Combat Variants — Selected Slate (V01–V10)

Version: 1.0 Date: 2026-07-31 Owner: Design / Combat Status: Binding build order. Governed by prototypes/combat-variants/00-CHARTER.md.

19 candidates were produced by four parallel design teams (buckets: verb, reaction, track, wildcard). This document scores all 19, records SELECTED / DISCARDED with reasons, and then gives a complete, decision-free build spec for each of the 10 selections.

Bucket quota honoured: 3 verb, 3 reaction, 2 track, 2 wildcard.

Slate order is a difficulty ramp: V01 is nearest to the live core, V10 is the most radical.

1. Scoring pass — all 19 candidates

Legend: CC charter compliance, INT intuitiveness (C8), LOAD element load-bearingness (C7 swap test), DIST distinctness within the slate, FUN likely fun. Scores 1–5.

Bucket: verb

Candidate	CC	INT	LOAD	DIST	FUN	Verdict
House Rules	pass	5	5	5	5	SELECTED → V01
Painted Ground	pass	4	5	5	5	SELECTED → V04
Tide Price	pass	4	5	5	4	SELECTED → V06
Forge	pass	2	4	2	3	DISCARDED
Weather Die	pass	4	5	2	4	DISCARDED

Forge — DISCARDED. Charter-legal but fails C8 in practice: every roll inserts an arithmetic step ("Agni + 4 wraps to rung 1") before the player can read the board, and C8.3 forbids requiring computation at decision time. It also duplicates House Rules' core idea — the element die editing what the number means — with worse legibility.
Weather Die — DISCARDED under selection rule 6. Its verb set (Heat / Flow / Set / Scatter) and Painted Ground's (Scorched / Flooded / Stone / Swept) are the same four ideas: escalate, spread, root, return-to-hand. Painted Ground keeps them and adds persistence and place-identity, so it strictly dominates on distinctness. Weather Die's Jal rotation plus Vayu full-board return also scrambles placement every roll, which destroys the planning layer the slate needs at least one of.

Bucket: reaction

Candidate	CC	INT	LOAD	DIST	FUN	Verdict
Four Braziers (Mandala)	pass	5	5	5	5	SELECTED → V02
Sangam (Confluence)	pass	4	5	4	5	SELECTED → V05
Fuse Line (Agnihotra)	pass	3	5	5	5	SELECTED → V08
Manthan (The Churning)	pass	3	5	2	4	DISCARDED
Kalari Stance	pass	3	4	2	4	DISCARDED

Manthan — DISCARDED under selection rule 6. It reads identically to Sangam at the table: same printed wheel, same four named outcomes, same "compare two element icons" gesture. Its only differentiator is that the second icon is last turn's roll rather than a card on the board, which lowers agency (the player authors neither icon) without changing the moment-to-moment read. Sangam keeps the wheel with the player's own placement as one of the two operands.
Kalari Stance — DISCARDED. Redundant with the selected wildcard V09 Their Dice, which already puts element-reading on the enemy side and does so with a stronger telegraph. Kalari additionally imposes a roster-wide content cost (every enemy needs a coherent stance rotation) that a prototype cannot pay, and its initiative sub-rule (element die decides who strikes first, changing the relation computation order) pushes it past the ≤7-rule C8 budget.

Bucket: track

Candidate	CC	INT	LOAD	DIST	FUN	Verdict
Twin Wells	pass	4	5	4	4	SELECTED → V03
One Wick	pass	4	5	5	5	SELECTED → V07
Engraving	pass	2	5	2	4	DISCARDED
The Churn	pass	2	5	3	3	DISCARDED

Engraving — DISCARDED. Fails C8.5: a face must simultaneously render a number, a colour and a level 1–3, and the player must reason about a die whose contents changed since last turn from memory. It also overlaps the selected V10 The Written Die, which already carries the "state lives on the die faces" idea in a form a player can read at a glance.
The Churn — DISCARDED. Fails C8.3 in spirit: every turn requires a mental transform ("charge Agni now to have Vayu next turn") to plan at all, and slot-number-as-threshold makes slots 3 and 4 strictly worse seats, so the board collapses to slots 1–2. Ring topology is preserved elsewhere in the discard pile only; no selected variant needs it.

Bucket: wildcard

Candidate	CC	INT	LOAD	DIST	FUN	Verdict
Their Dice (Pratighata)	pass	5	5	5	5	SELECTED → V09
The Written Die	pass	5	5	5	4	SELECTED → V10
Declare (Aahuti)	pass	5	4	4	3	DISCARDED
The Walker (Chakra)	pass	3	5	4	4	DISCARDED
Fuse (Kaal)	pass	3	5	4	3	DISCARDED

Declare (Aahuti) — DISCARDED. Order-based firing makes slot 1 live almost every turn and slot 4 live almost never, so three quarters of the board is decoration unless a whole card class is invented to want lateness — a content dependency a prototype cannot resolve. The nudge (±1 for 1 energy) also converts the number die into a deterministic dial, which weakens the die to a suggestion.
The Walker (Chakra) — DISCARDED. The team's own risk note is decisive: the trail effect fires on the station the walker left, spatially opposite to where the player's attention just moved, plus wrap-around arithmetic. That is two simultaneous reads and breaks C8.
Fuse (Kaal) — DISCARDED. Violates selection rule 5 head-on: a blank on the number die gives 0 energy, 0 ticks and nothing fires — the exact "nothing happened this turn" failure the slate exists to kill — and a low roll is a deliberately empty turn. It also rests entirely on enemy fuses being tuned to punish high rolls, which is unproven and unprototypable in isolation.

Selection summary

id	name	bucket	filename
V01	House Rules	verb	`V01-house-rules.html`
V02	Four Braziers	reaction	`V02-four-braziers.html`
V03	Twin Wells	track	`V03-twin-wells.html`
V04	Painted Ground	verb	`V04-painted-ground.html`
V05	Sangam	reaction	`V05-sangam.html`
V06	Tide Price	verb	`V06-tide-price.html`
V07	One Wick	track	`V07-one-wick.html`
V08	Fuse Line	reaction	`V08-fuse-line.html`
V09	Their Dice	wildcard	`V09-their-dice.html`
V10	The Written Die	wildcard	`V10-the-written-die.html`

2. Conventions shared by every build spec

Each spec below repeats what it needs, so no spec requires reading this section. It is here only to record why the numbers agree with each other.

Player HP 50 in every variant. Enemy HP 60–80, tuned per variant against that variant's throughput so the fight lands in the 6–12 turn band.
Damage pipeline (do not reorder): clamp0 → +Strength → ×Weak (0.75, floor) → ×Vulnerable (1.5, ceil) → clamp0. Incoming: Block absorbs first, remainder to HP. Block gain is base + Dexterity, floored. Player Block decays to 0 at the end of the enemy's turn unless a spec says otherwise.
Akasha gate (C7.5). Akasha is never on the element die and never in the starting deck. In every variant the gate is: the first time the enemy's HP drops to 50% or below, one Akasha card is added to the player's hand. Each spec states Akasha's verb and that verb is reachable in a normal fight.
Deck cycling. Draw pile empty at the draw step → shuffle the discard pile into the draw pile, then draw.
Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose. There is no deck-out loss.
Target win rate ~60% for a competent player.

3. Build specs

V01 — House Rules (verb)

Teaching sentence: "The element die decides what counts as a match this turn; the number die is the number."

Dice (exactly 2, always).

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank. Value domain {1,2,3,4} ∪ {blank}.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank.
Both dice are rolled together, always, every roll. Neither is ever removed or ignored in state; a blank face is a face, not an absent die.

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4, left to right. A slot is a board position holding at most 1 card. Occupying a slot means the card is on the board and eligible to be matched. Occupied slots cannot be overwritten. Placement costs 0 energy.

Element behaviours (the element die selects the match predicate; the number die N is its argument).

Agni — THRESHOLD. Every slot with index ≥ N matches. Every slot with index < N gains 1 Scorch token. A card fires with +1 damage (or +1 block) per Scorch on its slot; Scorch is removed when that slot's card fires. Scorch caps at 4 per slot.
Jal — MIRROR. The slot at index 5 − N matches (1↔︎4, 2↔︎3). Any card that fires this turn additionally applies Weak 1 to the enemy (enemy damage ×0.75, floor, 2 turns).
Vayu — NEIGHBOURS. Slots N−1 and N+1 match; slot N does not. No wrap (N=1 matches only 2; N=4 matches only 3). Every card that fires this turn returns to hand instead of the discard pile, and you draw 1.
Prithvi — LATCH. Slot N matches, and that match latches: it survives every subsequent reroll this turn and cannot be broken.
Blank element — CALM. Slot N matches, plainly. (Never nothing.)
Akasha — VOID. Not on the die. Gate: the first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" is added to hand. Playing it costs 2 energy and places it into any empty slot; it resolves immediately, removes all Scorch and all latches, and makes every occupied slot match this turn at half effect (round down). Then it exhausts.
Blank number die. N is taken to be the lowest-index occupied slot. If the board is empty, no slot matches and you draw 1 instead.

Energy. Income at turn start = number of empty slots (0–4), minimum 1. Sinks: first roll of the turn 1; each consecutive reroll 2 (flat); voluntarily exhaust one clogged card to free its slot 1; paid draw 1 energy → 2 cards from discard; play the Akasha card 2. Energy does not carry over. Energy is displayed as a single number.

Reroll. Rerolls both dice together. Cost 2 flat, unlimited while energy lasts (from a 4-energy turn: 1 + 2 → 2 rolls; 4 empty slots and no spends is the maximum). A reroll re-derives every match from the new dice, except Prithvi latches, which persist. A reroll does not undo: energy already spent, Scorch already placed, cards already placed (placement is locked once you roll), or a latched match. Nothing has fired yet at reroll time — all firing happens at turn end — so a reroll cannot un-fire anything.

Resolution order (deterministic).

Energy income = empty slots, min 1.
Draw 1 (reshuffle discard into draw if needed). Optional paid draws.
Place any number of cards from hand into empty slots (free).
First roll: pay 1, roll both dice. Placement now locked for the turn.
Derive matches from the current dice per the predicate. Latched slots stay matched.
Optionally reroll (2 each) → return to step 5.
Turn end: every matched slot fires in slot order 1→4. Apply Scorch bonuses, then the card's effect through the damage pipeline. Fired cards go to discard (or hand, under Vayu). Unmatched cards remain on their slots (clog).
Enemy acts. Player Block decays to 0.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 8.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 6, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 5, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 7 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. 4-turn intent cycle, telegraphed 1 turn ahead:

Strike — 8 damage.
Strike — 8 damage.
Cleave — 13 damage.
Guard — gains 10 Block, then Jab for 4 damage. Average 8.25/turn. Player throughput averages ~10/turn, so the fight lands at 8–9 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

AGNI — Threshold: every slot at or above the number matches. Lower slots gain Scorch (+1 each).
JAL — Mirror: the opposite slot matches (1↔︎4, 2↔︎3). Firing applies Weak.
VAYU — Neighbours: the slots either side of the number match. Cards return to hand, draw 1.
PRITHVI — Latch: the number's slot matches and stays matched through rerolls.
BLANK — Calm: the number's slot matches, plainly.
AKASHA — Void: clears Scorch and latches; every occupied slot fires at half.

V02 — Four Braziers (reaction)

Teaching sentence: "Every slot belongs to an element, so where you put a card decides what it does."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank.

Slots. 4 braziers, printed with fixed elements that never change: slot 1 = Agni, slot 2 = Jal, slot 3 = Vayu, slot 4 = Prithvi. The wheel is Agni → Jal → Vayu → Prithvi → Agni and the arrow means FEEDS. Across the wheel: Agni↔︎Vayu and Jal↔︎Prithvi. A brazier holds at most 1 card. Placing a card into a brazier costs 0 energy and immediately fixes its pairing (card element vs brazier element). The UI shows a live preview icon of the resulting pairing on every empty brazier before the player commits.

Pairings (this is the element behaviour layer).

PURE — card element = brazier element. Effect ×2.
CHARGE — card element feeds the brazier (Agni card in Jal brazier; Jal card in Vayu; Vayu card in Prithvi; Prithvi card in Agni). Effect ×1, and the brazier becomes Charged — it pays +1 energy at every turn start until it next resolves.
DOUSE — brazier element feeds the card (the backward direction). Effect ×0.5 (round down), and the brazier becomes Doused: no card may be placed into it next turn. Clear a Doused brazier early for 1 energy.
RUPTURE — card and brazier are across the wheel. Effect ×3, the card exhausts (removed for the rest of the combat), and the player takes 4 recoil damage (unblockable).

Element verbs (fire when that element's brazier resolves).

Agni — ESCALATE. Resolving in the Agni brazier permanently raises the base magnitude of every brazier's resolution by +1 for the rest of the combat (cumulative, visible counter).
Jal — REDIRECT. Resolving in the Jal brazier lets you move one Charged marker from any brazier to any other brazier, or move one status effect between you and the enemy.
Vayu — DISPLACE. Resolving in the Vayu brazier swaps the contents of two braziers of your choice (cards and their pairings move with them, pairings recomputed against the new braziers).
Prithvi — HOLD. Resolving in the Prithvi brazier makes that brazier's Charge permanent (it can never be Doused) and converts any Block gained this turn into standing Block that does not decay at end of turn.
Akasha — VOID. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 6, gain 6 Block). It counts as PURE in any brazier (×2) and on resolution wipes that brazier clean: removes Charge, Douse and the Agni escalation on that brazier.

Resolution selection. The number die names the brazier that resolves at turn end. Blank number = the lowest-index occupied brazier resolves (never nothing). The element die modifies it:

shows the brazier's element → STRONG: outcome doubled.
shows the card's element → SWIFT: the named brazier resolves, and so does the brazier clockwise of it (that one plain, no STRONG).
shows both (card and brazier share an element) → STRONG.
blank → plain.

Energy. Income at turn start = 1 + number of Charged braziers (range 1–5). Sinks: first roll 1; each reroll 2 flat; clear a Doused brazier early 1; paid draw 1 → 2 cards; hold a card from resolving 1 (the named brazier does not resolve; the card and its pairing stay). No carry-over.

Reroll. First reroll of each combat is free (turn-1 mercy). Every reroll after that is 2 flat. Rerolls both dice. Resolution is deferred to turn end, so a reroll only changes which brazier resolves and how loud — it does not undo placements, pairings, Charge, Douse, or spent energy.

Resolution order.

Energy = 1 + Charged braziers.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards into empty, non-Doused braziers (previews shown). Placement phase.
First roll: pay 1, roll both. Placement locks.
Optional rerolls at 2.
Turn end: the named brazier resolves — apply pairing multiplier, then STRONG/SWIFT, then the Agni escalation bonus, then the damage pipeline. Apply Charge/Douse. The resolved card leaves to discard (or exhausts, under RUPTURE). Non-resolving braziers keep their cards, pairings and markers.
Enemy acts. Block decays (except standing Block from Prithvi).

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 7.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 4, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 6 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. Cycle: Strike 8 → Strike 8 → Cleave 13 → Guard (10 Block) + Jab 4. One card resolves per turn, but multipliers mean average player output is ~10–12/turn; fight lands at 7–9 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

Slot 1 AGNI — Escalate: resolving here permanently raises every brazier's output by 1.
Slot 2 JAL — Redirect: resolving here moves a Charge marker or a status effect.
Slot 3 VAYU — Displace: resolving here swaps two braziers' contents.
Slot 4 PRITHVI — Hold: resolving here makes Charge permanent and Block persistent.
PAIRING — Same = PURE ×2. Feeds = CHARGE ×1 (+1 energy/turn). Smothered = DOUSE ×½. Across = RUPTURE ×3, card exhausts, take 4.
AKASHA — Void: PURE anywhere, and wipes its brazier clean.

V03 — Twin Wells (track)

Teaching sentence: "Rolling an element fills that element's well, and wells pay for everything you do — but no two wells work the same way."

Prototype adaptation: the source concept scoped wells to the run's two-element pair. This prototype puts all four wells on the board at once so all four verbs are observable in a single fight (C7.3). The run-pair scoping is a shipping decision, not a prototype one.

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank.

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4, 1 card each, placement free, no overwriting. A slot is a board position; occupying one means the card can be matched and primed.

Match rules.

Both-match (element die = card's element AND number die = slot index) → the card is locked; it fires at turn end.
Element-only match → that element's well gains its charge (see income; this happens on every roll regardless).
Number-only match (slot index matches, element does not) → the card is PRIMED. A primed card fires free at the start of next turn if its element's well is at 3+. If the well is below 3 at that moment, the prime is discarded and the card stays on the board.
Locks are non-latching within a turn (re-derived on every roll). Primes carry across exactly one turn.
Blank number die → no lock, no prime. Blank element die → +1 charge to all four wells.

Wells (the element behaviours — four different physical laws).

Agni — DETONATOR. No cap, never decays. Cannot be spent in part: any Agni spend empties the well entirely and deals 2 × charge spent damage to the enemy.
Jal — SPILLWAY. Hard cap 4; overflow is not lost, it spills into the Prithvi well. Granular spends: 1 = slide one card from its slot to any empty slot; 2 = reduce the enemy's next attack by 5.
Vayu — GUST. Empties to 0 at the end of every turn. In exchange it is the cheapest currency: a reroll paid from Vayu costs 1 instead of 2, and 1 Vayu charge draws 2 cards.
Prithvi — LADDER. Never spends and never decays — it is a threshold ladder, not a currency. At 3: every card placed also grants 2 Block. At 6: clogged cards no longer reduce energy income. At 9: slot 4 fires on a number-only match without needing a prime check.
Akasha — NULL WELL. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 6). Playing it opens the Null Well for the rest of the combat: it converts charge from any well into any other well at 2:1, once, and then seals permanently.

Energy. Charge is energy; there is no separate pool. Four visible numbers. Income: +2 to the rolled element's well on every roll, including rerolls; blank element face = +1 to all four wells; +1 to a well for each card of that element that fires. Sinks: reroll 2 charge from any single well (or 1 if paid from Vayu); paid draw 2 charge → 2 cards; voluntarily exhaust a clogged card 1 charge; Jal's and Agni's own spends as listed. Charge can never go negative and can only be spent from a well that holds it.

Reroll. The first roll of the turn is free — but it is not a free lunch, because it commits which well gets filled. Every reroll costs 2 flat (1 from Vayu). Rerolls both dice. A reroll re-derives all locks and primes from the new dice. A reroll does not undo: charge already poured by earlier rolls this turn (it stays), placements (locked once you roll), or spends already made.

Resolution order.

Primed cards check their well: well ≥ 3 → the card fires now, free, and goes to discard. Otherwise the prime is cleared and the card stays.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards into empty slots (free).
First roll (free): both dice. Pour charge. Derive locks and primes. Placement locks.
Optional rerolls at 2 (1 from Vayu) → pour more charge, re-derive locks and primes.
Turn end: locked cards fire in slot order 1→4 and go to discard. New primes recorded. The Vayu well empties to 0. Prithvi thresholds re-evaluate. Unfired cards clog.
Enemy acts. Block decays.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 7.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 5, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 7 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 60. Proc rates here are the lowest on the slate (both-match survives), so the enemy is correspondingly gentler. Cycle: Strike 7 → Strike 7 → Cleave 12 → Guard (8 Block) + Jab 4. Average 7.5/turn. With Agni detonations the fight lands at 8–11 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

AGNI WELL — Detonator: never decays, no cap. Spending empties it for 2 damage per charge.
JAL WELL — Spillway: caps at 4 and spills into Prithvi. 1 = move a card. 2 = blunt the next attack by 5.
VAYU WELL — Gust: empties every turn. Pays rerolls at 1. 1 charge draws 2.
PRITHVI WELL — Ladder: cannot be spent. 3 = +2 Block per placement. 6 = clogs stop costing you. 9 = slot 4 self-fires.
AKASHA — Null Well: converts between wells at 2:1, once, then seals.

V04 — Painted Ground (verb)

Teaching sentence: "Your rolls paint the four anchors, and each turn every painted anchor runs its card the painted way."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank.

Slots. 4 anchors, 1–4. An anchor holds at most 1 card AND carries a paint colour (one of the four elements) or is bare. Paint persists across rerolls and across turns until repainted or scraped. Occupying an anchor means the card will resolve under whatever that anchor's paint says.

Painting. Every roll paints exactly one anchor: the number die picks the anchor, the element die is the colour.

Blank number → paints the lowest-index bare anchor; if none is bare, the lowest-index anchor.
Blank element → SCRAPES the targeted anchor bare instead of painting it.

Resolution. At turn end, every anchor that is painted and holds a card resolves that card under the paint's verb, in slot order 1→4. The card's own element is not a gate; if the card's element equals the paint colour the effect is doubled (resonance). An unpainted anchor does nothing. There is no clog penalty — an unpainted card simply waits.

Element behaviours (properties of the anchor, not the card).

Agni — SCORCHED. The card fires, then returns to the same anchor and fires again next turn at +50% of base per turn elapsed (turn 1: 100%, turn 2: 150%, turn 3: 200%…), until the anchor is repainted or scraped. A Scorched anchor with no card deals 1 damage to the enemy per turn.
Jal — FLOODED. The card fires, and the anchor to its right also fires its card at half effect (round down). At turn end, a Flooded anchor paints its right neighbour Jal if that neighbour is bare. Anchor 4 has no right neighbour.
Vayu — SWEPT. The card fires and returns to hand instead of discard, and you draw
1. The anchor keeps its paint.
Prithvi — STONE. The card fires and stays permanently, firing every turn under Stone. A Stone anchor cannot be repainted by a roll — only scraped (1 energy) or cleared by Akasha.
Akasha — NULL. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 6, gain 6 Block). Playing it costs 0, is placed on any anchor, and immediately strips paint from all four anchors; every card on a stripped anchor returns to hand. Then it exhausts.

Energy. Income at turn start = the number of distinct paint colours currently on the board (0–4), minimum 1. This is the element-interaction pressure: a monochrome board is poor, a four-colour board is rich. Sinks: first roll 1; rerolls escalate 2, then 3, then 4, then 4 flat; scrape an anchor bare 1; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. No carry-over.

Reroll. Rerolls both dice and paints an additional anchor. Paint from earlier rolls this turn is not undone — rerolling is how you build a multicoloured board, not how you retry. A reroll does not undo placements (locked once you roll), scrapes, or spent energy.

Resolution order.

Energy = distinct paint colours on board, min 1.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards into empty anchors (free).
First roll: pay 1. Number picks anchor, element paints it (or scrapes on blank). Placement locks.
Optional rerolls (2, 3, 4, 4…) → each paints another anchor.
Turn end: resolve every painted+occupied anchor in slot order. Apply the paint verb, then resonance doubling if card element = paint colour, then the damage pipeline.
Jal spread: each Flooded anchor paints its right neighbour Jal if bare.
Enemy acts. Block decays.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 7.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 5, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 6 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 75. This engine compounds (Scorched escalation, Stone permanence), so the enemy is the toughest of the near-core group. Cycle: Strike 8 → Strike 8 → Cleave 14 → Guard (10 Block) + Jab 5. Average 8.75/turn. Fight lands at 8–10 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

AGNI ground — Scorched: the card fires again every turn, +50% each time. Empty scorched ground chips for 1.
JAL ground — Flooded: also fires the anchor to the right at half, and spreads Jal rightwards.
VAYU ground — Swept: the card fires and comes back to your hand; draw 1.
PRITHVI ground — Stone: the card stays forever and fires every turn. Only scraping removes it.
BLANK — Scrapes the anchor bare.
RESONANCE — card colour = ground colour → doubled.
AKASHA — Null: strips all four anchors; their cards return to hand.

V05 — Sangam (reaction)

Teaching sentence: "Each roll pours one element onto one of your cards, and what those two elements do to each other is your turn."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank — says where the confluence lands.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank — says what pours in.

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4, 1 card each, placement free, no overwriting. A card in a slot is an ingredient waiting to meet an incoming element.

The wheel (printed on the board, one picture). Vayu → Agni → Prithvi → Jal → Vayu, arrows read as FEEDS. Across the wheel: Vayu↔︎Prithvi and Agni↔︎Jal.

The four outcomes. Compare the incoming element (element die) with the card's element in the named slot:

PURE (same element) — the card fires at ×2.
FEED (incoming is the wheel-predecessor of the card, i.e. the arrow points from incoming to card) — the card fires at ×1, and the incoming element's board verb applies (below).
SMOTHER (incoming is the wheel-successor, arrow points the wrong way) — the card fires at ×0.5 (round down) and is CONVERTED: it stays in its slot but its element becomes the incoming element for the rest of the combat.
CLASH (across the wheel) — the card fires at ×1, is then destroyed (exhausted), the player takes 3 unblockable recoil, and gains 2 energy immediately.

Board verbs (fire only on FEED).

Agni — ESCALATE. The enemy gains Burn 3 (loses 3 HP at the end of each of its turns for 3 turns, refreshing), and every future confluence's magnitude gains +1 for the rest of the combat (cumulative, visible counter).
Jal — REDIRECT. Every debuff currently on the player moves to the enemy, and every debuff on the enemy moves to the player. (A straight swap.)
Vayu — DISPLACE. Every card rotates one slot to the right, wrapping (slot 4 → slot 1).
Prithvi — HOLD. Next turn nothing converts, nothing rotates and nothing is destroyed, and Block does not decay at end of turn.
Akasha — VOID. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 6, gain 6 Block). It cannot react: it always fires plain (×1) and then blanks the element die for the rest of the turn — no further confluences can occur this turn.

Blank handling (never nothing). Blank number → the confluence lands on the leftmost occupied slot; if the board is empty, no confluence occurs and you draw 1 instead. Blank element → PURE by default.

Energy. Income at turn start = 2 flat, + 2 per card destroyed by a CLASH last turn. Empty slots pay nothing — this core wants a full board. Sinks: first roll 1; rerolls escalate 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… with no cap; Brace 2 — forces this turn's confluence to resolve as PURE regardless of elements; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. No carry-over.

Reroll. Rerolls both dice. The confluence outcome is previewed live but resolves only once, at the end of the roll phase — so a reroll replaces the pending outcome rather than undoing a resolved one. A reroll does not refund a Brace already paid, does not undo placements (locked once you roll), and does not refund spent energy.

Resolution order.

Energy = 2 + clash refunds from last turn.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards into empty slots (free).
First roll: pay 1, roll both. Placement locks. Preview the outcome.
Optional rerolls (1, 2, 3, 4…) or Brace (2).
Resolve the confluence: apply the outcome multiplier, then the Agni escalation bonus, then the damage pipeline. Apply conversion / destruction / board verb.
Board mutations (conversions, rotations) persist into next turn.
Enemy acts. Block decays (unless Prithvi HOLD is active).

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 7.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 4, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 6 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 65. Exactly one card resolves per turn (but often at ×2), so the enemy is tuned down. Cycle: Strike 7 → Strike 7 → Cleave 12 → Guard (8 Block) + Jab 4. Average 7.5/turn. Fight lands at 8–11 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

THE WHEEL — Vayu → Agni → Prithvi → Jal → Vayu. The arrow means "feeds".
PURE (same) — fires at double.
FEED (arrow points at your card) — fires, and the incoming element's verb hits the whole board.
SMOTHER (arrow points away) — fires at half and your card is converted to the incoming element.
CLASH (opposite sides) — fires, card destroyed, take 3, gain 2 energy.
AGNI verb — Escalate: Burn 3 and +1 to every future confluence, forever.
JAL verb — Redirect: swap all debuffs between you and the enemy.
VAYU verb — Displace: every card rotates one slot right.
PRITHVI verb — Hold: next turn nothing converts, rotates or dies; Block persists.
AKASHA — Void: fires plain, then no more confluences this turn.

V06 — Tide Price (verb)

Teaching sentence: "The element die sets this turn's price rule and the number die says which slot you may pay for."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank — opens exactly one slot.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank — sets the tide (the turn's economy rule).

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4. A slot holds 1 card, placed face-up and unfired. Placing costs 0. Occupying a slot means the card is on offer — it can be bought and fired when its slot is opened. Cards carry a printed energy cost.

Tides (the element behaviours).

Agni — BLOOD TIDE. All firing costs are paid in HP instead of energy (1 HP per 1 cost, unblockable). Any card fired this turn deals double. Your energy is untouched and remains available for rerolls.
Jal — EBB TIDE. Firing a card refunds its cost. Any energy unspent at turn end carries over into next turn (cap 6) — the only carry-over in the game. The enemy gains Weak 1 per energy carried over, capped at Weak 3.
Vayu — SLACK TIDE. All costs are 0 this turn. Every card fired also discards 1 random card from hand and draws 1. Placement does not lock when you roll under Vayu — you may keep placing.
Prithvi — HIGH TIDE. Every cost is +1. Every point of energy unspent at turn end becomes 1 Block. A card fired under Prithvi stays in its slot (it can be bought and fired again on a future turn) instead of going to discard.
Blank element — NEAP TIDE. Costs as printed, nothing special.
Akasha — NO TIDE. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 12). It may be fired at zero cost regardless of which slot is open, then exhausts permanently.
Discount: a card whose element equals the current tide element costs 1 less (minimum 0). This applies before Prithvi's +1.
Blank number → the lowest-index occupied slot is opened (never nothing).

Energy. Income at turn start = 3 flat, +1 per card that fired last turn (cap +2, so 3–5), plus any Jal carry-over. Sinks: card firing costs (the main sink, tide-adjusted); first roll 1; each reroll 2 flat; swap a placed card back to hand 1; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. Energy is lost at turn end except under Jal (carry) and Prithvi (converts to Block).

Reroll. Rerolls both dice, changing both the open slot and the tide. Cost 2 flat. A reroll does not undo a card already fired this turn, does not refund the energy or HP already paid for it, and does not return a card that already left its slot.

Resolution order.

Energy income = 3 + (cards fired last turn, cap 2) + Jal carry-over.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards from hand into empty slots (free).
First roll: pay 1, roll both. The number opens one slot; the element sets the tide. Placement locks (except under Vayu).
Optionally pay the open card's tide-adjusted cost to fire it. The effect resolves immediately through the damage pipeline. Fired cards go to discard (or stay, under Prithvi).
Optionally reroll (2) → return to step 4's outcome with new dice, and you may fire again. Repeat while energy lasts.
Turn end: Prithvi converts leftover energy to Block; Jal carries it over; otherwise it is lost.
Enemy acts. Block decays.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — cost 2 — deal 9.
2× Undertow (Jal) — cost 1 — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — cost 0 — deal 4, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — cost 1 — gain 7 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. Cycle: Strike 8 → Strike 8 → Cleave 13 → Guard (10 Block) + Jab 4. Average 8.25/turn. Player output ~9–11/turn (Blood Tide spikes to 18). Fight lands at 7–10 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

AGNI — Blood Tide: pay costs in HP, not energy. Everything you fire hits twice as hard.
JAL — Ebb Tide: firing refunds its cost, and leftover energy carries to next turn (and Weakens the enemy).
VAYU — Slack Tide: everything is free, but each firing discards 1 and draws 1. You can keep placing.
PRITHVI — High Tide: everything costs 1 more, leftover energy becomes Block, and fired cards stay in their slot.
BLANK — Neap Tide: prices as printed.
MATCHING — a card whose element is the tide costs 1 less.
AKASHA — No Tide: fires free from any slot, once, then it is gone.

V07 — One Wick (track)

Teaching sentence: "One meter, one colour — the die paints the colour, and every card of that colour on the board fires at once."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank — names the only slot you may place into this turn. It does not gate firing.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank — repaints the Wick.

The Wick. One visible meter under the board: a number (charge) and a colour. It is the only energy in the game. Rolling the element die repaints the Wick to the rolled colour and adds +2 charge. Paying 2 charge holds the colour (refuses the repaint; the +2 charge is still gained).

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4, 1 card each. A slot is a board position. You may only place into the slot the number die names this turn. Cards wait in their slots indefinitely — there is no clog penalty; a card simply waits for its colour.

Resolution. At the end of the turn, every card whose element equals the Wick's colour fires, in slot order 1→4, and goes to discard. A colourless Wick fires nothing but preserves everything.

Colour laws (the element behaviours — how each element owns the meter).

Agni — HOARD. Held Agni charge grows +1 at end of turn. Any Agni spend empties the meter entirely, dealing 2 damage per charge spent. All-or-nothing; the only colour that grows for free.
Jal — STICKY / CONTROL. Repainting away from Jal costs 2 extra charge (it resists overwrite). Jal spends never convert to damage: 2 = move a card between slots; 2 = swap two cards; 3 = redirect the enemy's next attack into its own Block (the enemy takes it).
Vayu — LEAK. Everything costs 1 less (minimum 1) and rerolls are free. The Wick halves, rounded down, at end of turn. A spend window, not a store.
Prithvi — FLOOR. Once the Wick reaches 3 while Prithvi, it never drops below 3 again, and no enemy effect can drain it. Repainting away from Prithvi costs 2 extra. Prithvi spends convert 1:1 into Block that persists between turns.
Blank element — COLOURLESS. Charges the Wick +1 colourless with no repaint (the existing colour is kept). Colourless charge may be spent at any colour's rate exactly once.
Akasha — FREEZE. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand. Playing it (free, into any slot) freezes the Wick's colour for one full turn — no repaint is possible by any roll or any cost. Then it exhausts.

Energy. The Wick is energy. Income: +2 on every roll, in the rolled colour; +1 colourless per empty slot at turn start; +1 per card that fires. Sinks: reroll 2 (free under Vayu, 3 under Prithvi); hold the colour 2 (the signature spend); the current colour's own spend list; paid draw 2 charge → 2 cards; exhaust the named slot's card 1.

Reroll. First roll of the turn is free. Rerolls cost 2 flat (Vayu free, Prithvi 3) and roll both dice — a reroll therefore repaints the Wick again and names a different accessible slot. It is never a neutral retry: you are gambling the colour you already own. A reroll does not undo charge already gained, spends already made, or cards already placed this turn.

Resolution order.

The Wick decays or grows per its current colour (Agni +1, Vayu halves rounded down, Prithvi floors at 3, Jal static).
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
First roll (free): the element repaints the Wick and adds +2; the number names the accessible slot.
Choose: accept the repaint, or pay 2 to hold the previous colour.
Place into the named slot only (free). Spend charge on the current colour's actions.
Optionally reroll (2 / free / 3) → return to step 3.
Turn end: every card whose element equals the Wick's colour fires in slot order and goes to discard. Gain +1 charge per card fired.
Enemy acts. Block decays (except Prithvi's persistent Block).

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5. Card numbers are deliberately small because resolution is colour-wide and can fire 3 cards at once.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 5.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 4, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 4, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 5 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 75. Cascades make the average high and spiky. Cycle: Strike 8 → Strike 8 → Cleave 14 → Guard (10 Block) + Jab 5. Average 8.75/turn. Player output averages ~11/turn with hard spikes on a matching cascade. Fight lands at 7–10 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

THE WICK — one number, one colour. Every card of that colour fires at end of turn.
AGNI — Hoard: grows +1 each turn. Spending empties it all for 2 damage per charge.
JAL — Sticky: costs 2 extra to repaint away. Buys movement, swaps and a redirect — never damage.
VAYU — Leak: everything cheaper, rerolls free, but the Wick halves every turn.
PRITHVI — Floor: never drops below 3, 2 extra to repaint away, converts 1:1 into permanent Block.
BLANK — Colourless: +1 charge, no repaint.
HOLD — pay 2 to refuse a repaint and keep your colour.
AKASHA — Freeze: the colour cannot change for one full turn.

V08 — Fuse Line (reaction)

Teaching sentence: "Line your cards up so each one feeds the next, then roll to see where the spark lands."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank — the slot the spark enters. Blank = the spark enters at slot 4 (the shortest possible chain — never nothing).
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank — the element the spark carries. Blank = a wild spark: it counts as FEEDS against the first card only, then becomes that card's element.

Slots. 4 slots in a row, 1–4, left to right, 1 card each. A slot is a link in a fuse. Occupying one means the card is part of the line and can be walked through. Before the first roll of a turn you may place into empty slots and rearrange placed cards freely, for free.

The wheel (printed once on the board). Vayu → Agni → Prithvi → Jal → Vayu, arrows read as FEEDS. Across the wheel: Agni↔︎Jal, Vayu↔︎Prithvi.

FEEDS (arrow points from spark to card) or SAME → the card resolves at full effect, the spark becomes that card's element, and the walk advances one slot to the right.
SMOTHERED (arrow points backwards) → the card resolves at half (round down) and the chain stops.
OPPOSED (across the wheel) → the card resolves as pure defence: its damage is converted into Block equal to half its damage (round down); block cards give full Block. The card stays in its slot (clogs) and the chain stops.

The walk. Spark enters at the slot named by the number die carrying the element named by the element die. Loop: evaluate the relation against the card in the current slot, apply the result, and if it was FEEDS/SAME advance one slot right and repeat. The walk also stops at slot 4 or at an empty slot.

Element behaviours (properties of a link the chain passes through).

Agni — ESCALATE. Every Agni card the chain passes through raises the chain's multiplier by +1 step (+50% of base) for every card after it, cumulative.
Jal — REDIRECT. A Jal card re-aims every effect after it in the chain: you choose, at resolution, either the enemy (default) or yourself, where damage becomes healing at half value.
Prithvi — HOLD. A Prithvi card does not leave its slot when it resolves; it stays as a permanent link and any Block it grants does not decay at end of turn.
Vayu — DISPLACE. A Vayu card, on resolving, shunts the card to its right one place further right (if that further slot is empty), then the chain continues from the vacated slot — which is now empty, so the chain would stop; instead, under Vayu, the chain skips the vacated slot and continues at the shunted card. This is how you jump a dead link.
Akasha — VOID. Gate: first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand (deal 6). It is a null link: the spark passes through unchanged (it neither feeds nor smothers), the card resolves at full effect, and the chain continues carrying the previous element. It is the splice for joining two elements that hate each other.

Energy. Income at turn start = 1 base + 1 per card that resolved in last turn's chain (cap 6). Chains pay for themselves. Sinks: each reroll 2; pull a clogged card off the line back to hand 1; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. Rearranging before the first roll is free. No carry-over.

Reroll. The first roll of the turn is free — you always get one spark. Every reroll is a flat 2. Both dice always reroll together; you cannot keep the number and re-spin the element. Resolution happens once, after the roll phase ends, so a reroll replaces the pending walk rather than undoing a resolved one. A reroll does not undo placements or rearrangements (both lock on the first roll) or refund spent energy.

Resolution order.

Energy = 1 + last turn's chain length (cap 6).
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place into empty slots and rearrange placed cards freely (free).
First roll (free). Placement and arrangement lock. The pending chain is previewed.
Optional rerolls at 2 each → the pending chain is recomputed.
The chain resolves, walking left to right from the entry slot. Apply each link's relation, the Agni escalation multiplier, then the damage pipeline. Resolved cards go to discard, except Prithvi links (stay) and OPPOSED cards (stay).
Enemy acts. Block decays (except Prithvi Block).

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 7.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 5, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 4, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 6 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. Chains are spiky: a 4-link chain with two Agni links can exceed 30. Cycle: Strike 8 → Strike 8 → Cleave 13 → Guard (10 Block) + Jab 4. Average 8.25/turn. Fight lands at 7–10 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

THE WHEEL — Vayu → Agni → Prithvi → Jal → Vayu. The arrow means "feeds".
FEEDS or SAME — the card resolves fully and the chain continues carrying that card's element.
SMOTHERED (arrow backwards) — the card resolves at half and the chain stops.
OPPOSED (across the wheel) — the card resolves as Block only, stays put, and the chain stops.
AGNI link — Escalate: +50% to every card after it in the chain.
JAL link — Redirect: choose a new target for everything after it.
PRITHVI link — Hold: never leaves the line; its Block never decays.
VAYU link — Displace: shunts the next card one slot further right and skips the gap.
AKASHA link — Void: the spark passes through unchanged and the chain keeps its old element.

V09 — Their Dice (wildcard)

Teaching sentence: "The enemy shows you where and how it will strike — put a card there to turn its blow into your effect."

Dice (still exactly 2 — they simply belong to the enemy). Both are rolled face-up at the end of every turn as the enemy's declaration for next turn, and both remain in state and on screen at all times.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank — which of the player's four slots is struck. Blank = the blow bypasses the board and hits the player directly for its damage +4.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, blank, blank — what the blow is made of. Blank = a plain blow with no verb.

Slots. 4 numbered slots, 1–4, 1 card each. A slot is a place the enemy can hit. Occupying one means: if that slot is struck, your card fires (that is your counter) and its Block value absorbs the incoming blow. First placement each turn is free; each additional placement costs 1 energy.

Resolution. There is no match condition. The card occupying the struck slot resolves 100% of the time, and the struck element's verb resolves with it. Cards in unstruck slots wait; they are never dead, because the strike walks the board over time. Clog does not exist.

Element behaviours (the blow's material).

Agni — IGNITION. The struck card fires, then the cards in the two adjacent slots also fire at half value (round down). Every card that fired exhausts.
Jal — REDIRECTION. The struck card fires, then you choose one other occupied slot and the blow hops there: that card fires too, at full value.
Vayu — DISPLACEMENT. Before resolution, every card slides one slot toward the point of impact, closing gaps. Then the struck card fires and returns to your hand instead of the discard pile.
Prithvi — ABSORPTION. The struck card fires and stays in its slot, gaining a standing Ward that fully negates the next strike to that slot (the Ward is consumed when it triggers).
Akasha — NULLITY. Gate: when the enemy's HP first drops to 30% or below, one Akasha face permanently replaces one blank on the enemy's element die. When it is rolled: nothing is struck, every card returns to hand, and the enemy's declaration is cancelled outright — it must re-roll blind at the moment of resolution.

Damage exchange. The enemy's blow damage is its intent number. If the struck slot holds a card with Block, that Block absorbs the blow first and the remainder hits the player. If the struck slot holds an attack card, the attack fires at the enemy and the full blow hits the player (a trade). An empty struck slot means the full blow hits the player and nothing fires.

Energy. Income at turn start = 1 + number of empty slots (range 1–5), visible on the board. Sinks: force the enemy to reroll its declared intent 2, and 4 for a second forcing in the same turn; each placement after the first free one 1; pull a card off a slot back to hand 1; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. No carry-over.

Reroll. The player never rerolls their own outcome — the reroll action forces the enemy to reroll its declared intent, both dice together. Cost 2, then 4 for a second forcing that turn, hard-bounded by income. It is a genuine gamble in both directions: you may replace a survivable strike with a lethal one. A forcing does not undo placements made this turn (you may re-place afterwards, paying the normal placement price), does not refund energy, and cannot be taken back once the new declaration is shown.

Resolution order.

Read the enemy's declaration (rolled face-up at the end of last turn).
Energy income = 1 + empty slots.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Place cards (first free, then 1 each).
Optionally force a reroll of the intent (2, then 4). You may then re-place.
Resolve, in this order: Vayu slide (if Vayu) → the struck card fires (and adjacent/hopped cards per the verb) → the element verb's remaining effects → the enemy's blow damage is applied, reduced by any Block from the struck slot.
Cards exit per the verb (discard by default; exhaust under Agni; hand under Vayu; stay under Prithvi).
The enemy rolls its next declaration face-up.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5.

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 8.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 6, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 5, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 8 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. Blow damage on a 4-turn cycle, always declared one turn ahead: 8 → 8 → 13 → 5 (on the 4th it also gains 10 Block before striking). Average 8.5/turn before Block. Because the player always knows the target slot, mitigation is high, so the enemy hits harder than its counterparts on paper. Fight lands at 8–10 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

AGNI blow — Ignition: the struck card and both neighbours fire; everything that fired burns away.
JAL blow — Redirection: the struck card fires, then the blow hops to a slot of your choice and fires that too.
VAYU blow — Displacement: cards slide toward the impact; the struck card fires and returns to your hand.
PRITHVI blow — Absorption: the struck card fires, stays, and wards its slot against the next strike.
BLANK number — the blow bypasses your board and hits you for +4.
BLANK element — a plain blow, no verb.
AKASHA blow — Nullity: nothing is struck, every card returns to hand, the declaration is cancelled.

V10 — The Written Die (wildcard)

Teaching sentence: "Your cards are written on the four faces of the die — roll it, and whatever face comes up happens."

Dice.

Number die, 6 faces: 1, 2, 3, 4, blank, blank. The four value faces ARE the four slots. The two blank faces are permanently unwritable.
Element die, 6 faces: Agni, Jal, Vayu, Prithvi, Agni, Prithvi — no blanks; the element die never misses.

Slots. The countable unit is the 4 value faces of the number die (C3.5: four, never more). "Playing a card into slot 3" means inscribing that card onto face 3. A face holds at most 1 card. The first inscription each turn is free; each further inscription that turn costs 1 energy. An engraved face (see Prithvi) cannot be overwritten.

Resolution. Roll both dice. The element verb resolves first, then the landed face fires its inscribed card. If the landed face is blank or unwritten, nothing fires but the element verb still resolves against the whole die. There is no turn in which the dice did nothing.

Element behaviours (the element die edits the number die).

Agni — REIGNITE. The fired card fires a second time immediately, then the card exhausts and its face is left empty. Fire spends the die to double the hit.
Jal — REDIRECT. The card on the landed face is set aside unfired (it stays inscribed); instead, the card on any other face of your choosing fires.
Vayu — ROTATION. Every inscription shifts one face along (1→2→3→4→1) before resolution, so the landed face fires whatever rotated onto it. The fired card then returns to your hand instead of the discard pile.
Prithvi — ENGRAVING. The fired card stays written on its face instead of going to discard, and the face gains an engraving marker: it cannot be overwritten by another inscription and does not rotate under Vayu. Clearing an engraving costs 2 energy.
Akasha — ERASURE. Gate: the first time enemy HP ≤ 50%, one Akasha card "Shunya" enters hand; inscribing it costs 0, and while it is inscribed one element-die face becomes Akasha. When Akasha is rolled: the landed face is wiped (its card goes to discard), nothing fires, you draw 2, and you get one free reroll.
TILT (the signature play). Pay 1 energy to change one face of the element die to a different element for this turn only. This is what makes element a turn-to-turn decision rather than a run-start one. Repeatable while energy lasts.

Energy. Income at turn start = 2 + the number of faces that cleared last turn, where a face "clears" when its card leaves it (to discard, exhaust, or hand). Range 2–6, printed beside the die. Sinks: inscriptions beyond the first each turn 1 each; TILT 1 each; reroll both dice 2, then 4; clear an engraving 2; paid draw 1 → 2 cards. No carry-over.

Reroll. The first roll of the turn is free. Rerolls cost 2, then 4, and roll both dice. Resolution occurs once per turn, after the roll phase, so a reroll replaces the pending outcome rather than undoing a resolved one. A reroll does not undo tilts (they last the turn), inscriptions (they stay written), engravings, or spent energy — and a tilt is deliberately the cheaper, plannable alternative to a reroll.

Resolution order.

Energy = 2 + faces cleared last turn.
Draw 1. Optional paid draws.
Inscribe cards onto free, unengraved faces (first free, then 1 each).
Optionally tilt element-die faces (1 each).
First roll (free): both dice.
Optionally reroll (2, then 4) → return to step 5.
Resolve: the element verb applies to the die, then the landed face fires its card through the damage pipeline.
Cards exit per the verb (discard by default; exhaust under Agni; hand under Vayu; stay under Prithvi).
Enemy acts. Block decays.

Win / lose. Enemy HP ≤ 0 → win. Player HP ≤ 0 → lose.

Starting deck — 10 cards. Hand starts at 5. Card numbers are the largest on the slate because at most one card fires per turn (twice under Agni).

3× Ember Lash (Agni) — deal 10.
2× Undertow (Jal) — deal 8, apply Weak 1.
2× Gale (Vayu) — deal 7, draw 1.
3× Stoneskin (Prithvi) — gain 9 Block.

Enemy — Betaal Sentinel. HP 70. Throughput is thin and blank faces cost whole turns, so the enemy is the gentlest on the slate. Cycle: Strike 7 → Strike 7 → Cleave 12 → Guard (8 Block) + Jab 4. Average 7.5/turn. Player output ~10/turn with Agni and Prithvi engines pushing higher. Fight lands at 8–11 turns.

Player HP 50.

Element legend (UI text).

YOUR SLOTS ARE THE DIE — inscribing a card into slot 3 writes it onto face 3.
AGNI — Reignite: the fired card fires twice, then burns away.
JAL — Redirect: fire any other face instead of the one that landed.
VAYU — Rotation: every inscription shifts one face along before resolving; the fired card returns to hand.
PRITHVI — Engraving: the fired card stays written and its face can never be overwritten.
AKASHA — Erasure: wipe the landed face, fire nothing, draw 2, reroll free.
TILT — pay 1 to change one face of the element die for this turn.

Changelog

1.0 (2026-07-31) — initial slate. 19 candidates scored, 10 selected (3 verb / 3 reaction / 2 track / 2 wildcard), 9 discarded with reasons. Full build specs written for V01–V10.