Eternal Skies is a trading card game where battles take place in two distinct phases, the ship phase followed by the crew phase.
The goal is to reduce the HP of the enemy ship to 0. This can be done in either phase. The game also ends if either player runs out of cards to draw. The game transitions from ship to crew phase by ships having their HP reduced, board space filled, or consecutive turns without combat.
The Ship
The ship is the most critical part of any deck. This card is not technically part of the deck, but it acts as life points, dictates what cards you can use in a deck, and determines how many cards you can draw and have on the field. Each ship has 9 attributes that defines the build and playstyle of your deck.
The attributes are as follows:
Color
The ship's colors determine which colors you may include in your deck. Colorless ships may include any color card, and any ship may include Colorless and Silver cards
HP
The total life points of the ship. When this hits zero, the game is over
ATK
The power of the ship's cannons. Unused crew members may be used to fire on the enemy ship to deal this damage during the ship phase
Speed
This reduces incoming damage from cannons by this amount
Board Size
This is the total space you have to play permanent cards. Each card takes up a different amount of space
Hand Size
This is the maximum number of cards you may have in your hand at one time
Draw
The number of cards per turn you draw. 1.5 cards means one is drawn every other turn. When a player tries to draw with no cards available, the game is over
Crew
The number of crew cards you are allowed in your 60 card deck
Spells
The number of spell cards you are allowed in your 60 card deck
Cards
There are four types of card in Eternal Skies: Crew, Spell, Item, and Equipment
Crew are permanent units that are used to provide mana and attack when equipped
Spells are single use or channeled spells
Items stay on the battlefield and provide a variety of effects
Equipment are items that generally must be equipped to a crew, providing buffs and effects
Each card has different attributes:
Color
Colors have generally similar effects and goals. A card in your deck must share your ship's colors
Type
The type of card. Crew may have a subtype category
Factions
Each card has up to three factions. Cards may interact with these factions in a variety of ways
Cost
The amount of mana it takes to play the card. A number can be paid with mana of any color, while a symbol requires that specific color
Equip Cost
Exclusive to equipment, this is the cost you must pay after playing the card, to equip it to a crew. Most crew cannot attack without being equipped. This cost is only visible after the card is on the field
ATK
The base damage of a crew, or the bonus damage provided by an equipment
HP
The base health of a crew, or the bonus health provided by an equipment
Speed
The cast speed of the card. Cards can be cast at Instant, Normal, Slow, or Channel speeds
Board Size
The amount of space this card takes up on the board
Mana
The mana this card provides when used
Abilities Text
The keywords and text that describe the additional abilities of the card
Hover Text
A more detailed version of the ability text
Cards can be played in four speeds:
Instant
An instant speed card may be played in response to a card, attack, or effect, and resolves before that card. It may be played on either turn.
Normal
A normal speed card may only be played on the player's turn with the stack empty.
Slow
A slow speed card is paid for the turn before the effect takes place. The effect is played the following turn at normal speed.
Channel
A channel card takes effect for a specified number of turns. The mana used to pay for it is locked for each of these turns, and the effects are activated at normal speed.
Only instant speed cards may be played while another effect is resolving
Building a Deck/Choosing your Colors
A deck consists of 60 cards + a ship. Up to 4 copies of a single card may be in the deck. Other limits are applied by the ship, as described in the ship attributes.
One of the most important things to choose in a ship is the colors, since all colors play differently. A ship may have one or two colors (except colorless ships who may have any combination), and can always add colorless or silver cards.
A summary of the colors is as follows:
Green
Green is generally affiliated with Dziewanna and nature. This color is about healing, and about making your crew large and running over your opponent
Red
Red is generally affiliated with Swar�g and fire. This color is about direct damage spells, grinding your opponent's deck into dust, and moving equipment around
Purple
Purple is generally affiliated with winter and Marzanna. This color is all about control and slowly bleeding your opponent out
Blue
Blue doesn't have one central god affiliation, but is related to water and flow. This color is all about tempo and maintaining card advantage
Yellow
Yellow is generally affiliated not with a god, but with Valua, a human nation, along with electricity. This color is about aggro play and constantly keeping your board full of crew
Colorless
These cards provide some general purpose tools available to every color. They are not the strongest, but they are available to every deck
Silver
Silver cards are extremely strong and provide massive effects, but are difficult to play. Unlike every other color, there are no zero cost silver crew to provide mana, so silver cannot be built on its own
Playing the Game
Unlike some other card games, there are not distinct phases in Eternal Skies, there are only turns. Only one crew may be played each turn, but they accumulate if not used that turn.
Attacks may be declared and spells may be cast at any point during the turn that the stack is empty (when no other action is resolving). Other actions, such as drawing a card, may also be taken at any point in the turn with the stack empty
Instant speed cards may be played at any point, but only if the stack is not empty, or if it is your turn. Activated abilities on a card are by default instant speed
Mana is provided by using crew. Zero cost crew are available to provide initial mana in all colors except silver
Attacks are declared and resolved one at a time, and any unused crew may attack if able. Unless otherwise specified or during ship phase, only equipped crew may attack. The defending player can choose to defend with any combination of unused crew
Damage inflicted onto crew is not recovered between turns
Player Turns
In the ship phase, players fight ship to ship, so individual crew may not attack on their own unless the crew is flying. Instead of the attack power of an individual crew, the ship's cannons are used to deal damage.This is reduced by the speed of the target ship. Spells may still be cast targeting ships or crew, and flying crew may attack as normal
Players may focus on attacking the other ship, preparing their own crew for the crew battle phase, or both. The ship phase transitions to the crew phase when one of three things happens:
A ship falls to or below 50% of its initial HP
A ship fills at least 2/3 of its available board size
Neither ship attacks the other for three turns
When one of these three things happens, the game transitions to the crew phase. The crew phase is much the same as the ship phase, except crew may attack directly, and cannons and ship speed no longer apply
The game progresses in this fashion until one of the two ships runs out of HP or one of the two decks runs out of cards
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The ship is the most critical part of any deck. This card is not technically part of the deck, but it acts as life points, dictates what cards you can use in a deck, and determines how many cards you can draw and have on the field. Each ship has 9 attributes that defines the build and playstyle of your deck.
