The Tower hiatus is almost over. Like a Fleet Trait Exploding Rabbit Flame Tower is fast approaching! What will we see as an undiscovered Meta takes shape?
As in our previous installments, we’ll go over important rules, rulings, and errata that will play a role at the Flame Tower Event in Dallas Texas July 29th & 30th!
Please make sure to read and check in on the official documents regularly at the MetaZoo Games Gameplay website! With the Native Set dropped in April there will be some new beastie faces in casters decks to be sure!
Rulebook 2023 6/26/23
Determining a Page’s Aura Type:
The Base Aura Type(s) of a Page is what Aura Type(s) that the Page
belongs to without other Effects or Modifiers. Dual Aura Pages are considered to have 2 Base Aura Types. If a Page has more than 1 non-Neutral Aura Cost, that Page belongs to all Aura Types with its Aura Costs (i.e., if a Page’s Aura Cost is 1 Spirit and 1 Dark, that Page is considered a Spirit and Dark Beastie).
–Tower Info:
A Caster must have a minimum of 40 Pages in their Spellbook and no more than 15 Pages in their Archive. Additionally, Casters’ Spellbooks must consist of Pages totaling at least 60% of that Tower’s Aura, not including Aura Pages. The only exception to this rule are Pages with dual Auras. You are allowed an Archive of 15 Pages that you can use to modify your Spellbook between games. A Caster may not make any changes to the contents of their Spellbook or Archive once the event has started.
Terra Bonuses:
Give you boosts when you are within or nearby a certain place or object in real life. Unless otherwise specified by a Page, “nearby” means within 5 miles or within eyesight. Terra that has been Contracted into the Arena activates Terra Bonuses for all Casters in the game. Terra cannot be/is not controlled by any Caster in the game.
–Tower Info:
Tower events may have certain Terras “active” during play. These Terras do not need to be Contracted in order to be considered active, and conversely, those Terras cannot be destroyed by Page Effects. In addition to this, all Terra Bonuses active and specific for that Tower will have a 3x multiplier.
Official Tower Document FAQ
Flame Tower 2023 will include City, Daytime, Desert, and Ground as its active Terra.
4th Wall Effects:
Some Page text may reference items that wouldn’t normally exist in the game, like “dirt” or “a source of fire.” Text that interacts with anything outside the game is considered a 4th Wall Effect. These can call for objects to be within eyesight or within arm’s reach. Some Effects call for actions such as singing and creating a shadow in the area to trigger. Others simply take into account the age or nationality of the players.
–Tower Info:
Players will be asked to claim/submit four 4th Wall Items from the Offical List. Players are required to have physical representations of the items with them at the event. The Flame Tower Event will be the first with active 4th Walls and they include:
- All Casters are considered to live in the USA
- All Casters are considered to be in direct sunlight
- All Casters are considered to be in the American Southwest
- Magma is within eyesight
- Real lava is within eyesight
- Fire is within eyesight
- A real bonfire is within eyesight
- A real solar flare occurred during this game
- All Casters are considered to be in direct sunlight
- All Casters are considered to be in the American Southwest
- Magma is within eyesight
- Real lava is within eyesight
- Fire is within eyesight
- A real bonfire is within eyesight
- A real solar flare occurred during this game
Make sure to keep these in mind and note any changes to the Official 4th Wall List and the Claimable 4th Wall List: Updated 5/5/23
Status Effects / Traits:
“Status Effects are dangerous conditions that may be inflicted upon Beasties, Artifacts, or Casters. A target may only have 1 Status Effect Indicator of each type on it (except for Poison)….”
“…In cases with multiple Defenders, Status Effects may only affect the primary Defender. When a Page “automatically” inflicts a Status Effect, place that Status Effect Indicator on the target, unless another effect would modify the coin, flip past the automatic infliction. If an Effect would attempt to affect an automatic coin flip, resolve the Effects as if the coin flip is/was modified.”
–Tower Info:
It is valuable to read up on all the effects as there has been some new clarification to them. Status effects may take a back seat in this Tower, but Traits like Fleet, Flash, Flight, and Stoneskin are likely to come into play.
LP Loss vs. LP Gain
Life Point (LP) Loss is an Effect that acts the same as Damage (injuries received on a Page or Caster). However, LP Loss is NOT the same as a Beastie receiving Damage. LP Loss would not activate Effects based on a Beastie receiving Damage. LP Loss does NOT reduce the maximum LP of a Beastie.
Changelog since Earth Tower (page 65):
06/26/2023
Page 7: Clarified Tokens
Page 11: Clarified Type Advantage
Page 21: Added Partial Resolution
Page 25: Added DISCARD
Page 29: Clarified Targeting/Non-Targeting Effects
Page 35: Clarified Tribal Boost
Page 36: Clarified Aura Attack Advantage
Page 44: Clarified Changing Page Types
05/09/2023
Page 15: Updated 4th Wall Effects
Page 39: Updated First-Strike
A final note for Part 1 is a reminder to always keep an eye on the #gameplay channel in the Official MetaZoo Discord as well as the Changelog at the end of every MetaZoo Document for up-to-date notes on the document’s edits!