Looking for the illustrated rulebook (40 pages)?
Download the rules (PDF)Aestery TCG is a collectible card game where every match is unique. Your goal is simple: reduce your opponent's life points (LP) to zero while managing your resources and cards to gain an advantage. You can also win by exhausting your opponent (if they are unable to draw when required).
How to build your deck?
You can choose to play:
- With a Hero: In this case, the 60 cards in your deck must belong to the same colors as your Hero (color identity rule). Each Hero is linked to one or more colors that define the cards allowed in your deck.
- Without a Hero: In this case, you are free to use cards of any color (red, green, purple, silver, black, white, or blue).
Number of cards: Your deck must contain at least 60 cards, with up to 4 copies of each.
In Aestery TCG, each card type has a specific role:
- Fighters: They attack to deal damage to your opponent or block to protect your life points.
- Stories: These cards represent powerful places or objects, offering strategic effects to change the course of the game.
- Instants: Playable at any time, these cards allow you to react quickly and surprise your opponent, even during their turn.
- Heroes (optional): These special cards grant access to powerful abilities, once per turn during your turn, but impose deck-building restrictions.
How to play your cards?
Aether is the universal resource of the game. Regardless of the colors you play, Aether is used to pay the costs of all your cards or fuel your actions in the game.
You can generate it in several ways:
- Mining: During your turn, exile a card from your hand to create a Mine token (tapped) that produces one Aether per turn by tapping. Any card in hand can be mined, this is an implicit rule (not printed on cards). This action can only be performed once per turn.
- Pitching: Discard a card from your hand to produce the amount of Aether indicated in the top-right corner of the card (1, 2, or 3 Aether). You can pitch multiple times per turn, during your turn or your opponent's turn. However, you cannot pitch without a purpose (only as payment for a cost). Pitched cards go under your deck at the end of the turn.
- Card effects: Certain cards or abilities can generate additional Aether.
Setting up an Aestery TCG game
- Ensure your Deck complies with the deck-building rules and place it face-down in a reserved area.
- If you are playing a Hero, place it face-up on the battlefield with its initial experience counters.
Prepare your play zones:
- Battlefield: Where permanents you control (Fighters, Stories) remain in play.
- Mine Zone: Reserve this space for your Mine Tokens.
- Hideway: One card can be placed here (for free) face-down. This card cannot be played before the next turn. The card in the Hideway is not part of your hand and cannot be discarded, pitched, or mined. Playing a card from the Hideway (which requires paying its cost) is also the only way to benefit from Privilege effects.
- Graveyard: Where played or destroyed cards are sent.
- Exile Zone: For exiled, flashed, or mined cards.
Starting the game:
- Each player starts with 20 Life Points.
- Randomly determine who goes first (coin flip, odd/even roll, etc.).
- Shuffle your deck and draw a starting hand of 6 cards.
- If you dislike your hand, you can Mulligan: shuffle your cards into the deck, then draw 6 cards again (only one Mulligan is allowed).
Turn structure
- Upkeep: Untap all your permanents (Fighters, Mines, Stories, Tokens, etc.).
- Draw: Draw one card. The first player skips this phase on the first turn.
- Main Phase 1: Play cards or activate abilities, such as those of your Hero.
- Combat:
- 1. Declare your attacking Fighters. Fighters can attack the turn they enter the battlefield but gain First Blood (they must be sacrificed at the end of the turn). If you wait a turn, they do not gain First Blood.
- 2. The opponent may declare blocking Fighters. They may also choose to defend with Fighters flashed for free from their hand. If they do so, the flashed Fighters are exiled at the end of combat.
- 3. Damages dealt to the Defending Player are calculated based on the difference between the Power of each attacking Fighter and the Defense of the Fighter(s) blocking it, with each combat being resolved separately. Flashed Fighters have no text and deal no damage (they only serve to absorb incoming damage). If a Fighter has taken damage, place that many Fatigue counters on it (+0/-1). When the number of Fatigue counters equals its Defense, it dies and goes to the Graveyard.
Example : a 6/4 attacks. Two not-flashed 1/2 joint effort to block together. The blocking Fighters die. The Defending Player takes 2 damages (loses 2 life). The attacking Fighter survive but takes 2 damages (+2 Fatigue counters). - Main Phase 2: Continue your actions.
- Buy additional combat phases (optional): Each additional combat phase costs 2 more Aether than the previous one (the first is free).
- End of turn: Sacrifice your Fighters with First Blood. Place pitched cards under your deck. Draw one card. Discard cards to maintain a maximum hand size of 6, then pass the turn to your opponent.
Glossary
- Bloodthirst X : A card with Bloodthirst enters the battlefield with X Bloodthirst counter(s) on it. A card with Bloodthirst gains First Blood on each attack. Each time a card with Bloodthirst would be sacrificed by the First Blood rule, remove a Bloodthirst counter instead. If you can’t do so, sacrifice it.
- Bravery X : A card with Bravery X enters the battlefield with X Bravery counter(s) on it. The controller of this card can remove a Bravery counter at any time. If they do, they remove a Fatigue counter from this card.
- Devotion : When a Fighter with Devotion takes combat damage, its controller gains life points equal to the damage taken.
- Dive : A card with Dive enters the battlefield tapped. Cards with Dive can only be blocked by Fighters with Dive or Miraculous Dive. Each time a card with Dive is tapped to attack, it skips its next untap step.
- Efficiency X : When a card with Efficiency X enters the battlefield under your control, untap up to X Mines you control.
- Elusive : A card with Elusive can’t be blocked by flashed Fighters.
- Enthrall : A card with Enthrall can’t be blocked by more than one blocker.
- Entry : A card with Entry triggers its effect when it enters the battlefield.
- Experience X : If you control a Hero, put X Experience counters on it. Otherwise, put X +1/+1 counters on the target Fighter.
- Fatigue counter : A Fatigue counter is a +0/-1 counter that stays on the Fighter until it dies. A Fighter can have one or more Fatigue counters on it. Each time the number of Fatigue counters on a Fighter is equal to or higher than its Defense Value, it dies instantly.
- First Blood : A card that has not spent any upkeep under its Owner’s control gains First Blood when it is declared as an attacker by its Owner or is tapped by its Owner. A card with First Blood must be sacrificed at the end of the turn.
- Flash : All Fighters can be flashed (put on the battlefield for free by the defending player as a blocker, only during the Blocking Phase). Flashed Fighters do not deal damage and lose their texts (e.g., they have no Entry or Leaving effects). Flashed Fighters must be sacrificed during the Damage Resolution Phase if they were not destroyed in combat. When they would leave the battlefield for any zone, they go to the exile zone instead.
- Flying : A Fighter with Flying can only be blocked by Fighters with Flying or Reach.
- Full Hand : When the hand contains 6 cards, it is at Full Hand.
- Heal X : Remove X Fatigue counter(s) from target Fighter.
- Hit : If a card has dealt at least one combat damage to a player this turn, it has Hit. If this card has an ability preceded by "Hit -", trigger it and resolve its effect.
- Leaving : A card with Leaving triggers this effect when it leaves the battlefield for any zone.
- Madness : A card with Madness never gains First Blood.
- Marvelous Dive : A card with Marvelous Dive enters the battlefield tapped. Cards with Marvelous Dive can only be blocked by Fighters with Dive or Marvelous Dive. Each time a card with Marvelous Dive is tapped to attack, it skips its next untap step. When it untaps, it creates a Marvel Token. This effect triggers only once per turn.
- Mine X : Exile X cards from your hand. Create X tapped Mine Tokens on the battlefield.
- Privilege : The line of text starting with "Privilege" is ignored unless the card is coming from the Hideaway. (If the card has other effects unrelated to Privilege, these effects exist even if the card is not coming from the Hideaway).
- Repeat X : A card with Repeat X gains +(X*N)/+0 when it attacks, where N is the number of previous attack phases this turn in which at least one Fighter was declared as an attacker.
- Reach : A Fighter with Reach can block Fighters with Flying as if it had Flying.
- Scry X : Look at X cards from the top of your library. Put them in any order on top and/or bottom of your library.
- Slumber X : A card with Slumber X enters the battlefield with X Slumber counters on it. As long as a card has at least one Slumber counter on it, it can’t be used to attack, defend, be targeted by an opponent, sacrificed, or destroyed. Remove one Slumber counter at the beginning of each player’s upkeep.
- Support X : You may exile a card with Support from your hand. When a card with Support X is exiled from your hand, target Fighter gains +X Power until the end of the turn.
- Unblockable : A card with Unblockable can’t be blocked.
