v0.21 — 5v5 · 11-hero roster · 88-card pool (4 STD / 3 EPIC / 1 LEG per hero) · per-side Initiative deck
Modes
Campaign: start with Knight, Ranger, Mage. Defeat each of 6 boss heroes (Paladin, Druid, Scout, Berserker, Warlock, Assassin) to add them to your roster. Progress is saved between sessions.
Skirmish: single match using the full 9-hero roster, random AI draft.
Match flow
Draft (skirmish only): 1-2-2-2-2-1 snake — alternating snake draft, 10 picks total. Each side ends with 5 heroes from the 11-hero active roster.
Team select (campaign only): in the mission intro, tap to pick 5 heroes from your unlocked pool. AI's team is the boss plus themed allies from a mission-specific priority list. No draft phase.
Team: every party is exactly 3 melee + 2 ranged (the picker enforces it).
Auto-deploy: at the start of each match both teams snap into a fixed checkerboard formation — A in the bottom half, B in the top half. Your 3 melee shuffle across the 3 melee slots; your 2 ranged shuffle across the 2 ranged slots. Same comp, fresh layout each match. Reposition on turn 1; UNDO MOVE catches misclicks.
Play: standard initiative-order combat.
Rules
Win: defeat all enemy heroes (5v5 — both sides field 5 drafted heroes).
Initiative: sides alternate activations — one of yours, then one of theirs, repeating until every living unit has acted once. The current side freely picks which of their unactivated units goes; tap a glowing unit on the board to start its turn. When one side has spent all its units for the round, the other keeps going until the round ends. The starter alternates each round so neither side gets a permanent first-mover edge.
Facing: attacks from the SIDE deal ×1.5, REAR ×2 (Assassin: ×2 / ×2.5).
Terrain: ▲ high ground gives +1 ATK while standing on it.
Cards: start with 3 in hand, no max. Draw 1 at the end of every turn (yours or the AI's). Each card is one-shot.
Instant only: no buffs, no counters, no lingering effects. Every card resolves entirely this turn — damage, healing, pushes, pulls, dashes, or swaps.
Assist casting:any of your units may cast any card. The card's owner (the hero from whose suite the card came) provides an instant assist — typically a free step, heal, or strike. The owner must be alive and on the board for the assist to fire.
Sigils: 10 generic action cards (✦) shipped in every deck. Any unit may cast them. Sigils are FREE — they consume neither action nor movement, so you can chain multiple sigils + a hero card + your move all in one turn. They lock once the unit has spent both its move and action (the turn auto-ends then). Effects are intentionally small; save them for big combo turns. Removed from the game on use; no owner, no assist.
Push / pull: direction is the straight line between caster and target. If the slide is blocked by an edge or another unit, the target takes impact damage equal to the card's kb value.
Dash: caster teleports to any empty tile within the card's range (ignores blockers along the way).
Range: damage / push / pull cards target enemies within the casting unit's attack range. Heal and swap cards reach any of your allies.
Opportunity cost: playing a card consumes the unit's action. You may still move before or after a hero card; sigils consume the move as well.
HP dice: every unit's max HP is a polyhedral die face count (4/6/8/10/12/20).
Hero roster (11)
Hero
HP
ATK
Mv
Rng
Init
Passive
🏰 Sentinel
12
1
1
1
2
Anchor — Sentinel & adjacent allies are push/pull immune
🛡️ Paladin
10
1
1
1
2
Guardian — heal cards restore +1 HP on most-wounded ally
⚔️ Knight
10
1
1
1
3
Steadfast — cannot be pushed or pulled
🩸 Warlock
6
1
1
3
3
Soul Drain — heal 2 HP whenever any enemy dies
🌿 Druid
8
1
1
2
3
Symbiosis — heal cards also heal Druid 1 HP
🔮 Mage
6
1
1
2
3
Resonance — your AoE cards do +1 splash / +1 kb
🪓 Berserker
8
2
1
1
3
Bloodthirst — heals 1 HP whenever he damages an enemy
💀 Necromancer
6
1
1
2
3
Death Touch — enemies adjacent take +1 dmg
🏹 Ranger
8
1
1
2
4
Spotter — your dmg/push/pull cards gain +1 range
👁️ Scout
4
1
2
2
4
Pathfinder — your dash cards gain +1 range
🗡️ Assassin
6
2
2
1
4
Shadow Step — after Assassin moves, her next attack is rear-arc
Deck composition
Hero cards (6 per hero): 3 Common, 2 Epic, 1 Legendary. Owned by their hero but castable by any of your units (the owner assists from off-field — they must be alive).
Sigils (10): generic action cards any unit can cast. Free — no action or movement cost. Small effects, chainable into combos. Removed from the game on use.
Your deck: 40 cards built at deploy time — 5 drafted heroes × 6 cards + 10 sigils. Shuffled before round 1.
Card kinds (effects)
All effects resolve this turn. No buffs, no counters, no lingering modifiers.
dmg — N damage to target enemy
dmg-adj — N damage to target + S splash to orthogonal adjacent enemies
dmg-self-heal — N damage + caster heals H HP (lifesteal)
dmg-push — N damage + push target K tiles away (kb damage if blocked)
dmg-pull — N damage + pull target K tiles toward caster (kb damage if blocked)
push / pull — pure displacement K tiles (kb damage if blocked)
push-adj — shove every enemy adjacent to caster K tiles away (kb if blocked)
dash — caster teleports to any empty tile within R (ignores blockers)
dash-attack — caster dashes adjacent to a chosen enemy (in range R), then attacks for +N damage
swap — caster swaps places with a target ally
heal — restore N HP to target ally
heal-all — restore N HP to every ally
Owner assists
Every hero card carries a bonus that fires after the main effect if the card's owner is alive on the board. Sigils have no owner and no assist.
ownerStep — the owner takes N free steps; player picks each tile (AI auto-paths)
ownerHeal — the owner heals N HP
ownerStrike — the owner deals N damage to its weakest adjacent enemy
ownerDrain — the owner deals N to its weakest adjacent enemy AND heals N
