Rules
Welcome to Conjure The Chaos!
For centuries the world of Crystalax was a place of perfect harmony and balance between the natural world and the arcane. Within its realm, the four different lands - Shadowlands, the Volcano plain, Arcane Island, and Wildlands. They housed several tribes including the Vampires, Dwarves, Mystics and Shaman and there was peace. No one tribe dominated over the other. This is because each Tribe protected one of the 4 crystals of power - Fire, Shadow, Nature, and Arcane. By doing so, it maintained order and kept the others in check.
Then, for some unknown reason, the crystals fractured. The now warped arcane energies caused magic to act unpredictably and random portals from unknown worlds began to open. This caused what the inhabitants of Crystalax call The Chaos. The Chaos caused strange new beings to invade Crystalax, forcing the tribes to consider war inevitable.
You are the Chieftain of one of the tribes of Crystalax. Will you defend your tribe and destroy your opponent or fall to the invaders of the realm and let it fall further into chaos?
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How To Play Video
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Here’s What is in the Box:
Two starter decks, one Chaos deck of 50 cards, four Crystal Tower cards, 8 Quest cards and the official rule book.
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RULE BOOK
Set-Up:
• 2 Players (expandable to 3–4 with minor adjustments).
• Each player starts with a 20-card deck, four Quest cards plus a shared Chaos deck of 50- cards (explained below). In each core set Player deck there are different creatures from one of the four tribes (Dwarves, Mystics Shaman or Vampires). Creatures have special abilities that effects game play.
• There are an additional 4 Crystal Tower cards which you shuffle and place face down in front of both players
• This Instruction Manual with QR Code to our free App
•Each player starts with 30 Health
• 3-4 players, each player gets a 20-card deck, four Quest cards and a Second Chaos deck of 50- cards. There should also be enough Crystal Tower cards that each player can start with 2 of them.
Deck Construction
THE PLAYER DECK:
You can either use the one of the four preconstructed decks in the core set, any expansion set decks or create your own.
A player must have a 20-card built deck comprised of at least 4 creatures of each color. The deck must be exactly 20 cards. You cannot have more than 2 of the same creature's name in your deck. (These cards have no text on the back)
• Lord Cards (Optional): Only 1 copy of each Lord is allowed per deck.
Chaos Deck: Pre-built separate 50-card deck, shuffled before play.
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CHAOS DECK:
The Chaos Deck is a 50-card pre-built deck comprised of Instant and sometimes comical spells. (Other types may be introduced later)
Must be exactly 50 cards. (These cards say “The Quest”)
The Chaos Deck is a separate shared deck of unpredictable, rule-
altering cards that effect game play. During each player’s turn, a card from the Chaos deck is played and that card casts random effects that can affect either the player who drew the card, the opponents, all players and/or creatures. If a Chaos card has an effect that is not applicable (for example, if the card targets a creature but there is no creatures in play) then the card is ignored and no further effect happens.
Types of Chaos Cards and limits:
• Instant: Triggers immediately, then discarded (e.g. “Destroy all 1-health creatures.”)
• Countdown: Stays in play with a countdown timer (e.g. “Explodes in 3 turns, dealing 5 damage to all.”)
Special Rules:
• Some cards may allow you to manipulate the Chaos Deck (peek, shuffle, replace, etc.)
• If you are non-verbal, you may use sign language or put it in writing if a card requires you to speak.
Crystal Towers:
The Crystal Tower cards represent the four power crystals of Crystalax. Each one has a special ability which it bestows to a player when they own a creature summoned around that Tower crystal. If there is no creature summoned in front of a particular tower then the player does not receive that bonus.
• Creatures cannot switch from one tower to another unless they destroy all of an opponent’s creatures surrounding that tower. Then, you would gain control of the tower and your creatures that attacked it that turn would now move to around that tower. Or, if a card or ability states that you can move your creature.
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Player Nether Region A.K.A Discard Pile:
Where cards are placed when removed from the frontline, discarded by an effect or otherwise stated. (Either from the Frontline, Hand, and/or Deck)
Frontline:
The zone where creatures are placed upon when summoned, or put into play.
The Following Diagram is what the starting placement would look like:
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Keep in mind that you can use 4 different colored 10-sided dice or paper and pencil in the crystal pool area. Or, you can use our free app to keep track of crystals, roll dice and keep track of your life points.
Quests and Victory Conditions
MINI-QUESTS:
Mini-Quests are bonus challenges that you can attempt at any time. Each Mini-Quest can only be done once per game by each player. Each game, players get 4 quest cards (These say, “The Quest” on the back. At the beginning of the game, players place their 4 quest cards in the quest region face up. When accomplished, flip the Quest card face down and receive it’s one-time bonus. If you complete all 4 quests, you win the game!
Here are the four quests: (The following read as {Name-Condition-Bonus effect}.)
1) Pyromaniac’s Feast – Summon 3 creatures in one turn.
Bonus effect: Firestorm – You may choose to destroy one of your opponent’s creatures for free this turn of your choice.
2) Tribal Harmonization – Control one creature of each color on your side of the board. Bonus effect: Crystal infusion - Gain one extra crystal of each color to your energy pool.
3) Unstoppable force – Deal 10 or more damage in a single attack phase. Bonus effect: Unblockable – Choose a creature you control. It cannot be blocked next turn.
4) Tribal Quest – You can only complete the Quest for your tribe. Gain 5 crystals specific to your tribe to gain the following bonus effects:
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Vampires – When you gain 5 Black crystals – Treasure: Do 3 damage with Life Leech to any target.
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Dwarves – When you gain 5 red crystals – Treasure: Cast a 5 damage Fireball to any target.
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Shaman – When you gain 5 green crystals Treasure: Give +4/+4 to any one creature of your choice.
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Mystics – When you gain 5 Blue crystals – Treasure: Gain a Counterspell in your hand that prevents an opponent’s creature from being summoned. This can be used at any time in the game, but only once.
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VICTORY CONDITIONS:
Goal: To win by either reducing your opponent’s Life Points to 0 or achieve an alternate victory condition by completing all 4 quests before your opponent.
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TURN STRUCTURE
Each turn consists of 6 phases and should be played in the following order.
Beginning of game procedures:
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Separate and then place the Player decks, Quests and The Chaos deck in their respective zones after the shuffling of each deck has been completed.
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Shuffle and place the 4 Crystal Tower cards facedown in between both players
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Roll a die or flip a coin to see who goes first
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Whomever goes second gets to pick a facedown Crystal Tower card for their side of the board first
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Players go back and forth, alternating choosing a Crystal Tower card for their side until each player has two. Place one tower face-up in the upper left and right corners of your battlefield.
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6. At the beginning of each game draw five cards for your starting hand. You can shuffle any number of cards back into your player deck and draw that many new cards if you like. This happens once per game on turn 1.
Here is a diagram of what the playing field should look like:
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Phase 1: Crystal Recharge Phase (Beginning of turn)
First, at the beginning of each of your turns, choose a color from Black, Blue, Green or Red and put 1 crystal of that color into your energy pool and then Recharge (Reset) your used energy.
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Phase 2: Reset Phase
• Reset – Reset all cards by turning cards that were used back to the upright vertical position to indicate that they are ready to attack, block or use activated abilities.
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Phase 3: Upkeep Phase
• Pay any Upkeep costs at this time.
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Phase 4: Draw Phase
Perform the following In this order:
• {Note - On round one, the player that goes first does not draw a sixth card.}
Then on subsequent turns:
• Draw 1 card from your Player Deck. (These cards have a red back outline).
• Draw 1 card from The Chaos Deck (These cards have a blue back outline).
• Perform the effect of the Chaos card as written, immediately.
{Note: Unless a Relic card is drawn, the Chaos card drawn goes into the Chaos deck discard pile which is a separate from the player’s discard pile A.K.A the Nether Region. If you draw a Relic card, it goes to your left side of the board. It stays with you until the end of the game unless it is destroyed by another effect or stolen by another player.}
• If it is your turn and there are no cards left in your deck, you take a cumulative point of damage each turn. (e.g. round 1 with no cards, take one point of damage. The second time you must draw with no cards in your deck, you take two points of damage. Third time, take three points, etc.)​​​
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Phase 5. Action Phase Perform the following in order:
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You can spend energy crystals to summon Creatures from your hand to the Front Line and/or to use Twist Abilities by paying their crystal cost and turning the card 90 degrees. The casting cost is found in the upper right hand corner. You must use the specified color crystal(s) that match the color of the card, either black, blue, green or red to play the card. In some instances, you will see two numbers in the upper right corner like this 2/2, for example. If this happens, you can choose either one of the colors shown to play the card.
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Twisted abilities can be used at any time except if stated otherwise on the card or other effect. You cannot use Twisted abilities with an extra crystal cost and attack with them on the same turn. You can also not use an ability more than once per turn if the creature is activated.
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When a creature is played, it goes around one of your Crystal Towers unless you have lost control of them. In that case, they go in front of you in a horizontal line. (see diagram above), where it stays until it is destroyed. The turn it comes into play it is disoriented, meaning it cannot attack the turn it was summoned unless they have the Blitz ability or a similar keyword that states they can attack the turn it comes into play.
(Disoriented creatures cannot attack or use their activated abilities)
2) Attack: You can choose any number of creatures that you control that aren't disoriented and/or have the Blitz ability.
(Read the following for explanation of combat)
Combat
Some Chaos card effects and/or creature abilities may change combat rules.
• Your creatures can only attack on your turn and only once per turn unless stated otherwise.
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On your turn, declare attacks with selected creatures you control on either your opponents’ creatures or an opponent(s) directly. All attacking creatures must be declared at the same time and must either attack your opponent’s creatures or the opponent, but cannot attack both in the same turn. After declaring which creatures attack, you turn those creature cards ninety degrees (Twist) to signify that they have attacked. If a card is Twisted, it cannot block during your opponent’s next turn. It does not Reset until your next reset phase, unless specified otherwise.
​ Reset Twisted
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• If creatures are attacking an opponent, defending player can declare which of their creatures that would like to block with, if any. Defending player also chooses which creature(s) of theirs that will block an opponent’s attacking creatures. Only one creature can block one attacker at a time. {note: Only creatures with FLYING can block other creatures with flying. Creatures with Evade cannot be blocked.}
• Once all blockers are declared, look on each creature card. There is a power number (on the bottom left) and a defense number (on the bottom right.) If a creature blocks, compare the attacking creature’s power to the defense value of the blocking creature. If the power of one creature is equal to or greater to the defense of the other creature, then the creature dies and is then placed into the owners discard pile.
For example, if a creature with a power of 3 and a defense of 2 (3/2) blocks a creature with a power of 4 and a defense of 4 (4/4) then the 3/2 creature would die and the 4/4 creature would live. However, the 4/4 creature takes 3 points of damage, so if 1 or more points of damage is done to it from other sources before the end of the turn then the 4/4 creature would also die.
• If a creature is not blocked, then it does its power to the defending player. The defending player then deducts that much from their life points.
• If a player declares that they want to attack creatures and not the opponent, that player can choose which creatures of theirs attacks and which of their opponent’s creatures they are attacking. You can attack an opponent’s creature with more than one of yours at the same time adding the total combined power of all attacking creatures against the defense value of the creature being attacked.
{note: In the game, some cards will modify the power and defense of other creatures. It may be helpful to use dice or the counters on the last page of this rulebook to keep track of a creature’s power and/or toughness.}
• If your creature(s) destroy all of an opponent’s creatures around a tower, you now gain control of it and receive the bonus it provides. You would then bring the tower card to your side of the board and place all creatures that attacked that tower around it. They now guard that tower.
• Players 3-4
If you are playing with 3 or more players, then you can attack multiple players or multiple creatures they control at the same time. All other combat mechanics will still proceed as previously stated.
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Phase 6: End Phase
• Resolve any end-of-turn effects (Chaos countdowns, relic triggers, etc.)
• Discard down to hand size limit (Max hand size is 7)
• Cards discarded at the end phase that have any discard effects will resolve
• Once the hand size is met, players then proceed to the end phase again if the hand size limit is exceeded. Proceed until the requirement is met. (Any new end phase effects DO NOT RESOLVE due to these actions.)
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ENERGY SYSTEM
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To play a card from your hand, you must spend crystals that harness different Arcane Energy either Blue (Mystic), Red (Fire/Earth), Green (Nature) and Black (Shadow). The color of the crystals needed are reflected by the color on the front of the card (e.g. if the card is black then you need to spend black crystals to cast it.)
The number of crystals needed to summon a creature is shown by the number on the top right corner. You can only play a card if you have enough unused crystals of that color in your arcane energy pool or if specified by the ability of another creature or Chaos card.
Each player gains a crystal (Arcane Energy) at the start of their turn. You can choose to use different crystals (Arcane Energy) (e.g. Fire/Earth, Shadow, Nature, and Arcane), to cast creature cards and to activate abilities. If you like, you can keep track of how many crystals you have in your crystal pool with either paper, four different colored 10-sided die or use our free app.
Turn 1: You will start with 1 crystal with a color of your choosing
Turn 2: Choose a color to add to your Energy pool and then you will have 2 crystals... and so on, up to 10 Energy in each color max.
• Note: Unused resources from crystals are not kept and added. Your Arcane Energy Pool is reset each turn.
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KEYWORD RULES
• Blitz: Can attack the turn it enters play
• Rampage: Any excess damage done beyond what is required to kill a creature is applied to the creature’s owner.
• Corrupt: reduces the stats of enemy creatures that it damages.
• Token Creature: A token creature is a symbolic creature. One may be created from a creature ability or Chaos deck effect. We recommend using a 20-sided die or something obvious to represent a token creature so that you can put the number on the die to remind you of the power of that creature. When a token creature dies, it does not go into the discard pile. It disappears. You cannot put a token creature in your hand, it would cease to exist if something required that to happen.
• Life Leech: Any damage done by a creature with Life Leech also gives its owner life equal to its power.
• Flying: Creatures with “flying” soar above those creatures without this attribute. So, creatures with “Flying” can only be blocked by other creatures with “Flying.” Only Flying creatures can attack other flying creatures.
• Deadly: Creatures with the “deadly” attribute will kill a creature that it damages no matter how much is dealt except for 0 damage. Then Nothing would happen.
• Evade: Creatures with Evade cannot be blocked
• Peek: Creatures with Peek allow you to look at the top x cards of your deck once per turn and either keep them on top or move them to the bottom of the Players Deck. The number next to the Peek keyword tells you how many cards you can look at and move to the bottom of your deck. If you are able to Peek at more than one card, you can move one or multiple cards to the bottom of the deck.
• Twist: When declaring an attack with a creature or using a creature’s ability, , you turn those creature cards ninety degrees (Twist) to signify that they have attacked. If a card is Twisted, it cannot block during your opponent’s next turn. It does not Reset until your next reset phase, unless specified otherwise.
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