So first off we'll go through the factions right quick before we get into the runes.
Damage=dmg
Speed=spd
Health=hp
Champions=champs

Each deck that you make must consist of 30 cards and this is known as a Full faction (FF). A deck made of 15 cards from one faction and 15 from another one is known as a Split Faction (SF). So how the list will go is, I will name the Faction and the benefit it gives as a FF and SF.


From those 8 factions is where you're going to create your very own deck. So take the time and think about your playstyle. Do you like to overwhelm your opponents, do you like to take the defensive/offensive, do you want to blitz? So depending on how you want to play, we'll start from there. Just a note, you're not commited to any faction that you try. You can always try another faction out but I believe if you take 1 faction and stick with it for a while, it'll help you transition into other factions a bit more smoothly.

In this section we will explore the different runes you have at your disposal. Runes are broken into 4 categories. You have Champions, Spells, Relics, and Equipments. You have your avatar also but that'll be discussed at the end. So a good deck will have a balance of all these runes to ensure you can get what you need. Being that mostly newer players will be getting tips from this, you will want around 15-16 champs. Extreme cases, a minimum of 15 and a max of 18. The reason for a high number of champs is, it's possible that during your first turn, you have no champs revealed. Having a higher number of champ reduces that. So assuming you went with 16 champs, you'll want around 3-4 spells, 3-4 relics, and 3-4 equips. That will leave you around 2-5 empty spaces that you can fill with any additional rune. Preferably, 1 additional champ, spells, relics and/or equips. You have a general understanding of what a deck consists of, so now, what runes do I use.

1. Champions

These will be the majority of your deck. To better understand champions, refer to 1st picture above. They are categorized by a few things but there is 3 that I want to focus on. That is, Melee, Range, and Special. I love to play army games especially those dealing with rome and egypt so i'm going to be referring to some of the champs as if they were soldiers.
A. Melee
Melee champs are those that have an initial range of 1. The range may go beyond 1 but it's still considered melee. These are like your infantry. They will be taking most of the dmg, holding your frontlines, and hopefully inflicting a good bit of dmg to the opponent. Melee comes with "Beaters" and "Tanks". Your beaters are champs that can do around 30 dmg or higher in 2 hits. They are very strong with a drawback of low hp or def. These will be normally the champs that your opponents try to kill first. Your tanks are champs that can take a lot of a lot hits. They are not easily killed in 1 turn. They are not only to hold the front line but to force your opponent to waste extra resources on killing them. Tanks normally have low dmg and/or speed but there are exceptions to some runes.


B. Range
These are champs that have a minimum range of 2 or higher. I consider them to be somewhat of your archers; and those with ranges of 6 or higher as artillery pieces. Range champs as you would imagine get destroyed pretty easily in melee. To effectively use them, you will need at least 1 or 2 melee in the surrounding area to intercept any enemies that try to get close. They have considerable dmg, average of 10-15 dmg from my experiences. Their def and hp is enough that they wont get killed in 1 turn by 1 champ (remember, there are always exceptions to that). Because of their range, they are usually able to get 2 attacks off a turn or every other turn. Keeping these runes will protected will allow you to cause max dmg to your opponent.


C. Special
These are champs that may or may not have an attack. Their purposes range from supporting other champs, to damaging enemy champs, to hindering an enemies advance, and on. These champs usually have a low cost and depending on how you use them, can be a key piece in your deck. There are champs that can boost the hp and dmg of other friendly champs. There are those that can summon free champs for you and provide healing to units. These units usually find themselves in between your archers and artillery. This way, they are able to support the frontline or retreat if needed.


Last thing on champs I want to mention is, there are some champs with the ability to create other champs, as seen in the picture above. Some of the champs that are summoned this way come with a state of being "summoned". You can think of this as zombie. It can be summoned, but it has no warmth, no mind of it's own, no presence. So a champ with the "summoned condition has no cast presence (needed for spells) , nor can it contest fonts. I was not able to get a picture but when I do, I will post it. The "summoned" condition can be seen at the bottom of a units card and then over to the right. The icon will looks something like a puppet or a dummy.


2. Spells

These can be game changers depending on how you use them. Their abilities range from aoe (area of effect) dmg to healing to stalling to any advantage you can get over your opponent. You may ask, if they are so strong, then why did you suggest only using 3-4? Having more spells gives you the advantage in that you could bring more to the table, but you will lack in champs. Summoning champs cost nora and so does using spells. So you may be destroying your opponents champs with spell but if you can't keep summoning champs of your own, eventually, your opponent will overwhelm you. Spells, especially the ones that cause dmg, should be used to kill champs. If your opponent has a group of champs together, it may look like a good target to cast a spell, but if you can't kill one of them (this is taken into consideration before or after your champs attack a target), then playing the spell was not in your best interest. Some spells have "dot" (damage over time) effects. So if a champ has 12 hp, and you cast a spell that does 10 dmg and applies a "dot" to the affected champs that cause 2 dmg for x amount of turns, it would be beneficial to use it in a situation like that. 1 Exception to this rule is if you want your opponent to retreat a certain champ. By attacking it and then using a dmg spell with a "dot" or not, will force your opponent to retreat the champ or leave it there to die if the dmg you inflict is severe enough. This is just a general outline for spells. The best way to get a full understanding is to try them out yourselves.

3. Relics

Like spells and champs, relics come with all kinds of positive and negative effects. The most notable thing about relics is that they are used to contest fonts. If you see that your opponent has a strong force at the font or you are just not ready to engage in a fight yet, simply place a relic anywhere within the font. This will cause your opponent to either engage your champ, leaving the font contest, or attack the relic, thereby wasting an attack or 2. In some cases, it's sometimes best to let your opponent keep a font if you see that they can keep killing anything within it. No point in wasting relics cause again, they cost nora and the more nora you spend on them, the less you have to get more champs out. Some champs have an ability that allows them to summon relics. They may or may not have the "summoned" condition but if so, the same rules apply. It has no presence and can not contest fonts.

4. Equipments

These will be the crossed X that you see on your unit cards when they are equipped. Like all the other runes, their abilities range from positive to negative. Equips are notable though for their positive effects that they give to your champs. This ranges from hp regen to dmg boost to bypassing the defense of champs, and on. Certain champs with certain equips can be very deadly, so it's advisable to have some sort of negative equip/s in your deck. Equiping an enemy champ with a negative equipment not only causes a hinderance to the champ, it stops your opponent from equipping it with postive equipment. So a good and balanced deck will have couple of these equips.

5. Avatars

This is your strongest and most important rune. If this dies, you lose the game. It starts off as a shrine with no attack and no abilities other than scry (allows you to reveal an extra rune at the cost of 7 hp), fortify (makes your shrine impervious to all dmg for 2 turns), and transfigure (allows you to summon your avatar in champion form). Transfigure starts out on cooldown meaning you will have to wait x amount of turns until you can summon it. As a shrine, it has a resistance to all types of dmg (excpetion being champs with seige). Your avatar should not be hastily summoned being that your opponent will normally try to focus fire on it. No matter how many champs you have out or how good you're winning, if it dies, game over.


In conclusion, I will just state a few more handy tips to keep in mind. Always focus fire when you can. Leaving a champ at 1 hp is just as dangerous as leaving it at full hp. If you can get a kill without severely weakening your own forces, it's best to take it. In each deck you make, be sure to have some form of detection (allows a champ to find hidden champs and relics) and also some form of equipment removal. You will need a form of cleanse and dispell (if your faction has this available). Whether you decide to use champs, relics, spells, or equips to do this, be sure you have those. Dispell is needful but you can do without so dont worry too much about that. So after all this, a deck would be something like

16 champs-----------------3 beaters, 2 tanks, 0-2 specials (if you want), the rest to help hold the lines
16 champs------------------around 6-9 melee champs and the rest range. be sure to have both
3-4 spells--------------------be sure that at least 2 does aoe dmg. Alternate dmg for both if you can
3-4 relics---------------------if full faction, a banner fills one spot. Rest will fit your style of play
3-4 equip--------------------good to have both negative and positive.

The rest is up to you. Hope this guide has been helpful. I'm sure others will comment with tips also to help you get started. The runes that you saw where from Poxnora's official site. It was edited with Microsoft word to show the text boxes and arrows. So have fun and enjoy and welcome to poxnora.