7 Keyword Abilities

Ascend

A card with ascend triggers an effect at the start of round 7. The effect lasts the entire round and counts as a temporary effect.
- If a card with ascend is played after the start of round 7, it’s too late and its ascend ability won’t trigger.
- Ascend is a round-specific effect (see 403.1 and 403.5 for timing.)
- Ascend effects only last until the end of the round.

Attuned

When you would spend an action to play an attuned card, instead spend no action if you control a card meeting the requirement.
Attuned cards that reference an orbital, such as “Attuned Petraia” require you to control a land of that orbital to function.
Attuned cards may reference other card stats such as classes or types. Attuned Item or attuned Shark would require you to control a card of that type.
Likewise, a card may just say attuned with no requirement.
Attuned affects a card’s cost before it’s paid, so nullifying an attuned ability has no practical effect.

Awaken

Awaken means if you seized a stone this round, this is awakened. While awakened, the card gets any specified effects.

Call

Call means on arrival, you may move target Wonder one realm towards this card’s realm if its controller controls a stone in this realm. This means if you control a stone here you can move a Wonder you control. If an opponent controls a stone you can move one of their Wonders.

Celestial Counter

A Wonder with a celestial counter gets “Ascend: this gets +4.”
Multiple celestial counters on a Wonder add their effects, so 2 celestial counters would give a Wonder +8 on round 7.

Deathstrike

Deathstrike means whenever this Wonder wins or ties a battle, destroy target enemy.
Check for victory to determine whether the deathstriking Wonder wins or ties a battle, then if so, deathstrike triggers and its controller targets an enemy Wonder in the same realm. Then deathstrike destroys that enemy.
If it was a tie, the stone does not move, even if an enemy was destroyed.
Deathstrike resolves before protector counters or flying.
See 404.3.2 for more timing details.
Deathstrike is not optional.

Deny

When you deny a card, put the specified number of cards from the top of your deck into The Abyss.

Eternal

Eternal triggers an effect when the eternal card is put directly from a deck into The Abyss. This is often caused by a deny effect.

Faith

Some cards generate faith, which is a separate resource tracked like energy and actions. Faith is not lost at the end of each round.
Each player can only spend faith once per round.
A faith ability is one that requires spending faith. Using a faith ability is a free action and uses a turn.

Flying

Flying means when this Wonder attacks, you may move it to an adjacent realm at end of battle (battle timing step 6.) This may let a flier attack in multiple realms in the same round.
Flying counts as an on attack ability, however its effect is not resolved until the end of battle combat step.

Growth Counter

A growth counter on a land means that land is a legendary Wonder with power equal to the number of lands its controller controls. It’s still a land.

Guardian

Guardian means whenever an enemy moves into or arrives in this realm, this Wonder gets +2 this round.

Harvest

Harvest is a tap free ability found mostly on lands.
If you harvest to gain an action, you can’t use the action on the same turn.
Unlike other tap free abilities, harvest lets you activate any number of harvest abilities at once. This is a convenience to avoid excessive passing.
If harvesting multiple cards on one turn results in multiple triggered effects, they all trigger at once. The active player resolves them in the order of their choice.
You can usually only harvest a card once per game unless another effect somehow untaps it.

Heart of a Legend

Heart of a Legend means if you control any other legendary Wonders, whenever this card’s abilities trigger, they trigger twice.
Heart of a Legend only affects abilities printed on the card with the Heart of a Legend ability. It doesn’t affect abilities granted by other effects.
Multiple instances of Heart of a Legend on a card don’t multiply or cause abilities to trigger more than twice.

Hoard

Hoard means if you control a certain number of stones, the ability becomes active. Hoard abilities turn on or off immediately when the stone changes control.

Kingdom

Kingdom abilities are active while their controller controls a certain number of lands of matching orbitals.
For example, “Kingdom 3: Whenever you play a Solfera Wonder, it gets +1 this round.” means nothing happens until you control 3 or more Solfera lands anywhere, (since this ability is on a Solfera land.)

Link

Lands usually have orbital link abilities such as Petraia Link. An orbital link has two important effects:
1. All cards of that orbital cost 1 less energy to play from that player’s hand. This orbital link cost reduction doesn’t stack with multiple links of the same orbital.
  - For example, if a player has three lands with Thalwind link and one land with Umbrathene link, all the Thalwind cards in that player’s hand will cost 1 less energy, and all the Umbrathene cards in their hand will also cost 1 less.
2. Orbital link allows the player to play core cards from their hand.
  - For example, if a Petraia card says “Core” the player can’t play it from their hand until they control a Petraia Link card in The World.
Other abilities, such as seek, may allow players to play core cards without meeting the link requirement.
The realm location of a land doesn’t matter for orbital link abilities in general.
Link abilities can be nullified.

Null Counter

A card with a null counter is nullified. Treat it as though its rules text were blank.

Portal

Portal means to banish a card and then return it to The World immediately.
Since a portaled Wonder leaves The World, its equipment unequips and stays behind. All counters are removed as well.
Cards return to The World untapped and on arrival abilities will re-trigger.
You can’t attempt to portal anything to an inactive realm.
When it returns to The World it does not count as a new instance of the card. This means it will still trigger the same ‘end of round’ effects it had before it was portaled.

Protector

As long as a card has a protector counter, that card is a protector.
- A protector counter is a one-time stoppage of an enemy attack that would seize the stone by winning a battle.
- When the stone would be seized, remove a protector counter from a protector in that battle instead.
- Protectors don’t prevent transfer of stones outside of battles.

Rage

Rage means on arrival, you may attack here before the next player takes their turn. If you do, sacrifice this at the end of battle. You don’t spend an action for the rage attack.
When you resolve the rage ability, you choose whether to make the rage attack. If you do, it generates a new battle. Resolve the steps of this battle. Then resolve any other unresolved effects if necessary.
- This means if rage triggers simultaneously with other on arrival effects, the active player may choose to complete the rage battle before those other on arrival effects resolve.

Seek

When seek resolves, reveal a number of cards from the top of your deck.
- Choose a specified card, if able, and you may play it for no cost in that realm as if played from your hand. If there are no specifications, such as “Seek 1 a card.” then you can choose any card revealed.
- If it’s a spell you can still choose targets in other realms.
- Bury the revealed cards that weren’t played. You can play core cards using seek regardless of your links.
- If a card has a triggered ability that says “whenever this is revealed from the top of your deck…” that triggered ability resolves before the revealed cards are buried.

Shield

A shield counter is a one-time protection against destruction or targeting.
- Whenever a card you control with a shield counter would be destroyed or be targeted, you may remove the shield counter on it instead.
- A shield can prevent your card from destruction by your own effect, such as Corruption Warp.
- A shield can’t prevent a sacrifice.
- Shield Counter and Shield mean the same thing. A shield is a type of counter even if it doesn’t say counter.

Stun

Stun has two effects:
- First, it taps the stunned Wonder. Note that tapping is permanent, so the controller may not be able to use that card’s tap ability, although it can still attack and defend normally.
- Second, stun reduces the Wonder’s base power to 0 until the end of the round. Effects like + and - counters and buffs from equipment are not part of the base power.
Remember that Wonders with less than 0 power die.

Symbiosis

Cards with symbiosis copy all the abilities of one or more other targeted Wonders on arrival.
- Wonders with symbiosis can only copy abilities of Wonders with the same power as the card with symbiosis unless a card specifies an exception.
- Check that the power matches when the triggered symbiosis effect resolves. If the power no longer matches when symbiosis resolves, it does nothing.
- When symbiosis copies an on arrival ability, trigger that on arrival ability. Symbiosis won’t copy on play abilities.
- The copy effect is locked in on resolution and won’t change if the copied source leaves or changes.
Symbiosis can’t copy another symbiosis ability.
If a symbiosis ability is nullified and then un-nullified, it won’t revert to the previous ability, since symbiosis abilities must be set on arrival.
Some cards may use symbiosis to copy abilities of non-Wonder cards.
Symbiosis counts as an on arrival ability.
Since symbiosis targets as it resolves, it can be stopped by effects that prevent targeting, such as shield. However, once the copy effect has resolved it’s no longer targeting so a later shield won’t affect it.
Symbiosis does not copy abilities granted by non-symbiosis effects. For example, symbiosis doesn’t copy abilities granted by equipment.
Symbiosis can chain, meaning symbiosis can copy a copy of an ability.

Example 1: Seraphina “The Serpent” Blackthorn is copied by a Rootling Terror. That Rootling Terror is copied by a second Rootling Terror. What happens?

Seraphina says “Deathstrike. Token Wonders you control get deathstrike.”
A Rootling Terror arrives. Rootling Terror reads “ON ARRIVAL: Put up to three -1 counters on target Wonder. Symbiosis.”
The Rootling Terror’s controller resolves its three -1 counters ability, then targets Seraphina with symbiosis. Its controller resolves the symbiosis ability copying the deathstrike and granting deathstrike to tokens.
A second Rootling Terror arrives. Its controller resolves this Terror’s -1 counters ability, then targets the first Terror with its symbiosis. Then he resolves the symbiosis ability, copying the first Terror’s -1 counters ability and resolving it. Then the second Terror gets the copied deathstrike and grants an additional deathstrike ability to tokens.
Note that in this case, that player’s tokens get deathstrike twice, meaning each token can kill two enemies when deathstrike triggers.

Example 2: A Swamp Sovereign is copied by a Vobb Stalker. That Vobb Stalker is copied by a Glemmer Bandit. What happens?

Swamp Sovereign has power 0 and reads “Symbiosis effects can target this as if it had any power. If any symbiosis ability is copying this, this gets +8.”
A Vobb Stalker arrives. It has power 2 and symbiosis. The Vobb Stalker targets Sovereign with symbiosis and resolves it. Now the Vobb Stalker has the Sovereign’s ability and the Sovereign gets +8 power.
A Glemmer Bandit arrives. It has power 1 and symbiosis. It copies the Vobb Stalker. (It can do this because the Vobb Stalker has copied the Sovereign ability that lets it be targeted by any symbiosis.) Now the Vobb Stalker gets +8 and its power is 10. The Glemmer Bandit now has the Swamp Sovereign ability.

Unstable

Unstable means on round end, sacrifice this card.