Card Types

Units

Units that attack, block, and occupy the field. Each unit has two stats:

• Might -- damage dealt in combat
• Endurance -- damage absorbed before destroyed (resets at end of turn)

A 3/4 unit deals 3 damage and survives any single hit of 3 or less. It dies to 4+ damage in a single combat.

Summoning Weakness: Units cannot attack or activate abilities the turn they enter play. This gives defenders time to react and makes the Rush keyword (which allows the unit to attack the turn it is played) a meaningful advantage.

Ace Units: Some units carry the Ace supertype, making them eligible to serve as your Ace in the Ace Battle format. In non-Ace formats, Ace Units are played as normal units. Ace Units are designed with abilities that are meaningful when always in play, but still balanced for regular use.

Unit Subtypes: Units carry one or more subtypes that enable tribal synergies and deck themes. Example subtypes:

Subtypes are open-ended -- new sets can introduce new subtypes. Synergy cards reference subtypes (e.g., "All Pirates you control gain +1 Might" or "When a Dragon enters play, deal 1 damage to all opponents").

Spells

One-time effects that resolve and go to the graveyard. Spells can be:

• Played from hand on your turn (normal cast)
• Set face-down to reserve for a later turn (activates on your turn only -- never on an opponent's turn)

Traps

Reactive cards that punish or disrupt opponents. Traps:

• Must be set face-down first -- they cannot be played directly from hand
• Activate at specific declared trigger windows during any player's turn (e.g., "when attacked," "when a spell is played," "at start of opponent's turn")
• Must be set for at least one full turn before activation (prevents instant-traps)
• Paid for when activated, not when set

Items

Persistent cards that attach to units, the player, or enemies:

• Weapons -- grant bonus Might to the equipped unit
• Armor -- grant bonus Endurance or damage reduction to the equipped unit
• Relics / Artifacts -- provide passive or activated effects while equipped
• Cursed Items -- equip to enemy units or the enemy player for debuffs (a Black specialty)

Unit Type Showcases

Example cards that demonstrate how a subtype's identity comes through in card design. These are concept mock-ups for playtesting, not final cards -- names, stats, and effects are all subject to change.

Pirates

Pirates embody freedom, ambition, and camaraderie. They're one of the game's cross-color subtypes: any color can have Pirates, and a pirate crew deck encourages multi-color builds where each member's color identity shines.

The cards below sketch a six-member pirate crew spanning all five colors (plus one multi-color). Each is an Ace Unit at the same total cost (4) so the designs can be compared side by side. Two design goals guide every card:

1. Show, don't tell. Titles are epithets that hint at the character -- the mechanics reveal who they are.
2. Standalone playable. Every card earns its slot in a mono-color deck on raw power. Pirate tribal is a bonus, not a crutch. A Red aggro player should want Flint because he's a great Red card, not because they're forced into a pirate package.

Flint, the Dreamer

Keywords: Endure

Abilities:

• All-Out Assault -- When Flint attacks alone (no other attackers declared), he gains +2 Might until end of turn.
• Unbreakable Will (Ace ability) -- The first time Flint would take lethal damage each turn, his Will resets to 1 instead.

Design notes: 5/4 with Endure makes him a bruiser who refuses to go down -- he hits hard and survives the first kill shot. All-Out Assault rewards the reckless solo charge (7 Might swinging alone is a devastating clock). Unbreakable Will stacks with Endure in Ace Battle for double resilience -- opponents need to commit serious removal to put him down. "The Dreamer" says everything -- this is someone chasing something impossible, and the relentless mechanics show how far he'll go to get there.

Standalone value: A 5/4 Endure for 4 that's extremely hard to kill cleanly. Slots into Red midrange, Red/X brawler builds, or as a resilient Ace in Ace Battle. No pirate text on any ability.

Galant, the Seafaring Chef

Keywords: Guard

Abilities:

• Chivalrous Vow -- When an allied unit would take lethal damage, you may exhaust Galant to Shield 3 to that unit. Galant cannot attack the following turn.
• Refined Palate (Ace ability) -- At the start of your End Phase, if Galant did not attack this turn, Heal 1 to your life total.

Design notes: "Seafaring Chef" tells you he feeds and sustains the crew -- the heal and shield do the rest. Guard makes him a reliable blocker in any White deck. Chivalrous Vow works with any ally (not just Pirates), so he's a premium protector in White midrange or White/X control shells. The tradeoff is real: saving an ally costs his next attack, so you're choosing between his 2 Might on offense and his Shield 3 on defense. Refined Palate rewards the defensive playstyle he naturally falls into -- if you're shielding allies instead of attacking, you're healing too. A 2/5 Guard that heals and protects is a White staple, not a tribal accessory.

Standalone value: White's best defensive 4-drop. Guard + Shield on a 5-Endurance body with incidental healing. Any White deck that wants to play long games wants this.

Siren, the Cat Burglar

Keywords: Foresight 2

Abilities:

• Sticky Fingers -- When Siren deals combat damage to a player, Bounce one of that player's energy sources (their choice) to their hand.
• Weather Tax (Ace ability) -- Opponents' first card played each turn costs 1 additional energy of any color.

Design notes: The title says thief. The mechanics show how she steals -- she doesn't take your cards, she takes your tempo. Sticky Fingers hits the Energy Zone, which is devastating in the mid-game: bouncing an opponent's energized card shrinks their economy and forces them to re-energize next turn (losing a card's worth of tempo). Weather Tax is a soft Stax effect that punishes opponents for existing -- their curve is always one behind yours. Foresight 2 gives her library manipulation that any Blue deck values for setting up draws. Low stats (2/3) mean she dies to a stiff breeze, but if she connects even once, the resource bounce swings the game.

Standalone value: Blue tempo/control staple. Foresight 2 + a Stax effect on a body is playable in any Blue shell. The energy bounce is generically powerful -- you don't need pirates to want this.

Longshot, the Liar

Keywords: --

Abilities:

• Flee! -- Pay 2 life: remove Longshot from combat after blockers are declared. (Self-infliction.)
• Sniper's Resolve -- While your life total is 5 or less, Longshot gains +4 Might and his attacks cannot be blocked.
• Tall Tales (Ace ability) -- Once per turn, you may discard a card: target opponent's set card is revealed face-up.

Design notes: "The Liar" works on two levels -- he tells tall tales (Tall Tales reveals set cards, a liar who sees through other liars), and his 1/2 stat line is a lie about how dangerous he actually is. Flee! is Black self-infliction as a survival tool: he runs from fights, but each retreat costs life, which feeds directly into Sniper's Resolve. At 5 life he becomes a 5/2 unblockable finisher -- the coward cornered is the deadliest thing on the board. The design tension is beautiful: do you Flee early to power up faster (risking dying to chip damage), or hold back and let Resolve come online naturally? Tall Tales gives Black information warfare that any deck values -- discarding a card to expose a set card is sacrifice-for-knowledge, core Black identity.

Standalone value: Black aggro and Black self-infliction decks want this. A 1/2 that becomes a 5/2 unblockable finisher is a legitimate win condition. Tall Tales is generically useful anti-bluff tech. No pirate text anywhere.

Zoro, the Wandering Swordsman

Keywords: Endure

Abilities:

• Immovable -- Zoro cannot be Bounced, Exhausted, or forced to change zones by opponent effects.
• Three-Blade Slash (Ace ability) -- At the start of combat, deal 1 damage to each enemy unit.

Design notes: Every other crew member is an original character inspired by a source. Zoro is just Zoro -- he got lost and wandered directly into our game. "The Wandering Swordsman" is what happens when your sense of direction is so bad you end up in the wrong IP entirely. Endure is the core -- he simply refuses to go down, surviving the first kill shot each turn. Immovable means Blue can't reset him with Bounce or stall him with Exhaust -- he's built anti-control insurance into his card text. Three-Blade Slash turns him into a board sweeper that clears tokens and weakens blockers before combat even starts. He's the simplest design in the crew -- no conditions, no costs, no tricks. Drop him, and he stays. He doesn't do clever things; he just stands there until nothing can stop him.

Standalone value: Green's premier threat at 4 energy. Any Green midrange or ramp deck wants a resilient body with built-in removal resistance. Endure + Immovable is a self-contained package that doesn't need tribal support.

Dahlia, the Scholar

Keywords: Foresight 3

Abilities:

• Hundred Blooms -- Once per turn, you may exile a unit from any graveyard. If you do, Dahlia gains that unit's keyword abilities until end of turn.
• Forbidden Knowledge (Ace ability) -- At the start of your turn, look at the top card of each opponent's library. You may put any of them on the bottom of their owner's library.

Design notes: "The Scholar" reads the battlefield the way others read books. Blue/Black multi-color makes her the crew's bridge between Siren's tempo game and Longshot's information warfare. Foresight 3 is the deepest Foresight in the crew -- she sees further than anyone. Hundred Blooms (flower reference -- her power manifests through sprouting) lets her study the fallen and borrow their strengths: exile a dead Rush unit to swing, exile a dead Guard to block. The graveyard is a library of the dead, and she reads it. Forbidden Knowledge gives persistent library manipulation on opponents -- she always knows their next draw and can deny it. The 2/4 body is durable but not threatening alone; her value is informational, not physical. She's the crew member who wins games by knowing more than everyone else at the table.

Standalone value: Foresight 3 + opponent library manipulation is a Blue/Black control staple. The graveyard ability scales with every game -- more dead units means more options. Any Blue/Black shell wants this regardless of subtype.

Crew Synergy Notes

Every card above is designed to be picked for its color identity first and pirate synergy second. In a pirate crew deck, they cover all five colors and complement each other naturally (Galant shields Siren so she connects; Longshot's Tall Tales exposes traps for Flint to attack through). But the tribal payoffs are kept to separate synergy cards, not baked into the crew members themselves:

• "Pirate's Oath" -- Spell: all units you control gain +1/+1 until end of turn. If you control 3+ Pirates, draw a card. (Generic combat trick with a tribal kicker -- playable in any deck, better in pirates.)
• "The Jolly Roger" -- Field Relic: Pirate units you control gain Rush. (The one tribal-locked card -- it's the payoff for committing to the tribe, not a tax on individual members.)
• "First Mate's Call" -- Trap: when a unit you control is destroyed, play a unit from your hand with energy cost 3 or less without paying its cost. If it's a Pirate, it gains Rush until end of turn. (Generically strong cheat-into-play effect with a pirate bonus.)