How to Play Mystic Vale: Conclave

Game Objective

The objective of Mystic Vale: Conclave is to enhance your cards and vales to create a new playstyle each game. Players seek to feel the power of Gaia's blessing through unique abilities granted by Totem cards and by customizing their starting decks. While the manual does not detail the specific victory condition, the game involves accumulating spirit symbols and purchasing cards for scoring.

Preparation (Setup)

Follow these steps to set up a game of Mystic Vale: Conclave:

1. Player Decks: Each player should shuffle their deck and place it face down in front of them. Each player should also take a set of spirit tokens (animal, forest, sky, wild) and place them in their play area.
2. The Commons:
   • Separate all Fertile Soil Advance cards and place them in a separate deck.
   • Separate all other Advances into decks according to their level symbols.
   • Shuffle all Level 1 Advances and count a specific number of advances to form a deck, based on the number of players:
     • 2 players: 12 advances
     • 3 players: 15 advances
     • 4 players: 18 advances
     • 5 players: 24 advances
     • 6 players: 30 advances
   • Flip over the top 3 Advance cards from the Level 1, 2, and 3 decks.
   • Equinox Variant: After setting up the Day Commons (as described above), set up the Night Commons. Then, place the night and day borders along their respective Night or Day Commons to indicate which side is which.
   • Conclaves: At the beginning of Commons setup, select 6 conclaves (randomly or not). Take all advances and vales from the 6 conclaves and shuffle them into their respective decks. From the Level 1 advances deck, keep only a certain number of random Level 1 cards, according to the normal setup rules. Then, follow the standard rules for setting up the commons by flipping over the top 3 advances from each deck. If using the Equinox Variant for a 5-6 player game, add 2 more conclaves (totaling 8 conclaves).
3. Vale Cards: Shuffle both vale decks and flip 4 cards from each deck, face up.
4. Totems (optional): Randomly deal two totems to each player. Each player chooses one of the two totems and places the other back in the box. Each player places their totem in front of them, face up.
5. VP Token Setup: Place the VP tokens in a pile based on the number of players:
   • 2 players: 23
   • 3 players: 28
   • 4 players: 33
   • 5 players: 40
   • 6 players: 47
6. Field Setup: Each player assembles their starting field until they have two Cursed Lands in their field and a third as on-deck.
7. Determine Starting Player: Place the tokens active side up and shuffle them. Each player randomly takes a token and flips it over. The player with the starting player symbol will be the starting player for this game. Players begin the game with their token showing the used (gray) side up.
   • Equinox Variant: Give the starting player the large night token and small night token. Give the player seated opposite the starting player the large day token and small day token. The large night and day tokens should show the Active side up.

Game Flow

The game flow follows the base game rules, with exceptions for the Equinox Variant.

Equinox Variant

This variant speeds up the game and reduces downtime by allowing two turns to be played simultaneously. It is highly recommended for 5 or more players.

• Turn Activation: The large night and day tokens are double-sided, with one side labeled Active and the other Waiting. Once both the night and day tokens have been passed and are showing the Waiting side, they are flipped to show the Active side and players take their turns.
• Taking a Night Turn: As long as you have the large night token in front of you with the Active side visible, it is your night turn. Take your turn as normal, but you can only purchase advances and vale cards from the Night Commons (you can always purchase a Fertile Soil). If any of your effects and abilities interact with cards in the commons, you can only interact with cards in the Night Commons. During your Discard Phase, you must replenish any vales and advances in the Night Commons. Then, flip the large night token so it shows the Waiting side and pass it to the next player clockwise; they must wait until both the night and day tokens are showing the Waiting side before flipping them to the Active side and taking their turn. After passing the night token, you complete your Preparation Phase and wait for the day token to be passed to you.
• Taking a Day Turn: Taking a day turn follows the same rules as a night turn, except you use the day token and the Day Commons.
• The day and night tokens continue to be passed around the table in this manner, allowing two turns to be played at the same time.
• Timing: If there is a dispute over which player should act first (the player with the night token or the player with the day token), the player with the night token must act first.
• Targets: If an effect you play targets all players or allows you to choose a player, only players seated directly to your left and right can be targeted.

Actions and How to Play

Refer to the manual for details on this section.

Spirit Tokens

Spirit tokens allow players to track their spirit symbols during the turn. Each player should take a set of spirit tokens (animal, forest, sky, wild) and place them in their play area. When you gain a spirit symbol, rotate the appropriate token to show the next highest value (your total number of that spirit symbol is always shown on the top edge of the token). When you spend spirit symbols (such as when purchasing vales), rotate the token to the lower value to indicate your current total. At the end of your Harvest Phase, reset all your tokens to zero (any spirit symbols you did not spend are lost at the end of your Harvest Phase).

Totems

Totems offer players extremely powerful abilities that can be used on each of their turns during the game. The abilities and symbols on your totem function the same way as all other effects and are used during each of your turns. Totems are a new card type and are not considered an advance or vale for abilities and effects. Totems are not considered a "card" for abilities and effects that refer to a card. Totems are not considered part of your deck, discard pile, or in your field.

• Beast Totem: Up to 4 cards in total can be placed on the totem in any combination of advances and vales. The advances and vales placed on the totem are not considered in the commons or in play, so any effects and abilities that interact with cards in the commons do not affect cards on the totem. Purchasing an advance or vale on the totem follows all normal rules, except it is not replenished during your Discard Phase.
• Growth Totem: Re-sleeving advances is not considered purchasing the advance, therefore it does not trigger "When Purchased" or "When Played" effects. When doing so, you must follow normal sleeving rules (i.e., you cannot cover non-eclipse effects already on a card).
• Guardian Totem: You can use all Harvest abilities on the totem and choose to resolve them in any order you wish.
• Healing Totem: If you do not have any tokens, you cannot use the Planting ability of the totem. Since the Planting Phase comes before the Harvest Phase, in which you would gain one from the Healing Totem, you cannot use the ability during the first turn of the game.
• Moon Totem: Since you can only spend your token during your Harvest Phase, you cannot spend your token during the Planting Phase and then use the Elemental Totem ability to flip it back to the active side.
• Spirit Totem: You can use both Harvest abilities in any order you wish. However, once you fully resolve an ability, you cannot use it again. Spirit symbols you spend to gain cannot be used to purchase another vale or any other purpose.
• Storm Totem: You can use both Harvest abilities in any order you wish. Once per turn, you can purchase an additional advance beyond your purchase limit. When you "sacrifice" an advance, return it to the box (it is no longer used in the game). The advance you sacrifice must be from a card in your field. When you sacrifice an advance, you can still use its ability and resources before it is removed from your field. If the cost of the sacrificed advance is greater than the new advance you purchase, the extra is lost (you do not receive change). Using the sacrifice ability still counts towards your advance purchase limit for that turn.
• Sun Totem: You can sleeve advances onto the card in your field before placing it as your on-deck card. The previous on-deck card is then placed as the next card in your deck face down (do not discard it).

End of Game and Scoring

Equinox Variant: The small day and night tokens are used to remember which player started with which turn token. As in the base game, once the tokens in the pile run out, the end of the game is triggered. Players continue to take turns until each player has taken the same number of night turns and day turns.

Refer to the manual for details on scoring.

Tips for Winning

Refer to the manual for details on this section.