Key Concepts
Below is a list of the most recent rules (in PDF format):
Before playing Deathmatch, there are a few key concepts every player should understand:
- Spawner Terrain Cards: The spawner cards are where newly played cards can start their turn.
- Radius: These are the 8 spaces surrounding a card.
- Adjacent: These are the spaces above, below, left and right of any card.
- Player's Hand: These are the five cards drawn by each player to start a game. All cards drawn during gameplay also become part of the player’s hand.
- Deck of Cards: Each player’s deck of cards should be placed within easy reach just behind each player’s field of play and are separated into 3 piles (Barracks, Treasury and Spellbook cards).
- Discard Pile: Cards that are no longer used are placed upside-up and off to the side.
- Token Cards: If a player’s deck contains tokens, they are placed upside-up and off to the side.
- Mercenaries and Animals: If a mercenary or animal card is played, initially it is set to the right of the player’s field of play.
- Cemetery: Cards that have been killed are placed in the cemetery upside-up and off to the side.
- Gold: Each player uses gold to play cards during game play.
- Rarity: There is no card rarity in this game.
- Heroes: Cards with a yellow-gold banner symbol on the upper left are heroes.
- Class: There are 4 class types for units and heroes depicted in the upper right corner of any card: archers (arrow symbol), casters (fireball symbol), warriors (sword symbol) and rogues (dagger symbol).
- Unit: A unit can be any non-hero, mercenary or animal card from a player’s deck.
- Level and Spiritual Energy (SE): This blue crystal represents the level and general strength rating of a unit. It also is the amount of spiritual energy that is added to a player's total each turn that the card is on the Battlefield.
- Movement (MV): This is the total number of spaces that can be moved in a single turn by a unit.
- Health (HP): This is the total life points of a unit. To track the health of units or heroes, you must record the total amount of damage each unit has taken using a 10-sided red die placed on each card.
- Attack Damage (DMG): This is the attack damage from a unit before using any other abilities. The icon behind the damage number is the damage type: physical damage (sword symbol), magic damage (fireball symbol), poison damage (poison symbol).
- Resistances (MR/AR/PR): MR is the magic damage reduction from an attack, AR is the physical damage reduction from an attack and PR is the poison damage reduction from an attack.
- Abilities: Every unit or hero has specific abilities that can be used each turn.
- Ability Costs: How much SE you must spend to use any specific ability. To use an ability, you must keep track of the total mana pool of SE using 2 10-sided blue dice placed.
- Hire Cost: Total gold required to summon a unit or hero onto the field of play.
- Value: Each player's cards have a value (in gold) to determine cost for deck building and the "bounty colected" for killing a unit or hero.
- Kill Points: Each player gains kill points for every enemy card that is killed.
