Mantle Magika TCG - Rules

What's Needed to Play:

- 2 - 4 players.

- Each player has a deck of 60 cards.

- You may play up to 5 copies of a card in your deck.

- Something to keep track of your Health and Energy. (exp. notepad, dice, or an app on your phone)

How the Game Ends:

- If your Health reaches 0 or if you try to draw from an empty deck then you lose.

- The final player to have Health and not draw from an empty deck wins the game.

- You may also decide to forfeit the game and lose on the spot.

- All remaining players can choose to have a game end as a draw if all are in agreement.

How to Start the Game:

- Each player begins with 30 Health (25 Health for 3 players and 20 Health for 4 players).

- Each player draws 7 cards from their deck. You can then choose to Mulligan. You can only Mulligan once per game.

- A Mulligan is when you shuffle your starting hand of 7 cards back into your deck and draw 7 new cards.

- Once all players are ready, you decide who goes first. (exp. flipping a coin, rolling dice, or Rock, Paper, Scissors)

- Then you begin to play the game.

Turn Phases:

- Your turn is spit up into 3 parts, or phases. The Main Phase (MP), Battle Phase (BP), and End Phase (EP).

- You go through each of these turn phases one-by-one before passing your turn to the next player.

    Main Phase:

- At the start of your MP you gain Unshifted Energy equal to the turn number, all your cards Untap, and, unless it's the first turn and you're going first, draw one card from your deck.

- During your MP you may play Artifact, Summon, Rune, and Chant cards.

    Battle Phase:

- During your BP you may play Chant cards and Attack or Block with Summons.

    End Phase:

- During your EP you may play Artifact, Summon, Rune, and Chant cards.

- After you finish your EP, you pass your turn to the player to your left.

Card Zones:

- There are 5 primary locations where you will place your cards, and these zones are the deck, hand, Mantle, Crypt, and the Removal pile.

    Deck:

- The deck is where all cards begin and will be the main zone to draw your resources from.

- Every player has a separate and private deck.

    Hand:

- The hand is where all the cards you immediately have access to are found and the zone where you will play most of your cards from.

- Every player has a separate and private hand of cards.

    Mantle:

- The Mantle is the board/table that you're playing on. Most cards cannot provide you with value unless played onto the Mantle. This zone is where most of the game will be played. (exp. Attacking, Blocking, activating card Effects, etc. all happen on the Mantle)

- The only limit to the number of cards you can have on the Mantle is the space of the board/table/mat/bed that you're playing on.

- Every player has a separate but public portion of the Mantle.

    Crypt:

- The Crypt is your discard pile.

- Every player has a separate but public Crypt that can be looked through by any player at any time.

    Removal Pile:

- The Removal pile is a special zone for cards that have been permanently removed from the game. Cards in the removal pile are only accessible at the end of the game.

- Every player has a separate but public Removal pile that can be looked through by any player at any time.

Attacking:

- To Attack with a Summon, you first choose which opposing player you are targeting with the Attack, choose which Summon you are Attacking with, and whether you are using the Light Offense stat or the Dark Offense stat.

- You must declare as many of your Attacks at once as possible.

- When you declare an Attack, the Summon is Tapped.

- When you declare an Attack, you are targeting the chosen player in order to deal damage to their Health equal to the declared Offense stat.

- Only Summons can Attack.

- You cannot Attack with a Tapped Summon.

- You can only Attack during your turn.

Blocking:

- When an Attack is declared that is targeting you, you may choose to Block the Attack with one of your Summons.

- When an Attack is Blocked, the Blocking Summon takes damage to their Defense stat depending on the chosen Offense stat of the Attacking Summon. (exp. If the Light Offense stat is chosen, then the Blocking Summon takes damage to their Light Defense stat)

- Only Summons can Block.

- You can only Block during your opponent's turn.

Tapping:

- To Tap a card, turn it sideways.

- Tapping is used to show that the card has been used. Only certain actions require Tapping. (exp. Attacking and some card Effects)

Energy:

- Energy is the main resource in this game. Energy comes in 8 different forms (or Colors) : Unshifted, Balanced, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple, and Teal.

- Unshifted Energy is considered Balanced Energy that can be Shifted into several and/or different colors of Energy with Artifact cards.

- Shifted Energy cannot be Shifted again.

- Shifted Energy is lost when you pass your turn and right before you begin your turn. Unshifted Energy is lost right before you begin your turn.

Card Types:

- There are 4 different types of cards: Artifact, Summon, Rune, and Chant cards.

- Artifact, Summon, and Rune cards stay on the Mantle when played.

- Chant cards are activated from hand and then discarded.

    Artifacts:

- Artifact cards have 5 qualities to be aware of: Color, Name, Type, Energy Cost, and Effect.

- A card's color is the color of the card's background.

- The name is what identifies and distinguishes the card from other cards.

- There are 2 types of Artifact cards: Basic and Non-Basic Artifacts.

- You may play as many copies of any Basic Artifact in your deck as you'd like. Whereas Non-Basic Artifacts adhere to the 5 copy limit rule.

- To tell the difference between Basic and Non-Basic Artifacts, look at the box below the card's artwork. If it says “Basic Artifact” then it is a Basic Artifact, but if it says “Artifact” then it is a Non-Basic Artifact.

- The Energy Cost is shown in the box below the artwork, and next to the card Type.

- The Energy Cost tells you what kind, and of how much Energy must be spent to play the card. (exp. “R1” means you need 1 Red and 1 Balanced Energy)

- The Effect is found below the card's Type and Energy Cost, and describes what the card can do.

- There is also white text at the bottom of the card. That is known as Flavor Text and has no bearing on gameplay

    Summons:

- Summon cards have 7 qualities to be aware of: Color, Name, Alignment, Type, Energy Cost, Stats, and Effect.

- A card's color is the color of the card's background.

- The name is what identifies and distinguishes the card from other cards.

- The Alignment and Type are shown in the box below the artwork. They, like the name, are used to identify the card for card Effects. (exp. “Search 1 Lawful Robot,” means to search a Summon card whose Alignment is Lawful and whose Type is Robot)

- The Energy Cost is shown in the box below the artwork, and next to the card Type.

- The Energy Cost tells you what kind, and of how much Energy must be spent to play the card. (exp. “YY” means you need 2 Yellow Energy)

- All Summons have 4 stats: Light Offense, Light Defense, Dark Offense, and Dark Defense. The stats are shown in the box to the right of the artwork.

- All damage taken to a Summon card's Defense stat is removed at the start of the owner's turn.

- The Effect is found below the card's Type and Energy Cost, and describes what the card can do in addition to Attacking and Blocking.

- There is also white text at the bottom of the card. That is known as Flavor Text and has no bearing on gameplay.

- If a Summon card's Light or Dark Defense stat is reduced below 1, it is discarded.

- Summons are Tapped the turn they're Summoned.

    Runes:

- Rune cards have 6 qualities to be aware of: Color, Name, Alignment, Type, Energy Cost, and Effect.

- A card's color is the color of the card's background.

- The name is what identifies and distinguishes the card from other cards.

Alignment is shown in the box below the artwork. The Alignment, like the name, is used to identify the card for card Effects. (exp. Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic)

- There are 2 types of Rune cards: Rune and Rune Equipment.

- Rune cards are played like Artifact and Summon cards.

- Rune Equipment cards must be Equipped to a Summon to be played.

- When a Rune Equipment is Equipped to a Summon, that Summon gains any Keywords in the Rune Equipment’s Effect, as well as stat changes if any are mentioned in the Effect. (exp. If the Equipment has “True Strike. +1, +1.” then the equipped Summon gains True Strike and +1, +1 to their stats)

- The Energy Cost is shown in the box below the artwork, and next to the card Type.

- The Energy Cost tells you what kind, and of how much Energy must be spent to play the card. (exp. “RB2” means you need 1 Red, 1 Blue, and 2 Balanced Energy)

- The Effect is found below the card's Type and Energy Cost, and describes what the card can do.

- There is also white text at the bottom of the card and black text next to the artwork. These are known as Flavor Text and have no bearing on gameplay. The text next to the artwork needs to be deciphered to read. (hint. the cipher is on this blog)

    Chants:

- Chant cards have 5 qualities to be aware of: Color, Name, Alignment, Energy Cost, and Effect.

- A card's color is the color of the card's background.

- The name is what identifies and distinguishes the card from other cards.

- Alignment is shown in the box below the artwork. The Alignment, like the name, is used to identify the card for card Effects. (exp. Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic)

- The Energy Cost is shown in the box below the artwork, and next to “Chant.”

- The Energy Cost tells you what kind, and of how much Energy must be spent to play the card. (exp. “PPPT” means you need 3 Purple and 1 Teal Energy)

- The Effect is found below the Energy Cost, and describes what the card can do.

There is also white text at the bottom of the card and black text next to the artwork. - These are known as Flavor Text and have no bearing on gameplay. The text next to the artwork needs to be deciphered to read. (hint. the cipher is on this blog)

- After the Effect of a Chant card has resolved it is discarded.

Equipping:

- Equipping a card requires you to fulfill the requirements needed to play the card (exp. paying the Energy Cost of a Rune Equipment), and then placing the card in a way that let's the other players know that it is equipped to that particular card. (exp. placing the equipped card underneath the card it is being equipped to)

- When a card that has cards equipped to it gets discarded, the equipped cards get discarded too.

Chain Cards:

- Cards with a “C” and a number in the top left section of the center box are known as Chain cards.

- Chain card's number next to the “C” is called the Chain Value. (exp. “C2” would be called “Chain 2”)

- Chain cards can be played normally (exp. paying the card's Energy Cost) or through Chain Summoning the card.

- To Chain Summon a card you must have: a Chain card in hand, a Chain card on the Mantle, the Chain card in hand must have a Chain Value equal to or 1 greater than the Chain card's Chain Value on the Mantle, the Chain cards must share a Color and/or an Alignment, and the Chain card on the Mantle cannot have been Summoned this turn. You may only perform a Chain Summon once per turn.

- To Chain Summon play the Chain card from hand while Equipping the Chain card on the Mantle to it. This process of Equipping is called Linking. Equipped Chain cards are called Links.

- Unlike Equipped cards, Links don't give their Effects to the card they're Linked to. Links cannot Attack, Block, receive Effect damage, or activate Activated Effects.

Card Effects:

- Cards Effects can be 1 of 2 types and speeds. The 2 types are Passive and Activated Effects. The 2 speeds are Normal and Quick Effects.

- Passive Effects are always active and do not need to fulfill any requirements to perform. Passive Effects cannot be Negated. (exp. “Undead Summons gain +1, +1.”)

- Activated Effects need certain requirements to activate the Effect. (exp. “Startup: Draw 1 card.” or “G: Do 2 damage.”)

- If the sentence in the Effect has “Quick Effect:” before it then it can be activated on any player's turn, but if it doesn't then it is a Normal Effect and can only be activated on your turn.

- Cards Effects can be activated in response to other Effects, and be resolved before, if they are of the same speed or higher.

- Effect Negation only affects 1 Activated Effect. (exp. if a Summon has “True Strike. Speed.” you can only Negate either “True Strike.” or “Speed.” with a single Effect Negation)

Tokens:

- Tokens are Summons made through card Effects without a physical card representation.

- Tokens cannot exist in the deck, hand, Crypt, or Removal pile.

- Tokens with “Ender:” Effects have them activate once discarded even though they do not go to the Crypt.

Card Erratas:

- An Errata is when a previously released card is changed and re-released in a later Set. All cards use their most recently released card text. (exp. if a card was released in Set 2 and then got an Errata in Set 5, starting in Set 5 all copies use the new text even if they are older copies)

- All Erratas have a black number in the bottom right hand corner. The number tells you from what Set this change was made.

Searching:

- Searching is when you look for a particular card in your deck, Crypt, or Removal Pile, show it to the opponent, and put it in your hand.

- If you Search from your deck then shuffle it afterwards.

- The wording of the Effect will decide where you can Search from. If the Effect doesn't specify where you're Searching from then it is assumed to be from the deck.

Keywords:

- “Active”: This Summon isn't Tapped the turn it is Summoned.

- “True Strike”: Deal damage to the opponent, during an Attack, for every point higher the attacker's Offense is than the blocker's Defense.

- “Hexproof”: The opponent's card Effects do not affect this card.

- "Speed(#)”: When declaring an Attack, an additional Attack is made. The number in the parentheses represents how many Speed you have. (exp. “Speed(2).” is the same as “Speed. Speed.”)

- “Survival(#)”: If this Summon's Defense stat would be dropped below 1 then it is dropped to 1 instead and this Summon loses Survival. Only 1 Survival can be activated at once. The number in the parentheses represents how many Survival you have. (exp. “Survival(2).” is the same as “Survival. Survival.”)

- “Elusive”: This Summon can only be Blocked by Summons with Elusive.

- “Duplicate”: Make a Token copy of this Summon.

- “Defender”: When Blocking an Attack, deal damage in return to the attacker equal to your matching Offense stat. (exp. if the attacker is using their Light Offense then you'd hit back with your Light Offense)

- “Target”: Attack declaration targets this Summon instead of the owner of this Summon. This only applies when Attacking an opponent with a Summon who has “Target.”

- “Armor(#)”: Reduce damage taken by 1. The number in the parentheses represents how many Armor you have. (exp. “Armor(2).” is the same as “Armor. Armor.”)

- “Blink”: Remove target card(s) then Quick Play it/them at the beginning of the owner's next turn. If a target is not specified then the target is this card. (exp. “Tap: Blink.” Means you may Tap this card, and if you do then Blink it)

- “Spell Shield(#)”: Opposing Effects targeting this card cost “#” more to activate.

- “Degrade(#)”: At the start of the owner's turn this card gains -1, -1. The number in the parentheses represents how many Degrade you have.

- “Tap:”: You may Tap this card, if you do then the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “#:”: You may pay Energy equal to the “#”, if you do then the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “Startup:”: When this card is Summoned (or played), the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “Ender:”: When this card is sent to the Crypt due to being discarded, the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “Upkeep:”: At the start of the turn and when this card is Summoned, the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “Victory:”: When this Summon discards another Summon through an Attack, the sentence following the “:” activates.

- “Sacrifice(#):”: You may pay Energy equal to the “#”, if you do then discard this card from hand or the Mantle. When discarded through this means the sentence following the “:” activates. If there is no number then it is assumed to be "(0)".

- “Chain(#):”: You may pay the Energy equal to the “#”, if you do then the sentence following the “:” activates. You may pay the Energy Cost again before the previous activation resolves having this activation resolve first.

- “Cost:”: The sentence following the “:” must be paid to Summon the card. This is a Passive Effect.

- “Choose 1:”: During the activation of this Effect, you choose 1 of the 2 or more options to activate.

- “Flip a Coin:”: During the activation of this Effect, flip a coin and then the corresponding Effect activates. (exp. if you flip heads then the first option is chosen)

- “Roll a Dice:”: During the activation of this Effect, roll a dice and then the corresponding Effect activates. (exp. if you roll a 4 then the forth option is chosen)

- “Shift(#) # ???”: You may pay Unshifted Energy equal to the number in the parentheses, if you do then gain the Energy written in the “???” equal to the “#". If there are no parentheses then it is assumed to be "(1)". All Effects having “Shift(#) # ???” are considered Quick Effects.

- “Shift(#) #”: This is an alternative way of writing “Shift(#) # ???.” You may pay Unshifted Energy equal to the number in the parentheses, if you do then gain Energy equal to the “#". If there are no parentheses then it is assumed to be "(1)". All Effects having “Shift(#) #” are considered Quick Effects.

- “Quick Summon” or “Quick Play”: Play the card ignoring its Cost.

Card Restrictions:

- This section is only for tournaments and competitive play.

- Each Standard Format has its own card restrictions.

 - A Standard Format is the 'regular' way to play. If you are playing the Set 2 Standard Format, then you are playing with all Set 1 and 2 cards available.

- The Set number is stating which Standard Format the card restrictions list applies to.

 - The Set number is chosen, as a title, because it would be the most recently released Set available in that Standard Format.

- The Copy number is describing how many copies of that card are allowed in your Deck.

    Set 1:

  2 Copies:

- Fright Mouse

  1 Copy:

- Basic Bal Bot