WAYBOUND: THE LIVING ATLAS — FOUR FACTIONS 0.36 STARTING GUARD 5: All eight Companions start with Guard 5 in new matches. Force, Insight and abilities are unchanged. First-path stats remain as printed; an offensive path may trade Guard for Force. Existing saved matches keep stored stats. After choosing a first path, earn three additional Journey marks and pay 3 Charge to ascend once. Keep the path and its ability, damage, readiness, Route and marks; gain +2 Force and +2 Guard, with unchanged Insight, plus your ascended ability. If defeated before ascending, the retained path needs three fresh marks after recovery. An ascended Companion retains both stages after defeat. No fourth stage exists. See the ascended Companion reference for all eight abilities. V0.32 PLAYTEST: These recovery and hostile Orchard rules apply to new matches; existing saved matches retain their stored rules. VANTA / MYTHBOUND: Veilborn Ally, 4 Charge, Force 3 / Guard 4 / Insight 1. Riftfire Ambush: after exploring the Netherway and emerging exhausted, optionally deal 2 direct damage to one opposing Ally at the exit Route. Companions cannot be targeted. Normal ready-defender and once-per-turn exploration restrictions still apply. One copy in the Veilborn starter; maximum one per custom deck. Mythbound is the highest collecting tier, reserved as the rarest future booster tier. Booster odds are undecided; rarity does not confer extra rules or guaranteed power. BALANCE UPDATE 0.36 — NEW FOUR-FACTION AND CUSTOM MATCHES Ironmaw: Claim the Way awards 1 Renown for the first own-turn Challenge that defeats an opposing Ally, maximum 1 per turn in new matches. Defeating Companions, direct Tactics and Cleave spillover do not trigger it. Veilborn: Nyxara's base Unseal costs 1 Charge; Passage Unseen costs 0; Unravel costs 1. Gate Sovereign remains 1 and Threshold Empress remains 0. Passage requires an open realm, does not ready exhausted characters and cannot move Rooted characters. Unravel targets opposing Allies only, never Companions. Wispweaver remains 1 Charge; Vesperant remains 2. Hexmantle retains its -1 Force curse. Skyrunners: Ribbon Scout and Gale Courier have 2 Guard. Other stats and abilities stay unchanged. Opening: the starting player cannot Explore on their first turn. The second player gets 1 extra available Charge on their first turn only (2 available at capacity 1). Capacity and future income do not increase; normal refill replaces remaining Charge. Older saved games keep their own card definitions and rule edition: pre-0.36 saves retain Claim max 2, base Unseal 2, Passage 1 and Unravel 2. Start a new match to use the 0.36 changes. New-match setup offers full faction decks or custom builds. FOUR-FACTION DIGITAL DRAFT Choose any two factions and one of two Companions per side. Hearthbound/Skyrunners retain the tactical 20-Allies/10-Tactics recipes. Veilborn and Ironmaw each add two Companions, eight Ally designs, six Tactics and four path choices. All older characters and presets remain available. Custom deck parsing follows the selected faction. Old saved matches keep their own card definitions and faction pair. The Netherway is one shared temporary fourth Route connected only to Lantern Crossing. Nyxara can open it once per turn for 1 Charge (Gate Sovereign: 1; Ascended: 0); Wispweaver opens it on entry; Unseal the Netherway and Stolen Horizon can also open it. Opening never extends an existing realm. It closes before the creator's next ready step: all occupants return to Lantern Crossing without readying; then the active player's normal ready step occurs. Mandatory closure and defeat returns override Rooted. Either player can deploy or use legal card effects in the open realm. Normal movement uses its single connection, costs 1 and exhausts unless an ability changes that. Morrow's paid Between Worlds uses its normal move and stays ready; Riftcrown's normal entry stays ready. Ready opposing characters in the realm block Explore. Exploring scores normal Renown and Companion journey, then requires an immediate chosen exit to a NORMAL lane, exhausted. Damage and other state persist. Each character can Explore the realm only once during its owner's turn, even if later readied. The app pauses for the exit choice; save/resume preserves it. Grinshade's defender may pay 1 unspent Charge after it is selected to defend. A seeded six-sided roll of 5-6 prevents Challenge damage; the attacker still exhausts. Once per Grinshade per numbered round. Unspent Charge remains available for this reaction until its owner's next refill; never add leftover Charge on top of capacity. The roll and result appear publicly in the log. The app pauses for defender choice. Cleave snapshots the first Ally's remaining Guard before Challenge damage. Excess actual damage hits one other opposing Ally at that Route, chosen by its defender. No further spillover or second Challenge. Secondary damage does not trigger own-Challenge defeat rewards. Companions cannot be secondary Cleave targets and their defeats do not trigger Cleave. Skara's Relentless offers a paid 1-Charge ready after its own Challenge defeats an Ally, once per turn; Eightfold Ravager allows twice. It cannot Explore that turn. Fang Sovereign earns 1 Renown for its own Challenge defeat of an Ally once per turn. Rauk's Siege Rhythm and Gorequill's Pack Momentum stack only to their printed caps and expire at turn end. Bloodhowl and Pack Bastion supply one nonstacking +1 Force aura to other friendly characters at their Route during your turn. Hex effects use the strongest reduction only, minimum total Force 0, and expire at the caster's next turn start. The complete card reference supplies every card and path's specific rules. Automated win rates describe heuristic bots, not settled human balance. The new faction balance trial compares matched conditions; earlier faction and Companion reports are historical benchmarks for their stated editions. GOAL AND DECKS Finish your turn with at least 20 Renown to win. Choose your faction and the opposing faction, then one Companion per side from its two options. Full faction decks contain the fixed 30-card starter recipe: 20 Allies and 10 Tactics. Custom build lets either or both sides edit their faction list to exactly 30 cards, with no required Ally/Tactic ratio. Use up to three copies per identity; Vanta has an explicit maximum-one rule. Companions, Routes and path references are outside the deck. Ironmaw Claim the Way and the balanced opening rules apply as described above. PLANNED STARTER PACKS Beginner: Hearthbound and Skyrunners. Intermediate: Hearthbound and Ironmaw. Intermediate: Skyrunners and Ironmaw. Advanced: Veilborn and Ironmaw. These use the same full faction recipes as free selection. Tiers describe learning complexity, not faction power. Physical contents, pricing and availability are not finalized. SETUP Place Routes left to right: Windbridge, Lantern Crossing, Glass Orchard. Randomly choose the starting player. Each Companion starts ready at Lantern Crossing. Shuffle each deck and draw five. Once per player, you may replace the whole opening hand by shuffling it into your deck and drawing five again. Start at zero Renown and journey marks. Charge capacity starts at one. START OF TURN Ready your characters. Reset normal movement limits, Shift usage, temporary bonuses, Explore restrictions and the Companion's once-per-turn journey marking. On your first turn, capacity is one; each later turn increases capacity by one, up to six. Refill available Charge to capacity. Unspent Charge never carries forward. Normally draw one card; the starting player skips only their first normal draw. If your hand is empty at the beginning of your turn, draw five instead of one, as many as possible. There is no extra sixth draw and no immediate refill when you play your last card. Ordinary drawing reshuffles the discard if the deck is empty; if both are empty, skip the draw. Star Chart uses a separate inspection rule below. PLAYING CARDS Pay a card's Charge cost. Allies enter READY at any Route, may act immediately, and have no character-count or lane-occupancy cap. A ready character can Explore, Challenge or make its one normal move, subject to the conditions below. Resolve all entry choices before taking another action. Resolve a Tactic fully, then discard it. If an effect has no legal target, that part does nothing but its Charge is still spent. Effects that heal or move require explicit targets. Rooted prevents movement, including card-effect movement; healing remains legal. NORMAL MOVEMENT A ready character can make one normal move per turn to an adjacent Route, paying one Charge and EXHAUSTING. Moving into Windbridge costs zero but still exhausts. Swift and Trailblazer/Windguide free normal movement also still exhaust. Lightfoot is a specific exception: Reedrunner can pay one additional Charge on its normal move to stay ready. This does not allow a second normal move. Explicit movement from a card or ability does not exhaust or ready the character and does not consume its normal movement limit unless stated. It follows the printed destination restrictions. Opposing players may occupy the same Route. EXPLORE Exhaust a ready character with positive Insight to gain that much Renown. ANY ready opposing character at the same Route blocks Explore, regardless of Force, Guard, damage or Insight. Exhausted enemies do not block. No current character has Elusive or another ability to bypass this restriction. Slipstream does not bypass it. A successful Companion Explore earns one journey mark, at most once per turn. Glass Orchard grants +1 Force to every character there, on either side; it no longer heals. Windbridge still grants free normal movement into it, which exhausts. CHALLENGE AND DEFENSE Declare with a ready character against enemies at its Route. If exactly one opposing character there is ready, it defends automatically. If several are ready, the defending player chooses one. If none are ready, the attacker chooses any opposing character there. Exhaust the attacker and deal its current Force as damage to the chosen defender. The defender does not exhaust or retaliate. Damage persists. Precision lets Glass Lynx choose WHICH READY defender intercepts. Slipstream lets Veilwing choose ANY opposing character there, including an exhausted one protected by ready defenders. Neither ability changes Route location. Sheltering Glow: other friendly characters at Hearthshell's Route take one less Challenge damage. It works even if Hearthshell is exhausted. Multiple sources do not stack. Positive damage cannot be reduced below one; zero stays zero. It does not reduce Tactic damage. Hearthshell does not protect itself, but another Hearthshell may protect it. DEFEATS An Ally with damage at least its Guard is immediately discarded. A defeated Companion remains in the match: return it exhausted to Lantern Crossing, clear its damage, lose all journey marks and retain its chosen path. It remains exhausted through its next two owner turns and readies on the third. During recovery it cannot Explore, Challenge, move normally, transform or use active abilities. It remains targetable, passive abilities remain in effect, and another defeat restarts the two-turn recovery. The game announces this return. Ordinary defeats award no Renown. Breach: Thornrush earns one Renown when its own Challenge defeats a READY opposing character, including a Companion. No bonus for an exhausted target. Stormwing's own Challenge defeats of Allies still award its printed one Renown. Reaching 20 during an action does not win until the end-turn check. HEALING AND FORCE Mend: 0 Charge, heal a friendly character by 3. Shared Shelter: 1 Charge, heal each friendly character at a chosen Route by 2. Span Repair: 1 Charge, heal a friendly character by 3 and optionally move it to an adjacent Route without exhausting. Wickmender's Lantern Care: on entry, heal ANOTHER friendly character at its Route by 2. If none is there, it enters without healing. Cindertusk's Kindled Fury: +2 Force while it has any damage. This bonus ends immediately if fully healed. Printed Guard is not reduced by damage. Other characters' printed healing and movement abilities remain unchanged. TACTICS DRAFT 1 — MAIN-PHASE PLAYS Tactics are played during your own main phase; there is no reaction window during an opponent's Challenge or defender choice. Cinderbolt / Starfall: 2 Charge, deal 3 damage to any opposing character at any Route, including a Companion. Damage persists, ignores Hearthshell's Challenge-only protection, and resolves defeats immediately. Briar Verdict / Sever the Thread: 5 Charge, defeat any opposing Ally, regardless of Guard. Companions are not legal targets. Turn Back / Back to the Clouds: 2 Charge, return an opposing Ally to its owner's hand. Clear damage, buffs, readiness and Shift state by removing the unit. It is not defeated or discarded. Replaying costs its normal Charge and creates a fresh ready unit, including normal entry abilities. Companions cannot be returned to hand. The normal end-of-owner-turn hand limit still applies. Wildfire Passage / Empty the Horizon: 6 Charge, defeat all opposing Allies at one chosen Route. Your own characters and all Companions remain. A surviving ready Companion still prevents Explore; this does not guarantee an empty lane. Six Charge is attainable from your sixth turn. Sweep costs all available Charge at maximum capacity. Direct removal and sweep award no Breach or Stormwing Renown, because those bonuses require the character's own Challenge. New offensive Tactics cannot be played with no legal target. Briar Surge / Measured Gust: 1 Charge, give a friendly character +3 Force until end of your turn. Bonuses stack, expire on passing, do not ready or exhaust the character, and do not prevent Explore. A subsequent Challenge uses the bonus with normal defender choice. These are preparation plays, not reactions. Stand Together: now 1 Charge; its ready effect still prevents Explore for the rest of that turn. Guiding Glow / Tailwind: now 1 Charge for +2 Insight until end of your turn. Existing Explore blocking still applies. Sudden Squall: now 1 Charge for 3 damage, still restricted to an opposing Ally at your Companion's Route. Long Way Home / Open Horizon: now 1 Charge, move your Companion to any Route and heal 3; do not exhaust or ready it. Lantern Signals: now 1 Charge, draw 2 and optionally move a friendly character one adjacent Route without exhausting or readying it. Rooted cannot move. Trail Snack / Clear Skies remain 1 Charge to draw 2. Guststep remains 1 Charge for adjacent movement without exhausting or readying. OPTIONAL FEATURED OPENING Choose one featured Ally per guild to guarantee it within the normal five-card opening hand, also after a replacement hand. No extra card or copy is created. Normal play costs apply. Leave random for standard shuffled openings. Exported playtests identify this test setting. STAR CHART — PRIVATE ENTRY CHOICE When Duskquill enters, look at up to the top three cards of your current deck. Keep one in hand, put the others on the bottom in your chosen order, and then resume the main phase. The first bottom card listed is drawn before the second once the rest of the deck is gone. This effect does not reshuffle discard. With no cards in deck there is no selection. The opponent does not see the choices. Pending selections save and resume. Do not end the turn or take another action while this choice is unresolved. SHIFT AND COMPANION PATHS Prismarten may pay one Charge once during its controller's turn to switch Guide (0/2/2) and Striker (4/2/0). Keep damage, readiness, location and other restrictions; Shift does not heal, move or ready it. Reset usage on the next owner turn. At three journey marks, an untransformed Companion can pay two Charge in its main phase and permanently choose one of its two paths. Keep damage, readiness, Route and journey marks. Use the chosen path's stats and ability and check defeat. Brindle: Hearthkeeper or Trailblazer; Vey: Windguide or Stormwing; Korr: Shellwarden or Bridgewright; Nima: Chartweaver or Stormdancer. The complete card reference contains all eight path definitions. Optional post-defeat Stormdancer movement must resolve before another action. END OF TURN AND ROUND LIMIT Take main-phase actions in any order. Defender selection during a Challenge is the current opponent-turn decision. Resolve damage, stat changes and defeats fully. At end of your turn, if you have at least 20 Renown, win before discarding. Otherwise discard down to seven, clear your temporary turn effects, then pass. After both players' turns in round 12, higher Renown wins; a tie uses Companion journey marks; a further tie is a draw. The optional comparison setting prevents only the starting player's first-turn Explore. Record it separately; it is not the default. DIGITAL AND PHYSICAL EDITIONS These are current digital playtest rules. Earlier PDFs, card proofs and ordered print prototypes predate the new characters and rule changes. They are historical materials and are not a current printing package. New-match complete decks do not silently change an existing saved match's composition. Explicit match exports include deck and private state; share them after play.