YOUR FIRST TURN STARTS HERE

First Match

Protect your Hero and outlast the opposition. A player is eliminated when their Hero reaches 0 Life or they concede; the last Hero standing wins. A simultaneous final elimination is a draw.

Opening a match

Match settings determine the opening hand, deck limits, and whether a mulligan is enabled. In the currently shipped structured match setup, players receive an opening hand and may mulligan before play begins. The player taking the first turn does not draw an additional card for that first turn. When a draw is required from an empty deck, fatigue damage is applied. At the end of a turn, a player above that match’s hand limit must discard down.

Phase and step vocabulary

A phase is the engine’s top-level turn state. Some phases contain one or more named steps, which are the ordered parts players see in the match log and interface. The current online and desktop setup uses structured turn phases; an unstructured simulation may automatically advance through choices it does not present.

Turn phases and phase steps

A turn has four core phases: Start Phase, Main Phase, Action Phase, and End Phase. The ordered work within those phases is described as a phase step.

1. Start Phase
   1. Initial Resolve Step — start-of-turn effects resolve.
   2. Readying Step — eligible cards ready and turn-limited actions reset.
   3. Domain Step — play and establish up to one Domain Card.
   4. Energy Step — Domains and other eligible sources generate elemental Aeon. Aeon is cleared at the next Start Phase; it does not carry between turns.
2. Main Phase — play cards and abilities that are legal during the Main Phase.
3. Action Phase — the match’s combat and positioning phase.
   1. Action Step — make an action with Unit(s): attack or move for lane-based positioning.
   2. Blocking Step — each defender assigns legal blockers.
   3. Resolve Combat Step — combat damage is assigned where required, then the combat batch resolves.
4. End Phase
   1. Final Resolve Step — end-of-turn effects are queued and resolved.
   2. Discard Step — discard only when required by the current maximum hand size.
   3. Turn Over Step — cleanup finishes and play passes to the next eligible player.

A step can advance automatically when there is no legal decision, while effects and interrupts can still create their own decisions. The in-game legal-action display and the full card text are authoritative for a particular board state.

Battlefield essentials

In lane-enabled matches, position, movement, range, and card abilities restrict legal attackers, blockers, and targets. A new Unit normally cannot attack or use an activated ability on the turn it enters play; Haste allows it to act immediately, while Charge requires it to attack that first turn if able. New Units can still block unless another rule says otherwise.