MORANA has three factions. Hearth is the faction that abides, holding ground with protective household spirits. Wild is the faction that returns, trading its spirits into the open grave and rising from it stronger. Neutral is the faction of gods, cosmic figures who splash their power into either side. You own all three from the moment you start, so choosing a faction is about how you like to think, not what you can afford.
MORANA: The Open Grave is a free Slavic folk-horror card game you can play in your browser right now, no download and no signup.
A MORANA deck is one Warden and twenty cards, drawn from the 62-card Set-1 pool. Your Warden sets your faction. There are three of them.
Hearth and Wild each have their own Wardens and their own starter identity: Hearth Abides and Deep Devours, the two decks the game hands you first. Neutral has no Warden of its own. Its cosmic figures splash into either deck, the swings that both factions share.
Here is what makes MORANA different at the root: you have all three factions from day one. The game is fixed distribution, so rarity is cosmetic and never power, and no card is locked behind spending. A faction is an identity you choose, not a wall you pay past. The only question is which one fits how you like to play.
Who they are. The household and protective spirits: the domovoi behind the stove, the bannik in the bathhouse, the boundary-stone at the edge of the land, the morning and evening stars that open and close the door of the sky. Hearth is warmth and endurance held up against the long dark.
The world it leans to. Yav, the living world and the home.
Its Wardens. Dedushka the Hearthkeeper, Grandfather Frost, fronts the Hearth Abides starter. Matushka Zima, Mother Winter, is the other Hearth Warden.
How it plays. Hearth leans on the protective keywords. Ward means a spirit cannot be targeted or sent to Nav by the enemy. Rooted means it cannot be moved, by anyone. Vigil is an ongoing effect that keeps paying out for as long as the spirit stays in play. Put those together and Hearth wants to plant a spirit on a Site and refuse to be pushed off it, turn after turn, until the scoring step tips the Slava its way.
Key spirits. Domovoi Hearth-Ward, Bannik Steamveil, Bereginya Riverguard, Chur Boundary-Stone, the twin Zoryas of Morning and Evening, Rod the Ancestor, and Svarog's Ember. Charms like Bread and Salt, Rushnyk Ward-Cloth, and The Long Vigil deepen the watch.
How it wins. Site control. Hold two of the three contested Sites and win the late tiebreakers by having strictly more Power where it counts. Punish an opponent who overcommits to one Site and leaves another open.
Its weakness. A slow start can be out-paced by a fast opener before the walls are up. Hearth must abide, but it cannot sit so still that the opponent scores freely somewhere else. Knowing when to leave the hearth is the Hearth player's hardest call.
Who it is for. Players who like to read the board, hold ground, and win by outlasting.
Who they are. The untamed and the dead: the drowned maiden in the mill-pond, the moon-cursed wolf, the deep-water king, the tricksters in the reeds, and Morana herself at the seam of winter. Wild does not fear the grave. It uses it.
The world it leans to. Nav, the world of the dead.
Its Wardens. The Deep King, the Vodyanoy Elder, fronts the Deep Devours starter. Yaga of the Bone-House, Baba Yaga, is the other Wild Warden.
How it plays. Wild lives in two mechanics. Clash X sends an enemy spirit of Power X or less to Nav the moment your card is revealed. Reborn lets you pay a cost to bring a fallen spirit back from the open grave, usually for a second effect that is stronger or stranger than its first. Because every spirit that falls lands face-up in the Nav as a future play, Wild trades willingly. This is the faction that turns falling behind into a weapon.
Key spirits. Rusalka Drowned-Maiden, Vodyanoy Deepmaw, Vukodlak Moon-Cursed, Vila Wind-Dancer, Morana Death-Bringer, and the tricksters Chort, Likho, Zmora, and Vedma. Charms like Drowning Pull, Witch's Bargain, and Night of Nav feed the return.
How it wins. Attrition and recursion. Clear the blockers with Clash, let your own spirits die on purpose when their Reborn effect is worth more than their first, and bring them back at the exact moment that swings a Site.
Its weakness. A Wild deck that cannot sequence its deaths, or that meets an opponent who gives it nothing worth trading into, can stall with a full hand and an empty grave. Timing is everything, and a Wild player who reborns too early or too late leaves value on the table.
Who it is for. Players who like to bluff, sacrifice, and come back from behind.
Who they are. The great powers who belong to no single hearth or water. The paired birds Sirin and Alkonost, joy and sorrow. The Firebird, Zhar-Ptitsa. Veles of the cattle and the underworld roads. Chernobog the Black. Koschei the Deathless. Zmey Gorynych, the three-headed. These are the swings that both factions share.
The world it leans to. Prav, the divine order above.
Its Warden. None. Neutral has no Warden of its own. Its power is a splash, folded into a Hearth or a Wild deck.
How it plays. Neutral is the toolbox. A handful of cosmic cards give any deck reach it would not otherwise have: a removal Charm like Perun's Bolt to answer a threat you cannot Clash, a finisher like the Firebird or Zmey Gorynych to close a game after the grinding is done, a value engine like the twin birds. The art is timing. Because the grave is open and the Embers are fixed to the turn number, both players can see when a god can land, so the Neutral player wins by dropping the right power at the right Site on the right turn, not a beat early.
How to use it. Pick two to six Neutral cards that cover what your faction lacks. Hearth borrows reach and removal to punish a spirit it cannot out-hold. Wild borrows a clean finisher to end the game once the grave has done its work.
Who it is for. Players who like flexible plans and the perfectly-timed swing. Every deck runs a little Neutral. The question is how much, and which.
The two starter decks are the fastest way to feel the whole game. Hearth Abides, led by Dedushka the Hearthkeeper, wants to plant its spirits and endure. Deep Devours, led by The Deep King, wants to trade, drown, and return. One holds the line. The other floods it. If you are new, pick the one that sounds like you, then duel the other and watch how the two philosophies push against each other. Almost everything else in MORANA grows out of that first contrast.
A faction is who your cards are. An archetype is how your deck plans to win. They are related, but they are not the same thing, and it helps to keep them apart.
Hearth's identity leans naturally toward the Site control archetype, holding ground and winning late. Wild's identity leans toward Reborn value, feeding the grave and cashing it in. Tempo, the low-curve aggressive plan, can be built inside either faction with cheap spirits and early Clash. Neutral supports all three.
So the order is: choose your faction for its feel, then shape it into an archetype. The deckbuilding guide covers the three archetypes, the Ember curve, and how to cut a deck for consistency in full. Read the deckbuilding guide next.
Three questions decide it.
There is no single best faction. Fixed distribution keeps them balanced by design, and the balance is tracked in the open on the public balance dev-log. The best faction is the one that matches how you like to think. The good news is that you already own all three, so the cheapest way to decide is to duel with each and feel which one clicks. Try them free in your browser.
Reading the enemy is half of MORANA. Here is how to fight each faction.
Faction identities summarized from the official MORANA world bible and Rules Reference (First Turning set, 62 cards). Specific card text is printed on the cards; see the Grimoire. Details may change before the campaign.