How to Play: SkyWeaver Starter Guide

Team Horizon

Jul 17, 2019

1. Your Hero & the Enemy Hero

Your Hero is your avatar in Sky. Both players start with 32 health. In the bottom right of your Hero, below the heart symbol, you will see your health. If your Hero’s health ever drops to 0, you lose. If you can drop your rival’s health to 0, however, you win! Heroes also have 1 attack power and can be used to attack the rival Hero or their Units. But remember, Heroes only deal damage when attacking; they do not counterattack.

2. Your Hand

Here are the cards you have available to play. Each card has a number of attributes: Cost displays at the top left of each card. In the case of Units, Health displays at the bottom right and Attack displays at the bottom left. You can tap/mouse over any of your cards for a closer look. Units are the creatures in your deck, which are different than Spell cards (more on that in the Card Breakdown section below).

3. Your Mana

This is the resource you use to play cards. In SkyWeaver, you’ll gain 1 maximum Mana and refill all your Mana at the start of each of your turns. The player going second begins the game with 1 more Mana than the player going first. The Mana cost of spells can be altered. A green number indicates a cost reduction, while a red one shows a cost increase.

4. Attached Spells

Creatures (aka Units) in SkyWeaver can have spells attached to them -  these can be played just like spells in your hand, but will be lost if  the unit holding them is defeated. Your Hero always starts with the spell Mana Vial attached, which will give you bonus Mana when cast. Be sure to use it wisely!


Flow of Play

Structure of a Turn

At the start of your turn you will:

1. Draw a new card from your deck
2. Gain +1 Maximum Mana.
3. Refill your Mana up to its maximum.

After you’ve drawn your card and gained your Mana for the turn, you can do any of the following:

1. Play Units from your hand (as long as you can pay its cost)
2. Play Spells from your hand (as long as you can pay its cost)
3.  Play Spells attached to your Hero and/or Units - some characters come with spells attached. You can use these any time you have Mana to pay for them.
4. Attack with your hero and any “Ready” Units you have - Note that units need a turn to get “Ready” and usually cannot attack the turn they are played.
5.  End your turn - This passes play back to your opponent. Make sure you’ve played anything you want to and made all attacks you wish to before ending. If there’s no action left for you to take, the End Turn button will glow and a sound will play to inform you that you won’t lose anything by passing.

Prisms

SkyWeaver currently has 4 Prisms you can use to build your random and constructed decks - Strength, Heart, Wisdom, and Agility.

When creating a deck, you can choose up to two Prisms for it, and make use of cards from any Prism it contains. You’ll start with only Strength unlocked. As you play and level up, you will unlock the other Prisms.

Card Breakdown

Within SkyWeaver, you’ll play Spell and Unit cards to help you fight and win battles against your opponents.

Unit cards and Spell cards look a little different. The creature art in a unit card goes over the card’s frame, so we see its silhouette above the card.

Spell card artwork is always within a circular frame within the card itself, as you can see below:

Unit Cards

These units or creatures are your allies in battle. Once played, they remain in play until they run out of health or are removed by some other effect.

Units cannot attack the same turn that they are played; i.e. they need a turn to get ready for action. They can be targeted normally by your opponent, though.

1. Mana Cost

The amount of Mana needed to play this Unit from your hand.

2. Attached Spell

Some Units have Spells attached to them. These are just like any other Spell  and have their own Mana cost, that you see on the top left. They can be used during your turn whenever you have Mana, even the turn you summon the Unit. You pay the cost shown from your own Mana pool.

3. Abilities

Most Units have one or more special Abilities. These can be Keyword Abilities (also just called “Keywords”), like Armor and Banner, which are shared by many Units. Or these special abilities can have unique  effects, like Mighty Steed’s ability to grant Armor to your Hero (more on these below).

4. Attack

The Unit’s attack power. This is how much damage it will deal when attacking/attacked by other Units and/or the rival’s Hero.

5. Health

This is how much damage the Unit can sustain before being defeated and sent to the discard pile. Damage dealt to Units is permanent. For example, if a 3-health Unit takes 2 damage, it will only have 1 health remaining until it leaves play or is healed.

Spell Card

These cards offer immediate one-use effects and are then sent to the discard pile. Spells can often allow you to kill/remove your rival’s Units, or strengthen your own.

1. Cost

The amount of Mana needed to play the Spell from your hand, or from a Unit it is attached to.

2. Abilities

The effect the Spell will immediately apply when used. As an example, the Rosewater Charm spell pictured above will give your Hero +6 Health the moment you play it. And, it will apply +1 Mana to your next turn.


Keywords

These are abilities shared between a huge number of Units within SkyWeaver. It's good to get familiar with them, as they show up a lot, and can drastically change the flow of combat.

Armor

Whenever a Unit or Hero with Armor takes damage from an attack, Armor protects them and they take 1 less damage.
Visually indicated by a glowing ring of energy around the Unit’s health.

Wither

Whenever a Unit or Spell deals Wither damage to a rival’s Unit, it will reduce the rival Unit’s attack as well as its health.
Visually indicated by dark energy around the Unit’s Attack.

A Unit with Banner gives your Hero +1 Attack. Multiple instances of Banner stack, giving your Hero even bigger attack boosts!
Visually indicated by a sparkling glow around the Unit’s art.

Guard

Units with Guard protect Heroes from attacks. A Hero cannot be attacked while they have a Guard Unit in play.
Visually indicated by the Unit’s shield shaped frame.

Stealth

A Unit with Stealth cannot be attacked until its controlling Hero has been attacked in the same turn.
Visually indicated by the distortion and haze on the Unit.

Lifesteal

Whenever a Unit or Spell with Life Steal inflicts damage to the rival Hero, your Hero will be healed by the same amount.
Visually indicated by swirls of pink energy orbiting the Unit’s attack.

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