Glossary
Ability
A named effect on a unit or Phoenixborn. A unit ability with a number after its name will stack if the unit receives an additional copy of that ability. See Stacking Abilities.
Activate
Use an activated effect on a card in play or on a die on its power side. To activate an effect, announce it, pay the associated costs, and then resolve it.
Activated Ability/Effect
A card effect or dice power that only resolves when you pay its activation cost, which will always include a main or side action.
Active Dice Pool / Active Pool
The place where you keep dice that are available to spend.
Active Player
The player whose turn it is or, if it is not during the player turns phase, the player with the first player token.
Affect
A card or dice power affects a spell if it does any of the following to that spell: places or removes tokens/dice, adds or removes effects, causes the spell to be attached to a different card, or moves it in or out of play.
Attach
The process of placing an alteration spell underneath a target unit and applying its effects and value bonuses to that unit. Attaching an alteration spell to a unit targets that unit.
Attack
The rules for attacking are on p.10. Some additional clarifications: Attackers deal attack damage and blockers/guards/targets can deal counter damage. A unit with 0 attack value that attacks or counters does not deal damage, but still receives an exhaustion token. (Dealing 0 damage = not dealing damage.) Precise timing for attack resolution is found on p. 16.
Attack Value
The damage a unit deals when attacking or countering. Attack value can be negative, but whenever it is used in resolving a game effect or battle, the minimum is 0.
Attacker
An unexhausted unit that has been declared to be attacking when taking an Attack main action.
Attacking Player
The player that is taking an Attack main action.
Battle
An attacker is in battle with the unit or Phoenixborn it is dealing attack damage to.
Battlefield
The part of your play area where units are placed. The number of units on your battlefield cannot exceed the battlefield value on your Phoenixborn. When playing an ally with placement = Battlefield from your hand, you can only play it to your battlefield. All face up cards on your battlefield are in play under your control.
Blocker
Unexhausted units you control may be declared as blockers when your Phoenixborn is targeted with an Attack action. Up to one unit may be declared as a blocker per attacking unit. Blocking is not the same as guarding. Blockers must counter.
Cancel
When an effect is canceled, immediately stop resolving that effect and all remaining effects that are in the process of being resolved on the canceled effect’s card.
Choose
Some effects ask players to choose something, e.g. targets, options, or other game elements. Choosing a card or other game element does not, by itself, affect or target it, but may cause an effect to affect or target it.
Conjuration
A type of unit that starts the game in a conjuration pile and can be brought into play by a card effect.
Conjuration Limit
The number of copies of a conjuration or conjured alteration spell that you must put into your conjuration pile before the game begins. It is located in the lower left hand corner of those cards.
Conjuration Pile
A face down stack of all the conjurations and conjured alteration spells that your deck is capable of producing. The number of cards in any conjuration pile is public information.
Conjured Alteration Spell
A type of spell that starts the game in a conjuration pile and can be brought into play by a card effect. Conjured alteration spells are considered alteration spells while in play.
Control
The following are under your control: your Phoenixborn and its abilities, any face up cards on your battlefield or spellboard and their abilities and effects, and any action or reaction spells, dice powers, attacks, or counters that you are resolving. Alteration and conjured alteration spells are under your control while you are attaching them and then are under the control of the player who controls the card they are attached to.
Counter
Countering is when a defender deals counter damage equal to its attack value back to the attacking unit. Blockers and unit guards must counter.
Current / Currently
The words “current” and “currently” in an effect refer to the game state before the effect resolves.
Current Value
The attack, life, and recover values of a unit after modifiers have been applied. When an effect references the current values of a unit it refers to the values before the effect resolves.
Damage
Dealing damage is what starts the damage resolution process. Dealing damage is not the same as placing wounds, but usually leads to placing wound tokens. Dealing 0 damage does not start the damage resolution process and therefore is considered not dealing damage.
Damage Resolution Process
The process by which damage becomes wounds and then destruction. It is covered in detail on page 16.
Defender
A unit or Phoenixborn that has been declared as a blocker or guard, or is the target of an attack.
Defending Player
The player whose Phoenixborn or unit has been declared the target of an Attack action.
Dice Power
An effect that can be activated by spending a side action and a die on its power symbol side. Each die type has a different dice power.
Discard Pile
The place in your play area where you place discarded cards. Cards are placed face up, and the contents are public information.
Draw Pile
The face down pile of cards that you draw from during the game. The number of cards is public information.
Effect
An effect is any text that is resolved from a spell or ability. Attack and counter damage are not effects.
Exhaust
The process of placing exhaustion tokens on a card OR the process of moving dice from an active pool to an exhausted pool.
Exhausted
A card that has 1 or more exhaustion tokens on it OR a die that is in your exhausted pool. An exhausted card has no ability or effect text (except for inexhaustible ones) though it retains everything else including attack, life, and recover values (on units), and value bonuses (on alteration spells). Exhausted units cannot attack, block, guard or counter.
Exhausted Dice Pool / Exhausted Pool
The place where you keep dice that have already been exhausted/spent this turn.
Face Down
A card that is face down underneath a card in play is not considered to be attached to that card and is not considered to be in play.
First Five
When setting up a game of Ashes, select 5 different cards from your deck to become your starting hand. You cannot include more than one copy of a card in your First Five. In a competitive setting, find a non-player to verify that the cards are unique.
First Player
The player who currently possesses the first player token. The First Player takes the first turn of each round.
Focus
When multiple copies of a spell are on your spellboard, it is focused. Some ready spells modify existing effects or grant additional effects when they are focused. Any additional effects must be resolved in order as usual. See Focusing a Ready Spell on p. 9.
Game Event
Anything that could occur in the game as a result of following the rules or resolving effects. Examples: a unit comes into play, an alteration spell is attached, a player declares attackers, wound tokens are placed on a Phoenixborn, etc.
Guard
Your Phoenixborn or an unexhausted unit you control with the Unit Guard ability can be declared as a guard when a unit you control is targeted with an Attack action. A Phoenixborn may only guard once per round, indicated by rotating a Phoenixborn 90° after guarding. Guarding is not the same as blocking. A guarding unit must counter.
Inexhaustible Effect
An effect on a card that remains even if that card is exhausted.
