Runes on the board

Track 1 put runes in your base and showed how they pay for a first unit. This track is about the runes themselves, the two resources they make, and how those resources pay a cost.

What a rune is

Rune is a card type of its own.¹Rule 161. Rune is a Card Type. Open in the rules browser A rune is not a Main Deck card²Rule 161.1. A Rune is not a Main Deck card. Open in the rules browser, and several things follow from that one fact.

A permanent is a Main Deck game object that stays on the board after it is played³Rule 133.4.a.1. An umbrella sub-category encompassing Main Deck Game Objects that remain on the board after being played. Open in the rules browser, as a unit does. A rune also stays on the board, until it is recycled or otherwise removed, and it is still not a permanent.⁴Rule 161.1.a. This means, despite remaining on the Board until Recycled or otherwise removed from the board, it is not a Permanent. Open in the rules browser Runes are channeled rather than played, and they are not permanents because they are not Main Deck cards.⁵Rule 133.5.a.1. A sub-category encompassing cards with the rune type. These are channeled rather than played. They remain on the board after being channeled, but they are not permanents, as they are not Main Deck cards. Open in the rules browser The rules call runes cards, but when the text of a card or ability says "card", it means a Main Deck card, and a rune does not count.⁶Rule 052. Card, when written in card effects, is shorthand for "Main Deck card." Runes, legends, and battlefields are not considered cards when executing the abilities and effects of game objects. They are considered cards for the purposes of these rules. Open in the rules browser

Your Rune Deck holds exactly 12 rune cards⁷Rule 161.2.a. Exactly 12 Rune cards chosen during Deck Construction. See rule 103.3. Rune Deck for more information. Open in the rules browser, shuffled and kept separate from your Main Deck.⁸Rule 103.3.b. Must be shuffled and kept separate from the Main Deck. Open in the rules browser Every card in it must be of the Domain Identity of your Champion Legend⁹Rule 103.3.a.1. Cards in the Rune Deck must be of the Domain Identity of your Champion Legend. Open in the rules browser, and that identity is dictated by the Legend's own domains.¹⁰Rule 103.1.b.2. Your deck’s Domain Identity is dictated by the domains of your Champion Legend. In the default card frame, these domains appear as symbols in the legend’s upper left corner. Open in the rules browser Every board in this track uses the same sample Legend, whose Domain is Fury, so the runes on them are drawn with the Fury Domain. The runes in the Rune Deck sit face down¹¹Rule 108.5.c. Primarily houses the face-down runes during gameplay. Open in the rules browser, and the order they are in is kept secret during play.¹²Rule 108.5.d. The order of runes in the Rune Deck is Secret Information during the course of play. See rule 128. Privacy for more information. Open in the rules browser

From the Rune Deck to your base

Channeling is taking one or more runes from the top of your Rune Deck and putting them on the board.¹³Rule 430.1. Channeling is the action of taking one or more Runes from the top of a player's Rune Deck and putting them on the board. Open in the rules browser You channel two in your own Channel Phase¹⁴Rule 315.3.b. 1. The Turn Player channels 2 runes from their Rune Deck. See rule 430. Channel for more information. Open in the rules browser, and the runes you control sit in your base.¹⁵Rule 107.1.c. Permanents and Runes controlled by a player reside in that player's Base. Open in the rules browser Runes in bases are Public Information¹⁶Rule 107.1.d. Permanents and Runes in Bases are Public Information. Open in the rules browser: at that level of privacy, any player may read or look at the face of a card.¹⁷Rule 128.5. Public: This level of Privacy indicates that any player may read or look at the face of the card. Open in the rules browser

Channeling is a Limited Action¹⁸Rule 430.4. Channeling is a Limited Action. Open in the rules browser. A Limited Action is one that a spell, an ability or the progress of the turn causes you to perform, and you cannot perform it at will.¹⁹Rule 410.2.a. A Limited Action is a game action that a spell, ability, or circumstance of the turn's progression causes the player to perform. A player cannot perform these actions at-will. Open in the rules browser Apart from the Channel Phase, you channel when a game effect tells you to.²⁰Rule 430.4.b. Players may also Channel runes when Game Effects direct them to do so. Open in the rules browser If your Rune Deck holds fewer runes than you are told to channel, you channel as many as possible.²¹Rule 430.3. If there aren’t sufficient runes in the Rune Deck, channel as many as possible. Open in the rules browser

By default, a channeled rune enters ready.²²Rule 430.2.a. By default, runes are channeled readied. Open in the rules browser The effect that tells you to channel may say otherwise, for instance that the rune enters exhausted.²³Rule 430.2. The Game Effect that instructs a player to channel 1 or more runes may specify the conditions or circumstances under which those runes enter the board.Example: A spell reads "Channel 1 rune exhausted." As that spell resolves, its controller puts the top rune of their rune deck onto the board and that rune enters the board exhausted rather than ready. Open in the rules browser

Ready, exhausted, recycled

Exhausting marks a non-spell game object on the board as spent²⁴Rule 414.1. Exhausting is an action that marks a non-spell Game Object on the board as "spent." Open in the rules browser, and runes are game objects.²⁵Rule 123. Game Objects include, but are not limited to, the following: Main Deck cards in any zone Runes in any zone Legends Battlefields Tokens in any zone Abilities of any type on the chain Counters and other status markers Open in the rules browser To mark it, you rotate the card 90 degrees so that it lies lengthwise in front of you.²⁶Rule 414.1.a. To mark it, rotate the card 90 degrees opposite of Readying, so that the orientation of the card is lengthwise in front of you. Open in the rules browser Readying is the reverse: it marks a non-spell game object on the board as available for action²⁷Rule 415.1. Readying is an action that marks a non-spell Game Object on the board as available for action. Open in the rules browser, and you rotate the card back so it stands vertically.²⁸Rule 415.1.a. To mark it, rotate the card 90 degrees opposite of Exhausting, so that it is vertically oriented in front of you. Open in the rules browser In your Awaken Phase you ready all the game objects you control that are able to be readied²⁹Rule 315.1.b. 1. The Turn Player readies all Game Objects they control that are able to be readied. See rule 415. Ready for more information. Open in the rules browser, so your exhausted runes normally stand up with your units.

An exhausted rune has not gone anywhere. It is still in your base, turned sideways, and it counts among your runes as much as a ready one does.

A recycled rune does leave. When a rune is recycled, it goes back to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck.³⁰Rule 161.2.b. When a Rune is Recycled it is returned to the Rune Deck, not the Main Deck. See rule 416. Recycle for more information. Open in the rules browser Recycling puts cards on the bottom of the deck they belong to³¹Rule 416.1. Recycling cards is the action in which a player takes one or more cards from a specific zone and then puts it on the bottom of the corresponding deck. Open in the rules browser, and for a rune that deck is the Rune Deck.³²Rule 416.1.b. Runes are Recycled to the Rune Deck. Open in the rules browser So a recycled rune is no longer in your base, and it waits at the bottom of the Rune Deck.