Altered Glossary

1.2.1 Players

1.2.1.a A player is a participant in a game of Altered.

1.2.1.b In a two-player game, each player is the other's opponent.

1.2.1.c Each player in a game of Altered needs to have their own deck.

1.2.1.d Each player has a number of private zones in the game: Deck, Discard pile, Hand, Hero zone, Landmark zone, Mana zone, and Reserve.

1.3.2 Day progress

1.3.2.a Each day is divided in five phases.

1.3.2.b In the Morning phase, the opponent of the first player becomes the first player (Succeed), players ready their Characters, Permanents, and Mana Orbs (Prepare), draw two cards (Draw) and may put one card from their Hand in their Mana zone.

1.3.2.c In the Noon phase, nothing happens unless one or more reactions trigger "At Noon".

1.3.2.d In the Afternoon phase, starting with the first player, players alternate taking turns until both have passed; during their turn, a player may play any number of quick actions and then either play a card or pass; once a player has passed, they cannot take more turns this day.

1.3.2.e In the Dusk phase, players sum up the statistics of all the characters in each of their expeditions. An expedition moves forward if one of its statistics is:

• one of its Region's types;
• (strictly) greater than the opposing expedition's corresponding statistic;
• (strictly) greater than zero.

1.3.2.f During the Night Phase

• Rest: All Characters in Expeditions are sent to the Reserve. Characters with the Fleeting status are discarded instead of going to the Reserve. The Anchored and Asleep statuses are removed from Characters during this phase.
• Cleanup: Players must discard excess cards from their Reserve and Landmark Zone, keeping only two cards in each of these zones.

1.3.3 Ending the game

1.3.3.a The game continues until one player's hero expedition and companion expedition meet or cross each other.

1.3.3.b At that point, count the distance between each expedition and its starting Region. If the total distance of one player's expeditions is greater than its opponent's, that player wins the game.

1.3.3.c Otherwise, tiebreakers start: all regions in the Adventure are immediately replaced by the Arena (on the back of the Companion card).

1.3.3.d During tiebreakers, all Expeditions are in the Arena, and the statistics of all Characters are summed up during Dusk.

1.3.3.e If one player wins on more Region types than their opponent, that player wins the game.

1.3.3.f Tiebreakers may last for several days.

1.4 Golden rules

1.4.1 Can't beats can
1.4.1.a If a rule or a passive ability says that it is impossible to do something, and a cost or an effect tries to do that thing, then the thing cannot be done.
1.4.1.b An impossible cost cannot be paid.
1.4.1.c An impossible effect cannot be performed. If other parts of the effect can happen, the rest of the effect resolves normally.
1.4.1.d If it impossible to modify an impossible event, even if the modified event would itself be possible.

1.4.2 Specific beats general
1.4.2.a If a card allows a player to do something that they cannot normally do, or to do it in a different way, the card takes priority.

1.4.3 My cards, my zones
1.4.3.a If a card ownered by a player would move to a zone belonging to another player, it goes to its owner's corresponding zone instead.

1.4.4 New zone, new object
1.4.4.a Objects do not change Zones, the items that represent them does. Most effects that relate to an object in a zone will not be able to follow it to another zone, a common exception being the event which moves an object.

1.4.5 Initiative order
1.4.5.a If both players need to take decisions simultaneously, the player with initiative (the player who is currently taking their turn, or the first player during non-Afternoon phases) must decide first. If that choice involves an object from a visible zone, their opponent knows which object they have chosen. If the choice involves a card from a hidden zone, they must make their choice explicit, but they do not need to reveal the chosen card.

++Example. Ninette plays a game against Lithium. During her turn, Ninette plays Kitsune from her Hand. Kitsune has the reaction " Each player may Resupply". She must let Lithium know whether or not she chooses to Resupply before he takes his decision. However, if she chooses to Resupply, Lithium will not see Ninette's top card until after he decides whether to Resupply or not.
In his turn, Lithium plays Anubis , which has the reaction " Each player sacrifices a Character". Lithium must choose which Character to sacrifice before Ninette, and Ninette knows which Character he chose to sacrifice when she makes her choice. Both Characters are sacrificed simultaneously.++

1.4.6 Nothing is forever
1.4.6.a The interaction of some cards may lead to seemingly endless loops. In order to resolve these situations, there are limits to the number of times things can happen in a single day.
1.4.6.b A given quick action may only be played a hundred times per day.
1.4.6.c A given reaction may only activate a hundred times per day.

2.2.14 Timestamp

2.2.14.a A timestamp is a number.

2.2.14.b Whenever an object enters a new zone or is created in a zone, it receives a new timestamp.

2.2.14.c Each timestamp is greater than all previous timestamps.

2.2.14.d If multiple objects would receive timestamps at the same time, the first player in initiative order first chooses the relative order of the timestamps for their objects, then their opponent does the same.

4.3 Ending the game

4.3.a If a single player's expeditions meet on the same region, they win. This is an additive event modifier.

4.3.b If a single player's expeditions cross each other, they win. This is an additive event modifier.

4.3.c If both players' expeditions meet at the same time, or both players' expeditions cross each other at the same time, tiebreakers start.

4.3.d When tiebreakers start, turn the companion region card face-down and put all expedition markers on it. Discard all other regions.

4.3.e The new region is called the Arena.

4.3.f The Arena has the region types , , and .

4.3.g Once tiebreakers have started, expeditions cannot move forward or backward.

4.3.h The Progress daily effect of Dusk is modified as follows:
1. Each player determine a single set of statistics by adding up the statistics of each characters in both of their expeditions.
2. Compare each statistic individually.
3. If a player wins on more statistics than their opponent, they win. Otherwise, the game continues.

Remark. Tiebreakers may last for several days.

Aggro

An "Aggro" deck is a type of archetype that aims to inflict maximum damage to the opponent as quickly as possible, often by playing many small creatures or direct damage spells from the early turns. Aggro decks often sacrifice durability and long-term control to maximize immediate pressure on the opponent, hoping to defeat them before they can establish an effective defense or strategy.

Booster War (Game Mode)

Booster War is an alternative game mode for Altered that is played with two players, each requiring a new booster. There are several variants of this mode, ranging from the most technical to the least technical, allowing players to choose their level of strategy and complexity.
This game mode was proposed by Merlin, game designer at Equinox.

Rule - Least technical mode:
1. Each player takes a booster, removes the Hero card, and puts it into play.
2. Shuffle the remaining cards from the booster to form your deck.
3. Play Altered following the usual rules, but with three differences:
- Unlimited mana.
- You draw 3 cards at the beginning of each turn, instead of 2.
- The game ends after 4 days. If, at the end of the fourth day, players are tied, an additional day is played with the remaining cards (without redrawing new cards).

Rule - Most technical mode:
1. Both players open their boosters without revealing the cards to their opponent.
2. Each player builds a 12-card deck by placing them in the order of their choice.
3. The game rules are then the same as those of the least technical mode, including the three differences mentioned above.

Card Advantage

The term "Card Advantage" refers to the situation where a player has more cards in hand (or playable cards) than their opponent. The main objective is to generate a gap between the number of cards you have in hand compared to those of your opponent. This advantage can be obtained in several ways, such as drawing additional cards, forcing the opponent to discard cards, or exchanging fewer cards for a more powerful effect than what your opponent has spent. In some cases, Card Advantage also includes cards present on the board, especially in games where cards remain on the field.

Clarification of the phases of a day

Morning Phase

• First Player Marker Transfer: If it's not the first day, the First Player Marker is passed to the other player.
• Straightening of Mana Orbs and Exhausted Cards: Players straighten all Mana Orbs and all exhausted cards on the board.
• Card Drawing: Each player draws two cards from their deck.
• Placement of Cards in Mana Zone: Starting with the player who has the First Player Marker, each player can choose to place a card from their hand in their Mana Zone, face down. This card becomes a Mana Orb.

Noon Phase

• Activation of "At Noon" Abilities: All effects or abilities of cards with an "At Noon" trigger are activated. The player with the First Player Marker activates and resolves their abilities first, followed by their opponent.

Afternoon Phase

• Turn by Turn: Starting with the player who holds the First Player Marker, each player plays a card on their turn or chooses to pass.
• Quick Actions: Before playing a card, a player can perform as many quick actions as they wish, such as activating exhaustion or support abilities.
• Playing a Card: To play a card, the player must exhaust a number of Mana Orbs equivalent to its hand cost (if played from the hand) or its reserve cost (if played from the Reserve).
• Passing: A player can choose to pass their turn if they cannot or do not wish to play a card. Once a player has passed, they can no longer play cards for this phase.
• End of Phase: The Afternoon phase ends once both players have passed their turn.

Dusk Phase

• Activation of "At Dusk" Abilities: All effects or abilities of cards with an "At Dusk" trigger are activated and resolved before the advancement of Expeditions.
• Comparison of Statistics: Players compare the statistics of Characters in play for each region type (Forest, Mountain, Water).
• Advancement of Expeditions: If a player's statistics in a region are higher than their opponent's, their Expedition marker advances one space for that region. Each Expedition can only advance once per Dusk phase.
• Revelation of Tumult Cards: When an Expedition marker moves onto a face-down Tumult card, it is turned face up, and its effect is resolved.

Night Phase

• Rest: All Characters in Expeditions are sent to Reserve. Characters with the Fleeting status are discarded instead of going to Reserve. The Anchored and Asleep statuses are removed from Characters during this phase.
• Cleanup: Players must discard excess cards in their Reserve and Landmark zone to keep only two cards in each of these zones.

Control

A "Control" deck is a type of archetype that seeks to neutralize the opponent's threats while surviving until the late game, where it can play powerful cards to win the game. Control decks often use removal spells, counterspells, card draw, and other tools to manage the game until they can deploy their own winning strategy. The goal is to control the pace of the game, exhaust the opponent's resources, and eventually take over with powerful cards that become effective in the long term.

Deck Building

"Deck Building" is the art of creating a deck by choosing the cards to include based on the rules of the game and the strategy you wish to adopt. Good deck building takes into account the mana curve, synergy between cards, overall strategy (aggro, control, etc.), and win conditions. It's about choosing a balance between different cards to maximize your chances of success against various types of opponents.

Disrupt

"Disrupt" means to disturb or thwart your opponent's plans. This can include a variety of strategies such as destroying or neutralizing opponent cards, preventing the opponent from performing certain actions, or modifying the state of the game to make the opponent's strategies ineffective. A card or action that "disrupts" is designed to hinder or stop the normal progression of the game for the opponent, thus creating a tactical advantage for you.

Free for All

The Free for All mode is a four-player mode, where each player faces the others.

Setting up an Altered Multiplayer Free for All game
The setup for an Altered Multiplayer Free for All game is the same as for a Multiplayer 2v2 game, except that the placement of players around the table doesn't matter.

Victory conditions
The first player whose Hero and Companion Expeditions meet in the same Region wins the game.
If multiple players fulfill the victory conditions at the same time, first check if a player has advanced further than necessary. If so, that player wins the game. Otherwise, play a tiebreaker day in the Arena with only the players who have advanced the furthest.

Tiebreaker
Play an additional day with the following rule modifications:

• Players who didn't qualify for the tiebreaker leave the game. All other players keep their Hero and Companion Expeditions at their current position.
• From a rules perspective, Expeditions that were facing one of these players now face the other (you can then have a Companion Expedition facing a Hero Expedition).
• During Dusk, each player totals the statistics of their Characters for each type of Region in the Arena (Forest, Mountain and Water).
• For each of these regions, check if a player has a total higher than all others.
• The player who surpasses all others in the most region types wins the game.
• In case of an additional tie, play a new tiebreaker day with only the players having the best totals, until a player is declared the winner.

++Example
In this example, the fact that Bob and Camille did better than Alice in Forest and Mountain doesn't matter, because neither of them has the highest score in Mountain or Forest. Alice wins.++

First player effects
Effects that activate "if you are the first player" (Akesha & Taru, Kojo & Booda, Lindiwe & Maw) only activate if you have the first player token.

Interactions with other players
It is forbidden to show your hand of cards to another player.
Communication between players (and its limits) may vary depending on the context. A tournament may prohibit any form of communication, while another table may allow any information, as long as it is transparent and understandable by all players, and others may still allow coded messages. Players should ensure agreement at the beginning of the game.

Clarifications
When a card mentions "targeted expedition" or "targeted character", this can refer to any Expedition or Character.

When a card mentions "targeted opponent", choose one of your opponents.

When a card mentions "your opponent", it refers to all your opponents.

Gift

Grants the possibility to draw when a card with this effect is played. The effect applies either to the opponent or to both players.

Multiplayer 2v2 (Game Mode)

Multiplayer mode is a fun and more social way to play Altered, where you can play with more than 2 players. It is a constructed format, which means you need to build a deck in advance and bring it to the game.

Multiplayer mode can be played in several ways:

In 2v2, you and your teammate face another team, and the team whose Hero and Companion meet first wins the game.
Free for All, you face all other players, but you can only race with two of them: the player on your right and the player on your left.

You win when you are the first to make your Hero and Companion meet.
Deck building rules in multiplayer mode
Multiplayer decks in Altered follow the standard deck building rules. Players can play with any Hero of their choice, which means that two players can choose the same Hero.

• A deck must contain a minimum of 39 non-Hero cards plus exactly 1 Hero card.
• Token cards do not count towards the deck minimum. If you have Token cards, they start outside your deck.
• All cards in your deck must belong to the same faction as your Hero card.
• You can have a maximum of 3 copies of a card with the same name, regardless of its rarity.
• You can have a maximum of 15 Rare cards in your deck.
  You can have a maximum of 3 Unique cards in your deck.

2v2
The 2v2 mode is a four-player mode, with two teams of two players.

Setting up an Altered multiplayer game in 2v2

• Form two teams, with players from the same team sitting opposite each other.
• Then randomly determine the first player.
• Place two Hero Region cards facing each other. Do the same with the Companion Region cards.
• Take two sets of Tumult cards. Form three piles, each containing two identical Tumult cards, then shuffle the three piles.
• Take the first pile: place one card next to the Hero card, and the other next to the other Hero card. Do the same with the second pile next to the Companion cards. Place the last two cards in the center, side by side.

You can now start the first day. Players take turns clockwise until everyone has passed.
Each player faces a different opponent for each of their Expeditions.
When a player reaches one of the central Tumult cards, turn both cards face up. Place the second card in the opposite direction to the first, so that the two unique region types are on each side.
The Expedition markers continue to move towards each other, following the indicated path.

Victory conditions
The first player whose Hero and Companion Expeditions meet in the same Region wins the game for their team.
If two players from different teams fulfill the victory conditions at the same time, first check if one of the players has advanced further than necessary. If so, their team wins the game; otherwise, play a tiebreaker day in the Arena.
If three players fulfill the victory conditions, the two allied players win the game.
If all four players fulfill the victory conditions and one team has at least one additional advance over the other, that team wins the game; otherwise, play a tiebreaker day in the Arena.

Tiebreaker
Play an additional day with the following rule modification: during Dusk, each team totals the statistics of its Characters for each type of Region in the Arena (Forest, Mountain and Water). The team that beats its opponent in the most region types wins the game.
In case of an additional tie, play a new tiebreaker day until a team is declared the winner.

First player effects
Effects that activate if you are the first player (Akesha & Taru, Kojo & Booda, Lindiwe & Maw) activate if one of the team members has the first player token.

Interactions with your teammate
It is forbidden to show your hand of cards to your teammate.
Communication between players (and its limits) may vary depending on the context. A tournament may prohibit any form of communication, while another table may allow any information as long as it is transparent and understandable by both teams. Some may still allow coded messages. Players should ensure agreement at the beginning of the game.
It is not possible to directly play a card in your teammate's Expedition or Landmark Zone. However, some effects or abilities may allow creating tokens, for example.

Clarifications
When a card mentions "targeted expedition" or "targeted character", this can refer to any allied or enemy Expedition or Character.

When a card mentions "in your Expedition" or a Character "you control", this only applies to your side of the board, not your teammate's.

When a card mentions "targeted opponent", choose one of your opponents.

When a card mentions "your opponent", it refers to each of your opponents.

You can only sacrifice cards you control, not those controlled by your teammate.

Quality Advantage

"Quality Advantage" refers to the situation where a player has cards or resources of better quality, more effective or more relevant than those of their opponent. It's not just about the number of cards, but the quality of the cards you have compared to your opponent. For example, if you can exchange a low-value card for a high-value card of the opponent or if you can optimize the use of your cards to maximize their impact, you create a Quality Advantage. This is often achieved by filtering cards, selecting the best cards for a given situation or rendering opponent's cards useless (for example, by removing the target of their spells).

Ramp

"Ramp" is a term used to describe the acceleration of resource generation, usually mana, in the game. Ramping means increasing the number of available resources faster than what the base game would allow, enabling you to play expensive cards earlier in the game. Cards that allow ramping directly add additional mana or resources, thus giving you a temporal advantage over your opponent. This can sometimes lead to a short-term Card Disadvantage (loss of cards to generate more mana), but aims to give a long-term advantage by allowing more powerful plays earlier.

Standard (Game Mode)

The Standard format is a game mode in which players build a deck in advance and bring it to the game. Players choose their favorite Hero or faction and build a deck following the strategies they like best. Standard is the classic Altered experience, recommended for new players and tournaments. This format requires players to bring their own deck to any event.

Standard format is played 1 vs 1. A Standard event can accommodate any number of players. Both players must have a deck that respects the deck construction rules specific to this format.

Standard decks in Altered must follow these guidelines:

• A deck must contain a minimum of 39 non-Hero cards plus exactly 1 Hero card. (Token cards do not count towards the deck minimum. If you have Token cards to use with your deck, they start outside your deck.)
• All cards in your deck must belong to the same faction as your Hero card.
• You can have a maximum of 3 copies of a card with the same name, regardless of its rarity.
• You can have a maximum of 15 Rare cards in your deck.
• You can have a maximum of 3 Unique cards in your deck.

Recommendations for Standard tournament structure:
Structure: Best of three
Round time: 50 minutes
Number of rounds: 3
Advantages: More competition-oriented, fewer rounds in total/more time in play.

Structure: Best of one
Round time: 30 minutes
Number of rounds: 4

Sealed Format (Game Mode)
Sealed Decks are played 1 vs 1 but can accommodate any number of players. Each player receives 7 Altered boosters. Players must build their decks using only the cards contained in these boosters. Sealed decks must contain at least 30 cards. After deck construction, players compete in a series of Swiss rounds.

Decks built for the Sealed format must follow these guidelines:

• A deck must contain a minimum of 30 cards.
• Token cards do not count towards the deck minimum. If you have Token cards to accompany your deck, they start outside your deck.
• You can play cards from up to three different factions.
• A deck may include one Hero card. If so, it counts towards the 30-card minimum.
• Your Hero must belong to one of the factions in your deck.
• You can choose not to play a Hero card.
• There is no restriction on the number of cards with the same name you can play in your deck.
• There is no restriction on the number of rare or unique cards you can play in your deck.

Recommendations for Sealed Deck Tournament Structure:

• Structure: Best of one game
• Number of rounds: 4
• Time for deck construction: 30 minutes
• Round time: 30 minutes
• Number of players: Any number

Should I play a Hero card in my deck?
It is not mandatory to play a Hero card in limited formats like Booster Draft or Sealed, but it is often preferable to play one in one of the factions of your deck rather than not playing one at all.

When should I scan my cards and add them to my digital collection?
During deck construction, at any time before playing against your first opponent, unless otherwise indicated by the event organizer.

Can I change my deck between games?
Players can freely modify their deck using their pool of opened cards between games when playing in limited formats.