Rules update: The balance results below predate Construct blocking and the six-Construct Prismforge deck. Read the current Prismforge rules, deck and matched test results. These earlier full-faction rates are historical.

Earlier development reference. Use the current card catalog for updated costs, stats and abilities, or play the seven-faction release.

Build the road
worth fighting for.

Prismforge offensive balance draft 2 is playable with 19 designs, a full 30-card deck (18 Allies / 9 Tactics / 3 Constructs), both Companions, four paths, two Ascensions and all 25 illustrations. Practice AI, local shared-device play and custom decks work in this separate laboratory. It remains an experimental balance candidate. Read the current offensive balance comparison. · Previous construction comparison

Your first infrastructure play

1. Choose Vitra for discounted buildings, or Keldrax for fighting beside them.
2. Select Resonance Spire in hand. Its cost is now 2 Charge; Vitra’s first Construct discount makes that 1 Charge. Choose an empty friendly normal-Route slot.
3. The Spire appears separately from your characters. It never blocks exploration and cannot defend another card.
4. Explore there with a character: the first Explore beside that Spire each owner turn earns +1 Renown. Ready opposing characters still block it.
5. Your opponent can select a ready attacker at that Route and directly Challenge the Spire, even through your ready defenders. At 3 damage it is discarded.

Exact Construct rules

1. Construct is a new support card type, not a character or Ally. Play it to a normal Route during your main phase for its printed Charge cost. Each player may have one friendly Construct per normal Route. A full slot prevents deployment there; no voluntary replacement.
2. Constructs have Guard and persistent damage, but no Force, Insight, readiness or Journey marks. They cannot move normally, Explore, intercept, retaliate, transform or block Explore. Their printed passive abilities function immediately unless stated otherwise.
3. A ready opposing character at the same Route may Challenge a Construct directly instead of a character, exhausting normally. Ready defenders do not intercept an attack explicitly targeting a Construct. Apply attacker Force and relevant explicit damage bonuses; character protection does not protect Constructs.
4. When damage reaches Guard, discard the Construct. Defeating a Construct is not defeating an Ally or character: it does not trigger Claim the Way, Relentless, Breach, Cleave or other Ally/character defeat rewards.
5. Existing effects that target only characters or Allies do not affect Constructs. A new card must explicitly name Constructs to damage, heal, return or relocate one. Lane sweeps that defeat Allies leave Constructs intact.
6. Constructs can only occupy Windbridge, Lantern Crossing or Glass Orchard. Construct relocation requires an explicit effect and an empty friendly slot at the adjacent destination. Netherway entry and closure never move a Construct.
7. This draft starter contains 18 Allies, 9 Tactics and 3 Constructs. A Companion is outside its 30-card deck. The seven-faction laboratory supports Constructs in custom decks.

Relay Prism discounts the normal movement portion by 1; any paid keep-ready surcharge remains. A naturally free move consumes no discount. Bulwark’s first positive hit consumes its protection for that numbered round even when a matching character protection already supplies the same reduction. Use the largest reduction; never stack them.

Construct attacks are real Challenges for non-defeat triggers, such as Zazri’s Encore and public Challenge history. Construct destruction is not a character or Ally defeat. Shard Empress and Facetbreaker can add explicit damage; Citadel Walker is the explicit protection for Constructs. Character-only protection does not apply.

New decisions

• Shardling Surveyor privately inspects up to five top cards without reshuffling. Reveal a Construct or decline, then choose the bottom order. Only a revealed Construct becomes public.
• Shard Courier offers a separate optional relocation step. Damage stays; the adjacent friendly destination slot must be empty.
• Emergency Assembly now costs 0 Charge, relocates and heals 2; Core Tender heals your local Construct on entry.
• Prismatic Lance hits either a character or Construct for 3. Focused Refraction hits only an opposing Ally beside your own Construct.
• Salvage Order returns a damaged Construct to hand and draws 1. It frees its slot and clears its state; replaying costs Charge.

Implementation evidence

20 targeted Prismforge rule groups, 8 minimal-DOM interface groups, and all 35 existing Hourglass/Revelwild rule groups passed against the combined engine. Every new card/form has a mapped image. Interface checks execute real build, direct attack, custom-deck, upgrade, private Survey and resume controls. Browser layout has not been tested here.

896 completed automated matches; 1261 Constructs built; 317 direct Construct Challenges. Every action round-tripped through JSON and preserved each exact 30-card multiset, including Constructs and pending Foretell cards. Checks reject negative Charge, loops, duplicate friendly slots, illegal Construct locations and unresolved defeats.

Both Prismforge Companions against both Companions from all seven laboratory factions, including Prismforge mirrors; both seat orders and starts; all four scoring/aggressive combinations; two fresh seed blocks 103000–103001. Full 30-card decks. Every action is save-roundtripped and exact card inventories checked, including public pending and resolving Tactics. This is implementation and policy coverage, not a conclusive balance experiment; mirrored records and seed blocks are dependent.

Expanded balance evidence

The original two-seed implementation results were unstable across seeds. They are superseded by the earlier construction report and the current offensive comparison. The new offensive package improved both Companions in fresh paired confirmation games. The current implementation records below verify rules and serialization, not final balance.

896 current implementation matches and engine hashes · Resume an original-prototype saved match with its original rules

Vitra and Keldrax

Vitra, the Shaping Heart

Inventive, affectionate and fascinated by imperfection. Build something that can choose its own purpose.

Once during your turn, reduce the Charge cost of a Construct you play by 1, minimum 1. Route-slot restrictions still apply.

“A crack is a place to begin.”

Keldrax, Walking Citadel

Stoic, literal and unexpectedly gentle with small creatures. Discover a purpose beyond containment.

Keldrax has +2 Force while at a normal Route containing your Construct.

“I can hold. Tell me what must pass.”

What to test next

Play Vitra and Keldrax against Ironmaw and Hearthbound. Record whether buildings survive long enough to earn their cost, whether Surveyor finds support early enough, and whether repairing is competitive with deploying another explorer. Next compare stronger planning and small, separately tested balance candidates before promoting Prismforge into the standard game.