7 - Advanced / FAQ

What happens if the rules text of a card contradicts the base game rules?

The card rules take precedence.

When do ongoing effects from end, for thoughts and arcana?

Unless the card specifies otherwise, all ongoing effects printed on a thought, an arcanum, an activated or a triggered ability stop being active at the end of the phase.

Note that when entering a conflict, the current phase doesn't end; it's instead paused to be resumed when the conflict resolves. This means that if an ongoing effect (for example, "+1 dawn to all entities") starts in the main phase and play proceeds to a conflict phase, the effect will continue until the end of the conflict.

When shuffling, can I simply stop when I like the value on top of the deck?

Shuffling is rare in Voidream, but it sometimes happens. Whenever you shuffle, you must offer your opponent a cut. This ensures that the shuffling player can't decide what value ends on top of the deck.

The cut can be refused, and deciding to do so can be an important decision, especially when Bastions and constructs are involved. The exception to this is the cut at the beginning of the game (during setup) which must always be performed.

Does the order of discard piles matter? Can I inspect them?

The Dream discard pile, arcana discard pile and Void pile are all face up and considered unordered. No card effects will refer to or rely on the order in which cards are moved to those piles. All three piles are considered public information and can be inspected by either player at any time.

I evoke a card with veil. Does this count as playing it? What about when I unveil it?

When you evoke a card with veil, you place it face down (without revealing it) directly. Veiling substitutes playing, so the card doesn't count as having been played. Thus, you evoked the card to veil it.

On the other hand, unveiling does count as playing the card, and is subject to all normal playing restrictions. For example, a card with dormant 2 would require you to have 2 voided arcana in order to unveil it.

Are veiled cards in play? Do they count as entering play when unveiled?

Veiled cards are considered in play, but they have no type; they're not even considered Dream cards. They are considered a separate game element called veiled cards, and can only be affected by effects that mention veiled cards or face down cards directly.

When a card is unveiled, it is considered to leave play and reenter play as it's flipped face up. This means that effects that trigger when a veiled card leaves play, or when a card enters play, would trigger normally as a consequence of unveiling.

Can I look at face down cards in play?

You may inspect face down cards in play under your control at any time. This includes veiled cards and charges. You may not look at face down cards controlled by your opponent, unless a card effect allows you to do so.

If an opponent looks at your face down card thanks to an effect, it is your responsibility to remember what card they looked at (for example by keeping it in the same area of the board) so you can accurately point them to the same card again. You must not shuffle or otherwise obscure face down cards after your opponent has inspected them.

Do card effects need to be resolved fully, top to bottom? What happens when I can't do something?

Cards are composed of effect lines. Each effect line is independent and must be resolved separately. It is possible that a card effect composed of multiple effect lines will only resolve partially. In that case, skip any effect lines that can't be resolved and play the rest normally.

For example, the Thought card "Nightflock Ambush" reads:

Initiate a dawn conflict.

You may exhaust a participating entity, then switch the current conflict type from dawn to dusk.

It is possible to play this card during a conflict. In that case, the first effect line would have no effect (as there's already an ongoing conflict), but the second line would resolve normally.

For an effect to be able to resolve, it must cause some change in game state. For example, an effect that reads "Exhaust all entities" would fail to exhaust any entities that are already exhausted. As long as there is a single entity that can be exhausted, the effect causes a change in game state and thus is capable of resolving.

An activated effect that would cause no change in game state other than the payment of its cost can not be activated. This includes actions whose first effect cannot be performed.

What happens if a card effect becomes impossible halfway through?

It is possible that as a card effect develops, circumstances change so that it can't continue to resolve. In that case, resolve the effect as far as possible, then abort the rest as soon as a condition becomes impossible to fulfill.

For example, a card effect that reads Deal 1 damage to an entity, then deal 1 damage to it again would not be possible to resolve fully against an entity with 1 stability.

Reminder: activated abilities that cause no change in game state other than the payment of their cost (for example because their first effect is impossible to resolve) can not be activated.

What is the point of cards like "Nightflock Ambush"? Why not directly declare a dusk conflict?

For reference, Nightflock Ambush reads:

Initiate a dawn conflict.

You may exhaust a participating entity, then switch the current conflict type from dawn to dusk.

Initiating a conflict refers to all steps until actions can be played, which includes:

Declaring attackers.
Choosing conflict type (when applicable).
Declaring defenders.

In this particular case, the value of Nightflock Ambush is to choose whether to switch the conflict type after defenders have been declared. It's also worth noting that cards like this can be played even within a current conflict, in which case the first effect line would be skipped.

When exactly do triggered abilites happen? Do they interrupt an ongoing effect?

Triggered abilities (those marked with the exclamation point symbol) have a triggering condition that starts with one of three possible words: Before, When or After.

Before triggers happen immediately before the condition or, when the condition is part of a card effect, before the entire effect line containing the condition. These usually precede entire actions, so they normally have no timing complications (e.g. "Before you play an arcanum...").
When triggers happen immediately, even in the middle of an effect line. When triggers are usually substitution effects that directly modify what's occurring (e.g. "When you take Dream damage, prevent 1 damage"). Players must ensure to resolve the trigger as soon as possible, and any timing ambiguities are resolved by the active player.
After triggers happen after the condition or, when the condition is part of a card effect, after the entire effect line containing the condition. For example, a trigger that reads "After you take Dream damage...", triggered by the effect line "Take 1 Dream damage, then evoke" would occur after the evoke, as the effect line must resolve fully before the trigger occurs.

When lifting cards from the top of the deck to reveal or look at them, what about the new card on top?

The back of the card on top of the deck (or the front, if it's an active construct) is always public knowledge. This means that whenever you play an effect that allows you to look at or reveal the top N cards of your deck, you must also consider that the back of next card in line will be shown to everybody.

When looking at cards from the top of my deck privately, do I need to show the card backs to my opponent?

Cardbacks in voidream are designed so they can be comfortably fanned (in a right handed fan) without exposing the backs to your opponent. When looking at the top cards of your deck, you must be careful to pick them up in such a way their back numbers are not shown, but must show the backs to your opponent in case there are any active constructs to see.

To be specific, the process to privately look at N cards from the top of the deck is as follows:

Carefully fan the cards out so they can be picked up without exposing the back values. This may expose face-up active constructs, which your opponent is entitled to know.
Pick up the fanned cards and inspect the fronts

If the action or sequence of actions causes no change in game state (i.e. after an iteration of the loop, the game state is identical to the beginning) it may be performed only once. If the sequence is instead composed of mandatory triggered effects, all remaining triggers are cancelled as soon as the second iteration of the loop would be entered.
If the action or sequence of actions causes any value to go up indefinitely, it must stop at 1000. No value in the game (be it damage, dawn, dusk, stability, dusk scores, etc) may be increased further than 1000, and any effect that would increase it further fails.

NOTE: This arbitrary number may appear quirky, but it exists to prevent some degenerate scenarios. In other games, the player going infinite is allowed to decide the final value, but this can lead to arm races where both players go infinite and continue exchanging bigger and bigger values. 1000 is large enough to significantly warp the game in favor of the player going infinite, but sets a clear limit in case an "infinite race" occurs.

Voidream Game Manual