ERA Quick Start Guide

From Goober Games

    • Extinction: Rift in the Aether is a competitive, player-vs-player card game where elemental dinosaurs, known as dinos, battle for dominance. The game is designed to be straightforward to learn but challenging to master, with an average game taking about 15-20 minutes.

    This page provides a quick "crash course" in the basics of playing ERA, and contains everything you'll likely need to know to play. If you have a question not answered in this guide, check the ERA Comprehensive Rulebook.

    Overview

    Diagrams

    • Components of a card

      Components of a card

    • Battlefield layout

      Battlefield layout

    Deck Construction

    Each deck has:

    • 3 unique dinos
    • 3 crystals (elements matching the 3 dinos)
    • 3 events (elements matching the 3 dinos)
    • 27 other cards (actions/equipment)

    Game Setup

    • Place your 3 dinos and 3 crystals face down in front of you in 2 rows.
      • Dinos go in the front row (closest to your opponent) and crystals behind them (closest to you).
    • Shuffle your deck and place it face down, to the right of the dino row.
    • Randomly determine which player goes first.
    • Draw your initial hand of 6 cards.
      • If you draw any events, set those aside and draw additional cards to replace them.
      • You can mulligan if you like, drawing 1 less card each time.
      • Once you have a hand you want to keep, shuffle any event cards you set aside back into your deck.

    Card Types

    • Dino: Always on the battlefield. Can attack, intercept an incoming attack, be inflicted damage, suffer wounds, and die.
    • Crystal: Always on the battlefield. Can be exhausted to produce energy (equal to 1 + their current number of charges).
    • Event: Always in your deck. Events can never be drawn. If you would draw an event, instead reveal it and resolve its effects, then put it on bottom of your deck. If an event would leave your deck in any way other than being drawn, put it on bottom of your deck instead of anywhere else it would have gone.
    • Action: Drawn from your deck, into your hand. Can be played at any time (on any player's turn) by paying energy equal to its cost. One-time effect; resolves then is put into your graveyard.
    • Equipment: Drawn from your deck, into your hand. Can be played during your turn's main phase only, by paying energy equal to its cost. Persistent effect; resolves then goes on the battlefield attached to one of your dinos in either its weapon slot or its armour slot.

    Core Gameplay Mechanics

    • Exhaust: Cards on the battlefield (dinos and crystals) can be either Ready (default position) or Exhausted (turned sideways; used/activated); exhausted cards ready at the start of their controller's turn.
      • Dinos exhaust when they attack, intercept, or suffer a wound.
      • Crystals exhaust to produce energy.
    • Charging a Crystal: Can only be done during your turn, and a maximum of once per turn. Place a card from your hand face down under one of your crystals. You can charge a crystal that is already exhausted, but it won't produce an additional energy until the next time it exhausts.

    Playing the Game

    Turn Progression

    Each turn has 3 phases, which happen in order. The player who's turn it is, is referred to as the active player. References to "you" in the breakdown of phases below refer to the active player.

    Upkeep Phase

    The following occur in this order:

    1. Flip all your dinos face up (only on the first turn of the game).
    2. Flip 1 of your crystals face up (only on the first 3 turns of the game).
    3. Ready any of your dinos/crystals that are exhausted.
    4. Draw a card.

    Main Phase

    Do any number of the following, in any order.

    • Charge a crystal (max once per turn).
    • Play an equipment attached to one of your dinos, either in the weapon slot or the armour slot (if that slot is already occupied, discard the old one).
    • Attack with a dino, target of the attack must be a specific dino controlled by an opponent (refer to Combat section below).

    End Phase

    The following occur in this order:

    1. Damage is removed from all dinos (but not wounds; wounds persist between turns).
    2. Unused energy disappears.
    3. Your turn ends, and the next player begins theirs.

    Combat

    Combat consists of the following steps:

    1. Attack: Active player declares a specific one of their dinos as attacking a specific dino controlled by another player (defending player).
    2. Intercept: Defending player may choose a ready dino they control to intercept the attack.
    3. Damage: Apply damage equal to the attacker's power (including any effects) to the target of the attack. If the attack was intercepted, the damage is applied to the intercepting dino instead.

    Damage and Wounds

    • Damage
      • Temporary; removed at end of turn.
      • If at any time the damage on a dino is equal to or greater than its Stamina, it suffers a wound (and becomes exhausted).
    • Wounds
      • Persistent; remain between turns.
      • Each dino can only suffer a maximum of 1 wound each turn (ie. from damage equal to or greater than its stamina having been dealt to it).
      • Wounds can be placed on dinos by specific card effects (e.g. Maelstrom's Grasp) - in such a case, those wounds are not "suffered".
      • A dino becomes exhausted when it suffers a wound (but NOT if a wound is simply placed on it without having been suffered).
      • If at any time the wounds on a dino are equal to or greater than its Hitpoints, it dies (and equipment attached to it is destroyed).

    Ending the Game

    • A player loses the game when all of their dinos are dead.
    • If all remaining dinos are somehow destroyed simultaneously, the game is a draw.
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