Manual — Shards of Infinity: Relics of the Future

RULES
INTRODUCTION
When the Infinity Engine was destroyed, reality warping shards rained down from the sky, wiping out civilization and forever altering the world. From the ashes, rose the descendants of mankind. You are a leader among these peoples, a mighty warrior, forever bound to a powerful shard.
Through your dreams, the shard shows you distorted visions of the future. In some, you wield the shard as a weapon, cutting down your enemies like wheat in a field. In others, you carry the shard as a tool, rejuvenating the land and rebuilding civilization. To master the shards of infinity is to control unimaginable power.
It’s time to make a choice: Is it your fate to lead your people to victory or will you become the relic of some forgotten future?
Choose wisely.
Shards of Infinity: Relics of the Future is an expansion for Shards of Infinity. For the full rules on how to play the game, refer to Shards of Infinity’s Rulebook or go to: http://shardsofinfinity.com/how-to-play/
CONTENTS AND SET UP
32 Cards, including:
24 Black-Bordered Center Deck Cards
8 Gray-Bordered Relic Cards
To play, shuffle the 24 black bordered cards into the Shards of Infinity center deck. Then, each player will select which Character they will play as. You can decide randomly or use the Health Auction game variant (see Gameplay Variants). Each player then sets aside their assigned Character’s Relic cards and the game proceeds as normal.
3 Player Bloodbath
When playing with three players, follow the game rules as normal, except when assigning Power to enemy players, any Power you assign to an opponent is dealt equally to both opponents instead. For example, 5 will deal 5 to both opposing players, though each may block for themselves individually. The last player standing is the winner.
This mode works with normal starting rules, but we recommend combining it with the Health Auction rules below.
Single Player Nemesis Challenge
When playing solo, you’ll face off against another Character that will take on the role of the Nemesis. After each of your turns, the Nemesis will take a turn, however they do not begin with a deck or gain cards as normal. You win by reducing the Nemesis’ Health to zero.
Start off by choosing a Character card for both you and the Nemesis. At the start of the game, depending on which Character you are, you’ll be allowed to add an additional 11th card to your starting deck as follows:
Character | 11th Starting Card
------- | --------
Decima | Limiter Drones
Ko Syn Wu | Pall Shades
Tetra | Cloud Oracles
Volos | Arach Devotees
You’ll play your turns following the normal rules by using Gems to obtain new cards, Power to damage the Nemesis and gaining Mastery as normal. After your turn, the Nemesis gets their turn.
Nemesis Turn
The first thing to do on the Nemesis’ turn is to reveal the top card of the center deck. If the card matches the Nemesis’ faction color, the Nemesis gains 3 .
Next, the Nemesis will play the card revealed from the center deck, gaining any Power, Mastery and Health provided by Allies and putting any Champions directly into play. The Nemesis will then play each card in the center row that matches the faction of the card revealed from the top of the center deck. Any decisions that would need to be made by the Nemesis are made by you.
Some cards and resources work a little differently:
If the Nemesis would gain Gems, instead it Banishes that many cards from the top of the center deck.
If the Nemesis would draw a card(s), instead it gains 1 for each card it would have drawn.
Champions are put directly into play under the Nemesis’ control. If you destroy a Nemesis’ Champion, it is Banished instead of discarded.
The Nemesis cannot gain cards, therefore it also cannot Banish its own cards or interact with a discard pile, so ignore any text that it cannot perform.
After each of the chosen faction’s Allies have been played from the center row, activate each of the
RELICS
Relics are a new, powerful type of card specific to each of the four Characters of Shards of Infinity. Unlike other Allies and Champions, Relics are not shuffled into the center deck at the start of the game. Instead, each player will have two Relics specific to their Character set aside at the start of the game, when Characters are chosen.
Players may recruit one of their two Relics for free after they have earned 10. When you recruit your Relic, put it into your discard the same way that you would recruit a card from the center row. You do not have to spend any Gems () or Mastery () to recruit your Relic.
Character | Relics Available
------- | --------
Decima | Praetorian - 01, Praetorian - 02
Ko Syn Wu | The Heart of Nothing, The World Piercer
Tetra | Datic Robes, Terminal Crescents
Volos | Entropic Talons, Panconscious Crown
Choose your Relic carefully! You may only recruit one relic per game!
GAMEPLAY VARIANTS
Once you’ve played a few games of Shards of Infinity, try out some of the below variant rules for more ways to play!
2v2 Team Attack
In this variant, four players will split into teams to face off against one another. Teammates should sit next to each other on one side of the play space and across from one player of the opposing team. All the normal rules of the game apply with the following exceptions:
Players will only be able to use Power () to damage the player sitting across from them. However, players are free to use their Power to attack the Champions under either of their opponents’ control.
If you eliminate the player sitting across from you, any excess Power that turn may be assigned as damage to the remaining opponent. Likewise, if your teammate has been eliminated, both players are considered to be across from you and you may assign your Power to either player.
When deciding who will go first, instead of choosing a specific player, randomly decide which team will go first. The player on the left of that team will begin the game, then play proceeds clockwise as normal. (This means that the first team will have one player take a turn, then each player on the opposing team will take a turn before the first team goes again.) In this mode, all players begin the game with zero Mastery.

across from you any excess Power that turn may be assigned as damage to the remaining opponent Likewise if your teammate has been eliminated both players are considered to be across from you and you may assign your Power to either player When deciding who will go first instead of choosing a specific player randomly decide which team will go first The player on the left of that team will begin the game then play proceeds clockwise as normal This means that the first team will have one player take a turn then each player on the opposing team will take a turn before the first team goes again In this mode all players begin the game with zero Mastery

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Nemesis’ Champion’s exhaust powers, one at a time.
When the Nemesis needs to assign Power, it will prioritize damaging the player first if it means reducing the player to zero. Otherwise, it will prioritize destroying your Champions starting with the highest cost down to the lowest cost, destroying any that it has enough power to destroy. If there is a tie, you make the decision. Finally, any remaining Power will be used to deal damage to you.
When the Nemesis has less than 15, the Nemesis ignores all Dominion, Echo, Inspire, and Unify effects on cards they play from the center deck and row. However, while the Nemesis has 15 or more, treat these texts as active.
At the end of the Nemesis turn, banish all Allies played by the Nemesis this turn from the center row, then refill the row and start your next turn.
The Nemesis wins in one of three ways:
* Your health is reduced to 0.
* The Nemesis mastery hits 30.
* You need to refill the center row, but there are not enough cards to do so.

Health Auction
In this variant, instead of players randomly deciding who the first player is, players will bid health in order to both go first and get the first pick of a character to play.
After the center row has been placed out, randomly determine a player to begin the bidding. Starting with that player, and moving clockwise, each player may bid any amount of Health. To bid, a player must bid at least 1 Health and must bid higher than the current bid. If a player chooses not to bid or can’t bid, that player is out. Players continue making bids until one person is left in the running. Whoever wins the Auction must lose Health equal to their bid. The winning player selects which Character card they want to play and will be the first player.
Then the player to the left of that player begins the bidding process again. That player may bid any amount they wish. Continue these auctions until all but one player has bid and chosen their character. The final player may choose the character of their choice and begins the game at 50 Health.

Relic Draft
This variant allows players to mix and match which Relics they have available to them throughout the game. While normally, your Relics will be based on the character you’re playing, this mode allows players to choose which Relics they have access to. Players may still only recruit one Relic per game.
At the start of the game, after the center row has been dealt out, randomly deal out two face-up Relics for each player. Randomly determine which player will begin the Relic Draft. That player begins by taking one of the available Relics and putting it in front of them. Then, going clockwise, the next players will pick a Relic from the center of the table. Continue this until everyone has one card.
Once each player has one Relic, the player who picked their first card last gets to pick a second Relic. Then, proceeding counterclockwise, each player picks a second Relic. Finally, once everyone has two cards, the player who drafted last in the first round will take the first turn of the game.

Mystery Relics
In this variant, instead of gaining the Relics assigned to your Character card, relics will be shuffled and dealt out randomly amongst players. Players should keep these Relics secret until they hit 10 and recruit one of them.

F.A.Q.
Q: If I am at maximum while Entropic Talons is active, do I still gain ?
Yes. Regardless of whether or not you gain health on your turn, Entropic Talons will still give you for each you would have gained.
Q: Does exhausting a Champion fulfill Praetorian - 01’s play requirement to return it to my hand?
No. Champions are only played when you play them from your hand into the Play Zone.
Q: Can I return Praetorian - 01 from the Play Zone to my hand the turn I play it if I play a Champion afterwards on the same turn?
No. Cards stay in the Play Zone when you play them until the end of your turn. Praetorian - 01’s ability only triggers while it is in your discard pile and is only returned to your hand from your discard pile.
Q: Can I use Praetorian - 02 while it is in my hand to defend myself from incoming attacks?
No. The Shield provided by Praetorian - 02 only applies while it is a Champion in play.
Q: Do I draw a card from Limiter Drones or Pall Shades even if I don’t fulfill the Echo or Inspire requirements?
Yes. Because the “Draw a card.” text is on a separate line than the Inspire / Echo text.

afterwards on the same turn No Cards stay in the Play Zone when you play them until the end of your turn Praetorian 01 s ability only triggers while it is in your discard pile and is only returned to your hand from your discard pile Q Can I use Praetorian 02 while it is in my hand to defend myself from incoming attacks No The Shield provided by Praetorian 02 only applies while it is a Champion in play Q Do I draw a card from Limiter Drones or Pall Shades even if I don t fulfill the Echo or Inspire requirements Yes Because the Draw a card text is on a separate line than the Inspire Echo text

GLOSSARY
Banish: When a card is Banished, it is removed from the game.
Destroy: Destroy means to put a card into the discard pile from play. It generally refers to Champions.
Exhaust: An Exhaust ability may be used once during your turn at any time of your choosing. We recommend turning your card from vertical to horizontal to help track when you use a card’s Exhaust ability. Using an Exhaust ability does not count as playing a card from your hand.
Mercenary: When you pay the cost of a Mercenary, you may recruit it to your discard pile or fast-play it. If you fast-play a Mercenary, play the card and gain its effect immediately. It goes to the bottom of the center deck at the end of your turn.

CREDITS
Shards of Infinity Design
Gary Arant and Justin Gary
Relics of the Future Lead Design
Justin Gary
Additional Game Design/ Development
Jason Zila, Mataio Wilson, and Ryan Sutherland
Project Management
Gary Arant (Stone Blade Entertainment) and Rachael Groynom (Ultra Pro Entertainment)
Graphic Design
Ryan O’Connor
Illustrations
Aaron Nakahara, Thien Nguyen, and Thomas Verguet
Creative Development
George Rockwell III
Flavor Text
George Rockwell III
Operations Support
Bryan Hughes
Cultist Program Testers
Luke Anderson, Mayot Arthur, James Bruner, Parrish Danforth, George Gastelum, Katie Schneider Kramer, Erwin Leijenhorst, Kieren McCallum, Kyle Oliver, Glover Parker, Randall Parker, Nathan Revere, Vanessa Shields, Utsarga Sikder, and Joseph Summa

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