Card Pool — Initial Playtest Set

150 unique cards designed to support mono-color and two-color deckbuilding with meaningful choices in a 40-card, max-4-copies format.

Distribution Overview

Card Type Totals

Mono-Color Breakdown

Type distribution varies by color identity. Each color gets 22 unique cards.

Red — Proactive Aggro

Rush and Burn bodies at every cost point create a fast, linear game plan. Burn spells double as removal and face damage. Minimal traps — Red doesn't wait around. Phoenix and Phoenix Feather moved to Red/White — rebirth is a resilience theme.

• 7 Units: Rush attackers, Burn creatures, First Strike threat, Hunter unit, Dragon finisher
• 6 Spells: Direct burn, unit removal, Challenge (fight spell), item destruction, energy destruction
• 3 Traps: Retaliatory damage triggers, combat punishment, attack responses
• 1 Item: Weapon that grants bonus Might + Burn

Green — Creature-Heavy Conduit

Tied with Red for most units. Green wins through board presence — beefy stat lines, Conduit for accelerating into big threats, and Drain for sustain. Healing and stat-boost spells support the creature plan.

• 12 Units: Conduit bodies (count as 2 energy when energized), Drain creatures, Endure tanks, stat-efficient beaters, varied cost curve
• 6 Spells: Healing, stat boosts, energy acceleration, fight effects
• 2 Traps: Defensive nature triggers (damage on entry, healing on block)
• 2 Items: Stat-boosting equipment, sustain relics

Blue — Spell-Heavy Control

Fewest units of any color but each one carries utility (Foresight, Bounce, Exhaust). Tied with White for most traps — Blue is reactive and wants to disrupt on the opponent's turn. Heaviest spell count rewards the control game plan.

• 9 Units: Foresight utility bodies, Bounce/Exhaust creatures, exile-mill enablers
• 7 Spells: Bounce effects, Exhaust effects, Foresight manipulation, exile-mill, library top manipulation
• 4 Traps: Reactive bounce, freeze triggers, tempo disruption, counter-play
• 2 Items: Relics with passive control effects

White — Defensive Midrange

Guard and Shield units hold the line while Reveal spells expose bluffs. Tied with Blue for most traps — White's defensive nature rewards patience and punishment. Most items alongside Black due to armor and shield relics.

• 10 Units: Guard bodies, Shield bearers, Reveal units, support/healer units, Heal-on-entry
• 5 Spells: Healing, Shield effects, Reveal spells, protective buffs
• 4 Traps: Protection triggers, punishment traps, anti-aggro responses, Reveal-based traps
• 3 Items: Armor (bonus Endurance/damage reduction), shield relics, protective artifacts

Black — Sacrifice Engine

Units serve double duty as threats and fuel. Gravebound creatures survive reshuffles, Revive brings them back, and Self-infliction trades life for tempo. Most items of any color — Cursed Items are a unique Black mechanic that needs several examples to playtest.

• 10 Units: Sacrifice fodder, Gravebound creatures, Self-infliction undercosted threats, Drain units, Revive targets
• 5 Spells: Sacrifice payoffs, self-mill, revival effects, curse effects
• 3 Traps: Punishing triggers, sacrifice-on-trigger effects, curse traps
• 4 Items: Cursed Items (equip to enemies for debuffs), weapons, draining relics, self-infliction artifacts

Two-Color Breakdown

10 pairs × 4 cards each = 40 multi-color cards. Each pair gets 2 Units, 1 Spell, and 1 flex card (Spell, Trap, or Item depending on the pair's identity).

Pair Design Notes

• Red / Green — Dinosaurs and primal beasts. Rush + growth, Burn + growth. Two spells because both colors are proactive — no traps needed.
• Red / Blue — Pirate tempo. Burn + Bounce aggro-control hybrids. The trap is a reactive tempo swing.
• Red / White — Righteous fury. Phoenix defines the pair — fire aggression meets resilient rebirth. Rush + Guard, Burn + Shield. The item is Phoenix Feather (return unit to hand on death).
• Red / Black — Reckless aggro. Self-infliction + Rush, Sacrifice + Burn. The item is a cursed weapon (double-edged power).
• Green / Blue — Tidal growth. growth + Foresight, Drain + Bounce. The trap is a growth trigger on opponent's action.
• Green / White — Life fortress. Guard + growth, Heal + Shield. The item is regenerating armor.
• Green / Black — Cycle of life. Drain + Sacrifice, Revive + growth. The item is a draining relic.
• Blue / White — Order control. Foresight + Reveal, Exhaust + Guard. The trap combines reveal and lockdown.
• Blue / Black — Shadow intel. Foresight + Sacrifice, exile-mill + self-mill. The trap punishes opponents for overextending.
• White / Black — Dark justice. Guard + Drain, Shield + Curse. The item is a cursed armor piece.

Deckbuilding Math

• Mono-color deck: 22 unique cards available. A typical 40-card deck uses ~15-20 of them (mix of 4x staples and 1-2x situational picks), leaving genuine deckbuilding choices.
• Two-color deck: 22 + 22 + 4 = 48 unique cards available. Cutting more than half forces real decisions about which color to lean into.
• Unit density: Every color has at least 7 unique units. Green leads with 12 (creature-first identity). Red has 7 — fewer unique units means players run more copies of each, reinforcing Red's focused aggro game plan.