How to play Eminence TCG
Take on the role of a Soulbound, one of many powerful guild leaders seeking to overthrow the others. Deploy units to claim areas and build your renown – can you beat the game of fame?
In Eminence, two players compete to be the first to reach 10 Fame – gained through claiming Areas and defeating the opposing Leader – or have the most Fame once all Areas are claimed.
For the experienced TCG player and newcomers alike, Eminence is welcoming of players of all experience levels. After all, beings from all different realms find their way into Eminence whenever the Portals open.
For the full ruleset, please visit: Official Eminence Rules
Equipment needed to play:
a set of Eminence cards including (Leader Card, Plots [Area deck], and Bank [main deck].)
(6) six-sided dice
Optional equipment:
misc. dice
generic counters
paper & pencil
Cards
There are 4 types of cards in Eminence: Leader, Unit, Support, and Area
Leader cards are the characters which the Soulbound player represents. Consider them like your king or queen in a game of chess. Unit cards are of creatures that can attack the opposing player's deck, or defend your deck or Area.
Support cards are special effects, such as items, skills, and spells. If the Unit card is the action, the support card is the adjective- a Unit card could do the job on it's own, but having some gear in a fight never hurts.
Area cards are the locations the players comete for control over. Each player includes area cards from their own deck to a game, for a total of 5 area cards per game.
(player one contributes 2 Area cards + player two contributes 3 Area cards = both players are fighting for 5 Areas)
Here's the layout for your cards:
Game Set-Up
The 5 Area cards pulled by both players are placed face-up between both players. Any additional Area cards can be placed to the side, as they will not be used this game.
Place your leader card face-up to your bottom left, in your Leader space, below your Cache space.
Shuffle your remaining Unit and Support cards together, and place this deck face-down in your bottom right Bank space, below your Crypt space. There should be no additional cards at this time.
The space between your Leader/Cache left side, and your Bank/Crypt right side will be for your Guild Hall. Your Guild Hall is where cards actively being played/used will go.
Draw 7 cards from your Bank deck and hold them in your hand, making sure the opposing player does not see them.
Looking at the cards in your hand, determine which of those you would like to keep to start your game with.
Any cards you do not wish to play, set them aside, draw as many cards as you set aside, then shuffle those cards that were set aside into your Bank.
Examples:
Player one draws 7 cards, and decides to keep 5 of them to start this round with. Player one sets aside 2 cards. Player one then draws another 2 cards from the top of their Bank, so their round begins with the 5 cards they kept + the 2 cards they replaced at random = 7 cards in their hand, then shuffle the set aside cards back into their Bank.
Player two draws 7 cards, and decides to only keep 1 of them to start their turn with. Player two sets aside 6 cards. Player two then draws another 6 cards from the top of their Bank, so their round begins with the 1 cards they kept + the 6 cards they replaced at random = 7 cards in their hand, then shuffle the set aside cards back into their Bank.
You are now ready to battle for the future of Eminence!
How to Play
Each turn is composed of 3 phases: the Start Phase, the Main Phase, and the End Phase.
Starting Phase
The first thing you do at the start of your turn is (1) resolve any start-of-turn effects, and then (2) refresh all of your exhausted cards.
(1) Address if any face-up cards have an affect on either player, Leader, Area, etc. If this is not the first turn, address any affects from the previous turn.
(2) When a card is exhausted, it's turned sideways to indicate it has been used for an action, and cannot perform any further actions until it is Refreshed. Refreshing a card is to return exhausted cards (turned sideways) to their ready state (upright) during the Start Phase.
If this is the first round of the game, no cards will be exhausted until after an action is performed with them.
Generally at the begining of a new game, only new start-of-turn effects will be applicable, if at all.
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Main Phase
Next, you may take any of the following actions, in any order, as many times as you want (Unless it is noted otherwise on a card).
The cost of a card must be resolved/'paid' before the action of the card is taken.
→ Play a card from your hand, face-down in your Guild Hall to lock it in for future
→ Play a card from your hand, face-up in your Guild Hall after paying for its level
→ Deploy a Unit card face-up from your hand into an Area, after paying for its level (this Unit cannot be exhausted until the next turn).
→ Play a Support card from your hand, as it is instructed to use it's effect according to the card, after paying for its level.
→ Cast a Spell using either your Leader or a Unit. You can either pay for the Spell's
level prior to casting, or exhaust the Unit casting (depending on level).
→ Move a Unit from your Guild Hall to any Area. Exhaust the Unit after it moves.
→ Move a Unit from any Area to either your Guild Hall or an adjacent Area
(If a Unit started from Area 3, it can travel to Area 2 or Area 4, but NOT Area 1 or Area 5). Exhaust the Unit after it moves.
→ Claim Renown in an Area by exhausting one of your Units in that Area.
[1 Unit = 1 Renown]
→ Activate a Renown effect of an Area in which at least one of your Units is NOT exhausted. After the action is completed, the Unit will be exhausted, and the Renown cost of the Area (shown on the Area card) must be paid.
→ Activate a Skill effect of one of your cards in an Area. Exhaust the card after the Skill has been activated.
→ Attack with an Unit in an Area. Exhaust the Unit after the action is taken.
End Phase
After the actions of your turn have been taken, the last things to do are
(1) putting 0-1 card(s) in your Cache,
(2) resolving end-of-turn effects.
(3) drawing 2 cards.
(1) Your Cache allows you to stow away cards from your hand to protect them from being discarded and to play them for cheaper. Anytime during your turn except the End step, if you have three or more cards in your cache, you can play one from it at a reduced cost.
(2) Follow the text on your played cards from this round for guidance on how to resolve specific card effects.
(3) Draw 2 cards from your Bank deck into your hand.
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There are countless options and strategies to build within Eminence!
Winners and Losers
The Game ends and a Soulbound is crowned ruler of Eminence when one of 2 conditions are met: When one player gains 10 Fame from claiming Areas and defeating the Opposing player's Leader, or If all Areas have been claimed, the player with the most Fame wins.
If you're playing Competitive (best of 3 rounds), the player who lost the previous round chooses the player to go first next round. Area cards set aside from the previous round.
Unused Area cards from a player's Plots (or Area Deck) are drawn from to start the next game.
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