🌟 Welcome to Mana Conflux
Mana Conflux is a strategic trading card game where players summon creatures, cast spells, and battle to reduce their opponent's life to zero.
Goal: Reduce your opponent's life total to 0 before they do the same to you!
🔮 The Five Elements
Every card belongs to one of five elemental types, each with its own strengths and playstyle:
🔥
Fire
Aggression, direct damage, haste
🌊
Water
Control, card draw, counters
🌲
Earth
Big creatures, mana ramp, life gain
✨
Light
Protection, healing, removal
💀
Shadow
Destruction, discard, drain
🃏 Card Types
Lands
Lands produce mana, the resource needed to cast other cards. You may play one land per turn. Tap a land to add mana of its element.
Creatures
Creatures have Power (attack) and Toughness (health). They can attack opponents and block enemy attackers. Creatures have "summoning sickness" and cannot attack the turn they enter play.
Spells
Spells have immediate effects when cast - dealing damage, drawing cards, destroying permanents, and more. They go to the graveyard after resolving.
⚡ Turn Structure
Each turn follows these phases in order:
- Untap - Untap all your tapped cards
- Upkeep - Resolve any "at the beginning of your turn" effects
- Draw - Draw one card from your deck
- Main Phase 1 - Play lands, cast creatures and spells
- Combat - Declare attackers, opponent declares blockers, deal damage
- Main Phase 2 - Play more lands and spells
- End - Discard to hand size (7), "end of turn" effects trigger
⚔️ Combat
- Declare Attackers: Choose which untapped creatures attack. They become tapped.
- Declare Blockers: Defending player assigns their untapped creatures to block attackers.
- Damage: Creatures deal damage equal to their power. Unblocked attackers hit the defending player.
- Destruction: Creatures that take damage ≥ their toughness are destroyed.
Example: A 3/2 creature attacks. If blocked by a 2/3 creature, both deal damage simultaneously. The 3/2 deals 3 damage to the 2/3 (destroying it), while the 2/3 deals 2 damage to the 3/2 (destroying it too).
⚔️ Standard Format
The classic way to play Mana Conflux, designed for 2 players but supporting up to 6 in multiplayer.
| Setting | Value |
|---|
| Deck Size | 60 cards minimum |
| Starting Life | 20 |
| Starting Hand | 7 cards |
| Card Copies | Up to 4 of any card (except basic lands) |
| Players | 2-6 (multiplayer) |
🏗️ Deck Building
A well-built 60-card deck typically contains:
- 24 Lands (~40%) - Consistent mana base
- 18 Creatures (~30%) - Your main threats
- 18 Spells (~30%) - Removal, card draw, combat tricks
Mana Curve Tip: Include cards at various costs. Aim for more low-cost cards (1-3 mana) than expensive ones (5+ mana).
👥 Multiplayer Rules
When playing with 3+ players:
- Players sit in a circle and take turns clockwise
- You can only attack the player to your left (or any opponent in "attack anyone" mode)
- When a player is eliminated, skip their turn
- Last player standing wins!
Team Play (2v2, 3v3)
- Teams share a combined life total OR each player has individual life
- You can attack any opponent (not teammates)
- Team loses when all members are eliminated
👑 Commander Format
Commander is a social, multiplayer format where each player's deck is led by a legendary creature called their "Commander."
Philosophy: Commander is designed to be social, creative, and stable. It's about the journey and shared experience, not just winning.
| Setting | Value |
|---|
| Deck Size | Exactly 100 cards (including Commander) |
| Starting Life | 40 |
| Card Copies | Singleton (only 1 of each card, except basic lands) |
| Players | 3-4 recommended (works with 2-6) |
| Commander Damage | 21 from a single commander = defeat |
👤 Your Commander
- Must be a Legendary Creature
- Starts the game in the Command Zone (not your deck)
- Can be cast from the Command Zone any time you could cast a creature
- Commander Tax: Costs 2 more mana each time cast from Command Zone
Color Identity
Your deck can only contain cards that match your Commander's color identity - the colors in its mana cost AND any colored mana symbols in its rules text.
Example: If your Commander costs 🔥🌊 (Fire/Water), your deck can only contain Fire cards, Water cards, Fire/Water multicolor cards, and colorless cards.
☠️ Commander Death Rules
When your Commander would go to the graveyard, exile, hand, or library:
- You may choose to put it in the Command Zone instead
- This is a replacement effect - it happens instead of going to that zone
- The Commander Tax still increases each time it leaves the battlefield
⚔️ Commander Damage
This is a unique win condition in Commander:
- Track combat damage dealt to you by each opponent's Commander separately
- If any single Commander deals 21 or more combat damage to you during the game, you lose
- This only counts combat damage, not damage from abilities or spells
- Damage from different Commanders is tracked separately
Note: You can lose to Commander damage even if you have more than 21 life remaining!
🚫 Commander Restrictions
- Cards that fetch cards "from outside the game" (like Wishes) don't work in Commander
- "Commander-ness" is tied to the physical card and cannot be copied or transferred
- If your Commander is controlled by another player, it's still your Commander (and can deal Commander damage to others)
📚 Keyword Abilities
Keywords are shorthand for common abilities:
Combat Keywords
- Flying - Can only be blocked by creatures with Flying or Reach
- Reach - Can block creatures with Flying
- First Strike - Deals combat damage before creatures without First Strike
- Double Strike - Deals both First Strike AND regular combat damage
- Trample - Excess combat damage is dealt to the defending player
- Vigilance - Doesn't tap when attacking
- Haste - Can attack and tap the turn it enters play
- Defender - Cannot attack
Protection Keywords
- Protection from [X] - Cannot be damaged, blocked, targeted, or enchanted by [X]
- Hexproof - Cannot be targeted by opponents' spells or abilities
- Indestructible - Cannot be destroyed by damage or "destroy" effects
- Regenerate - Pay cost to prevent destruction once
Other Keywords
- Deathtouch - Any damage dealt by this creature is lethal
- Lifelink - Damage dealt by this creature also heals you
- Banding - Can attack or block in a group, distributing damage
- Rampage X - Gets +X/+X for each creature blocking it beyond the first
🎯 Triggered Abilities
- Battlecry - Triggers when this creature enters the battlefield
- "When ~ attacks" - Triggers when declared as an attacker
- "When ~ dies" - Triggers when this goes to the graveyard
- "At the beginning of your upkeep" - Triggers during your Upkeep phase