Welcome to the Quickstart Guides
In these Quickstart Guides, you will learn about the various aspects of this uniquely magical, fantasy trading card game. These guides, along with the printed game sheet that you find in your Two Player Battle Deck of choice, will be everything you will need to understand the cards and enjoy the Legions Realms at War Trading Card Game.
For the sake of ease in beginning this great journey through the Ravaged Lands and deep into the card game that is rooted in the Old World, we will start with the Card Breakdown...
Quickstart Guide to the Cards
After looking at the example card "Alero, The King Of Kingdoms" we breakdown the key points of the the basis of the Legions Realms at War Trading Card. Follow along with important questions and answers below as they describe to you each section of the card in detail.
What do the Legion Crests with the colour 'swoop' mean?
This is an important aspect of the Legions Realms at War TCG.
The Legion Crests with the colour 'swoop' represent, not only the colour of the respective Legion, but also the coat of arms symbol that represents them as well.
In the case of the example card, 'Alero, The King of Kingdoms'; he is a Hero card. This is represented by the colour blue, and by the symbol of the shield with the crossed swords behind it.
All Hero cards will have this blue colour 'swoop', as well as, share this same Crest symbol. This colour scheme and Crest symbol will change from Legion to Legion, depending on the Legion in which they represent.
The Legions and their colours are as follows:
Heroes = Blue
Orcs = Green
Angels = Yellow
Demons = Red
Undead = Purple
Titans = Orange
Mythical Beasts = Pink
Dwarfs = Black
Bounty = Grey
The main reason why these different respective Legion Crests matter so much, is that you must only play Legion specific cards that correspond with the Legion Crest shared by your Veil/Realm and Warlord cards.
So again in the case of the above example card, if your chosen Realm is the Mortal Realm and your Legion of choice then, would be Hero; you must only play Hero cards throughout your deck.
However there is one small exception to this rule, and that is with the Bounty Realm cards.
Bounty Realm cards are the Grey colour 'swoop' cards with the open book as their respective Legion Crest. These cards are of a neutral standing within the game, and therefore means, you can be free to play these cards in any Legion, no matter the colour. The Bounty Realm is the source of all Majik within the Old World, allowing any Legion to utilize their powers.
*Side note* The Legion Crest and corresponding 'swoop' under the main colour 'swoop' also matter outside of just the gameplay. This includes card rarity and print run as well.
What we mean by this is, instead of representing just the respective colour of the corresponding Legion on the First and Second Edition cards, we have elected to change this for identifiable collectible purposes.
First Edition have Golden Legion Crests, whereas, Second Edition cards have Silver Legion Crests.
When it comes to the second corresponding 'swoop' under the colour 'swoop' we will cover this in the card rarity section.
What kind of Card Types are there? And what does this mean?
In the game of Legions Realms at War there are currently 8 different Card Types. However, only 3 of the Card Types are part of your minimum constructed 50 card main deck .
These main deck Card Types are as follows:
Warrior - These cards are the fighters of your deck. They are the soldiers that you call upon to defend your Warlord in battle and inflict damage to your opponent's Warlord.
Unified - These cards are your spells or unifications through Majik. They will aide your Warriors or Warlord during battle by imposing your will of your Realm upon the game.
Fortified - These cards are your traps and fortifications that you set on the battlefield to be sprung against your opponent or used as a last line of defence.
The other 5 Card Types outside of your main deck count, are part of our innovative game mechanics, as they start already on the playing field.
These Card Types are as follows:
Veil - This card is the portal to your chosen Realm. This is the front side of the only dual sided card in the game. This card starts the game with 3 Veil Counters on it (See Veil Counters section of this Guide for further information).
Realm - This is your chosen Realm itself. This is the back side of the only dual sided card in the game. This card grants you an absolute effect that cannot be countered, negated or responded to.
Warlord - This is your leader and your most important card in the game. This character is your strongest fighter in battle, but also the source of your life. If your Warlord dies, you lose the game. This life total is represented by the DCM number (See Damage Counter Max section of this Guide for further explanation).
Synergy - This is the power that you draw from your Legions connection to their Realm. This card is a source of great power and is game shifting, however because of this, this card has a Cool Down time before another activation (See Cool Down section of this Guide for further information).
Guardian - This card is a character introduced in the first booster set Ravaged Lands. It is a card that has no health or attack power, and cannot be used in battle. However this card can be used in conjunction with your Warlord, granting you more abilities over the course of the game at the cost of your Guardian's Majik, in the form of Alchemy Points (AP) listed on the card. (See Guardian Section in Quickstart Guide to the Deck for further information).
Specific Game Information
Below here you will the basics to some of the specific game information that you will find under the colour 'swoop' on the cards. These abbreviations will be very important when it comes to fully understanding what each of your cards are able to do, and how they function within the game. So let's continue your journey to learning the cards, and see how they work within the game of Legions Realms at War.
Veil Counters (VC)
Veil Counters (VC) appear at the very beginning of the game, right after setup. They only appear on one card on each players side of the field, and that card is the Veil card, which is the only dual sided card in the game (See image below to show how the VC 3 abbreviation is used).
As each one of your turns pass, you remove a Veil Counter from your Veil card. This removing of one of your VCs only happen at the very beginning of your turn, during the Countdown Phase. (See the Quickstart Guide to the Turn Structure for further information on the phases).
*Note* You cannot remove VCs during an opponent's turn, only during your Countdown Phase.
If there are no longer any Veil Counters left to remove during your Countdown Phase, then the Veil is pierced. Piercing the Veil means the Veil card flips over to the other side, revealing the Realm card. Upon the Piercing of the Veil, the Realm card effect will then trigger.
*Note* Remember this effect of the Realm card is an absolute effect (which neither player can respond to and must resolve to the best of it's abilities).
Damage Counter Max (DCM)
The Damage Counter Max (DCM) is the most important number that you need to keep track of in a game of Legions Realms at War TCG. This number appears only on your Warlord and represents the maximum amount of damage your Warlord can take in battle before they die, resulting in you losing the game (See image below to show you how the DCM 70 abbreviation is used).
Each Warlord has a different DCM number based on their respective Legions, the Warlord's fighting style, and the power level of the Warlord's attacks or abilities.
In the game, a Warlord's DCM starts at zero, and damage accumulates as they receive it. They can receive damage by attacks from Warriors, other Warlords, as well as, individual card effects that inflict damage.
So let's break this down a little further shall we...
Your Warlord can take damage both from an opposing player(s) attacks and effects, as well as, your own card effects.
The first way your Warlord can take damage, is simply from your opponents Warriors attacking your Warlord directly. This means, when in battle, if you do not have any Warriors on your side of the field to be in the way of your Warlord and their attacker; your Warlord can receive a direct attack. The damage that is sustained by this is simply the attack of the opposing Warrior being added to your Warlord's current DCM value (ex. if you have taken zero damage to this point in the game and your DCM is 70 then when you take a direct attack from a Warrior with Atk: 5 then your Warlord now has 5 damage, meaning they have only 65 life left before they are dead.)
Now the second way your Warlord can take damage is simply from your opponents Warlord attacking your Warlord directly. This means that once again, if you do not have any warriors on your side of the field to be in the way of your Warlord and the attacking Warlord; your Warlord can receive a direct attack. Damage from an opposing Warlord works the same way as it does from a Warrior attacking. You take the Physical Attack (PA) of your opponent's Warlord and deal that amount to your remaining DCM.
Now the final way your Warlord can take damage is, by you the player inflicting it to your own Warlord, by activating cards or effect that list the Keyword (Bloodbourne). This means whatever the (Bloodbourne) number listed on the card is, is the damage your Warlord receives from that card effect as a cost to activate it (See Keyword Section to further information).
Make your opponent's Warlord reach their maximum DCM before yours does and you win the game!
Cool Down (CD)
The Cool Down (CD) always appears with a number value beside it. This number represents the amount of turns that must pass before you are able to reuse this ability. Currently the only cards in the game that have a Cool Down on them are Warlord cards (for their Special Abilities), and Synergy cards.
All CD numbers of a card start at 0 before you use the effect of the card, however once the effect has been used, that number becomes the CD number listed on the card. Then with each passing turn, during your Countdown Phase, that number reduces by 1.
*Note* CD numbers only reduce in value each of your passing turns after activation (ex. if you activate a card with a CD 5, this means that on the start of your next turn, only during your Countdown Phase, the CD number drops to CD 4. Then it will not drop again, your following Countdown Phase, on the start of your next turn. Your CD numbers do not drop during your opponents turn (unless a card effect states otherwise).
Attack Points (Atk)
Attack Points appear only on Warrior cards, and they are represented by (Atk:) with a number value attached to it. This number value corresponds to, not only the power/damage your Warriors can amass in a basic attack, but also your Warriors health (See the below image to show you how the Atk: 2, abbreviation is used).
If a Warriors (Atk) reaches 0 while battling in any form of battle, or by being dealt damage by a card effect, then that Warrior is destroyed. This results it going to the discard pile.
Warriors can go beyond their initial (Atk) value listed, as there are many cards in more aggressive decks that focus on increasing this number as high or as frequent as possible. They do this to try and achieve the most damage possible to an opponent's Warrior and/or ultimately their Warlord, in an attempt to win the game.
Remains Active (ACT)
Remains Active (ACT) cards stay face-up on the battlefield in their respective zones they were first played in (See image below to show you how the ACT abbreviation is used).
ACT cards can be Unified cards or Fortified cards, and they stay in their zones until a card effect forces them to be destroyed or removed from the field in some way. They usually have either, one or both of a continuous or once per turn effect clause, that you can activate during their respective activation windows (Unified during your turn and Fortified during your opponent's turn).
Armament (ARM)
Armament (ARM) cards are equipment cards. This card equip to a Warrior you have on the battlefield, hopefully with the intent of allowing it to have abilities or increased (Atk) points (See image below to show you how the ARM abbreviation is used).
ARM cards, when equipped, go underneath the Warrior that they are equipped to (which does not take up the space in your Unified or Fortified card zones). However, you must have an available zone free in the corresponding row (Unified or Fortified zone) to initially activate the ARM card before it equips to a target Warrior.
ARM cards can be Unified cards, or they can be Fortified cards. Either or, they become equipped to the targeted Warrior and are now tied to the fates of the equipped Warrior.
If the Warrior that is equipped with an ARM card is destroyed, then the ARM card is also destroyed (unless the ARM card otherwise states).
If the equipped Warrior is returned to the hand by a card effect, the ARM card is returned to the hand as well (unless the ARM card otherwise states).
If the Warrior that is equipped with an ARM card is eradicated, then the ARM card is also eradicated (unless the ARM card otherwise states).
How important are the Card Names?
The card names can be a very important aspect of the game, not only when it comes to deck building overall, but also specific interactions between the cards in the game.
Some cards request a specific Warlord to be used in order to even put them into your deck, let alone play them during a game.
Other cards require you to search your deck for or target a card with a certain name (ex. in a Hero Deck with 'Alero, The King of Kingdoms' as your Warlord, some cards require you to interact with 'Resistance' cards. These cards you play, or attempt to interact with, have the word 'Resistance' in their card name.)
What are the Card Rarities available?
Legions Realms at War The Trading Card Game currently has 5 different card rarities.
All card rarities can be found in the bottom left corner of the cards. They are depicted on the cards in the form of a series of 'Stars' to mark the rarity of the card.
Card 'Star' Rarity is as follows:
1 Star = Common Card
2 Star = Uncommon Card
3 Star = Rare Card
4 'Silver' Star = Renown Rare
5 'Gold' Star = Exalted Rare