Turn structure

Each turn moves through six phases, always in the same order. The player whose turn it is is called the turn player.

Wake Up

When you use a card on the field, such as attacking with an ally, you rest it: you turn it sideways to show it has been used. A card that isn’t rested is awake.

In this phase, every rested card you control wakes up, so you turn it upright and it’s ready to use again. This happens on its own, and no one can respond to it.

Materialize

You may materialize one champion or regalia card: pay its memory cost and put it onto the field from your material deck. This is how you level up your champion. You skip this phase on your first turn.

Recollection

First, any abilities that happen at the beginning of recollection trigger. Then every card in your memory returns to your hand. Returning those cards is called recollection, and no one can respond to it.

Draw

You draw a card. No one can respond to this draw.

Main

This is where most of the game happens. You can play cards, use abilities on your cards, and attack. Each attack starts a combat phase, and when combat ends you come back to the main phase. The Combat chapter explains how attacks work. There’s only one main phase per turn, and you decide when to move on to the end phase.

End

First, any abilities that happen at the beginning of the end phase trigger. Then the turn cleans up, all at once:

Damage on allies is removed.
Effects that last “until end of turn” or “this turn” end.
If a card limits how many cards a player can have in their hand or memory, the turn player discards down to that limit.

Then the turn ends, and the next player starts their turn with their Wake Up phase.

Try it: in the Play a full turn scenario, you go through all six phases yourself, moving the cards as you go.

Your first turn

Nobody’s first turn uses all six phases. What you skip depends on when you go.

First player

In a two-player game, the first player skips their first Wake Up, Materialize, Recollection, and Draw phases. Their first turn begins in the Main phase.

Second player

The second player skips their first Wake Up, Materialize, and Recollection phases. Their first turn begins in the Draw phase, followed by the Main phase.

Multiplayer games

In a multiplayer game, every player’s first turn follows the second player’s sequence, so no one skips their first Draw phase.

Try it: play your first turn as the first player or as the second player, and choose which phases to skip.