw
- Reset Action Cards
-
Slide Phase
- Slide Action Cards
- On Exit Effects
- Prepare Cards
-
Initiative Phase
- Flip
- Rearrange Initiative
- On Arrival Effects
-
Player Turns
- Respawn
- Ally Minion Actions
- Start of Turn
- Action Phase
- End of Turn
- Discard
After your turn, Aggroed Minions Attack.
-
Action Phase
While the bulk of your turn takes place in the Action Phase, there are effects that may occur at various times. As such, there are several phases, most of which are quite short. Here they are in detail.
Refresh
Reset Objective Cards
Remove all Objective Cards that have player tokens on them from the game, returning the tokens to their respective players. Then open up Objective Cards from the deck such that there are now five (four in a two-player game) in total face-up for this round (including the starter Objective Cards, if any).
If the deck of Objective Cards runs out, shuffle all discarded Objective Cards (except setup cards) back into the draw pile.
Draw
Each player draws cards from their deck up to their hand stat. If they were already at or above their hand stat, they do not draw any cards.
If a player needs to draw cards from their deck but it is empty, they shuffle all the cards from their discard pile back into their deck, then continue drawing.
Reset Action Cards
All players shift any previously activated action cards down such that they are now deactivated in their slots.
Slide
Slide Action Cards
All players simultaneously slide all the action cards on their player mats one space to the right. The rightmost card slides off into their discard pile. For the first three rounds of the game, Memory Fragment cards will slide off.
Players then gain Energy by moving their energy token forward on the Energy Track, equal to the Energy Gain number on the bottom of the card.
On Exit Effects
If any of the cards that slid off players' mats had 'On Exit' effects, they activate now.
If multiple players' effects take place here, they resolve in the initiative order of the previous round. Refer to the initiative track.
Your champion can only take an On Exit effect if they are present on the arena (i.e., not dead).
Prepare Cards
Each player places an action card from their hand face-down on the leftmost empty slot on their player mats.
If you cannot or do not want to place an action card down, shuffle all out-of-play Memory Fragments, and randomly place one down on your mat, face-down.
Initiative
Flip
Every player simultaneously flips their leftmost card in Slot 1 face-up. The lower the Energy Gain number on the revealed card, the higher their initiative for the round, and the sooner they go in turn order.
Rearrange Initiative
Rearrange the players' tokens on the initiative track in ascending order of their initiative for this round. If multiple players are tied for initiative, the player ahead on the tiebreak track is considered to have higher initiative, and will go earlier in turn order. Then shift that player's token to the last position on the tiebreak track.
For example, if Players 2 and 3 tie for initiative, Player 2 would go first this round. However they will now be last on the Tiebreak track.
On Arrival Effects
If any of the cards flipped faceup by players have 'On Arrival' effects, they activate now.
If multiple players' effects take place here, they resolve in the initiative order of the current round. Refer to the initiative track.
Your champion can only take an On Arrival effect if they are present on the arena.
Player Turns
Each player takes turns completing the rest of these phases sequentially. Once they are done, the next player in initiative order takes a turn, and so on until every player has had a complete turn.
- Respawn
- Ally Minion Actions
- Start of Turn
- Action Phase
- End of Turn
- Discard
1) Respawn
First, if your champion is not on the map (i.e. if it is your first turn of the game, or if you were killed earlier), respawn at an eligible spawn point (this will be defined by the Game Mode).
If you are already on the map, ignore this step.
2) Ally Minion Actions
Before taking any actions with your champion, if you control any, take turns with minions you control. Each minion must finish its turn before the next minion begins taking theirs. You can choose the order in which your minions take their turns.
Unlike when executing actions for aggroed Neutral minions, you have full control over Allied ones, and may choose whether or not to use their Actions, and how to use them.
3) Start of Turn
Activate any Start of Turn effects during this step. They cannot be taken after this.
4) Action Phase
This is where most of the game takes place. The following are actions you can take during this phase. They may be taken as many times as you wish, and in any order.
-
Activate an Action Card: Activate a deactivated action card on your mat by paying its Energy Cost shown at the top of the card. If you do not have enough energy, you cannot activate a card this way.
- Move the Energy Token to its new position on its track.
- Shift the action card in its slot such that the 'Activated' text is visible. This means it can no longer be activated this turn.
For example, you activated the first card on your mat. You had 7 energy. You paid 2 energy, so now you have 5 energy left.
You can now take the actions and effects on this card. However, as soon as you activate another action card, you cannot take any actions or effects on previously activated cards.
Only activate a new card once you are sure you have completed all actions you wish to take on a previous card.
-
Take an Action on an Action Card: You may only take actions on the action card you last activated. Each action on a card can be taken only once unless specified otherwise. Each action icon must be carried out to completion before taking the next action.
Traits, skills, relics, high ground rule, and more may modify these actions.
-
Equipping a Relic Card: You may equip a Relic from your hand by paying its Energy Cost as shown at the top of the card. Then tuck it under any one slot of your player mat such that the effect is still visible. If there was already a Relic card in that slot, discard that Relic first. There can only be one Relic tucked under each slot at a time. You cannot voluntarily discard Relics otherwise.
- When you activate an action card, the effect of the Relic card attached to that slot activates as well. Think of Relics as permanent augments for that slot.
Reminder: Any unspecified effect or ability applies in this phase.
5) End of Turn
Once you cannot or choose not to take any more actions or effects, it is the End Of Turn Phase. Activate any End of Turn effects now.
6) Discard
Discard any cards you do not wish to keep in hand. You do not have to discard down to your hand limit.
Do not draw cards now. You will only draw new cards at the start of the next round.
Once your Discard Phase is over, your turn is considered complete.
Aggroed Minions Attack
Immediately after ending your turn, any neutral minions you have aggroed this turn attempt to target you. Refer to page 22 for details.
After all neutral minions have taken all their actions, the next player in initiative order takes a turn, starting from Respawning and so on.
Round End
After all players have taken a turn, the round ends. The next round begins starting from the Refresh Phase.
Other Concepts
Death
Death cannot harm you inside Maya. When your champion's HP would reach 0, they are killed and removed from the map. Remove all statuses from your player mat, returning them to the general supply, or to a player's supply if they are class-specific tokens (such as Vish or Flight). Do not remove tokens or any other game components you may have placed on the arena.
Your champion will respawn adjacent to an eligible spawn point at the start of their next turn with full HP (equal to their Max HP). If they cannot, they spawn as close to the spawn point as they can.
However, when a champion dies, they discard all their equipped Relics.
Additionally, every game mode usually punishes dying in some way.
When a minion dies, the player who killed it (either with their champion, or any unit they control) takes its head and may spawn it as an ally (see page 22).
While you are dead, you cannot activate or resolve actions or effects of any kind, nor complete Objectives Cards.
Friendly Fire
Friendly fire, or damaging allies, is not possible in Trials of Maya. You can never attack a friendly unit. You may push a friendly entity, but they take no collision damage. Likewise, if you push an enemy into a friendly unit, only the enemy takes damage.
Neutral minions will never damage one another.
Priority and Text Resolution
If the effect of a card or a champion's ability clashes with the rules written in this rulebook, the effect takes precedence.
If an effect has the 'TRUMP' keyword, it has precedence over and ignores absolutely all other text in the entire game.
If there is any ambiguity in the resolution of effects by priority, the turn player's activated effect takes precedence. If there is still confusion, the turn player decides the order of resolution.
Component Limits
Class-specific components (Vish, foundations, engrams, etc) are limited to the number given to each champion. You are not allowed to use these components if you run out of them in your supply, nor relocate existing components.
General components (XP, player tokens, chips, etc) are meant to be unlimited. In the unlikely event that these components run out, use a suitable replacement where required.
Rule of Cool
Trials of Maya is a complex game. If there is any confusion while playing and resolving effects that cannot be clarified in this rulebook, do whatever is cooler. You're fighting in a simulation, after all.
Icon Index
Icon names as printed in the source's icon index. Several are named here without a body definition in this rulebook (Jump, Discard, Wild, and the trait names).
- Actions: Move, Attack, Defend, Draw, Push, Pull, Range, Projectile, Piercing, All Adjacent, Bleed, Root
- Components and states: Vish, Unique, Equipped Relics, Activated, Jump, Discard, High Ground, Low Ground, Foundation Tiles, Engrams, Flight, Wild
- Card and timing labels: Action Card, Spell Card, Relic Card, Once per Turn, Start of Turn, End of Turn, Passive, Modifier, Reaction
- Traits: Vaanar, Manushya, Naag, Garuda, Artificer, Fleetshot, Relic-Keeper, Harrier, Surefire, Vanguard