How to Play

Pollux Arena is a duel between two players. Each of you has a Core with 30 health. Bring the enemy Core to 0 and the arena is yours.

You build your force from three kinds of cards: minions that fight on the board, spells with a one-time effect, and structures that stay on the board and have armor instead of health.

Both players start with 5 cards in hand. Every card costs mana. At the start of each of your turns your mana pool grows by one and refills, up to a maximum of 10.

1. Draw — you draw a card.
2. Main — play minions, spells and structures, use abilities and hero skills.
3. Attack — send your front-line minions into battle.
4. End — end-of-turn effects resolve and play passes to your opponent.

Turns are timed, so keep an eye on the clock.

Each side of the arena has two rows: the front line and the back line. You can have up to 8 minions on the board.

• New minions arrive in the back line. They can't attack yet.
• At the start of your next turn they advance to the front line, ready to fight.
• Only minions in the front line can attack, and only front-line minions can be attacked.
• Minions with DASH skip the wait: they enter the front line and can attack right away.

Wounds don't last: at the start of your turn your minions heal back to full health, unless they are burning or infested. If you want something dead, finish the job in one turn.

In the attack phase, pick a front-line minion and choose a target: an enemy minion in their front line, or the enemy Core.

When you go for the Core, your opponent gets a moment to block with their own front-line minions. A blocked attacker fights the blocker instead. Unblocked attackers hit the Core.

When two minions fight, both deal their attack as damage to each other at the same time. A minion with FIRST_STRIKE hits first, and if it kills its opponent it takes no damage back. AIRBORNE minions can only be blocked by other flyers or by minions with REACH, and STEALTH minions only by a DETECTOR.

A minion that is stunned can't attack or block until it recovers.

Minions with RANGE fight from a distance and play by their own rules:

• When a ranged minion attacks, it never takes damage back.
• It can't target minions in the enemy back line.
• From your back line it can't attack at all, but when the enemy charges your Core it fires at the attacker first. If the shot kills, the attack is over. If not, the wounded attacker carries on toward your Core.
• A ranged minion that blocks or is attacked in the front line shoots first. If the attacker survives, it strikes back and the archer doesn't get a second shot.

Minions that die go to their owner's graveyard. The fallen aren't gone for good: you can play a minion from your graveyard by paying life from your Core instead of mana.

Minions with RESURRECT come back cheaper — they can be replayed from the graveyard for their normal mana cost. Some effects, like DEVOUR, make minions vanish so they never reach the graveyard at all.

Every faction comes with its own hero skills: three basic skills and one powerful ultimate. Each skill can only be used a limited number of times per match, so pick your moment.

In Ranked Draft you build a fresh deck every run:

1. Choose a class — Wasteland, The Blue, Dark or Forest.
2. Choose your skills — pick your basic hero skills. Your ultimate is always included.
3. Draft your deck — you are offered four cards at a time from your class and the neutral pool. Pick one, and its cost is taken from your 1000-point budget.

Keep drafting until the budget runs out or you're happy with your deck. Many cheap cards or a few legends — the choice is yours.

Keywords are printed on the cards. A number after a keyword (like Iron Skin 2) is its strength. See them all in action in the Codex.

Airborne

Flies over the battle. Can only be blocked by AIRBORNE or REACH minions.

Reach

Can block AIRBORNE minions.

Range

Shoots from a distance and never takes damage back when it attacks. Can't target minions in the back line. From your back line it fires at enemies charging your Core.

Dash

Enters straight into the front line and can attack the turn it is played.

Stealth

Can only be blocked by minions with DETECTOR.

Detector

Can spot and block STEALTH minions.

Iron Skin

Reduces all damage it takes by X.

Parry

X% chance to dodge an incoming hit.

Clumsy

X% chance that its own attack misses.

Ambush

Deals +X damage to targets that are already damaged.

Poison

Any damage it deals to a minion destroys it.

Fire Attack

Sets its targets alight. The first hit scorches, the second ignites. A burning minion takes damage every turn and doesn't heal.

Stun

Minions it damages are stunned: they can't attack or block for a while.

Scare

Scares the minion it fights. A scared minion is pushed to the back line and stays there.

Consume

When it kills a minion, it absorbs that minion's strength.

Devour

Minions it kills vanish for good instead of going to the graveyard.

Double Strike

Strikes twice in combat.

Twinstrike

Can attack twice each turn.

Mana Leech

Gain a temporary mana crystal when it damages the enemy Core.

Spell Discount

Your spells cost X less.

Recover

Heals X at the end of your turn if it is damaged.

Resurrect

Can be replayed from your graveyard for its mana cost instead of your life.

Enthrall

If it damages a minion with X or less attack that survives, you take control of it.

Possess

If both minions survive its attack, they swap owners.

Infest

Infects the minions it damages. An infested minion can't heal and costs its owner 1 Core health at the start of each of their turns.

Transform

Takes on a different form during your opponent's turn.

Cant Attack

Can never attack.

Cant Block

Can never block.

Dies After Attack

Dies after it attacks.