How to Play

This page will guide you through a game of Spellsource! We're going to assume that you already have a valid deck, but if you don't have that yet, take a look here to get started! If you're looking for more details about keywords or terminology, you can take a look here!

Summary

Spellsource is a 1v1 collectible card game where players will use minions, spells, and weapons in order to defeat their opponents! In the standard format, both players will have decks of 30 cards and begin with 30 HP. You lose if your HP drops to 0, so bring down your opponent's life before they do the same to you!

Play of the Game

Beginning the Game

An example of a mulligan. In this example, we are keeping the middle
card, and sending the other two cards back into the
deck. As stated earlier, both players will begin with 30 HP. Both players will also begin with no Lun. We will return to this in the following section. One player will randomly be selected to move first, and the other second. In this section, Player 1 will move first and Player 2 will move second. Player 1 will begin with 3 cards in their hand whereas Player 2 will begin with 4 cards in hand. Before they even move, both players are allowed to select any number of the cards in their hand to return to their respective decks. For each card they return, they draw a card to replace it. This is what we calling a mulligan. After both players have finished their mulligan, Player 2 will receive a Lunstone. At this point, the game will begin! This is an example of a player's hand and Lun count. In this case, the
player has 7 Lun crystals total, but only 1 available left to use this
turn.

The Board

Each player has multiple different zones to utilize.

  • Deck Zone: Every turn, they will draw cards from here if able.
  • Hand Zone: This is group of cards that a player can play during their turn. A player can have at most 10 cards in their hand. If a player tries to draw a card with a full hand, the drawn card will be removed from play.
  • Permanents Zone: This zone contains all of a player's minions and permanents currently in play. Minions located here are able to attack and be attacked. Often having a strong board means having good minions here! A player can have at most 7 cards in their permanent zone. If this zone is full, its owner cannot play any more minions or permanents.
  • Weapon Zone: Each player can have one weapon equipped at any given time. On the owner's turn, the weapon is considered active, and gives the champion extra attack damage, which is useful for maintaining control of the board. If a weapon is played when another weapon is already in this zone, the new weapon replaces the old one in this zone.
  • Champion Zone: This is where the player's champion resides. You can also see the remaining health and armor in this zone. In rare cases, a card can replace the old champion with a new one with a new Skill as well.
  • Skill Zone: A skill is an ability unique to every champion. They can be used once per turn and cost 2 Lun to use. While often not extremely powerful, their reusability makes them vital in any match.

Here we can see the player's weapon, skill, and champion (going from
left to right). The skill is highlighted, meaning that it still can be
used this turn, and the highlight around our champion means that it can
still attack this
turn.

Each Turn

Each player's turn will begin with their upkeep. During this, the player will refresh all of their used Lun, gain a new Lun, and draw a card from their deck. There may also be cards that trigger at the beginning of the player's turn, which will do so at this time. Here we can see both
players' minions on the board. In this case, the player has 4 minions
out, but the opponent only has 1. The white border around a card
indicates that it can still attack this
turn. Now, the player may make their turn! Every card has a number in the top right corner. That is its Lun cost. In order to play that card, you will need to use that much of your Lun in reserve. In addition to playing cards, a player can also attack with their minions or sometimes their champion! Selecting the character that should attack and the desired target will make the two targets fight. After fighting, both targets will lose health equal to the other's attack. Any minion that drops to 0 health will be destroyed. Newly played minions will have "summoning sickness" and can't attack until the owner's next turn.

In Spellsource, attacking and playing cards can occur in any order! A player can attack with one minion, play some cards, then attack with their other minions! With a great deal of flexibility, a player can make any number of potential move combinations to achieve victory.

When a player feels satisfied with their turn, they may end their turn, triggering any effects that may occur as a result and letting the opponent begin their turn. This process will repeat until a player's health falls to 0!

The Endgame

When a player tries to draw a card when there are no cards left in their deck, they will begin taking Fatigue damage. The first attempted draw will deal 1 damage, the second will deal 2, etc. This growth in damage means that once a player starts taking fatigue damage, they won't have much time before losing the game!