If you are reading this I applaud you for your curiosity and determination to become a well learnt and knowledgeable Ethereal Mage.

If you’ve stumbled upon this by sheer luck and don’t know what’s going on, here’s where you should start: Introducing EtherMage

Here’s a quick recap on how Ethereal Mages battle:

You play as an Ethereal Mage that uses a deck of cards to summon forth Heroes, construct elaborate Structures and cast powerful Magic that conjures spells, equipments and artifacts.

The first thing you need is a Deck

Each Player is armed with a deck of 10–20 unique cards ordered in the way they want their cards to play out. You can play with the free starter deck provided or build your own using our in-game deck builder.

You can build multiple decks with different strategies, but you can only choose 1 to enter into Battle.

Once you have chosen a deck you’ll now need to…

Select your opponent

To start a Battle, you can challenge an opponent from a list of available Mage Towers. You can also create your own Mage Tower and wait for someone else to challenge you.

How To Win

Each Player starts the battle with a Player Troop count of 200 and the first player to reduce their opponent’s Player Troops to 0 wins the duel. This is usually done by attacking with your Heroes and constructing Structures as barricades to protect yourself.

In an event of a stalemate where no one has anymore cards in hand or summoned units that can deal damage, the Player with more Player Troops wins.

How are Cards Summoned

During Battle, the entire Deck of cards becomes a player’s playing hand and is queued to be played in the exact order.

Every player continuously gains Mana of every color over time — Red, Blue and Green at the same time.

Mana is the resource that fuels your summons and each card has a Summon Cost. Displayed on the top left corner of every card, the Summon Cost shows how many and what color of Mana is required to summon it into the Battlefield.

Once a player has gained sufficient Mana to Summon the first card in their hand, it will be automatically played into the Field. Some cards like Heroes and Structures remain in the Field, while Magic cards apply their effects and are discarded.

After a card has been summoned, its corresponding Mana will be consumed and you will have to wait till you have sufficient Mana to summon the next card in your hand.

Confused as to when to summon and whose turn it is?

Never worry, EtherMage battles are Auto-Battles played by both players at the same time, so you’ll never be confused by turn orders and when to summon like other TCGs. You can replay your battles and observe what happens at every second at your own leisure. The real strategy lies in building your deck!

Say goodbye to confusing order of actions and rules that you have to memorise to play!

Now that you’ve learnt how cards are summoned into play, let’s talk about attacking your opponent.

How to Attack

As the goal of the game is to reduce your opponent’s Player Troops to 0, all your Heroes and Structures (collectively known as Units) will normally attack the Player when there’s nothing else standing between them.

However, when there are Enemy Units in the Field, your Units will usually target the frontmost Enemy Unit, with the exception that some spells and abilities can alter a Unit’s target.

Perhaps it’s easier to visualise each Unit as a line of defense. Units closer to the frontline will receive the bulk of the damage dealt by Enemy Units, and once the frontmost Unit is destroyed, the next Unit will be on the frontline.

Also, most Units cannot attack immediately once they are summoned into the Field. Each attack requires Casting Time, and after each attack, the Unit will have to wait for another duration of its Casting Time before it attacks again.

Whenever a Unit attacks, it deals the amount of Damage indicated at the bottom-center of the Card at its target. When a Unit receives Damage, its own Troop count is reduced. Once a Unit receives as much Damage as its remaining Troop count, it will be destroyed.

Important Note: A Player’s Troop Count should never be confused with that of its Units’. A Player can be defeated when its Troop Count reaches 0 regardless whether there are still ally Units and their Troops in the Field.

It is however essential that you have Units with high Troop count to obstruct your opponent’s advances, at times it can even buy you the time you need to summon a card that can turn the tides.

Some cards may also have special abilities that help you on your conquest. Each Card Ability is written on the Card itself in the form of Keywords and effect Descriptions. Mousing over them will bring up detailed explanations about its Keywords.

Your Units are Autonomous

You’ll never have to make decisions for your Units during Battle. They will attack whenever they can and perform exactly as they’ve been told (They are extremely disciplined, almost to the point of fault).

Which means you can almost always predict what will happen on your side of the Battlefield and line up your forces in the most advantageous order, without fear that Lady Luck will turn her back on you and deal you a bad hand.

Now that you’ve learnt the ropes, it should be time you give it a try.

Unfortunately, EtherMage is still in development but if you’d like to be one of the first to experience the fun, join our Mailing List here.

What Next?

Congratulations you are well on your way to becoming a powerful Ethereal Mage. To advance in your studies as an Ethereal Mage, you can learn more about Cards in our comprehensive Card Guide: EtherMage Cards 101

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