1 Cards

Wonders cards have the following stats.

• Name
• Class
• Card Type
• Tier
• Energy Cost
• Card #
• Set Name
• Power
• Orbital
• Core Mechanic
• Faction
• Ability
• Rarity

• The card name defines the card for deckbuilding purposes.
• For example, Eternium the Space Lich is a legendary Wonder, which means only one copy can go in a deck. If another legendary Wonder is published with the name Eternium the Void Tyrant, that would be a different card. Although it may represent the same character in the lore, it counts as a different card and can go in the same deck as Eternium the Space Lich.

• Wonders, lands, items, and spells usually have classes such as Dragon, City, Sword, or Rite.
• When an effect refers to a class, it refers to all cards with that class.

• Cards without one of the following types (such as faith tracker cards) aren’t in-game objects.

• Wonders are fighting units that add their power in battle.

• Lands can be played to any active realm.
• It generally doesn’t matter where you play lands in The World. Land abilities work no matter what realm they are played in unless otherwise stated.

• Spells have an effect and are then put in The Abyss.

• Some items are equipment, meaning they attach to a Wonder you control when they are in the same realm.
  • Equipment cards enhance the stats and/or abilities of Wonders. (See key term ‘equip’ for details.)
• Other items are used on their own for activated or ongoing abilities.

• If an effect adds a type to a card, that card retains all features of each type.
• If an effect is triggered based on a card’s type, and then the type changes before resolution, the effect still resolves.
• For example, a land becomes both a land and a Wonder and Staff of the Eldritch Tribesmen equips to it. Then the land/Wonder dies. The Staff reads “Whenever equipped Wonder dies, return it from The Abyss to target realm at end of round.” This ability triggers while the card is still a Wonder. While it’s in The Abyss it’s no longer a Wonder, but it will still be returned to a realm at the end of the round since the return effect doesn’t require it to be a Wonder.

A card’s tier determines the maximum copies of that card allowed in a deck.

• Legendary: 1x per deck
• Primary: 2x per deck
• Secondary: 3x per deck

• This is the amount of energy required to play the card from your hand.
• Playing a card for free means no cost is paid, and all energy cost modifiers are ignored.

• This represents a Wonder’s ability to win battles. It’s found in the upper right corner of the card. Only Wonder cards have a power stat. Only cards with a power stat can battle.
• Some cards may have * to represent their power. This means their power is determined by their rules text or some other factor. If * is somehow undefined, it’s 0.
• Any Wonder with negative power dies. Wonders with 0 power operate normally.
• It’s possible for power and other stats to be infinite.
• Base power refers to the power stat printed on the card. This may be different from its current power if it’s getting modified by equipment, counters, or other effects.
• When calculating current power, use this order of operations.
  • Start with the card’s base power, as printed on the card or represented by the token.
  • Apply additive or subtractive modifiers, such as from -1 counters or equipment.
  • Apply multiplicative modifiers, such as halving or doubling.

• Factions are on the right side of the card and operate in a similar manner to classes.

Orbitals are worlds or universes where the stories of Wonders of the First take place. Almost every card comes from an orbital. Orbitals are identified by the icon in the upper right, under the power/type box. Cards get energy cost discounts from other cards (such as lands) with matching orbitals. (See Link in the Keywords section below.)

• Petraia
• Thalwind
• Solfera
• Umbrathene
• Heliosynth
• Boundless

• Cards that do not have one of the six orbital icons have no orbital.
• For example, if a card says “choose an orbital. Destroy all cards of that orbital.” that card can’t be used to destroy The First, which has no orbital.

• A card’s ability is its rules text, located in the bottom middle of the card face.
• Sometimes flavor text is in this area as well. Flavor text is italicized and has no effect on rules.

• If a card stat or resource would increase (or decrease) endlessly, it becomes infinity (or negative infinity.) This may have some unintuitive implications.
• For example, infinity + infinity = infinity. Therefore two Wonders with infinite power versus one Wonder with infinite power will tie.
• It’s possible to have other infinite game objects, such as infinite faith, energy, and tokens.
• For example, you play the card Strange Mutated Mass adjacent to another Strange Mutated Mass that already has a power greater than zero. Both Masses now have infinite power. If you harvest The Mount of Helios using its kingdom ability, you’ll have infinite faith.
• If any value in the game is indeterminate (such as infinity minus infinity,) or necessarily undefined, that value is 0.
• For details, refer to math.

2 Other Game Objects

• Use gemstones or other game pieces to represent control of stones in the realms.
• Stones start in the center of a realm and when seized, move to that player’s side.
• It’s possible for stones to be banished or moved around The World.
• Stones still exist in inactive realms, although they can’t be interacted with.

Players should use dice, markers, or some other visible method to track their energy, actions, and other resources such as faith.

• Energy is a resource gained automatically at the start of each round. It’s used to pay costs of cards when played from your hand.
• At the start of each round, you gain energy equal to the current round number, plus one energy for each stone you control.
• Unused energy is lost at the end of each round.

• Actions are a resource gained automatically at the start of each round. An action is used to play a card from your hand, attack, draw, or use other abilities that require actions.
• You gain 3 actions at the start of each round.
• Unused actions are lost at the end of each round.

• Faith is a resource generated by specific cards. Some cards also allow you to spend faith.
• You can only spend faith once per round.
• Faith carries over between rounds.
• Using a faith ability (an ability that requires spending faith) uses a turn, and counts as a free action.

• Tokens are a type of virtual card created by card abilities.
• Tokens don’t start the game in your main deck. They may start the game in a separate area called the archive.
• Tokens can’t exist in a player’s hand, deck, banishment, or The Abyss. If a token goes to one of these areas, it stops existing as soon as it arrives.
• This means tokens do trigger “when dies/destroyed” and similar abilities before they stop existing.
• When a token is created, you have the option to use some kind of stand-in game piece to represent the token or to use a printed card version.
  • If you use a stand-in to represent the token, that token is the basic version, meaning it has only the characteristics defined by the effect that created it.
  • If there’s no type specified, the token is a Wonder.
  • If there’s no power specified, the power is 1.
  • If there’s no cost specified, the cost is 0.
  • Stand-ins have the same orbital(s) as the card that created them. Printed tokens may have different orbitals.
  • Don’t use a stand-in to represent a printed token.
  • Don’t use a printed token to represent a stand-in.
  • Use stand-ins that are reasonably easy to identify and differentiate on the table. It’s recommended to use a physical reminder of the stand-in token’s base power.
• If you use a printed version of the token, that token has all the stats and abilities printed on the card. Printed tokens may include additional classes, abilities, and other stats that make the card different from the token’s basic version.
  • A printed token must adhere to the minimum requirements of the effect that created it.
  • For example, if an ability says “create a 2-power Dog Hero token,” you can use a token card with classes Dog Hero Warrior. But you could not use a printed token card that is only a Dog or only a Hero.
  • For example, Power of Bloodlines says “Sacrifice a Wonder. If you do, create four 1-power Undead token Wonders distributed in any realms. They get the same classes as the sacrificed Wonder.” If a player sacrifices an Angel, they can use any printed Wonder tokens that meet the minimum requirements: 1-power, with the classes Undead and Angel. In this case they could even use four different tokens, such as an Undead Wolf Angel and an Undead Angel Hero with flying, assuming those printed versions are in that player’s archive.
  • Minimum requirements may include the token name. If a card creates a Bella token, you can use a printed token named Bella, or a printed version named Bella The Brave.
  • As with the other minimum requirements, when an effect creates a token copy of something, the printed copy token must have the same type, such as Wonder, item, spell, or land. You can’t use a printed Copy Item token to represent a copied Wonder token.
  • Printed tokens start the game in your archive (previously known as token deck.) Each printed token has a DBS score, added to the total score of the main deck.
  • Printed tokens are identified by a T as their rarity symbol in the lower right corner.
  • When a printed token would stop existing, such as when it’s put in The Abyss, it’s not eligible to be used in the game again. It doesn’t return to the archive.

• Counters are markers used to track ongoing modifications to the game. Counters can be put on cards or players. Some counters define what they do on the card that creates them, (such as meat counters and spin counters.) Other counters have built-in effects. Some counters with built-in effects include:
  • Shield counters
  • +1 and -1 counters
  • Celestial counters
  • Null counters
• When a card’s location changes from one area to another, such as from The World to The Abyss, remove all counters and effects from it.
• When a card becomes nullified, this doesn’t affect counters on it.
• For example, a Wonder can be nullified and a celestial counter on it will still give it ascend.

3 Areas of the Game

There are five areas where cards can exist: The World, a Deck, a Hand, The Abyss, and Banishment.

• The World is the main area of the game, with 7 realms to conquer.
• Realms are numbered based on the layout chosen at the start of the game. If a realm fails to open for some reason, its number doesn’t change.
• There’s generally no limit to the number of Wonders, items, or lands that can be in a realm.

• Each player brings a deck of cards they own. Deckbuilding rules depend on the format. See the deckbuilding section for more details.
• Players can also bring an archive (token deck,) which counts as a subsection of their deck.
• Cards you don’t own can’t go into your deck for any reason.

• Draw cards from your deck into your hand. Then play cards from your hand into The World.
• You normally keep the cards in your hand hidden, but there’s no penalty for showing cards in your hand to anyone.
• Cards you don’t own can’t go in your hand for any reason.

• The Abyss is the discard pile. Although it’s called The Abyss, each player maintains their own separate pile of cards in The Abyss.
• Cards you don’t own can’t go in your Abyss pile for any reason.

• When cards are banished, they go to banishment and are effectively removed from the game.

• Whenever a card moves from one area to another, it loses all effects on it.
• Whenever a card moves from one area to another, check its abilities to see if they trigger.
• Movement-replacement effects work from any area of the game. Movement replacement effects use the term “instead” to replace the object’s movement with another effect.
• Note that moving between areas refers to cards moving from a deck to hand, hand to The World, World to The Abyss, and so forth. Movement between realms refers to moving to a new location within The World and does not remove effects.

• Realms that have not yet opened are called unopened, locked, or inactive. If a card, stone, or other game object would somehow enter or exist in an inactive realm, it’s banished instead.
• Inactive realms are not part of The World.

• When a realm is banished, all stones and cards there are also banished.
• A banished realm is an inactive realm.
• Banished cards and other objects can’t interact with a banished realm since a banished realm is inactive.

Card abilities are generally only active while in The World, or in the case of spells, when played. In general, cards do not have any abilities while in a hand, deck, The Abyss, or banishment. There are some exceptions to this, such as:

• Cards that specify an ability while in a certain area such as The Abyss or Banishment.
• For example, the eternal ability creates an effect when that card enters The Abyss from a deck.
• Stat-defining abilities, which are abilities that specify a card’s power or other stat. These apply in all areas of the game.
• For example, Gem Primordial says “This gets power equal to two times the current round.” This means on round 7 it has 14 power whether it’s in your deck, hand, or The Abyss.
• Check a card’s abilities when that card moves from one game area to another.
• Movement replacement abilities (using the term “instead”) work from any area.

Unless otherwise specified, card abilities only affect other cards in The World.

• Sirius Aetherblade says “Opponents’ items with cost 2 or less and enemies with cost 2 or less are nullified.” This ability won’t nullify anything in The Abyss, a player’s hand, or other areas.

Each player brings a main deck with 50 cards. Tiers determine how many copies of a card are allowed in a 50-card deck.

• Legendary: 1x per deck
• Primary: 2x per deck
• Secondary: 3x per deck

• DBS stands for Deck Balance Score, which is a point cost assigned to every card.
  • When you build a deck, add up the DBS points of every card in that deck, and all token cards in its archive (token deck,) if any. The total deck DBS score is used for matchmaking and similar uses.
• DBS numbers are not found on the card. They’re available in the official card database, available at play.wondersccg.com.
• DBS is also a way of balancing overpowered cards and changing the metagame, so the values are expected to change on a regular basis.
• Using DBS for matchmaking is optional for casual play.

• You can start the game with an archive (token deck) in addition to your main deck. An archive starts with a minimum of 1 token and maximum 50 tokens.
• When you create a token you can choose to select a printed one from your archive or use a stand-in piece to represent it. If you don’t have any printed tokens that meet requirements in your archive, you must use a stand-in.
• The archive is face up, generally visible to all players, and is not shuffled or kept in any particular order. It’s used mainly as a pool of cards to select from.
• Cards you don’t own can’t go in your archive for any reason.
• Tokens have DBS points and their points are added to the DBS of the entire deck.

Players can choose from a number of deckbuilding formats or play variants, as long as they agree ahead of time. In casual play, players can create their own Deck Balance Score categories. Check wondersccg.com for details.

• The prerelease format ignores the core requirement to play core cards. Core cards can be played regardless of whether the player has any orbital links.
• Players can include token lands in their starting decks.

• The official card database is compete.wondersccg.com.

4 Sequence of Play

• If you’ve just played a game against the same player, the loser of the last game chooses who is the first player.
• Otherwise, players flip a coin to determine the first player. The winner chooses who will play first. The player who plays second chooses whether realm 1 will start on their left or right.

• To start the game, each player shuffles their deck and draws 7 cards into their hand.

• Each player can choose up to 3 cards in their hand.
  • Put these on the bottom of their decks in any order and then draw that many from their deck.
  • The player going first mulligans first.

• The game takes place over 7 rounds. During each round, the players play Wonder, land, or item cards from their hands into the current round’s realm and/or any realms of previous rounds. To begin, each realm starts with a stone to mark who controls it.
• Steps of the round are:
  1. Beginning of Round
  2. Take Turns
  3. Round End

Beginning of the round is an umbrella term that encompasses all the events in this step. Some cards use the term “The start of the round” which means the same thing. However, if a card refers to On Round Start or On Round N, this refers specifically to the trigger event after the new realm opens.

1. The new realm opens.
2. Add energy and actions.
   • Each player adds one energy for each round that has happened in the game.
   • For example, on round 5 each player adds 5 energy.
   • Each player also adds one energy for each stone they control.
   • Each player gains 3 actions.
3. Trigger On Round Start effects and/or On Round N effects in the same event.
   • This includes round-specific events such as ascend.
     • If there are multiple triggered events the active player (the player who will take the first turn of the round) chooses the order of resolution, one at a time.
4. Each player draws a card.
5. The first player begins their turn.

• The player who most recently seized a stone takes the first turn each round.
• If no stones have been seized, the player who took the first turn on round 1 continues to do so.
• Players alternate turns until all actions have been used (or all players have passed consecutively).
  • Using an action or a free action is considered taking a turn.
• If the player plays a card, uses an ability, or passes, resolve any effects and/or resulting triggers. As soon as the effects and triggers of the player’s turn have resolved, that player’s turn ends.

On your turn, spend an action to:

• Draw a card.
• Play a card.
• Attack with all your Wonders in a single active realm.
• Activate an ability that requires an action.

Alternatively, you can use your turn for a free action, if available:

• Tap free, sacrifice free, free attack, attuned, and harvest abilities are played like an action, but don’t consume an action.
• You can also pass for free.

You can draw multiple cards, play multiple cards, activate multiple abilities, and attack multiple times each round using actions if you choose.

Note: Many cards allow players to gain extra energy and actions within turns.

• When all players have passed consecutively, the round ends.
• If any player has made 11 consecutive passes within a round, the round ends.
• If you have no actions and no other ways to use your turn (such as a tap free ability or an attuned card,) you automatically pass.
• At the end of the round each player loses unspent actions, energy, and discards down to 7 cards. See below for details.

The next round begins with the first player continuing to play until a player seizes a stone. From that point forward, the last player to seize a stone is the first player.

• End of Turn Step “This turn” effects and On Turn End effects end simultaneously. Resolve any resulting effects from those ending.
• End of Round Step Then if it’s the end of the round, at the end of round N and On Round End effects end. This includes round-specific effects, such as ascend and nullify.
  • As with any multiple simultaneous triggered effects, the active player controls the order. This means the last player to pass is in charge of ordering multiple end of round effects.
  • Unspent actions are lost.
  • Unspent energy is lost.
  • Each player with more than 7 cards in their hand discards cards until their hand is 7 cards. These cards are discarded simultaneously.
  • If it’s round 7, the game ends after all End of Round effects resolve. Check for victory and determine the winner.
• As soon as the End of Round Step ends, the round is over and “this round” effects stop.
  • For example, Path of Light says “This round, nullify all items and lands,” If this is played on round 7, Formless Stones will remain nullified during the check for game victory, and will not be stones, since their ability text is blank.
• When an effect specifies this round, or until end of round, it always means this round, not the end of a future round.
• When one round is over, the next round begins immediately, unless the game ended.
• For example, Orionis Skydreamer has power equal to the current round. If there is a -1 counter on him, he will not die between rounds.

• Use an action to draw a card from your deck to your hand.

• The card types are Wonder, land, item, and spell.
• To play a card:
  • Use an action and spend energy to pay the cost of a card from your hand.
  • Place it into an active realm (the current realm or any previous round’s realm) or into The Abyss if it’s a spell.
  • Resolve all triggered effects and then pass the turn.

Additional Rules For Playing Cards

• Cards can’t cost less than 0 energy.
• Lands cost 1 action to play from your hand and have the orbital link ability.
• There’s no limit to the number of cards allowed in a realm.

Core Mechanic

• The core mechanic of a card specifies whether a card has the core stat. If a card is core, it can’t be played from your hand unless you have the matching orbital link. This usually means you control a land of the same orbital.
• In general, if an effect lets you play a card for free, the core mechanic of the card doesn’t apply.
• If an effect lets you play a card as though it was in your hand, the core mechanic does apply.
• For example, the card Eye of the Maelstrom says “You may play cards from the top of your deck as if they were in your hand.” In this case you are required to have the correct orbital link to play a core card from the top of your deck.

• You can spend an action to attack in any active realm if you have any Wonders there.
  • The side with higher total power in that realm conquers that realm and gains control of that stone.
  • If it’s a tie, the stone will not move.

• All Wonders in a realm must attack together.
• You are allowed to attack multiple times in the same realm and same round using actions.
• You can’t attack unless you have at least one Wonder to attack with. Attacks involve all Wonders in a realm or none. A player can’t choose to attack with a subset of Wonders.
• When Wonders attack and there are no defenders, the opponent is still the defending player.
• ‘On battle’ triggers still happen when there are no defending Wonders.
• When checking for victory, any Wonders will beat no Wonders.
• For example, if you are attacking with 0 or less power against no enemies when you check for victory in a battle, you still win the battle.
• If there are multiple stones in a realm, each battle you win lets you seize one stone. If you want to seize two stones you need to attack and win twice.
• If an effect states that players or Wonders can’t attack in a realm, no attack can take place there, including attacks that would otherwise be enabled by triggered effects or replacement effects, such as Kanevil Wayfarer’s.

1. On Attack step — Once you declare an attack and spend the action (or free attack), any of your cards in that realm with “On Attack” abilities trigger. These triggers are created simultaneously and resolved in the active player’s chosen order. Abilities that say “whenever (something) attacks” trigger at the same time as On Attack abilities.
2. On Defense step — After resolving On Attack triggers, any cards controlled by the defending player in that realm with On Defense abilities trigger. These triggers are created simultaneously and resolved in the active player’s chosen order.
3. On Battle step — Now trigger On Battle triggers from any cards in that realm. These triggers are created simultaneously and resolved in the active player’s chosen order.
4. Check for victory — Sum the power of each player’s Wonders in the realm. The higher total wins the battle. A tie means the battle is a draw.
5. Move a stone — If the attacker wins, they choose and seize one stone from the realm. This can be from the center or the opponent. If there are multiple stones, the attacker seizes only one. If the defender wins that player seizes a stone if able. If the battle is a tie, the stone does not move.
6. End of battle — After moving (or not moving) the stone, resolve any end-of-battle effects. These include abilities such as Flying (moving a Wonder to an adjacent realm) and other cards that trigger “at end of battle.” Once all end of battle abilities resolve, the battle is finished and play proceeds to the next turn or action.

For example, Chained Crow has Deathstrike and Flying. It attacks and the battle is a tie 6 to 6. The check for victory step registers the tie. This counts as tying a battle, so Deathstrike triggers and destroys an enemy. Since the battle was a tie, the stone doesn’t move during the move stone step. During the end of battle step, the attacking player has the Crow fly to another realm.

• Tap abilities let you use a card’s ability for an effect on your turn. To show the tap ability has been used, tap the card (turn it sideways.)
• Tapped cards can still battle and operate normally.
• Some abilities require you to spend an action, sacrifice the card, or have other costs.
• Only one card’s ability can be activated per turn. Harvest is an exception, and allows you to harvest any number of cards simultaneously.

• If you’re done using actions this round, or if you want to see what your opponent does next, you can pass.
• If you have no actions left and no other ways to use a turn, you automatically pass.
  • You’re exempt from automatically passing if you use your turn to play a card that doesn’t require an action, such as a card with the attuned ability.
• If you’ve already passed you aren’t required to keep passing on your later turns that round.
• When all players pass consecutively the round ends.
• Passing does not use up an action or any other resources.

• Whenever a player passes 11 times consecutively in a round, the round ends. This rule is intended to prevent abuse of excessively long rounds.

• In most cases, passing counts as taking a turn. But some cards may refer to the “last player that took a turn.” These cards are referring to the last player to play, attack, draw with a turn, or activate an ability, and passing does not count as taking a turn for these abilities.
• For example, the card Ayu Goss says “If you took the last turn of the round, you may untap target land or Wonder.” In this case passing is not counted as taking a turn.

• After the end of round 7, check to see the current controller of each stone. The player with the most stones wins the game.
• In case of a draw, the victory goes to the player controlling the lowest numbered realm with a single controller, (this is usually realm 1.) Otherwise, the draw stands.
• If at any time a deck has no cards, that player loses.
• If all other players lose, the remaining player wins.

5 Resolving Effects

• Effects that are automatically produced according to some condition are triggered effects.
• Cards that say “when” or “whenever”, “on battle”, or “at the beginning of round 3” are timing keywords that produce triggered effects. There’s no distinction between the terms “when” or “whenever.” They are interchangeable. See the game terms section for more details.
• When a triggered effect is created, the controller of that effect resolves it immediately. If it triggers in the middle of another effect resolving, finish the first effect before resolving the second.
  • For example, you play a spell that says “Destroy target Wonder and draw a card.” This triggers another card’s ability that reads “Whenever a Wonder dies, you may deny 1.” In this case, you draw the card before you deny 1.
• If you control a card, you are the controller of all its effects. You make all decisions required for those effects, such as targeting, and you gain resources from those effects.

• When a targeted effect is triggered, choose the target or targets on the effect’s resolution.
• For example, Cursed Passages of Haem says ”…Sacrifice three Wonders and return a Wonder you own from The Abyss to target realm.” First you sacrifice three Wonders. Then you choose a target Wonder in The Abyss. You can target one of the Wonders you just sacrificed.
• Targeted effects use the word “target.”

• If multiple effects happen at the same time, resolve those effects one at a time in any order chosen by the active player.
• When multiple triggered effects occur, resolve them first in the order of the active player’s choice before resolving the action that created them.
  • Triggered Effects Example 1: An item says “Whenever an opponent plays a spell, you may discard a card from your hand. If you do, nullify the spell.” When an opponent plays a spell, pause the resolution of that spell until you choose to discard. After you discard, then resolve the spell. (If a spell is nullified, it resolves but has no effect since its ability text is blank.)
  • Triggered Effects Example 2: The active player’s opponent has a Wonder with the ability “When this dies, create a 1 power Skeleton token Wonder in this realm.” The opponent also has a Wonder with “When this dies, put +2 counters on target Wonder in this realm.” Both Wonders die at the same time, creating two triggered effects. The active player (the player whose turn it is) chooses to resolve the +2 counters effect first, making it useless since the opponent has nothing to target. Then the active player chooses to resolve the Skeleton token effect.

• When a series of triggered effects or static effects results in an endless loop or sequence, it may be voluntary or involuntary.
• If voluntary, the player controlling the effects has to end it to avoid stalling out the game. The player making the choice to keep the sequence going states the number of times they will repeat the sequence. Then they end the sequence by making a different choice. If two players have a choice that keeps the loop going, the active player is required to make another choice.
• If involuntary, the game will automatically prevent one of the effects in the loop so as not to crash the game with endless recursion. The active player chooses how many times the loop will continue, and then which effect will be prevented. The player can only choose to prevent an effect that’s necessary to perpetuate the endless sequence.

• Replacement effects use the term “instead.” When a replacement effect happens, the effect being replaced doesn’t happen.
• For example, Pastel Bloom Drake’s ability says “If this would be banished, put it into target realm instead.” When this effect happens it won’t trigger anything that triggers when a card enters banishment.
• Effects that replace movement from one game area to another work from any area. So if Pastel Bloom Drake is banished from a deck its ability still works.
• If competing replacement effects create an endless loop, one of the effects in the loop will be prevented, per rule 503, Endless Loops of Effects.

• Cards on your side of the board are cards you control. When you take control of a card controlled by another player, move it to your side in the same realm. If a card doesn’t specify “this round” or other time constraints, you keep control of it indefinitely.
• In general when a card leaves The World and re-enters, it’s effectively a new copy of the card. This means if a card says “Banish a card you control and return it to target realm.” It will enter under your control permanently, as if you played it.
  • Portal is an exception to this. Portaled cards remember their origin and keep their “end of round” and other effects despite being banished and re-entering.
• In some cases a card or other object may move to the center of a realm. In this case, no one controls that card.
• When a card refers to your cards, it means cards you control.
• In general, when a player gains control of an opponent’s card, that card stays in the same realm unless otherwise specified.
• When a player gains control of another player’s card, any items equipped to it stay equipped, but do not change control. This means a weapon can remain equipped to a Wonder that is now on the other side of the board.
• If a card says something can’t be controlled by a player, this overrides any effects that would otherwise give control to that player.
• For example, The Windreaver says “ON PLAY: Gain control of target enemy Wonder this round. Untap it.” You use this ability to gain control of an enemy Wonder, then equip Whisperleaf Cloak to that Wonder. Whisperleaf Cloak reads, in part, “Opponents can’t tap, control, or put counters on equipped Wonder.” This means the Wonder controlled by The Windreaver’s on play effect does not return to the opponent’s control at the end of the round. If Whisperleaf Cloak is removed later, the Wonder returns to its original controller at that time.

• An effect’s controller is the player who played or controlled the card that created the effect.

• If you control the most stones in a realm, you control that realm.

• When you control another player’s turn you can see their hand and any other information they can see.
• You can’t show their cards to other players or do anything outside normal game play. You can’t make them concede and they can still concede.

• For purposes of game rules, a player owns a card if it started the game in their deck or archive. This rule doesn’t reference how they physically acquired the card.

• If an effect instructs you to distribute cards as evenly as possible between realms, you choose where to place them without knowing what cards they are as long as you keep the same number in each realm as much as possible.
• For example, Autumn, Essence Animated says “Tap Free: Banish this. Shuffle all Wonders you own in The Abyss. Distribute them as evenly as possible in all realms, face down.” In this case, if you own only one card in The Abyss you choose where to place it.
• You can’t choose to distribute cards in inactive realms.

• Wonders, items, lands, spells, tokens, abilities, and effects can be copied.
• Copy effects use the word “copy.”
• For example, Skraal, Ruler of the Three Lakes has the ability ”…Choose an on arrival ability of another Wonder you control. Trigger it 3 times.” This doesn’t count as a copy ability.
• Copies of Wonders, items, and lands create a token with all the stats and abilities of the copied card, except they are tokens in addition.
• Copies of cards have the stats and abilities as defined by the printed version of the card
• Token copies aren’t played, so they don’t trigger on play abilities. But they do trigger on arrival and symbiosis abilities.
• If an existing card becomes a copy of something, that card loses its old characteristics and is overwritten by the new ones.
• Copied stats and abilities are set when the copy is created. Changing the stats of the original card won’t affect the copy.
• If a card’s rules text refers to its own name, copies of that rules text use “this card” instead of the copied card name. (This means the copies will also refer to themselves and work the same way as the original.)
• A copy of a spell, ability, or effect has virtual card text, and therefore can be nullified.
• A copy of a nullified card copies the blank rules text, but the copy is not itself nullified.

• In general, “can’t” overwrites effects.
• For example, if an ability says “You may untap all Wonders,” and another ability says “Wonders can’t untap,” no Wonders will untap.
• For example, if an ability says “Nullify all Wonders,” and another ability says “Wonders you control can’t be nullified,” then your Wonders won’t be nullified.
• When only part of an effect is possible, do as much of the effect as possible.
• For example, you can play a card that says “Tap target Wonder and draw a card,” even if there are no Wonders in The World. In this case you would only draw a card.
• If two abilities contradict each other, do as much as possible without contradiction and then use the most recent ability to overwrite the other in order to resolve the contradiction. Overwrite only the parts needed to resolve the contradiction.
• For example, one item has a static ability “All Wonders here are Soldiers with base power 0.” Another item is played in that realm with the static ability “All Wonders here are Vampires with base power 2.” In this case, all Wonders are Vampire Soldiers with base power 2.

• To tap a card, turn it sideways.
• You can only untap a card if it’s already tapped.
• Some abilities, such as harvest, are tap abilities even though they don’t say tap ability.
• Tapping is generally done once per game per card, although some card abilities let you untap cards to use them again.

Abilities will sometimes put face down cards in The World as a means of randomization. Until they are turned face up they don’t count as any card type and have no effect on the game. When they are turned face up, treat them as if they entered from The Abyss.

When a card refers to the first time, second time, third time, or similar, use the actual number of times that event has happened in that round, game, and so forth.

For example, Glacium Keep says “When you play a third Thalwind land, you may untap this.” This only triggers once per game, when you have played exactly two Thalwind lands and you play the third. This ability won’t trigger again that game.

6 Game Terms

• The place where destroyed or discarded cards go. Although it’s called “The Abyss,” each player maintains a separate pile of cards they own in The Abyss.

• The term Ability refers to the text at the bottom center of the card, also called rules text. In contrast, the term Card Text refers to all the text on the card, including text like classes, card name, and so forth.
• Flavor text is not part of a card’s Ability or Card Text.

• Each player gets 3 actions per round. Use an action to play a card, attack, draw, or activate an ability.

• The player currently taking a turn is the active player.

• Any realm that has been opened (unlocked). Cards can only exist in active realms. Only active realms can be targeted. Cards can’t be moved, portaled, or otherwise directed to arrive in an inactive realm.
• If an active realm is banished, it’s still active.

• Some cards use the term allies or allied Wonders. This means all Wonders on your side of the board, which is the same thing as all Wonders you control. This is in contrast to enemies or enemy Wonders.

• A card arrives when it enters any realm from a hand, The Abyss, deck, or banishment. Moving from realm to realm doesn’t count as arriving.

• Banishment is a game area outside decks, hands, The World, and The Abyss. (If a Wonder or other card is banished, it doesn’t trigger “when this dies” abilities.)
• Realms, stones, and other game objects can exist in banishment.
• In order to banish a realm, it must be possible to banish everything in that realm. If an object in that realm can’t be banished, that entire ‘banish realm’ effect is prevented.
• A banished realm is an inactive realm.

• Base power refers to the power stat on the card before modifying effects are applied.
• For example, Syl Scaleweaver has base power 0. Her second ability says “This gets +1 for each stone you control.” While you control 2 stones, Syl has power 2 and base power 0.
• In some rare cases, such as with Agaric Supreme, you may need to use a visual method to keep track of unmarked ongoing base power changes.

• Any time a player attacks in a realm, a battle occurs. There’s an attacking player and a defending player. Sum the power of each player’s Wonders in that realm to determine the winner. The winner conquers that realm and seizes its stone.

• Put a card or group of cards on the bottom of its owner’s deck in any order of the owner’s choice.

• Cards have classes that describe their categories and roles such as Monster, Rite, or Utility. Some classes have special rules, such as equipment.

• Cards with the core stat can’t be played from your hand unless you have a matching orbital link established.
• For example, you can’t play a core Petraia card unless you control a Petraia Link in a realm.

• Some abilities put + and - power counters on cards. These counters give a permanent increase or decrease to that Wonder’s power.
  • When both + and - counters are on a card, they eliminate each other. Remove an equal number of + and - counters as a rules-generated triggered effect.
  • When a Wonder has negative power, it dies. Wonders can survive at 0 power.
• Whenever a card is put into an area other than a realm (such as a hand, The Abyss, deck, or banishment) all counters are removed from it.
• Other types of counters have various effects, such as null counters and shield counters.

• The realm that was opened on the current round.

• Put a card from The World into The Abyss. Sacrificing does not count as destroying.

• When a card dies (including being destroyed or sacrificed), it leaves The World and is put into The Abyss. “Whenever dies” triggers happen as soon as it leaves The World.

• Put a card from a player’s hand into The Abyss.

• Draw means put a number of cards from the top of your deck into your hand. Cards are drawn one at a time, and triggers can take place in between the draws.
• Card text sometimes omits the word “cards.” If card text says “Draw 2” it means the same thing as “Draw 2 cards.”

• Any Wonder controlled by an opponent.

• Energy is the resource used to play cards from a player’s hand.

• Some items have the equipment class. All equipment equips to a Wonder if able.
  • When an unequipped equipment is in the same realm as an allied Wonder, it automatically equips with a triggered effect that uses the same timing as on arrival, although it’s not an on arrival effect.
  • For example, Stealthy Spriggan says “Whenever another Wonder arrives in this realm, its owner sacrifices a Wonder.” If a Wonder arrives there and equips, the sacrifice effect and equip effect will both trigger. The active player can choose the order of resolution, thereby choosing whether the Wonder equips before or after the sacrifice ability resolves.
  • Its controller chooses which Wonder it equips to if necessary.
  • If the equipped Wonder leaves The World its equipment remains in the realm and equips to another Wonder there with the same controller. If there aren’t any, the equipment stays in the realm unequipped. (This includes death and portal effects.)
  • If a Wonder you control arrives in the same realm as an equipped Wonder you control, you may choose to move the equipment to the new Wonder as a triggered effect. (Note that moving doesn’t count as arriving.)
  • If an equipped Wonder moves to another realm, equipped cards move with it.
  • Players can’t normally move equipment from one Wonder to another unless an effect explicitly allows it.

• If an ability specifies “The first time you attack…” this does count as an on attack ability for purposes of effects that affect on attack abilities. The same is true for on battle, on defense, and so forth.

• Whenever you attack, spend a free attack, if able, instead of spending an action.
• This means free attacks are spent automatically when their owner attacks.
• Free attacks can be used in any realm unless specified.
• If unused at end of round, free attacks are lost. This happens at the same time unused energy and actions are lost.

• This means a card moved from one realm in The World to another realm in The World. It doesn’t refer to cards moving to or from areas like The Abyss, a deck, a hand, or banishment.
• You can’t move a card to where it’s already located. When this happens the move fails.
• If a card moves through multiple realms at once, the card does enter and leave each realm in between.
  • If a card passing through multiple realms triggers multiple abilities, trigger each ability or batch of abilities in the same order that the realms were entered/exited.

• When a card says “next time” it triggers only once.

For example, Wretched Mirror of Requiem says “The next time an enemy Wonder arrives in any realm, its owner sacrifices it.” If multiple enemy Wonders arrive simultaneously, their controller chooses and sacrifices only one of them.

• When a card is nullified, it’s treated as if its ability rules text were blank.
  • Nullify effects may be continuous or temporary.
    • Continuous nullify effects say “are nullified”, use null counters, or otherwise specify duration on the card. These last indefinitely as long as the card or counter is in The World.
    • All other nullify effects are temporary. They last only until the end of the round. These include one-time effects, such as “nullify the next…”
    • Temporary nullify effects are round-specific effects (see 403.5 for end of round timing.)
  • Nullifying a card does not affect that card’s counters, + power, or other status effects granted to it, just its ability rules text.
  • If a card such as an equipment is granting an ability to a Wonder and that Wonder is nullified, the granted ability is not nullified.
  • If a card is nullified after it’s played but before it resolves, it still resolves but is treated as if its rules text was blank. A nullified spell goes to The Abyss with no other effect.
  • Nullify only affects a card’s ability rules text (at the bottom center of the card.) It doesn’t affect stats such as a card’s name, classes, cost, power, core mechanic, type, tier, or faction.
  • If a card has * for power or any other stat and that card gets nullified, that stat is 0.
  • Effects can also be nullified.
  • Note that preventing nullification of cards may not necessarily prevent nullification of their effects.
  • For example, Aetherion of Boundless says in part, “Your cards can’t be nullified.” However, Feline Entity of Dreams says “Whenever an opponent’s spell or effect would target a Wonder you control, nullify it unless they spend 2 energy.” Since spells are cards, Aetherion would prevent them from being nullified. But Feline Entity would be able to nullify targeted triggered abilities, such as that of Flying Suzzer, unless the extra cost is paid.
  • While a card is nullifying itself, it stays nullified.
  • For example, when Nova Matrixbender gets the abilities of The Lamp of Luferia, Nova stays nullified.
  • If an effect says an object can’t be nullified, remove all nullify effects on it. Null counters on it stay there but do nothing.
  • A card with no text, such as a Wonder with no abilities, can still be nullified.
  • A card can’t become nullified while it’s already nullified.

• This triggers when the card arrives in The World from a player’s hand, deck, banishment, or The Abyss, or is created. It doesn’t happen when a card moves from one realm to another.
  • When an On Arrival effect of a Wonder, Item, or Land resolves, it checks to make sure the card that created it is still in The World. If that card is not in The World, the On Arrival effect has no effect.
  • For example, Cairnvox Soulforger says “ON ARRIVAL: Put target Wonder you own with cost 4 or less from The Abyss into this realm.” If Cairnvox has been sacrificed or is otherwise absent from The World when this effect resolves, the effect does nothing.
• When a token is created in The World it arrives.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) arrives” are On Arrival abilities.

• This triggers in combat during the On Attack step. On attack abilities are those abilities which happen during this step.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) attacks” are On Attack abilities.

• This triggers in combat during the On Battle step. On battle abilities are those abilities which happen during this step.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) battles” are On Battle abilities.

• This triggers whenever this card is put from The World into The Abyss.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) dies” are On Death abilities.

• This triggers in combat during the On Defense step. On defense abilities are those abilities which happen during this step.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) defends” are On Defense abilities.

• This triggers whenever this card is harvested.
• Abilities that say “whenever (object) is harvested” are On Harvest abilities.

• This triggers whenever the card is played from the hand. Pause the resolution of the card and resolve this triggered ability before the card resolves and arrives.
• If the card is being played to a realm, or has a target, or requires other player choices needed to resolve the card, the player declares those choices on play. This means if opponents have the opportunity to respond with triggered effects before the card resolves, they will know where the card is being played or what it’s targeting.
• If the realm to which the card is being played is nullified, on play abilities will work, but on arrival abilities won’t.
• Cards that say “When you play” or “Whenever you play” use the same timing as On Play abilities.
• Cards that put a counter on themselves or otherwise modify themselves On Play allow the counter or effect to exist on the card before the card arrives.

• This triggers at the end of each round. Then ‘this round’ effects end, unspent energy is lost, and players discard down to 7 cards.

• Trigger this effect at the start of each round, after the new realm unlocks, after players gain energy and actions, but before they draw a card.

• This triggers at the start of the specified round. Resolve this effect after the new realm unlocks, before players draw, gain energy or actions that round.

• Pay means spend that amount of a resource. If there’s no resource specified, it means energy. If it doesn’t say pay to a player, it means the resource is lost.

• Playing a card means putting it into The World from your hand if it’s a Wonder, land, or item, or using its effect if it’s a spell. This requires an energy cost and an action unless otherwise stated.
• On play effects trigger when on your turn, you reveal the card and costs are paid.
• When an effect puts a card into The World from a hand it doesn’t count as playing that card or trigger on play effects.

• A stat representing a Wonder’s ability to win battles. It’s found in the upper right corner of the card.
• A Wonder with negative power dies. A Wonder with 0 power operates normally.

• One of the seven battlefields, each with a stone to seize.
• When a card uses the term “here” it refers to the realm it’s currently in. “TAP FREE: Destroy all Wonders here.” means destroy all Wonders in this card’s realm.

• When a card is revealed, show it to all players so they can read it. This doesn’t remove the card from the area it’s in. Cards revealed from the top of a deck technically remain in the deck unless another effect moves them.

• Put a card you control from The World into The Abyss.
  • Sacrifice doesn’t target and can’t be stopped with shields or other destruction-stopping effects.
  • If you’re instructed to sacrifice something but you can’t, ignore the sacrifices you can’t make.
  • When something is sacrificed, it counts as death but not as being destroyed.
  • An ability that requires a sacrifice as part of the cost is a sacrifice ability. You can choose to activate a sacrifice ability on your turn any time you could spend an action. Put the card into The Abyss when you activate it.
    • Sacrifice Free: This is a sacrifice ability that doesn’t require an action. You can use it even when you have no actions.
    • Sacrifice Action: This is a sacrifice ability that requires you to spend an action.

• Gain control of a stone by winning a battle.
• You can only seize a stone if there’s one available to take from the center or an opponent. If there are multiple stones available you choose which stone to take, including stones in the center and stones represented by cards.
• You can’t seize a stone you already control.
• If there are multiple stones in a realm, each battle you win lets you seize one stone. If you want to seize two stones you need to attack and win twice.

• A status effect is an ongoing modification created by an ability. It may last a fixed or indefinite time. If an ability uses the term “get,” it’s a status effect.
• For example, “Undead Wonders get +2.” is a status effect. Granted abilities are status effects.

• A stone marks control of each realm. At the end of round 7 the player with the most stones wins the game. Each stone gives its controller an additional energy at the start of each round.
• Effects and abilities that allow cards to become stones or count as stones (such as Gem Primordial’s) are removed when that card moves to another area such as banishment.

• A Stoneseeker is a class of Wonder representing elite beings of the Wonders cosmos. Stoneseekers typically allow you to create story tokens, representing their companions, gear, and other elements of their story. Each story token specifies the name of the Stoneseeker card that creates it, located vertically on the right side of the token in the faction area. See Story Tokens, below, for details.

• Story tokens are a special type of token created by Stoneseekers. They are identified by their class story token, and by the quill symbol in the lower left of the card in the cost area.
• A story token can only be created by the Stoneseeker listed in its faction area, listed vertically on the right side of the token.
• Like all printed tokens, story tokens have individual DBS numbers. Story tokens start the game in the archive (token deck) and all tokens in the archive do count toward the DBS total of a deck.
• Legendary story tokens are limited to one copy of that printed token card per archive, although there’s no limit to the number of story tokens an archive can have, up to the archive maximum size.
• Story tokens may have various rarities instead of the “T” rarity symbol. They are still tokens.
• Note that when any token leaves an archive it won’t return to the archive, even if destroyed or banished.
• If a Stoneseeker creates a story token and there are no matching story tokens in its controller’s archive, or if the player wants to use a stand-in token, the created story token is a stand-in token that’s a 1-power Wonder with no class.

• You can choose to activate a tap ability on your turn any time you could spend an action. Tap the card permanently to show it’s been used.
• There are three versions of tap abilities: tap free, tap action, and harvest.
  • Tap Free: This is a tap ability that doesn’t require an action. You can use it even when you have no actions. Harvest counts as a type of Tap Free ability.
  • Harvest: This is a type of tap free ability that allows to you tap multiple cards at once on your turn.
  • Tap Action: This is a tap ability that requires you to spend an action.

• Turn a card sideways to indicate its tap ability has been used. Cards don’t untap on their own. Tapped Wonders can still battle normally.

• When used as a verb, this means to choose a game object to receive an effect. Targeted abilities use the word “target.” When used as a noun, this means the object that was chosen to receive an effect.

• Effects that say “this round” happen once and last until the end of that round. The effect won’t apply to cards or objects that arrive later that round unless otherwise stated or specified using “when” or “whenever.”
• For example, Rage of the Ancients says “Name a class. Double the power of Wonders you control of that class this round. Gain 2 free attacks.” This will double the power of the relevant Wonders when it resolves. A Wonder that arrives later in the round won’t have its power doubled.

• Tokens are treated as virtual cards. (see 203 Tokens and 303.3 Archives for details.)
• Tokens have a T in their rarity symbol in the lower right corner.
• If a token would be put anywhere besides The World (such as a player’s hand, deck, The Abyss, or banishment), it stops existing as soon as it enters that area.
• Tokens entering The Abyss will trigger “whenever dies/destroyed…” abilities before they stop existing.
• When a token is created, it arrives. It triggers relevant on arrival effects.
• If the effect that created the token doesn’t specify a type, it’s a Wonder.
• If the effect that created the token creates a Wonder token without a specified power, that power is 1.
• Tokens have cost 0.
• When you create a token, it’s either a printed token from your archive (token deck) or a stand-in object.
  • When a token is created you may be able to choose from multiple physical token options.
  • If you use a printed version of a token, it must start the game in your archive.
  • If you use a printed version, the printed token must match the minimum requirements of the token (see 203 for details.)

• Unknown lands are token lands. They operate like other tokens. They can’t start the game in a main deck except in some formats like draft and prerelease.

• A Wonder is unopposed if there are no enemies (Wonders controlled by opponents) in that realm.

• A card type that has the type Wonder and a power stat for battle.

• The game board, containing all 7 realms, is The World. It does not include hands, decks, The Abyss, or banishment.
• Inactive realms are not part of The World.

7 Keyword Abilities

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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 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.

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

• 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.

• 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 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.

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

• 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 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 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 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.)

• 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.

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

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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 means on round end, sacrifice this card.

8 The Prisoner

• The Prisoner is not free. For everyone’s sake, please do not free The Prisoner.

Changelog

Initial port from PDF. Document the diffs between v1.3.1 → v1.3.2 here once known.

Prior PDF release (Wonders Comp Rules v1.3.1.pdf, 2025-04-09). No web version existed.