Reading a Card
Every card shows the same things in the same places. Learn them once and you can read any card. Start with Lee Sin, Ascetic.
- Cost: the number in the top-left corner. You pay it to play the card. The next chapter shows how.
- Power: a rune icon under the cost number, like [Fury]. If a card shows one, you pay that Domain's Power as well as the cost: [Fury] means recycle 1 Fury rune (the next chapter shows how). Ravenbloom Student has none.
- Domain: the card's colour and symbol: Fury, Calm, Mind, Body, Chaos or Order.
- Might: how strong a unit is in a fight. Bigger Might wins.
- Type line and tags: the type says what the card is, like Unit or Spell. Tags are extra words that do nothing by themselves, but other cards can look for them.
- Rules text: what the card does. A word in [brackets], like [Shield], is a keyword: a short name for a longer rule. Later lessons explain each one. Words in (parentheses) are reminder text. They re-explain a rule and never change it.
- Cost 5 and [Calm] (recycle 1 Calm rune), Might 5, and the keyword [Shield] with reminder text.
- Cost 2, no Power icon, Might 2. No icon means no Domain needed: any runes pay for it.
On Lee Sin, Ascetic, which part is reminder text?
Hextech Ray shows a cost of 1 and a [Fury] under it. What does the [Fury] mean?
Two cards both cost 3. One also shows [Mind] and the other shows no Power icon. Which asks more of you?
Your Void Drone is exhausted and can't move. You can pay for one 2-cost spell: Mobilize or Forbidden Technique. Which one gets the Drone to Battlefield A?
Make your guess, then play the drill to find out.
New units arrive exhausted (turned sideways) and can't move until they are readied (turned upright). Try it: read both spells and pick the one that does the job.
Words from this lesson
- Cost
- The number in a card's top-left corner. You pay it to play the card.
- Power icon
- A Domain's rune icon under a card's cost, like [Fury]. You pay that Power as well as the cost (recycle 1 Fury rune).
- Type line
- The line that says what a card is, like Unit or Spell.
- Tag
- An extra word on a card. It does nothing alone, but other cards can look for it.
- Rules text
- The part of a card that says what it does.
- Keyword
- A word in [brackets] that names a longer rule. Each is explained in a later lesson.
- Reminder text
- Words in (parentheses) that re-explain a rule. They never change it.
From the Core Rules (2026-10-09): 129–134 — Card anatomy (Cost, Name, Domain, Category, Rules Text, Reminder Text) · Might and Tags on a Unit