LUX AETERNA @PLAY 2026 - RULES

GAME OBJECTIVE:

Face your opponent and consume their Light until their Soul Zone is empty to win the Match. Deploy Units, activate Relics, and invoke Rituals, while fulfilling your Emissary's will to unleash their true power.

The match results in an instant victory when a player:

Reduces the Lights in the opponent's Life Zone to 0.
Activates a specific card victory effect.

GAME PHASES:

Each player's turn is divided into different phases, during which game actions can be performed.

The phases of each turn are:

Start of Turn Phase: Marks the beginning of your turn; in this phase, the Lights in the Numen lose their color and become White. Depolarize all your cards on the field.

Draw Phase: The turn player draws the first card of their Codex. In Lux Aeterna, the maximum hand size is 7, and any extra cards must be discarded at the end of the turn. If it is impossible to draw a card during your draw phase, you suffer 1 damage to your Soul.

Offering Phase: During this phase, the turn player chooses one of their Emissary's two offerings and adds the corresponding Lights to their reserve.

Main Phase 1 and 2: In this phase, most actions take place: cards can be played from the hand, effects can be activated, and Lights can be assigned to your Units. A second main phase occurs following the Combat Phase.

Combat Phase: In this phase, the turn player can declare an attack with their Units. Only Prayer cards can be played in this phase.

End of Turn Phase: The player passes the turn to the opponent and discards any excess cards from their hand.

CARD TYPES:

Lights:

Manifestations of the power of the Archè, Lights represent the fundamental resource for playing your cards. There are five colors of Light, each an expression of a different characteristic of the Archè. To these is added White Light, the primordial and undifferentiated form of the Archè.

Colored Lights are not stable: if they remain in the Numen for too long, they return to their primordial form. During your Start of Turn Phase, all colored Lights present in your Numen are flipped over and become White Light.

To play a card, remove the lights indicated in the cost from your Numen and return them to the Light deck.

A player can obtain Lights through three methods:

The Emissary's Offering.
The loss of a life, moving the White Light of the lost life into the Numen.
Card effects.

The Lights of Lux Aeterna:

Rubedian

It embodies passion, inner fire, and fury; the soul's incandescence in all its forms. Making no distinction between creation and destruction: it burns everything that fuels the heart. Rubedian favors a playstyle centered on combat, explosive effects, and persistent attacks.

Xanthosis

The Light of clarity, healing, and purity. Its powers flow along paths of purification, radiating energy similar to starlight. Xanthosis harnesses its power to buff its Units, unleash powerful ritual combinations, and regenerate lost Lights.

Caelestis

Those who bear it use introspection, clairvoyance, and control to access transcendental powers, often linked to the spiritual sphere, even influencing space and time. Caelestis plays with pure discipline and absolute awareness of the battlefield, controlling the clash through immovable strength.

Viridian

Linked to growth, renewal, and vitality. This Light is an incessant flow of Archè, powerful and indomitable. Viridian nurtures life, pursuing a playstyle that focuses on resource generation and cards of gigantic, devastating power.

Purpurea

Mystical and fascinating, yet often lethal. It represents the forbidden, the occult, and that which is hidden. Purpurea seeks to play with the minds of its opponents, subjecting them to uncomfortable choices with destructive effects and incessant sacrifices.

Unit:

Units represent the operative force of your army and constitute the primary tool for attacking and defending. Like most cards, each Unit possesses:

A Name (1)
A cost in Lights (2)
A type (3)
An Effect (4)

The distinctive characteristic of Units is the Power value (5), used to determine the outcome of combat. Only Units possess this statistic.

Units can be employed both for attacking and defending.

During your Combat Phase, you can Polarize (rotate 90° to the right) one of your Units to declare an attack. In response, your opponent can:

Defend by polarizing one of their own Units.
Suffer damage to their Lives, moving a Light from the Soul Zone to the Numen.

When two Units face each other, their Power values are compared:

The Unit with the higher Power survives, while the other is destroyed.
In the event of a tie, both Units are destroyed.

In addition to Units, the main cards of the game are Relic, Ritual, and Emissary.

Relic:

Relics represent tools that support your strategy and facilitate the progression of the match. They do not possess a Power value and cannot be involved in combat; they remain on the battlefield until they are removed by an effect.

Ritual:

Rituals are events that can alter the course of a clash or the entire match. They are divided into two types:

Prayer: Can be played in any game phase, even during your opponent's turn.
Prophecy: Can be played only during your main phases.

When multiple effects are activated:

You can play a Prayer or activate an effect during the opponent's turn only in response to an action. (An action refers to playing cards, activating an effect, or declaring an attack).
Players alternate adding effects or Prayers to the queue; when both players stop adding effects, these resolve in reverse order. (The last one entered is the first to resolve).

EMISSARY:

The central core of the game, Emissaries are the entities that lead your army and define your playstyle.

Each Emissary has two forms:

Base
Connected

By completing the condition indicated on the Base form, you can unlock the Connected form, obtaining new abilities and powers for the rest of the match.

During the Offering Phase, the Emissary allows you to choose between:

A stable configuration of Lights.
A more flexible, but less abundant configuration.

Accumulation:

The most powerful cards require large amounts of colored Lights, and Accumulation allows you to preserve the color of your Lights between game turns. During your Main Phases, you can assign Lights from your Numen to the Units under your control.

Accumulated Lights:

Maintain their color even at the start of the next turn, allowing you to pay higher or specific costs.

There is no limit to the total number of Lights on a Unit, but only one Light per Unit can be accumulated during your turn.

If cards with accumulated Lights on them are destroyed, all Lights on them are lost and return to the Light deck.

GAME ZONES:

The Lux Aeterna battlefield consists of 6 main zones:

Codex Zone: Contains the player's Codex.
Requiem Zone: Contains all cards already played and/or destroyed.
Limbo Zone: Contains all cards suspended in limbo.
Aether Zone: The field zone reserved for the Emissary.
Soul Zone: The zone where your lives reside in the form of Lights.
Numen Zone: The zone where Lights normally accumulate.
Combat Zone: The zone where Units, Relics, and Rituals are played.

Match Preparation:

Before the clash begins, prepare the tools of your power:

Your Codex
Your Emissary
The Light deck

There is no limit to the number of cards in the Light deck, but a recommended number is around 20 cards.

Place the White Lights in the Life Zone and keep the Light deck separate, ready to be used during the match.

Once you and your opponent have done this, choose a method with your opponent to decide who starts, then each player draws a starting hand of 5 cards. The player who starts first does not draw nor can they attack during the first turn.