Rules Update 0.3 Triggered Abilities and Game Setup

2026-09-24 · Rules

Version 0.3 — opening numbers and trigger chains

Two changes. The game starts slower and with more cards in hand. Triggers no longer loop.

Opening numbers

	Was	Now
Deck size	40	45
Opening hand	7	9
Starting Mana	2	1
Starting Mana Capacity	2	1

Turn one you have one Mana. Shatter if you want a 2-drop. Harvest if you want a Facet. Play a 1-cost if you have one. You do not get a free 2-drop on the first turn anymore.

You also see nine cards instead of seven, from a 45-card deck. More opening choices (play / Harvest / Shatter) without the old 40-card deck emptying as fast.

Copy limit is still 3. Life is still 30. Shatter is still the only way Mana Capacity grows.

Triggers no longer loop

Two cards that bounce off each other used to be able to draw, Scry, draw, Scry until the game stalled. That is closed.

Triggered abilities now run as chains. Each line of text fires once per chain. Then the chain stops.

The short version

A trigger is text that starts with When, Whenever, or At. You do not play it. It happens because something just happened.
Triggers are not spells. They do not pass priority. Nobody casts in the middle of a chain.
When something happens (you draw, you Scry, a creature dies), every matching ability is noted immediately. It still runs even if that card later leaves play.
Each of your matching abilities starts its own chain. You pick the order. Finish one chain completely before the next.
Inside a chain, work depth-first: that ability, then what it caused, then what those caused.
Each line of text may fire only once in that chain. Two copies of the same card are two lines. A Base Ability and a Facet Ability on the same card are two lines.
Opponent triggers wait until the end of each of your chains. They pick the order of theirs.

Why it exists

Without a cap, this never ends:

Seer: When you draw, Scry 1.
Chronicler: When you Scry, draw 1.

You draw → Scry → draw → Scry → …

Once per chain stops it. Seer already fired in that chain, so Chronicler’s extra draw does not make Seer Scry again.

You can still print clean card text. The global rule does the work. No extra “this can only trigger once per turn” clutter on every payoff.

What you will feel in play

Combos still work. One draw can still Scry, Spark, Mill, and more. The chain just has a ceiling.

Two copies still both fire. Two “When you draw, Scry 1” cards on the same draw is two chains. Two Scrys, not infinite Scry.

The same card can fire in two chains. If Seer and Sparkmage both trigger from one draw, and Seer’s chain causes another draw, Sparkmage can Spark in Seer’s chain and Spark again in its own chain. Once per chain, not once per turn.

No window in the middle. You cannot sneak a spell in while Scry is resolving into Spark. Play spells before the event, or after the whole chain is done.

Replacement effects are unchanged. Text that says “if you would … instead” is not a trigger. This rule does not apply to it.

Where to read it

Condensed Rules — setup numbers, Triggered Abilities (the six-step version)
Core Rulebook — Section 3 (deck size), Section 6 (starting the game), Section 7.1 (Mana Capacity), Section 17.1 (full trigger examples)

This is in Version 0.3.

Tell us how it feels in play. Discord