Balance & Economy

Mill & Graveyard System

Mill works differently per color, and emptying your library is not an instant loss.

Library Depletion

When your library is empty and you need to draw, reshuffle your graveyard back into your library. This comes with an escalating life loss penalty that makes it a real cost, not a free reset.

Starting life total: 20.

Reshuffle penalty: Linear +2 life loss. The first reshuffle costs 2 life, the second costs 4, the third costs 6, and so on. At 20 starting life, the 4th reshuffle is lethal from full health.

Reshuffle	Life Lost	Total Lost
1st	2	2
2nd	4	6
3rd	6	12
4th	8	20 (lethal)

Playtesting alternatives (if games go too long with linear +2):

Linear +3 (3/6/9/12) -- hits harder early, still 4 reshuffles to lethal but more punishing per cycle
Exponential starting at 2 (2/4/8/16) -- same 4 reshuffles to lethal but with a dramatic late-game spike
Fibonacci (1/1/2/3/5/8) -- slow start, 6 reshuffles to lethal, gradual buildup
Flat 5 (5/5/5/5) -- no escalation, 4 reshuffles to lethal, hardest to heal through early

Mill by Color

Color	Mill Style	How It Works
Black	Self-mill	Mills its own library to fuel graveyard play. Gravebound cards stay in graveyard even when reshuffling. Being milled by opponents actually helps Black. Natural counter to mill strategies.
Red	Aggressive mill	Burns through opponent's library fast. Corruption-style effects that punish opponents for having a full graveyard or for being forced to reshuffle.
Blue	Surgical mill	Exile-based: sends cards to Exile (not graveyard). Exiled cards cannot be recycled. Permanently and selectively shrinks opponent's options. Slower but irreversible.

Graveyard Pressure

Reshuffling is not free. Mill strategies from Red and Blue create graveyard pressure: opponents must choose between losing tempo to recycle (paying the reshuffle penalty) or letting their library and options shrink.

This pressure is less effective against Black, which thrives with a full graveyard and has Gravebound cards that survive reshuffles. This creates a natural color counter dynamic.

Balance Framework

A point-budget system provides a formulaic foundation for card costing, preventing power creep from the design stage.

Core Formula

Budget = (2 x energy cost) + 1

The "+1" is the card tax -- every card you play costs you a card from hand, and that card itself has value (it could have been energized or used for hand payment). The formula accounts for this inherent cost.

Energy Cost	Budget	Vanilla Unit (all stats)
0	1	0/1
1	3	1/2 or 2/1
2	5	2/3 or 3/2
3	7	3/4 or 4/3
4	9	4/5 or 5/4
5	11	5/6 or 6/5

Spell Formula

Spells are one-time use -- they're consumed on resolution. Their budget formula differs from units:

Cost	Formula	Budget
0	Card tax only	1
1+	2 x cost	2 x cost

0-cost spells pay the card tax (budget 1) because the card itself is the only cost. 1+ cost spells don't pay the card tax -- being consumed after one use is the tradeoff. The energy IS the cost.

Examples:

Cost 0 spell (budget 1): Deal 1 damage, or Gain 1 life
Cost 1 spell (budget 2): Deal 2 damage (Firebolt)
Cost 3 spell (budget 6): Deal 6 damage (Fireball)
Cost 4 spell (budget 8): Destroy target unit (4) + Draw 1 card (2) + Deal 2 damage (2)

Trap Formula

Traps persist face-down and have the timing advantage of reactive activation. They use the same formula as units:

Budget = (2 x energy cost) + 1

Energy Cost	Budget
1	3
2	5
3	7

Item Formula

Items persist on the field but are fragile -- they require a host unit and are destroyed when the host dies. They use the same formula as units:

Budget = (2 x energy cost) + 1

Energy Cost	Budget
1	3
2	5
3	7

Keywords granted by items that normally scale with Might (First Strike, Rush) use a flat cost instead, since the item doesn't control what unit it's equipped to.

Vanilla Units & Items

Vanilla units (no keywords or effects) can equip 2 items instead of the normal 1. This makes them premium item carriers -- blank slates you build up with equipment. Their stat efficiency (full budget spent on Might/Endurance) combined with double item slots gives them a genuine deckbuilding role.

Unit Formula

Stats: +1 Might = 1 point, +1 Endurance = 1 point.

0-cost cards are allowed (budget of 1). Vanilla 0-cost = 0/1.

0-Endurance units are allowed in any color but must have at least one keyword or effect (never vanilla). They die immediately to any damage and serve as on-play effect carriers -- unit-typed spells that dodge spell/trap removal but can be countered by trap triggers. Must have at least one keyword or effect (never vanilla).

Keyword Costs

Keyword	Primary Color	Budget Cost	Notes
Rush	Red	Might - 1 (min 0)	The unit is allowed to attack the turn it is played. Scales with Might. Capped at 2 Might -- only units with 1-2 Might can have Rush.
Guard	White	1	Forces attackers to target this unit
Shield X	White	1 per X	Temporary hit points, absorbs next X damage, doesn't stack, wears off end of turn
Burn X	Red	1 per X	Attack only. Deals X damage to the defending player regardless of combat outcome.
Recoil X	Green	1 per X	Defense only. When this unit blocks, deals X damage to the attacking player regardless of combat outcome.
First Strike	Red (primary)	Might - 1 (min 0)	Unit deals damage before the defender in combat (attack and defense). If it kills the enemy first, it takes no damage back. Scales with Might.
Flying	No primary	floor((Might-1)/2)	Can only be blocked by units with Flying or Reach. Stepped curve: 0,0,1,1,2,2,3,3...
Reach	Green (primary)	1 (flat)	Can block Flying units. Purely defensive counter to Flying.
Overkill	Green (primary)	Might - 2 (min 0)	Excess combat damage to a blocker carries through to the defending player. Cheaper than First Strike -- pushes damage through but doesn't prevent incoming.
Endure	Universal	floor(Endurance/2)	Survive lethal once per turn at 1 Endurance, becomes exhausted. Scales with Endurance -- harder to remove a tanky Endure unit.
Conduit	Green	0	Counts as 2 energy when energized. No budget cost -- the tension is board presence vs energy acceleration.
Bounce	Blue	2	Return target to hand
Exhaust	Blue	1	Target becomes exhausted, skips next ready step
Foresight X	Blue	1 per X	Look at top X cards, may rearrange
Hunter	Universal	Might - 2 (min 2)	May target enemy unit instead of player. Targeted unit readies and fights back. Guard still intercepts. Scales with Might at 4+.
Sacrifice	Black	-2 (refund)	Destroying own card is a cost, not a benefit
Self-infliction X	Black	-1 per X life	Pay X life as additional cost
Revive	Black	2	Play from graveyard (paying cost)
Gravebound	Black	0	Stays in graveyard on reshuffle; mandatory
Drain X	Black/Green	2 per X	When this deals damage, gain X life (fixed, independent of damage dealt). Repeatable -- triggers on every hit.
Curse	Black	1	Equip debuff to enemy
Heal X	White/Green	1 per X	Restore X life/endurance

Draw-to-Hand-Size

Players draw up to max hand size (5) at the end of their turn. No draw cap.

Players typically reach 0 cards by end of turn — cards are spent as hand payment for energy, played to the board, energized into the Energy Zone, or set face-down. The hand empties naturally, not just on all-in turns.

Why no cap: Since hands drain fast every turn, a draw cap (e.g., 2 or 3) would create a frustrating stutter where players alternate between productive and starved turns. Draw-to-hand-size keeps every turn playable.

Why draw at 2 budget: In a draw-to-hand-size system, mid-turn card draw is selection (seeing more of your deck this turn) rather than accumulation — you refill to 5 regardless. But every card in a 40-card deck with no resource cards is a real playable card, making deck velocity genuinely powerful. At 2 budget per draw, card draw is meaningful without being cheap enough to staple onto every card.

Green Ramp Balance

Green's Conduit keyword creates a sustained resource advantage. With 3 Conduit cards energized in a 5-slot Energy Zone, Green generates 8 energy per turn vs 5 for other colors. Combined with draw-to-hand-size, Green keeps more cards in hand as options rather than burning them as payment — that flexibility is Green's real advantage.

Why this is acceptable: Every Conduit card energized is a full-stat unit not on the board. Green trades board presence for resource advantage. In a game where combat is the primary win condition, that's a genuine cost. Green has the resources but lacks efficient answers — no removal, no card draw, no tempo tools. It builds big and hopes big is enough.

Counterplay by color:

Red goes under it — ends the game before ramp matters
Blue goes over it — Bounce the expensive threat Green ramped into, wasting their turn's energy investment
Black ignores it — graveyard recursion doesn't care about energy
White outlasts it — Shield and Guard neutralize Green's big stats

Reclaim tension: Green is the color most torn about Reclaiming. Pulling a Conduit from the Energy Zone loses 2 energy instead of 1, so switching from ramp to board is steeper for Green. This creates a genuine decision each turn — keep ramping or start fighting.

Effect Costs

Effect	Budget Cost	Notes
Draw 1 card	2	Mid-turn selection — deck velocity in a draw-to-hand-size system
Deal X damage (to unit)	1 per X	Direct damage to a unit
Deal X damage (to player)	1.5 per X	Player damage premium -- going face costs more than board interaction
AoE damage (X to all)	3x per X	Multiplied cost for hitting multiple targets
Destroy target unit	4	Unconditional removal is expensive
Conditional destroy	2-3	"Destroy target with 3 or less Endurance," etc.
Bounce target	2	Return any target to hand
Fight	2	Your unit and target enemy unit deal their Might to each other. Combat keywords do not apply.
Heal X	1 per X	Restore life or endurance
Reveal a set card	1	Information advantage
Soft cancel (tax 2)	3	Counter target spell/trap unless controller pays 2 extra energy. Trap-only effect.
Instigate	4	Force two units to fight (neither needs to be yours). Premium over Fight (2) because no risk to your board.

Design Guidelines

Budget rounding: Cards within ±0.5 of their budget are acceptable. The formula is a starting framework, not a calculator. If a card is ±1 or more off budget, revisit the design.

Direct player damage cap: Spells and effects that can target players directly are capped at 3 damage maximum per card. Higher-damage effects must target units only. This is an internal design rule, not a player-facing rule -- targeting restrictions are printed on each card ("target unit" vs "target unit or player"). Keeps the game board-focused without adding rules to memorize.

Color Alignment

Effects that match a color's identity cost fewer budget points in that color:

Burn (deal damage) is cheaper in Red
Healing is cheaper in White/Green
Graveyard recursion is cheaper in Black
Bounce/exhaust is cheaper in Blue

This means a Red burn spell is more cost-efficient than a White card with the same burn effect, reinforcing color identity through economics rather than hard restrictions.

Ace Units

Ace Units follow the normal budget for their stats and keywords -- they are not overstatted. Ace units have no special Ace ability. Their specialness comes from their role in Ace Battle format (always in play, Bench on death), not extra card text.

Multiple copies of an Ace unit can be included in a deck (up to the normal max of 4, or its printed Limit), but only one copy can be on the field at a time. Playing a second copy while one is in play is not allowed.

Validation: Flint, the Dreamer

Cost 5 = budget of 11. Flint has 5 Might (5) + 4 Endurance (4) + Endure (2) = 11. Exactly on budget. The conditional +2 Might from All-Out Assault is not costed here -- conditional abilities are evaluated separately.

Card Rarity & Limits

Standard cards: max 4 copies per deck
Cards can carry a printed Limit X restriction (Limit 1, Limit 2, or Limit 3) that caps how many copies can be included in a deck. More powerful cards get tighter limits.

Ban / Restricted List

Separate from printed Limit restrictions, a format-specific ban/restricted list serves as a post-release balance tool:

Banned -- card cannot be included in decks for that format
Restricted -- card's copy limit is reduced for that format (e.g., a Limit 3 card restricted to 1 copy)

Ban lists are managed per format -- a card might be fine in Ace Battle but broken in Standard 1v1. Printed Limit values are design-time decisions; ban/restricted lists are reactive balance corrections for unforeseen problems (degenerate combos, meta-warping cards).

NOTE: Point values above are the initial framework. They will be calibrated through playtesting -- individual values may shift, but the core formula (budget = 2x cost + 1) is locked in.