Part 4 of 4 · Learn the game
Colours, Power and runes
Some cards want a colour as well as a price. That colour is called Power.
Look at a card that costs a 1 and then a little orange symbol. That means it needs two different things before you can play it.
A cost with two halves
One of each, and only one of them cares what colour it is.
Any kind. Just one.
This one must be orange.
Energy is any old money. Power is a colour you have to match. A card asking for orange will not take blue instead.
So where does colour come from? From cards called runes. A rune does not fight and it never goes to a battlefield. Its whole job is to make Power for you.
Runes have their own little deck, right next to your main one.
That is a nice surprise. You do not have to hope you draw a rune, the way you hope for a good creature. They are waiting in their own pile.
How a rune works
- 1Most turns you take a rune from your rune deck and put it down.
- 2That rune makes Power in its own colour.
- 3You spend that Power on cards that ask for it.
Here is one rune deck, so you can see the shape of one.
Your rune deck
This is why a deck picks only one or two colours. If your deck wanted all six, you would almost never have the right colour when you needed it.
Two questions
Nothing is counted here. Have a guess, then open it and see.
Your creature is holding a battlefield. You could move it somewhere else to squash a small creature. Which is better?
Leave it there and hold the place.
YesStill being there when your turn starts is what scores. That is the whole game.
Go and squash the small creature.
Have another goSquashing a creature scores nothing at all. Move away and you hand the place back for free.
A card costs 1 and one orange. You have three Energy and no orange. Can you play it?
You can. Three Energy is more than enough.
Have another goEnergy cannot buy a colour. A card asking for orange will not take Energy instead.
Not yet. You need the orange as well.
YesEnergy pays the number and nothing else. The orange has to come from a rune.
Words on this page
- Power
- The coloured part of a cost. Orange Power is not the same as blue.
- Rune
- A card whose job is making Power. It does not fight.
- Energy
- The price of a card. The first number.
- Match
- Two or three games against the same person, one after another.
- Battlefield
- A place on the table you are fighting over.
- Rune deck
- A second, smaller deck with only runes in it.
- Hold
- Still having a place when your turn starts. This scores.
- Hand
- The cards you are holding. Only you can see them.
Learn the game