What is Ascension?

Ascension is a fast-paced deckbuilding game that’s quick to learn, easy to setup, and packed with endless hours of replay value! Our goal with Ascension was to make a game that we would bring out again and again for our own game nights. With an all-star team working on design and development, including Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Champions Justin Gary, Rob Dougherty, and Brian Kibler, we spent the better part of a year making a game that will appeal to fans of the board games, trading card games, and non-gamers alike.

The World of Vigil

The game takes place in Vigil, a world that has been protected for millennia by the Great Seal, keeping the realm free from divine influences. It was put in place after an ancient war with a corrupt god, Samael the Fallen, when it was decided that none of the gods should be able to interfere. But now, the Seal is failing, and nightmarish Monsters that had been forgotten are breaking through. Your job, as a hero of Vigil, is to take your small, ragtag band of Apprentices and Militia, and gather an army powerful enough to lead you to your destiny as the Godslayer, and in doing so, slay Samael once and for all.

During the game, players will recruit powerful heroes and constructs from four different divine factions to aid them in their quest:

Arha is a world where knowledge is prized above all else. The Enlightened are comprised of ascetics and warrior-monks who yearn for nothing more than to achieve a higher state of being. In the game they’re represented through cards that allow players to draw cards and manipulate the board through unconventional means.

Coming from the machine world of Hedron, the Mechana are engineers and are capable of crafting machines of immense power. Players who lean on the Mechana during the game will get to wield powerful Constructs that work together to create powerful effects.

Without Death, there is no life, and the Void is the source of everything that is. Its dark-humored guardians worship death in a way that few can understand, but they have become hardened by fighting off the twisted creations that the Void has produced as it strives to continue the cycle of creation. If you ally with them, you will gain power over death itself, and have warriors of unimaginable strength to insist upon it.

The world of Ogo is one of constant growth and trials. The Lifebound strive to grab onto the fate that life has laid out for them, and grow to meet the challenges that presents. The addition of the Lifebound to your legion will give you access to powerful magics and the ability to control your own fate.

Starting The Game

Each player starts the game with a 10-card deck made up of eight Apprentices and two Militias. Apprentices provide  Runes when played, which can be used to recruit Hero and Construct cards during the game. Militias provide another type of resource, Power, which is used to defeat Monsters.

The Portal Deck & Game Setup

The game revolves around the Center Deck that contains Heroes, Constructs, and Monsters. Players take turn recruiting Heroes or Constructs for their decks, or defeating Monsters for the Honor and other bonuses. At the beginning of the game, six cards are placed in the Center Row face up. Whenever a card leaves the Center Row, it is immediately replaced with a card from the Center Deck. Players also have access to two Heroes, Mystics and Heavy Infantry, that they can recruit during their turn as well. Lastly, players may spend 2 Power at any time to defeat a Cultist, which will grant them 1 Honor.

Let's take a closer look at the three different types of cards you'll find:

Heroes and Constructs offer resources and special effects to aid you during the game. Constructs are different from Heroes in that they will stay in play turn after turn, meaning that you can keep getting the effect of a Construct every turn for as long as it is in play. Monsters need to be defeated to be removed from the Center Row, but grant you a reward when you kill them.

Building Your Deck

As the game progresses, you will recruit cards to your deck by placing them in your discard pile. Whenever your deck is empty and you need to draw a card, if there are no cards left in your deck you shuffle your discard pile into your deck and continue to draw. As you recruit more cards and refresh your deck, you will gain access to the powerful cards the Center deck has to offer, and in doing so, be able to control what kind of strategy your deck will follow to win the game.

Winning the Game

The game ends when there are no more Honor Tokens remaining (the number you start the game with is determined by how many players there are). Players count the number of Honor Tokens they have, and add it to the total Honor value of the cards in their deck (denoted by the star in the lower left corner). The player with the highest Honor count is the winner!

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer is in stores now. You can find a store near you on our Store Finder, or through our Online Store.