Deck-Building

Slots

Every team is exactly one commander plus one to six fighters. The commander never attacks; it grants stat modifiers and sometimes a team-wide ability. The fighters hold the front line in the order you place them, and you drag a slot to set that order. Position 1 is the front and takes hits first.

Mana cap

Every match rolls a mana cap inside the uniform 12-60 band, the same in every family and tier. The combined mana of your commander and every fighter must be at or under that cap. The deck-builder hides any card whose mana cost alone exceeds the remaining budget, so there is no overspending.

Your commander binds your affinity

Affinity is set by your commander, not by the match. A non-Neutral commander locks your whole team to its one affinity: every fighter must share that affinity or be Neutral (Neutral cards are legal in any deck). A Divine commander is the exception: it additionally picks ONE secondary affinity at draft, opening its team to Divine, that one secondary element, and Neutral. It is the wildcard of the affinity wheel.

Ruleset constraints

Some rulesets further restrict which cards are legal. Psionic Blackout bans every magic attacker; Grounded Guns removes ranged; Knife Fight allows melee only. Allegiance Sworn bans Neutral cards, while Mercenaries Only allows Neutral cards exclusively. Little League caps cards at low mana. The deck-builder enforces the active ruleset at draft time, so any card it forbids simply disappears from the picker.

Rarity and action order

Rarity affects two combat-relevant axes. First, it breaks ties on the speed ladder: a Legendary at speed 4 acts before a Rare at speed 4. Second, it sets each card's maximum level (Commons L10, Rares L8, Epics L6, Legendaries L4) and therefore its stat ceiling, though your league caps levels lower than that in Bronze, Silver, and Gold, clamping stats down for the match. Mixing rarities widens the strategic surface.

A sample deck

A water-affinity deck for a mid-tier mana cap (around 28). One commander, six fighters, total at or under the cap:

• Commander: an aquatic commander that grants +1 magic across the team.
• Slot 1 (front): a tanky melee fighter with high armor that soaks the opening swings.
• Slot 2: a magic attacker with Blink-Shift, the only ability that can dodge incoming magic (25% of the time), tucked behind the tank.
• Slot 3: a ranged attacker with Pickoff to ignore the front line and strike at the enemy back row.
• Slot 4 and 5: two more magic fighters with complementary triggers, one heals every turn, one revives a fallen ally once.
• Slot 6: a low-cost utility fighter to spend the last of the mana, often a Purge-Light carrier that clears debuffs off the front line.

The aim is not a single optimal deck; it is a coherent answer to the ruleset's question. Practice in showcase matches, iterate, then queue live.