Rules of Play

Key CONCEPTS
jrts section introduces a number of foundational concepts to keep in mind while playing the game.

The Golden Rule:
If the text of a card directly contradicts the text of the rules, the text of the card takes precedence.

Objective:
During the game, players use their cards to collect Æmber. Players use Æmber to forge keys. The game ends immediately when a player forges their third key, and that player wins the game.

Ready And Exhausted
Cards that are in play exist in one of two states. Ready cards are oriented upright so that their text may be read from left to right. A ready card can be used during a player’s turn, causing it to exhaust. Exhausted cards are rotated 90 degrees to the side. An exhausted card is not able to be used until it is readied by a game step or card ability. All creatures and artifacts enter play exhausted.

RUNNING OUT OF TOKENS OR STATUS CARDS
There is no limit to the number of damage tokens, Æmber tokens, or status cards that can be in the game area at a given time. If there is a shortage of the provided tokens or status cards, other tokens, counters, or coins may be used to track the game state.

GAME SETUP
To set up the game, perform the following steps, in order: The game is now ready to begin.
 * 1) Place all damage tokens, Æmber tokens, and status cards in a common supply within easy reach of both players.
 * 2) Each player places their identity card to the left or right side of their play area.
 * 3) Each player places three key tokens, one of each color, with the unforged side faceup near their identity card.
 * 4) Randomly determine who is the first player. That player takes the first turn when the game begins. (If players are playing a series of games between two decks, in each game after the first, the player who used the deck that was defeated in the previous game chooses who is the first player.)
 * 5) Each player shuffles their deck and offers it to the opponent for additional shuffling and/or a final cut.
 * 6) The first player draws a starting hand of seven cards. The other player draws a starting hand of six cards.
 * 7) Each player, starting with the first player, has one opportunity to mulligan their starting hand by shuffling it back into their deck and drawing a new starting hand with one fewer card in it. (This step is skipped in the Quickstart game.)

TURN SEQUENCE
The game is played over a series of turns. Players alternate taking turns until one player wins the game.

Each turn consists of five steps: The player taking a turn is referred to as the active player. The active player is the only player that can perform actions or make decisions; a player does not make any decisions when it is not their turn.
 * 1) Forge a key.
 * 2) Choose a house.
 * 3) Play, discard, and use cards of the chosen house.
 * 4) Ready cards.
 * 5) Draw cards.

Each step is described in more detail in the following sections.

STEP 1: FORGE A KEY
If the active player has enough Æmber to forge a key during this step,they must do so. To forge a key, the active player spends Æmber from the Æmber pool on their identity card, returning it to the common supply. then, that player flips any one of their key tokens over to its forged side, indicating that the key has been forged.
 * The default cost to forge a key is six Æmber. Some card abilities may increase or decrease this number.
 * No more than one key can be forged during this step each turn, even if the active player has enough Æmber to forge multiple keys.
 * Calling "Check" is a courtesy action from the active player on their turn, so your opponent knows you can forge a key on your next turn.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A HOUSE
Each KeyForge deck is composed of three different houses, which are shown on the identity card. During this step, the active player chooses one of those three houses to activate, making it the active house for the remainder of the turn. This active house determines which cards the active player can play, discard from their hand, and use this turn.
 * After choosing a house, the active player has the option to take all cards in their archives and add them to their hand. (See “Archives” in the Glossary.)
 * If a player controls a card that does not belong to one of the three houses in their deck, they may (if they desire) choose and activate that house during this step instead of one of the three houses in their deck.

STEP 3: PLAY, DISCARD, AND USE CARDS OF THE CHOSEN HOUSE
The active player may play or discard any number of cards of the active house from their hand and may use any number of cards of the active house that are in play under their control. Eligible cards may be played, used, or discarded in any order. A card’s house is determined by an icon in the upper-left corner. If the active house corresponds to a card’s icon, that card is eligible to be played, used, or discarded. Rules for playing, discarding, and using cards are described later.
 * First Turn Rule: During the first player’s first turn of the game, that player may only play or discard one card from their hand.
 * The active player may not play, use, or discard cards of other (nonactive) houses unless specified by a card ability.

STEP 4: READY CARDS
The active player readies each of their exhausted cards.

STEP 5: DRAW CARDS
The active player draws cards from the top of their deck until they have six cards in their hand. After a player completes this step, their turn ends.
 * If the active player has more than six cards in hand, they do not discard down to six.
 * If a player needs to draw cards (during this step or at any other time) and cannot because their deck is empty, that player shuffles their discard pile to reset their deck, and then continues to draw.
 * When a player’s turn ends, if that player has enough Æmber in their pool to afford a key, the player announces “Check!” so that their opponent knows the forging of a key at the start of that player’s next turn is imminent.

PLAYING CARDS
The active player is permitted to play any number of cards that belong to the active house during step three of their turn.

ÆMBER BONUS
Many cards in the game have an Æmber bonus below the house icon. When a card with an Æmber bonus is played, the first thing the active player does is gain that much Æmber. Each time a player gains Æmber (for any reason), the Æmber is placed in that player’s Æmber pool (on their identity card).

PLAY ABILITIES
Some cards have a bold “Play:” ability. Such abilities resolve after the card’s Æmber bonus is collected, if it has any, and immediately after the card enters play.

CARD TYPES
There are four types of cards in the game: action cards, artifacts, creatures, and upgrades. There are different rules describing how each card type is played.

ACTION CARDS
When an action card is played, the active player resolves the card’s “Play:” ability and, after resolving as much of the ability as possible, places the card in their discard pile.

ARTIFACTS
Artifacts enter play exhausted and are placed in a row in front of the player but behind that player’s battleline, which is explained later. Artifacts remain in play from turn to turn.

CREATURES
Creatures enter play exhausted and are placed in the front row of the active player’s play area. This row is referred to as the battleline. Creatures remain in play from turn to turn, and they each have power and armor values that they use to resolve fights, which are described later.

Each time a creature enters play, it must be placed on a flank—at the far left or the far right of its controller’s battleline. Each time a creature leaves play, shift the battleline inward to close the gap.

UPGRADES

Upgrades enter play attached to (i.e., partially overlapped by) a creature chosen by the player who controls the upgrade. Each upgrade remains in play from turn to turn and modifies the card to which it is attached.
 * If the card to which an upgrade is attached leaves play, the upgrade is discarded.
 * If an upgrade cannot attach to a card in play, the upgrade cannot enter play.

DISCARDING CARDS
The active player can discard from their hand any number of cards from the active house during step three of their turn. Cards are discarded one at a time, at any point throughout this step. This lets players remove cards that they do not want to play from their hand, freeing up space to draw more cards at the end of the turn.

USING CARDS
The active player can use any number of cards from the active house that they have in play during step three of their turn. Depending on a card’s type, the active player is able to do different things when using that card.

UPGRADES
An upgrade modifies the creature it is attached to and is not used independently of that creature.

USING ARTIFACTS
There are two types of abilities that enable a player to use an artifact: “Action:” abilities and “Omni:” abilities.
 * When a player uses an artifact, they exhaust the card and then resolve its abilities.
 * A player can only resolve an “Action:” ability if it is on a card that belongs to the active house.
 * A player can resolve an “Omni:” ability even if it is on a card that does not belong to the active house.
 * Some artifacts require that they be sacrificed as part of the cost of using them. When an artifact is sacrificed, it is placed in its owner’s discard pile. A player must still exhaust such an artifact when using it.
 * Artifacts cannot be used to reap or to fight.

USING CREATURES
When a player uses a creature, that player must exhaust the creature, and the player has the option to reap, fight, or to trigger the creature’s “Action:” ability.

REAP
Any ready creature of the active house may reap. When a creature is used to reap, its controller gains 1 Æmber for their Æmber pool. Then, all “Reap:” abilities the creature has, if it has any, resolve.

FIGHT
Any ready creature of the active house may fight. When a creature is used to fight, its controller chooses one eligible creature controlled by the opponent as the target of the attack. Each of the two creatures deals an amount of damage equal to its power (the value to the left of the card’s title) to the other creature. All of this damage is dealt simultaneously. After the fight resolves, if the creature that is being used to fight survives, all “Fight:” abilities the creature has, if it has any, resolve.

A creature cannot fight if there is no enemy creature that can be chosen as the target of the attack.

ACTION
Any ready creature of the active house may trigger its “Action:” ability, if it has one. When a creature is used to trigger its “Action:” ability, the creature exhausts and all “Action:” abilities the creature has resolve.

DAMAGE AND ARMOR
When a creature is dealt damage, place an amount of damage tokens equal to the amount of damage dealt on the creature. If a creature has as much or more damage on it as it has power, the creature is destroyed and placed on top of its owner’s discard pile. If a creature has an armor value (to the right of the card’s title), the armor prevents that much incoming damage each turn. (For more details, see “Armor” in the Glossary.)
 * When a creature leaves play, any Æmber on that creature is gained by the opponent. (See “Capture” in the Glossary.)

CARD ABILITIES
When resolving a card ability, resolve as much of the ability as can be

resolved, and ignore the rest. Unless otherwise specified by the ability,

the active player makes all decisions while resolving an ability.

For details on specific terminology that can be found in card ability text,

see the Glossary.

USING CARDS VIA OTHER CARD ABILITIES
If a card ability allows a player to play or use another card (or to fight or to reap with a card), the chosen card may belong to any house unless the ability specifically states otherwise.
 * When using a card via a card ability, any other requirements of using the card (such as exhausting to reap, fight, or resolve its “Action:” ability) must be observed, or the card cannot be used.
 * Players can only use cards they control, unless a card ability specifically states otherwise.

THE RULE OF SIX
Occasionally, a situation may emerge in which, through a combination of abilities, the same card may be played or used repeatedly during the same turn. A player cannot play and/or use the same card and/or other copies of that card (by title) more than six times during a given turn.

CONSTANT ABILITIES
If a card has an ability that does not have a boldfaced precursor, the ability is a constant ability that is active so long as the card remains in play and meets all conditions specified by the ability.
 * Constant abilities on a card are active even while that card is exhausted.
 * Applying the effects of a constant ability is not considered using a card and therefore does not cause the card to exhaust

CHAINS
Chains represent supernatural bindings that are occasionally placed onto specific Archons by the Architects: sometimes in an effort to better challenge the Archon to grow and overcome greater adversity, and other times to penalize the Archon for breaking a rule or a piece of Crucible etiquette.

A player may gain chains through card abilities during a game. When a player gains chains, that player increases their chain tracker by the number of chains gained.

Each time (including during setup) a player with one or more chains would draw one or more cards to refill their hand, that player draws fewer cards (based on their current chain level, see below) and then sheds one chain by reducing their chain tracker by one.

The more chains a player has, the greater the card penalty becomes. ''Example: Tori has been assigned seven chains. During setup, Tori will draw two fewer cards and shed a chain. Then, the next six times Tori refills her hand, she will draw up to five cards and shed another chain. After all of her chains have been shed, Tori will draw to the standard hand size.''
 * Chains 1–6: draw 1 fewer card.
 * Chains 7–12: draw 2 fewer cards.
 * Chains 13–18: draw 3 fewer cards.
 * Chains 19–24: draw 4 fewer cards.

CHAIN HANDICAPS (OPTIONAL)
When playing a game between a weaker deck and a stronger deck, players may use chains as a means to handicap the stronger deck. Chains are used when players want a fair game between two known decks rather than a potentially unfair competition between decks that aren’t known. When playing with new decks, or competing in a tournament, players will not use this handicap.

SUGGESTIONS FOR ASSIGNING CHAINS
When the players have a sense that a particular deck is stronger than the opposing deck, start it with four chains. From then on, every time the chained deck wins three games in a row against that opposing deck, adjust the number of chains up by one, and if it loses three games in a row, adjust the number of chains down by one.

As a player plays more games with their collection, the number of chains assigned to a deck will fluctuate up and down based on the matchup and how well the deck has performed against the opposing deck.

CHAIN BIDDING
If players are reasonably familiar with two decks they can ignore the suggested number of chains, and instead bid a number of chains for the right to use a particular deck.

Example: Terry and Julie decide to play Mother Mahospot against Chancellor Fisher. Mother Mahospot is a deck that both players are very familiar with, feel is quite strong, and enjoy playing. Chancellor Fisher is a newer deck, that the players are not as comfortable playing. The above guidelines suggest they begin with four chains on Mother Mahospot. Julie looks at Fisher, considers a moment, and says, “I’ll play Mother Mahospot at five.” Terry raises to six. Julie goes to seven. Terry decides to let her play it at seven, and plays Chancellor Fisher.