CNAT - Rules of Play

From Unstable Games Wiki

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Start by having each player choose a Sage and take the corresponding Sage board and Sage pack. Your Sage pack contains:

  • 1 Elemental Sage card
  • 3 Elemental Champion cards
  • 4 Basic Elemental cards
  • 3 Elemental Warrior cards
  • 6 Command cards

Each Sage belongs to an Elemental faction (Pebble CNAT-Pebble.png, Droplet CNAT-Droplet.png, Twig CNAT-Twig.png, or Leaf CNAT-Leaf.png). Each card in your Sage pack is marked by a star symbol. Once you and your opponent have chosen your Elemental factions, return any remaining Sage boards and Sage packs back to the game box.

Place your Sage board in front of you, then take your level tracker token and place it on level 1 of the level tracker on your Sage board. Locate the Elemental Champions in your Sage pack. Each of your Elemental Champions is marked with a level that corresponds with a level that corresponds with a number on your level tracker; place each Elemental Champion face down on your Sage board in the designated area corresponding to its number.

Use the remaining Elementals in your Sage pack to create your formation. A formation consists of 3 rows into which you'll summon Elementals throughout the game.


If you're playing with 2 players: Row I in your formation has space for 1 Elemental, Row II has space for 2 Elementals, and Row III has space for 3 Elementals. You'll set up your formation directly across from your opponent's formation.

Start by separating the Basic Elementals, Elemental Warriors, and Sage from your Sage pack. Take 3 of your Basic Elementals, add 1 into Row I and 2 into Row II of your formation face up, and then set aside the remaining Basic Elemental. Next, take your Sage and place it in the center of Row III. Finally, choose 2 of your Elemental Warriors and place them face up to the left and right of your Sage in Row III.

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If you're playing with 4 players: Row I in your team's formation has space for 2 Elementals, Row II has space for 4 Elementals, and Row III has space for 6 Elementals. You will set up half the formation using the cards in your Sage pack, and your teammate will set up the other half. You'll set up your team's formation directly across from the opposing team's formation.

Start by separating the Basic Elementals, Elemental Warriors, and Sage from your Sage pack. Take 3 of your Basic Elementals, add 1 into Row I and 2 into Row II of your formation face up, and then set aside the remaining Basic Elemental. Next, take your Sage and place it in the center of Row III. Finally, choose 2 of your Elemental Warriors and place them face up to the left and right of your Sage in Row III.

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Take the remaining Elemental Warrior, the Basic Elemental you set aside, and the 6 Commands from your Sage pack and shuffle them. Place the stack face down below your Sage board to form your deck. Leave space next to your deck for your discard pile. Draw 5 cards from your deck to form your hand.

Take all Elementals that don't belong to a Sage pack, shuffle them to form the Elemental Market deck, and place it face down within reach to all players. (Hint: all Elementals that you'll shuffle into the Elemental Market deck have a gold coin symbol in the bottom left corner.)

Next, take all Commands that do not belong to a Sage pack, shuffle them to form the Command Market deck, and place it face down below the Elemental Market deck. (Hint: all Commands that you'll shuffle into the Command Market deck have a gold coin symbol in the bottom left corner.)

Flip the top 3 cards of the Elemental Market deck face up to form the Elemental Market and flip the top 3 cards of the Command Market deck face up to form the Command Market.

As a final step, remove all tokens from the box and create separate piles for each type of token (boost tokens, shield tokens, damage counters, and gold coins) within reach of all players.

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Your turn is divided into four phases:

PHASE I During phase I, you'll use daybreak effects. If any Elementals in your formation (including your Sage) have daybreak effects (denoted by a CNAT-Daybreak.png symbol), you may use those effects in any order during Phase I of your turn, if you continue to Phase II without using a daybreak effect, you may not use it later in your turn.


PHASE II If you are playing with 2 players: During Phase II, you'll spend action points (AP) to perform standard actions and faction actions. You can spend up to 4 AP during each of your turns. Unspent AP do not roll over to your next turn.

If you're playing with 4 players: During Phase II, your team will spend action points (AP) to perform standard actions and faction actions. You and your teammate can spend a combined 6 AP during each of your turns. When choosing which actions to perform, you may look at your teammate's hand. Unspent AP do not roll over to your team's next turn.

STANDARD ACTIONS Each standard action costs 1 AP. You can perform standard actions in any order, and you can perform the same standard action more then once on your turn if you still have AP to spend.

Standard actions include:

  • Summon an Elemental from your hand to your formation. You can only add an Elemental if there is an empty space in your formation.
  • Play a command from your hand. After you use that Command's effect, move it to your discard pile.
  • Swap the positions of 2 connected Elementals in your formation. 2 Elementals in your formation are considered connected if there are no other Elementals between them; connected Elementals can be in different rows.
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  • Draw a card from your deck. If you attempt to draw a card but there are no remaining cards in your deck, shuffle your discard pile and place it face down to form a new deck, then draw a card.

FACTION ACTIONS Each time you defeat an Elemental in your opponent's formation, you'll increase your level by 1. As your level rises, you'll unlock up to 3 faction actions that are unique to your Sage. Each faction action costs 1 AP to perform, and you may only perform 1 faction action per turn.


PHASE III During Phase III, you may use your gold to buy cards from the markets, sell cards to collect more gold, and refresh the markets.

Buy: Each card in the Elemental and Command Markets has a gold coin symbol in the bottom left corner indicating its cost. To buy a card from any market, pay its cost by moving that number of gold from your wallet in your Sage board to the gold pile in the center of the table. When you buy a card from a market, add it to your discard pile. If that card is an Elemental, you may spend 2 additional gold to bring it directly into your formation if you have an empty space. You may buy Elementals of any faction from the Elemental Market.

There should be 3 cards available in each market at all times; if you buy a card from either market, immediately fill the space with the top card from that market's deck.

Sell: To sell a card, simply move that card from your hand to the game box to remove it from the game. You may sell any number of cards during Phase III of your turn. when you sell a card, collect gold equal to half that card's cost (rounded up). If that card was part of your sage pack, you'll collect 1 gold if you sell it.

  • If you're playing with 2 players: You cannot have more then 12 gold at any time. If you sell a card when you already have 12 gold, do not collect any additional gold.
  • If you're playing with 4 players: Your team cannot have more then 20 gold at any time. If you sell a card when you already have 12 gold, do not collect any additional gold. You and your teammate can spend your collective gold interchangeably, but you will maintain separate decks and discard piles.

Refresh: To refresh a market, spend 1 gold to move all available cards in that market to the bottom of that market's deck, then flip the top 3 cards of that deck face up. You may refresh multiple times during your turn if you have enough gold to do so.


PHASE IV During Phase IV, you'll clean up your hand before ending your turn. Do this by discarding any number of cards from your hand, then draw from your deck until you have 5 cards in your hand. If you have more then 5 cards in your hand when you reach Phase IV of your turn, you must discard cards until you have no more then 5.

Note: If there aren't enough cards in your deck to draw until you have 5 cards in your hand, draw any remaining cards in your deck, then shuffle your discard pile and place it face down to form a new deck. Continue to draw until you have 5 cards in your hand.

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  • If you're playing with 2 players: When you defeat your opponent's Sage, you win the game and earn the title of Master of the Elements!
  • If you're playing with 4 players: When your team defeats both of the opposing team's Sages, you earn the titles of Masters of the Elements!