YOUR FIRST DUEL

TWO STRANGERS PLAYING IN 5 MINUTES · NO RULEBOOK

Setup

Sit across from each other. Put the three Site cards in a row: LEFT, MIDDLE, RIGHT. Set both Slava sliders to 0. Put your Warden face-up in front of you. Keep your teaching deck in the order it came in (do not shuffle yet).

Every turn you both do the same thing together: gain Embers, place cards face-down at Sites, flip together, score. That is the whole game.

You win a Site by having STRICTLY more Power there. A tie holds nothing.

1 Turn 1: Power · 1 Ember each

Draw the top card. You each have your Opening Spirit (the gold pip): Hearth = Domovoi Hearth-Ward (Power 2), Deep = Karzelek Mine-Sprite (Power 2).

Both place your Opening Spirit face-down at the MIDDLE Site. Flip together.

Power 2 vs Power 2 is a tie. Nobody has strictly more, so nobody wins the Middle and nobody scores. Slava 0 to 0.

Lesson: a Site is won by strictly more Power. Ties score nothing. The whole game runs on this.

2 Turn 2: Clash & Nav · 2 Embers each

Draw one card. Deep has Rusalka Drowned-Maiden (Power 3, Omen: Clash 3). Hearth has Kikimora Spindle (Power 1, Omen: draw a card).

Deep places Rusalka at the MIDDLE. Hearth places Kikimora at the LEFT. Flip together.

MIDDLE: Rusalka's Clash 3 sends one enemy Spirit here with Power 3 or less to Nav, it sends Domovoi (Power 2). Domovoi does not die: it crosses to your Nav, face-up, and waits. Deep now holds the Middle (Power 5 to 0), Deep +1.

LEFT: Kikimora is alone, so Hearth +1, and draws a card. Slava 1 to 1.

Lesson: Clash removes a Spirit, but nothing dies. Your Domovoi sits in Nav, waiting to return. And you can win other Sites while it waits.

3 Turn 3: The Turning · 3 Embers each

Hearth: Reborn Domovoi from your Nav (pay 1) and place it at the LEFT, beside Kikimora. Deep: play your next Spirit at the RIGHT. Flip together.

Domovoi comes back through its Reborn: +1 Power, forever (now Power 3). Its Vigil gives your other Spirits here +1, so Kikimora becomes Power 2. Your Left is Power 5 and uncontested, Hearth holds it again. Deep takes the Right.

The Turning. Domovoi died, rested in Nav, and came back STRONGER, then anchored your Site. In MORANA nothing dies, it comes back. Learning when to let a Spirit fall so it returns stronger is the whole game.

Training wheels off

That is the entire game. You already know how to play.

Shuffle both decks now. Play on until someone reaches 7 Slava (this teaching game) or 13 (the full game).
New words show up on the cards (Ward, Step, Vigil). Each card tells you what it does the first time, in small italics. Read once, then you know it.
The deep game: use all 3 Sites, race to 13, and bluff (your cards are hidden until you flip). Same rules, just more board.