Hero of the Arena

Death Match 7: Hero of the Arena

OVERVIEW

This DM is split into two sessions: One Heaven session, in which the two Heaven players in the DM draft the starting decks for both Hell players, and one Hell session, in which the two Hell players play a card game.

The card game features cards of two types: there are units, which are played in arenas, and items, which act on the gamestate separately. Each unit has four stats: a mana cost, attack, HP, and durability, and may additionally have other effects. Items have mana cost and durability, in addition to their effect.

HEAVEN RULES

In Heaven's session of the DM, there is a set of 32 cards (16 units and 16 items) to draft from. The DMO pair will select who begins drafting.

Drafting takes place over 5 phases. In each phase, eight cards are revealed, consisting of 4 units and 4 items. Then, the following sequence of events happens:

Player 1 drafts a card, and adds it to their deck.

Player 2 drafts a card, and adds it to their deck.

Player 2 bans a card.

Player 1 bans a card, which must be of the opposite type as Player 2's ban.

Player 1 drafts a card, which must be of the opposite type of their first selection, and adds it to their deck.

Player 2 drafts a card, which must be of the opposite type of their first selection, and adds it to their deck.

The two remaining (undrafted and unbanned) cards are set aside for Phase 5.

Between Phases, the starting player (the identity of Player 1 in the above) alternates.

During Phase 5, all eight previously undrafted and unbanned cards are brought back for the same selection process. (The remaining two cards at the end of Phase 5 are ignored.)

At the start of each phase, the 8 cards are revealed, and players have 3 minutes to review them. Then, players have 1 minute for each decision (two adjacent decisions can be merged for 2 minutes for both decisions).

At the end of Heaven’s drafting phase, both Hell players will have five units and five items, making a ten-card starting deck.

HELL RULES

24 hours before the start of the Hell DM, the entire list of cards that may appear in this DM is revealed. Also, note that the below rules describe the gameflow and a typical turn, but note that card abilities or perks can modify specifics; specific trumps general.

Hell’s card game takes place over 25 rounds, which consist of one turn from both players. The player whose teammate didn't draft first during Heaven's half will go first. Each player has a hand consisting of cards, a deck consisting of cards they’ve yet to draw, and a cooldown pile consisting of cards that are currently on cooldown.

In addition, there are five arenas in play, labeled I, II, III, IV, V. Within each arena, there can always be at most one unit in play between both players–as soon as there are two units in play, combat is initiated and occurs until a unit dies. A unit that is in play is said to be the hero of that arena.

At the start of a player’s turn, the player draws cards until their deck is empty or their hand has five cards (or draws no cards, if they already had at least five). Then, a player performs exactly one of three options: they can play cards, they can discard, or they can visit the shop.

PLAYING

If a player chooses to play cards, they have 3 mana to spend during their turn. A unit must be played in an arena in which the player does not currently control the hero (either becoming the hero, if the arena was empty before, or initiating combat, after which at least one of the units dies). Items have their own rules to follow upon playing.

Combat is typically quite simple: When there is a hero in an arena and a challenger arrives, each unit takes turns dealing damage to the other unit equal to the amount of attack they have; the other unit loses that much HP. The challenger is the first one to attack. When a unit runs out of HP they are removed from the arena and sent to the cooldown pile.

When a card is sent to the cooldown pile, it has a cooldown associated with it. The cooldown for units is the arena that it died in. The cooldown for items that require you to select a specific arena is the number of that arena; any other item will have its own rule on how the cooldown is calculated. These cooldowns decrement by 1 every time your turn ends; when a cooldown reaches 0, the card is put at the bottom of your deck. If two cards are added to the deck at the same time, the one that started with a lower cooldown is inserted first; if they have the same cooldown, the tie is broken alphabetically by card name.

Furthermore, cards have durability. A unit loses 1 durability whenever it dies; an item loses 1 durability whenever it is used. When a card runs out of durability, it is removed from your deck permanently.

DISCARDING

If a player chooses to discard cards, they may select any number of cards in their hand, and assign them to unique arenas. Those cards will go on cooldown as if they were played in that arena, without any effect or durability cost.

THE SHOP

If a player chooses to visit the shop, they will be given the opportunity to buy various things. The shop uses a unique type of currency, coins. Players will be given one coin at the start of each turn, with a limit of 5 total coins. There are two main things to buy in the shop: cards and perks.

Cards are as expected. There are 6 cards in the shop when you enter it; when you leave the shop at the end of your turn, any cards you bought are replaced. In addition, the shop is shared between players; that means if a player buys a card, it is no longer available for the other player.

Additionally, there is the option to refresh cards. Refreshing cards costs 1 coin, and increases by 1 for each consecutive time you use it in the same turn. Upon doing this, all cards in the shop are reshuffled, and if you had bought any cards previously, they are replaced too (so you will see 6 cards again).

Perks are things you can buy with coins that give you things other than cards. These come into effect immediately upon purchase. There are always three perks available for purchase. Upon purchase, the perk will stay in the shop for your opponent's next turn, then rotate out for a new perk. If no player has purchased any perk in 5 rounds, then all three perks rotate out.

SCORING, ENDGAME, AND TIMING

At the end of a player’s turn, they earn 1 point for each arena in which they control the hero of that arena. Then, at the end of 25 turns from both players, the player with more points wins. In the case of a tie, we consider the last end of turn in which the game was not tied.

Players have 90 seconds to make each turn. Upon refreshing the shop, players receive an extra 30 seconds.