Unit Triggers

◈ ADVANCED RULES

Unit Triggers

Every ability fires at a set moment. Here’s each trigger — and exactly when it happens.

Upon DeploymentONCE

FIRESthe moment a unit finishes deploying — after it’s revealed, survives the response window, and passes the state check.

A single time, and never again. A unit that arrives by attaching was never deployed, so it has none — but a unit that another card Seeks from your deck and deploys, or one deployed at Lightspeed, is deployed, so it fires.

Throughout the BattleONGOING

FIREScontinuously — the whole time the unit is face-up in the Battle Zone.

Not an event, an ongoing state. Its buffs and debuffs stay live through the count (so they’re part of Total CQ at Tallying) and end when the unit leaves play — at Clean Up at the latest.

When DestroyedON EVENT

FIRESwhen a card effect destroys the unit — sending it from the battle zone to the discard pile.

It fires whether the card was face-up or face-down when it was destroyed. Being swept to the discard at Clean Up is not destruction — that won’t fire it.

When DiscardedON EVENT

FIRESwhen the unit is discarded by an effect — for example, pitched from your hand.

The Clean Up sweep to the discard does not count as a discard, so it won’t fire then either.

When DepletedON EVENT

FIRESwhen the unit is depleted — sent from the top of your deck to the discard.

Depleting sends cards from the top of your deck straight to the discard; each depleted card raises its own trigger.

At the End of the BattleEND OF BATTLE

FIRESduring the End of Battle phase — but only if the unit is in play.

Resolves in Location order (lowest first), with the Extra Locations last. A card sitting in your hand or discard has no “in play” unit, so it doesn’t fire one.

Special TriggerSPECIAL

FIRESat the exact window the card’s own text names — and it can fire from anywhere, even your hand.

On a timing clash it resolves first (for example, a Black Energy Fragment uploads at the start of End of Battle, straight from hand). A Special Trigger can also bundle more than one triggering point in a single card — each one spelled out in the card’s text.

Apocalypse Engine card
Two triggers in one — Apocalypse Engine
  • UPON DEPLOYMENTWhen it deploys, it destroys all the units you control.
  • THROUGHOUT THE BATTLEFor the rest of the Battle, you can’t deploy any more units.

Both live inside its one Special Trigger — the card text tells you each timing.

FINE PRINT
Clean Up is a sweep, not an eventMoving the board to the discard fires no When Destroyed, When Discarded, or When Depleted abilities.
Face-down means inertA placed, face-down unit takes no actions of its own — no Upon Deployment, no Throughout the Battle, no reactions — until it deploys. (A card effect can still destroy it, and its When Destroyed fires either way.)

Keep Reading

Advanced Rules

Attaching

How attaching works — the carrier gains only the attached card’s Conquest, and because attaching isn’t deploying, it skips “when deployed” costs (Apocalypse Engine’s board wipe never fires).

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Advanced Rules

Multiplayer

Free-for-All, Team Conquest, Nemesis and Homeworld – turn order, allies, and the four ways to play at a bigger table.

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