FAQ

Below are some FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) to help explain some of the trickier rules and mechanics in Achroma. All cards referred to in this article can be found in the Achroma Card DB. The full rules of the game, including a definition of all Keywords, can be found here.

In these FAQs, some interactions involving keywords/mechanics are explained in more detail. You can click on the links below to jump straight to questions about the Keyword/mechanic of interest:

Q. Can I deploy Action cards before my first draw/trade step or after my end draw/trade step?
A. You can.

Q. Can I resolve all cards on my Canvas, then use an Action such as Tufter’s Companionship to deploy another Character and Resolve that card too?
A. Yes. Your Resolve Step only ends when you choose to end it, not when you Resolve your last card.

Q. If I use Tufter’s Companionship or Parasitic Fusion to deploy a card, does that mean I’ve played 2 cards towards my 3-per-turn limit?
A. No. If a card is deployed due to the ability on another card, it does not count. It does however trigger abilities such as Leif or Wishwell Barrens.

Q. If I have Giant Centipede on my Canvas and play Tufter’s Companionship, can I deploy a Character?
A. No. While Tufter’s Companionship says you can play a creature Character, Giant Centipede says you cannot deploy any characters. Whenever there are two conflicting abilities in Achroma, the ability that says you cannot do something overrules the ability that says you can.

Q. Can I deploy objects even without a Character on my Canvas?
A. Objects have to be attached to a Character to be deployed (in normal Canvas format). However, if your opponent has a Character on their Canvas, you may deploy Objects onto them, and you get any associated ACTIONS from the Object. After that, the card is under their control and they get any abilities on the card.

Q. Can I deploy an Action before I reveal a SECRET?
A. No, SECRETS can only be revealed right at the start of your turn, before you do anything else.

Q. Can I reveal multiple SECRETS using Luxmorn Lighthouse without Erasing their keeper?
A. You can, so long as they were all under the same Keeper.

Q. Do SECRETS or RESTRAINED cards count as being on my Canvas for cards such as Tankards or Isaz?
A. No, they do not count.

Q. What happens if my opponent CLAIMS my Character, I claim it back with Corrupted Muon Trap (ACTION: CLAIM attached Character until this card is Erased), and then the Corrupted Muon Trap is erased. Do I need to give it back to my opponent?
A. No, you keep it. Whenever a Character or Location is unclaimed (or unrestrained), it returns to its owner, irrespective of who it was previously CLAIMED from. As you are the Character’s owner, you get to keep the Character on your Canvas.

Q. What happens if I deploy Carmella Tratorious (ACTION: Erase a Location or Object) and I am the only player with a Location on any Canvas?
A. In Achroma, if an Action or ability is not preceded with a “may”, you have to do as much as possible. Therefore, you would have to erase your own Location.

Q. What happens if I deploy Jewna Hare (ACTION: FREEZE a Character) and my opponent has no Characters.
A. As with the question about Carmella, you would have to FREEZE your own Character. If you have no other Characters, the Jewna Hare FREEZES itself.

Q. If I have two cards with RESEARCH 1 on my Canvas, can I RESEARCH 2?
A. No. Each instance of RESEARCH is a separate ability, and must be resolved separately.

Q. If I deployed a DragonRider this turn, can I attack with them if they MOUNT a Dragon?
A. Yes, you can attack with a mounted pair, so long as either the Dragon or the DragonRider were not Deployed this turn.

Q. How much damage does a mounted pair take during combat if they are not dealt enough damage to Erase them?
A. If a mounted pair are not dealt enough damage to Erase them, they take no Shard Damage at all. An exception to this is if they are in combat against a Character with POISONOUS, in which case they are both Erased, even if that POISONOUS character only has 1 attack.

Q. What happens if I have a Chroma Storehouse on my Canvas, and I deploy another?
A. As Chroma Storehouse is heroic, you must immediately Erase the original copy. Then you resolve the ACTION on Chroma Storehouse.

Q. If my opponent’s Character has Cintimani Stone on it, and I deploy Cintimani Stone on one of their other Characters, can I then deploy their original Stone from their dregs?
A. Yes, you can. The heroic rule kicks in before the ACTION on your Stone is resolved, so their Stone is in their Dregs when you deploy a card from any players’ Dregs for free. You can in theory do this an infinite number of times, meaning if you have Wishwell Market Stall, Phisto, or Leif on your Canvas, you immediately win.

Q. What happens if my opponent has a Cordyceps on their Canvas, and I deploy Cordyceps?
A. The opponent’s Cordyceps would immediately move to your Canvas (if it wasn’t there already). Then the heroic rule would kick in and the original Cordyceps (the opponent’s) would be Erased before the ability on it was resolved.

Q. If I have Hoffel Brown (fairy teacher) and Copper Joss (fairy painter) on my Canvas, do I have MENAGERIE active?
A. You do. Every new word next to the card type on a Character is a new Character type. Therefore, you have 3 unique Character types: fairy, teacher, and painter.

Q. Can I use Hoffel Brown‘s MENAGERIE effect before the Resolve step?
A. Yes, you can. As it is a MENAGERIE ability rather than an Achroma Effect, you can resolve it whenever you like in your turn.

Q. My Character has Dragon Armour, which has PROTECTION. How much damage does my Character take in combat against a 6 strength Character?
A. No damage at all. All damage is first dealt to Objects, and the Dragon Armour does not take damage in combat, unless the opponent’s character has POISONOUS.

Q. I have Ray on my Canvas and I deploy Release the Fireflies, choosing to give Ray PROTECTION. However, Ray is the only card on any Canvas. What happens?
A. PROTECTION does not protect cards from Shard Drain by you. You have to attempt to Drain 2 Shards from a card, so Ray would be erased.

Q. If my opponent deploys Sorrono and all my characters have PROTECTION, are they safe?
A. No, you have to erase one, as Sorrono forces you to do the Erasing.

Q. What happens if my opponent deploys Sorrono and my characters have GUARD?
A. As GUARD does provide protection from self-damage, all that happens is you choose a Character with GUARD and that GUARD is broken, but the Character survives.

Q. If a character has PROTECTION and GUARD, what happens if my opponent attacks or attempts to Drain that Character?
A. Assuming they aren’t attacking with a Character that has POISONOUS, the PROTECTION protects the Character and the GUARD is not broken. If however you used an ability that dealt Shard Drain to that character (not including combat), PROTECTION would not protect the Character, so instead this would break the GUARD.

Q. Does VENGEANCE trigger from an attempted Shard Drain even if my Character takes no Shard damage, for instance if they have PROTECTION or GUARD during an attack?
A. No, as Character has to actually have Shards in its Hex reduced in order to trigger VENGEANCE.

Q. If I REBOUND a card with a once per turn ability that I’ve already used, such as Sigrun, Vikti Elder‘s REBOUND ability, can I deploy Sigrun and use her ability again?
A. Yes. When a card leaves the Canvas, if it is later redeployed, any once per turn abilities or ACTIONS can be used again. The same applies if a card is Erased from the Canvas and the redeployed from the Dregs.

Q. If I attack three 4 shard, 4 strength characters using Drengora, The Fierce, are they all Erased, or do I have to divide Drengora’s strength between them?
A. Drengora deals 5 damage to each character, Erasing them all. They deal a combined total of 12 damage to Drengora, meaning they are Erased (unless they have PROTECTION or GUARD).

Q. Can I attack multiple locations with Drengora using Brisgavi Rage?
A. No, as Drengora specifies they can only use their ability to attack multiple characters. However, you can use Brisgavi Rage and Drengora to attack 1 location, then trigger Drengora’s ability to also attack any number of additional characters.

Q. Does Trader’s Pass count towards my 6 shards per turn trade total?
A. Not, it doesn’t. Cards that let you TRADE do not count towards your 6 shards-per-turn total. The +1 from Trader’s Pass does not count either.

Q. If my Norso Totem is Erased, can I TRADE it?
A. No, when a card is Erased its ability is no longer active, so you cannot TRADE it in response. This is the same with cards like Phisto and The Unruly.

Q. Agent’s Lamp lets me REVEAL a Magus Elite card. What does this mean?
A. A Magus Elite card is a card with “Magus Elite” in the title, or a card with the type, Magus Elite. This includes Hex Clunker Engineer (as it has the type Magus Elite), Magus Elite Staff, and Magus Elite Investigation.

Q. What cards count as Dragon cards for Dragon’s Watch?
A. Just like Agent’s Lamp, this is all cards with the Dragon type or with Dragon in the title, such as Darnacusk, Dragon Armour, and Dexter Master of Dragons. This is in contrast to Fromp who refers to Dragons, meaning only cards with the Dragon type.

Q. Alana Opel refers to “a card with RESTRAIN”. What does this mean?
A. Any card with the word “RESTRAIN” written in the card ability counts, including Alana Opel herself. This is similar to cards like Painting Class (+1 for each of your cards with SPLAT), which include any card with the word SPLAT on them, including Painting Class itself.

Q. I have no cards on my Canvas and I deploy Peorth, and REVEAL and deploy an Imp. How much do I Drain from Peorth?
A. As Peorth counts as being on your Canvas when it finishes its ability, you drain 2: one for the Imp, and one for Peorth. This is similar to the other runes, and actions like Arabella’s Recipe or Painting Class, which also count themselves.

Q. I have an Imp on my Canvas and I deploy Peorth, which REVEALs and deploys Cintimani Stone. What happens?
A. If an action (either an ACTION ability on a Character/location/object, or an Action card) is triggered in the course of resolving another action, it interrupts the first action and resolves first. This means the ACTION on Cintimani Stone resolves before Peorth finishes resolving. You therefore deploy another card from your Dregs, for instance another Imp. You then finally finish resolving Peorth, which would drain for -4 (2 Imps, Cintimani Stone, and Peorth itself). This means you cannot redeploy Peorth with the Stone, as it isn’t in your Dregs when the Stone deploys a card from there.

Q. If my opponent deploys Carmella Traitorious, and as a reaction I DISPOSE my Alchemist’s Tincture and REVEAL a Corrupted Muon Trap, what happens?
A. As you cannot Deploy cards during the reaction window, your Corrupted Muon Trap waits until Carmella has finished resolving her ACTION before being Deployed. At this point, the Trap is not on the canvas so Carmella cannot Erase it. When her ACTION has finished resolving, you deploy the Trap, on Carmella if you wish.
For more interactions involving DISPOSE, check out this article from 2023.

Q. Can I DISPOSE an object and DEFEND with a Character in response to an attack by an opponent?
A. No, you only get the chance to react to an opponent’s attack once. Therefore, you have to choose one or the other.

Next time you’re ordering achroma products, please use the discount code dracotemple at checkout on the achroma webstore for 10% off all orders, including pre-orders. By using this code, you are also supporting me, as I also earn commission on any sales made using this code.