Encountering the Enemy

Starting an Encounter

The most common way to reduce an opponent's deck down to zero cards is by declaring Encounters. To begin, place a character card from the Active Zone into the Encounter Zone. Once the attacker has been declared, the opposing player will have a chance to block with one of their characters. This is done by placing a character into the Encounter Zone in front of the attacking character.

As the turn owner, you can Ignite abilities and play cards with the Timing of Immediate during the Conflict Phase. Each player needs to make sure they have Effect Zones free when they Sequence against cards or abilities being played. If a player has no available Effect Zones, they cannot Sequence or react against cards or abilities.

DeclaringAnEncounter

Procedure of an Encounter

Once the Attacking character is blocked by another character they will then inflict damage. This is done according to their Combat Statistic. Characters with larger Combat stats will defeat characters with lower combat stats. There are many keyword abilities that can change outcome of an Encounter. For this basic explanation of an Encounter, we will assume that the characters do NOT have any Keyword Abilities.

StandardEncounterExamples

Now the characters can inflict damage to one another. Example: Your attacking character has Three Combat and your opponent's character only has Two Combat. Your character would inflict Three damage to the blocking character. This would Slay the blocking character and send it to The Void.

Before this would happen, your character would take damage equal to the Combat Stat of the blocking character. This would leave Two Damage Counters on your attacking character. Your character would then go to the Exhausted Zone.

StandardEncounter

Example: Your character declares an Encounter and its Combat Stat is lower than the blocking character. Your character would inflict its damage equal to its Combat Stat. Yet, it would not be enough to Slay the blocking character. Even so, it would inflict damage to it. This makes it weaker for other attacking characters. Damage Counters do not leave characters until the end of the turn.

Unlike attacking characters, characters that block during an Encounter return to the Active Zone. This means that they can continue to block attacking characters.

You can also play Effects and use abilities of certain characters to aid in the success of your attack or defense. Also, you can also use an effect or ability after the player has declared a blocking character. Now you can use an effect card or ability that would deal more damage to the opposing character. Or you can make your attacking character's Combat Statistic larger! This can change the outcome of an Encounter.

Remember to keep in mind the order of cards and abilities within a Sequence. Your opponent can also play Effects or use abilities up to the number of Effect Zones they have open.

Attacking Unopposed

You can declare an Encounter against another player if they do not have any characters to block your attacks. This leaves their deck vulnerable to your attacks and the player will take direct damage. The player will take the top cards of their deck and place them into The Void. This is repeated for every point of damage dealt. Whenever a player's deck is reduced below Zero they immediately lose the game!

UnopposedEncounter

Note: You can defeat players by using Effects and Abilities that would make them draw too many cards. Some Effects and Abilities are used to inflict direct damage to players.

Characters with Assist

Once a player has declared a blocker there are some abilities that could affect the outcome of the Encounter. The most basic ability that would affect blocking a character is Assist. Characters with Assist allow blocking characters to team up against an attacking character. The best way to use characters with Assist is to block first with a character that does NOT have Assist. Then after that you can then block with additional characters as long as they have Assist.

AssistExamples

Note: The attacking player always chooses how to assign the damage from their characters.

AssistEncounter

For example, a player declares an Encounter and attacks with a character with a Combat stat of Five. You defend with your characters. You have two characters in play, and one of the characters has a Combat stat of Four and the other with Assist has Combat of Two. This will allow you to defeat the attacking character if you block with the large character first. Then block with the Assist character afterward. This will inflict Six damage to the attacking character.

However, the attacker gets to assign the damage from their character to your own. The character can then assign two damage to your smallest character or four damage to the large character. The remaining damage would be assigned to the other character. In either example, one of the characters would be returned back to the Active Zone. The other will be sent to The Void.

Characters with Expertise

ExpertiseExamples

Characters with Expertise always inflict their damage before other characters without Expertise. The defending player must block with characters with more Combat than it has to damage a character with Expertise.

ExpertiseEncounter1

You attack with a character that has Expertise that has a Combat Statistic of Two. Your opponent blocks with a character with Combat of Two. The outcome of this Encounter is your character would inflict its damage first. This would immediately send the blocking character to The Void, before it can deal damage. Example: The player blocks with a larger character. That character would take damage first. Then the blocking character would deal damage back, like normal. The attacking character would then be sent to The Void.

ExpertiseEncounter2

If you block with a character with Expertise you can slay the attacking character. This is assuming it has lower Combat than your blocking character. Your character would immediately slay the attacking character.

Note: The same can be said for many characters that would block an attacking character. All blocking characters with Assist would deal their damage before the attacking character!

Characters with Cunning

The special ability of characters with Cunning is that they return back to the Active Zone after they attack. This is as long as they did not activate for an ability during the Encounter. Characters with Cunning can Activate after being declared an attacker. They can also activate after a card has been declared as a blocker. If it didn't activate during the Encounter, you can then use it to block during the other player's turn!

CunningEncounter

Note: Characters can only attack once per turn and this can only be changed by a card that would state the character can attack more than once a turn.

Characters with Swift

SwiftExamples

Characters with Swift can only be blocked by other characters with Swift. Also, Swift characters can block most other characters, even if they do not have the ability Swift. The rules of an Encounter still apply to characters that deal damage with Swift. They can can attack even when an opponent has a full field of characters.

SwiftEncounter

Note: Characters that have the ability Unstoppable cannot be blocked even by characters with Swift.

Characters with Overpower

OverpowerExamples

A character with Overpower can inflict excess damage to a player. This character will deal its excess damage after an encounter with a weaker, defending character.

OverpowerEncounter

For example, you attack with a character that has Four Combat and has Overpower. The opponent only has a Two Combat character in play and has only three cards left in their deck. The only option the player has is to block the attacking character. Unfortunately for them this attacking character has Overpower. When the characters deal damage, the attacking character would first deal two damage to the blocker. Then the remaining two damage would go to the defending player’s deck.

Damage in excess to another character’s power can only be used with an attacking character with Overpower. If the character is blocking, it would inflict damage only to the character. It will deal no damage to the attacking player.