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Deck-Building

Deck-Building

A Stellarch deck is small. Seven cards at most. The constraints are tight, the choices are dense — this page is the full rule set.

Slots

Every team is exactly one commander plus one to six fighters. The commander never attacks; it grants stat modifiers and sometimes an ability to the whole team. The fighters take the front line in the order you place them — position 1 is the front, takes hits first.

Mana cap

Every match rolls a mana cap inside the league's band. The sum of mana costs across all seven slots must be at or under the cap. The deck-builder filters out any card whose mana cost alone exceeds the remaining budget — there is no overspending.

Ruleset constraints

Some rulesets restrict which cards are legal. Affinity-locked rulesets (e.g. Fire Only) limit you to one affinity plus Neutral. Attack-type bans (e.g. No Magic) remove a whole class of cards. The deck-builder enforces the active ruleset's filters at draft time — if a card is illegal, it grays out.

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 gates the level cap (Commons L10, Rares L8, Epics L6, Legendaries L4) and therefore the stat ceiling. 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 cap:

  • Commander: an aquatic commander that grants +1 magic across the team.
  • Slot 1 (front): a tanky melee fighter with high armor — soaks the opening swings.
  • Slot 2: a magic attacker with Phase to dodge incoming magic, sits behind the tank.
  • Slot 3: a ranged attacker with Snipe to ignore the front line and pick at backline magic.
  • Slot 4-5: two more magic fighters with complementary triggers (one Per-Turn heal, one On-Death revive).
  • Slot 6: a low-cost utility fighter to fill the last mana — often a Cleanse-carrier.

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