Ascension: Return of the Fallen - Tips & Strategies

These rule clarifications were originally posted on Ascension’s official website. Visit this link to view the original source

Ack! Stone Circle just appeared in the Center Row, but I get to draw a card for destroying this Tormented Soul! Do I get to draw the Mystic that I’ll be acquiring to the top of my deck with the Stone Circle’s Fate trigger?

Short answer? No. Long answer? We want to address some of the more common ruling questions that have been popping up on the forums and at Game Day events.

Timing
There has been plenty of questions involving the timing in how effects resolve if they happen at the same time. The most common of these is Monster rewards and Fate triggers happening at the same time.

To answer these questions, we wanted to show you the order in how effects resolve when you acquire or defeat something in the Center Row.

1. The Center Row card is acquired and goes to your discard pile, or is defeated and put in the void.
2. Replace cards in the Center Row until there are 6 cards in the center row from the center deck moving outward.
3. Resolve Monster rewards.
4. Resolve anything that triggered off of defeating or acquiring the card/cards in the Center Row (such as Voidthirster).
5. Resolve any Fate triggers in the order they appeared in the center row.

This should answer a few of the rulings questions that have come up with Ascension: Return of the Fallen. Timing has been something that was not addressed in the rulebook for both Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer and its expansion. This will change in the upcoming set…which will go unnamed. For now!

Just to clarify, we wanted to highlight some of the biggest questions revolving around timing. Using the order of resolving effects from above, we can now answer these questions a little easier. Let’s go through some of those questions so that your specific concerns are addressed!

Examples
Returning to the first example I brought up with Stone Circle’s Fate effect and Tormented Soul, you do not get to draw that Mystic you can acquire. This is because Stone Circle’s Fate effect resolves after the reward for defeating Tormented Soul.

Let’s take a look at some other examples that have been brought up my the Ascension community on the forums.

You acquire a Burrower Mark II, and a Reclamax replaces it from the Center Deck. Can you return the Burrower Mark II to your hand?

Yes. You can return the Burrower Mark II. This is because acquiring a card is the first thing that takes place, meaning it is in the discard pile when the Fate effect for Reclamax resolves.

A Corrosive Widow is defeated, which puts your Snapdragon into the discard pile. However, a Reclamax flips when the Widow is defeated. Can you return your Snapdragon?

Yes. This is because Corrosive Widow resolves first, putting your Snapdragon into the discard pile. Then you can get it back when Reclamax resolves.

You defeat an Earth Tyrant, and it is replaced by a Stone Circle from the Center Deck. Do you get to draw the Mystic that you are able to acquire with Stone Circle’s Fate effect?

No. You resolve Monster rewards first, draw your two cards from Earth Tyrant, and then you have the option of acquiring a Mystic to the top of your deck with Stone Circle’s Fate effect.

You defeat a Sordid Asp while Voidthirster is in play. You have two less Honor than the person with the higher Honor total before doing this. Do you still get to steal Honor from someone?

Yes. You resolve the reward for Sordid Asp first. You gain your one Honor, and then since you still have less Honor than the person with the higher Honor total, you get two from that person as well. Then, you resolve Voidthirster’s effect, and gain an additional Honor for defeating a Monster.

Other Ruling Concerns
In an effort to smooth out any Game Day debates, we also want to address a few other cards that have some confusing situations.

You play a Great Omen Raven and do not have any cards remaining in your deck. What happens?

When it comes to reveal effects such as Great Omen Raven, you need to have a deck to reveal from in order for their effects to work. If you do not have any cards remaining in your deck, then you must shuffle your discard pile and make it your deck as though you were drawing a card before you resolve Great Omen Raven’s effect.

If defeating Sordid Asp would bring your Honor total to a tie with whoever has the most Honor, do you still get to steal Honor from that player?

Yes. You resolve the entire effect for Sordid Asp all at once. If you had less Honor when you defeated Sordid Asp, then you get Honor from whoever had the highest Honor total before you defeated the monster.

What if I defeat a Sordid Asp and Guardian of Sadranis was active?

You still get to steal Honor, even if you would have more Honor than the opponent with the higher Honor Total after Guardian of Sadranais gets you bonus Honor. This is because the effect of Guardian of Sadranis does not happen until you resolve all Monster rewards. (see the Timing section above for the order on how effects resolve)

What if multiple cards with Fate appear in the Center Row at the start of the game? How do they resolve?

Fate effects will resolve in order starting with the one closest to the Center Deck, and then you move outward from the Center Deck to resolve other Fate effects.

Hopefully this will help clarify some of your questions during those Game Day events. If you have any further questions that are not covered by any of the rules clarifications in this article, feel free to post them as a comment here or on the rules section of our forums. Forum-goers here at Gary Games will occasionally go through the rules section to answer any unaddressed questions, and if common questions like the ones in this article keep coming up, then we will make sure that they are more publicly addressed like so.

Thanks again for your support everyone. Best of luck at your Game Day events!

With “Return of the Fallen” it’s now possible to make an infinite turn loop in Ascension. As long as you have a way to get at least one point a turn (e.g. two standing power from artifacts and killing a cultist each turn) you can turn this into infinite victory points.

You won’t get the chance often, but these are the cards you need to grab:

Tablet of Time’s Dawn
Hedron Link Device
Reclamax

See the combo? The tablet gives you another turn. The Hedron Link Device lets you treat it as a mechanica construct. And now that it’s a mechanica construct, you can fish it out of the void with the reclamax each turn.

You also need a guaranteed source of 5 runes(money) per turn, to buy back the tablet. If you have a snapdragon, the serpent staff, and a couple wolf shaman in the deck, that works. Also, playing the wolf shaman with the snapdragon can be your point source, killing two birds with one stone.

On top of that, you’ll need to lean your deck down enough to be able to draw every card every turn. This is necessary so you get your reclamax back into play each turn. So you’ll want to purge your deck of almost all cards that don’t cause you to redraw more cards. Having a Rocket Courier X-99 is good insurance, since it lets you reclamax the Tablet directly into play. This might save you if your deck isn’t perfectly leaned and you get a bad luck turn where all your cards that don’t give extra draws come up in the opening hand. Having the second reclamax is also good insurance. Once you get the combo going decently well, you’ll get the chance to lean your deck down to where drawing it each turn is a mathematical certainty.

If you play enough games versus the iPhone AI opponent, you will eventually get the chance to use this combo. I’ve played hundreds of games and just got it now for the first time.