How to Play Mystic Lands

Game Objective

In Mystic Lands, you are one of the Druids in the Age of Creation, seeking to bring life to the most beautiful land in the nascent world. The game is a strategic Card Crafting game where players expand and enhance their lands, improving cards using AEG and John D Clair's Card Crafting system.

The goal is to gain the most VP (Victory Points) from Advances and Vales. The game ends when a player reaches or exceeds 25 VP or places their 10th Vale cube on the Vale map. The player with the highest total VP at the end of the game wins.

Setup

Before your first game, remove the protective layer from the Advances or wait for them to start peeling on their own. There are 5 basic types of cards in Mystic Lands into which Advances (transparent cards) are sleeved.

Each player has a deck of sleeved cards. Before your first game, create each starting deck by sleeving the following cards with the same colored back:

• 8 Arid Land cards
• 2 Fertile Land cards
• 2 Wild Land cards
• 1 Sacred Land card
• 1 Druid card

Player Area Setup

Each player receives:

• A player board in their color.
• A starting deck in their color.
• 1 Mana tracker.
• 1 Spirit tracker.
• 1 VP tracker.
• 15 Vale cubes in their color.

Each tracker has a normal side and a "+25" side to record the player's totals during the game.

Game Setup

1. Choose a Vale map for this game and place it in the middle of the table. For your first game, it is recommended to use the basic map, "Gateway Vale".
2. Shuffle the level 1 and level 2 Vale cards separately to form 2 decks next to the Vale map.
3. Place 1 level 1 Vale card face down in each of the "1" spaces and one level 2 Vale card in each of the "2" spaces.
4. Shuffle the Druid Advances and deal 2 face down to each player.
5. Simultaneously and secretly, players choose 1 of the Druid Advances to sleeve with their Druid card and return the other to the Druid Advance deck.
6. When all players have chosen a Druid Advance, shuffle the Druid Advance deck and place it near the middle of the table.
7. Randomly choose the 1st player to resolve their phases. The 2nd player sits to their left, and so on.
8. Based on play order, each player receives these starting resources, recorded on their player board:
   • 1st player: Nothing
   • 2nd player: 1 mana
   • 3rd player: 1 mana and 1 spirit
   • 4th player: 2 mana and 1 spirit
9. Place the Market board near the Vale map and shuffle the level 1 and level 2 Advances separately to form 2 decks at each end of the Market.
10. Place 1 level 1 Advance face up in each of the "1" spaces (6 total) and 1 level 2 Advance face up in each of the "2" spaces (3 total). The 2 slots with both numbers should start with a level 1 Advance.
11. Reveal the Vale cards connected to the starting space.
12. Then, all players return their Druid cards to their decks and shuffle them, placing their deck face down in the "deck" space of their player board.
13. Place the Rain tokens and Wither tokens in a pile near the board.

Game Flow

The game progresses through a phase structure: Night phase, Day phase, and Dusk phase. The Night phase occurs partially simultaneously with other players' phases.

Night Phase

Your Night phase occurs during other players' Day phases. You should begin each Night phase as soon as you finish the previous Dusk phase. At the start of the game, all players should begin their Night phases simultaneously.

In this phase, you play your on-deck card to your Land and resolve wp and night effects.

Follow these steps during your Night phase:

1. Grow: Play your on-deck card face up to the right of your deck or any cards in your Land. You may immediately resolve wp effects on that card in any order.
2. Reveal: Reveal your new on-deck card. If your deck is empty, shuffle your Discard to form a new deck. If there are 4 or more uncovered sun between your on-deck card and your Land and you cannot or do not want to place a Rain token on a sun, you Wither and your Night phase ends.
3. Rest: If you do not Wither, choose to Rest (end your Night phase) or Grow (step 1). If you already have 3 uncovered sun between your Land and your on-deck card, you Overgrow by playing your on-deck card, which is risky as you might Wither. You can Overgrow as many times as you want until you Wither or choose to Rest.

At any time during your Night phase, you may:

• Resolve night effects on cards in your Land and/or Vales where you have a cube. Each night effect can be used once per Night phase. These can be used in any order, including between playing cards while Growing or Overgrowing. The only time you cannot resolve a night effect is between playing your on-deck card and revealing your new on-deck card.
• Place Rain tokens on Advances to cover sun, including after revealing a 4th sun to prevent Withering. You will discard all Rain tokens at the start of your Day phase, so you cannot save them for future Night phases.

You may choose to resolve part or all of your Night phase after the player to your right finishes their Dusk phase to have more information for decision-making.

Withering

If you Withered, you gain only 1 of the 3 resources during your next Day phase, including resources gained from Day effects. You can still resolve effects that would cause you to gain resources, but it reduces the amount gained from all but the chosen resource to 0. You do not lose any resources gained during your Night phase. Some cards specify that you still gain a resource even if you Withered. Otherwise, you perform your Day and Dusk phases as if you had not Withered.

Day Phase

During your Day phase, you gain (or sometimes lose) resources from numbered icons on the left edge of cards in your Land. Then, in any order, resolve Day effects and buy Advances and enchant Vales. Ongoing effects are non-optional and are always active.

At the start of your Day phase:

1. Discard: Return all your used and unused Rain tokens to the pile near the Vale Board.
2. Choose: If you Withered, choose one resource type. You may gain this resource during your Day phase from cards and effects, but you cannot gain the other 2 resources.
3. Gain: Gain mana, spirit, and vp (or only your chosen resource if you Withered) from numbered icons on the left edge of cards in your Land (not your on-deck card) and move the corresponding tracker for each.

Then, perform any of the following actions in any order:

• Resolve day effects on any cards in your Land and Vales where you have a cube. Each day effect can be used once per Day phase.
• Buy an Advance by spending mana or enchant a Vale by spending spirit.

When you cannot or do not want to perform any more actions, your Day phase ends. If you Withered during your Night phase, flip the Wither token. You cannot Wither during your Day phase.

You can buy a maximum of 2 Advances and enchant 2 Vales per Day phase.

Dusk Phase

When you finish your Day phase, move to your Dusk phase, in which you can sleeve any Advances, resolve dusk effects, and discard all cards in your Land.

During your Dusk phase, perform the following in any order:

• USE EFFECTS: Zero out your mana if you bought any Advances using mana. Using effects to gain Advances does not count as buying an Advance.
• RESOLVE DUSK EFFECTS: Resolve dusk effects on cards in your Land, including those from Advances sleeved this phase.
• SLEEVE ADVANCES: Sleeve any Advances from under your player board onto cards in your Land, one at a time. You may choose not to sleeve any number of Advances and sleeve them in a future Dusk phase. If you cover any previously uncovered rain, gain 1 Rain token for each.

To end your Dusk phase, clear your Land by gathering your played cards and placing them face up in your Discard. The player to your left becomes the active player.

Actions and How to Play

Players perform various actions during their phases to expand and enhance their lands.

Card Crafting

Cards can be enhanced with Advances in 4 ways and can never have 2 Advances in the same position. The first Advance you sleeve onto a card goes in front of the basic card. When sleeving an Advance onto a card with 1 or more Advances, place the new Advance as follows:

• Background Advances: Are placed behind any other Advances, against the basic card. They do not have a tab.
• Foreground Advances: Are placed in front of any other Advances, against the transparent front of the sleeve. They have a tab on the top left side.

You can only sleeve Advances with a sun onto cards without an uncovered sun. It is possible to place an Advance with a sun behind a cloud, even if the cloud was already covering a sun, as long as the Advance is not sleeved in a different order than required for Background and Foreground Advances. You cannot sleeve an Advance with a sun onto a card that already has an exposed sun. However, you can place a sun on a foreground over a background advance with a cloud that covers a sun.

On-Deck Card

You always have one card revealed on top of your deck, which is your on-deck card. While it is not part of your Land and is not in play for the purposes of your resources or effects, a sun icon on this card counts towards your total revealed sun, which can cause you to Wither and gain fewer resources. Your on-deck card is part of your deck for all purposes.

Buying Advances

During your Day phase, you can buy up to 2 Advances from the Market. Choose from any face-up level 1 or level 2 Advances in the Market for which you have enough mana. Buy Advances one at a time, reducing your mana according to the cost of each Advance. Immediately replenish the Market from the appropriate deck and place the Advance below your player board (sleeving happens in your Dusk phase). Remember that you must zero out your mana during your Dusk phase if you buy any Advances.

The first time any player has 5 vp during their Day phase, they follow these steps:

• Remove any level 1 Advance from the Market.
• Replenish the space with a level 2 Advance from the deck.
• Shift any level 1 Advances to the right of this space one spot to the left.
• Place one of the "level 2" tokens above this space.
• For the rest of the game, replenish this space with a level 2 Advance when it is empty.

This happens a second time when any player reaches or exceeds 15 vp (then there will be 5 level 2 Advances in the Market for the rest of the game).

Enchanting Vales

During your Day phase, you can use spirit to enchant up to 2 Vales. You place cubes on Vale spots to gain vp at the end of the game and, sometimes, gain access to an effect. A "spot" is a square or line of squares that give rewards, VP, and effects. Vales with your cubes on them are Vales you have enchanted. Multiple players can enchant the same Vale, and Vale cards remain on the board at all times.

Vale cards cost spirit to enchant, but their cost is reduced by 1 for each other player with a cube already on the Vale. To enchant a Vale, spend spirit equal to its cost and place 1 of your cubes on an empty vp spot on any Vale, provided you meet these conditions:

• You do not yet have a cube on the Vale.
• It is connected by a path to another Vale where you have a cube or to the starting space.
• You can only choose to enchant a spot in a row where another player does not yet have a cube in that row.

Then