How to Play — Basics
A round-by-round plan: what to buy, when to level, how much gold to keep. Numbers come from the game code; the plan is a recommended standard curve.
How a round works
Each round you recruit chess pieces from a shop of 5 (rerolling costs gold), place them on your 8×4 half of the board, and they fight automatically against another player's board or neutral creeps.
You can only have as many pieces on the board as your Courier level. Extra pieces wait on the bench. Pieces cast their ability when their mana reaches 100; they gain mana when they deal or take damage.
Upgrading pieces (stars)
Three identical ★ pieces combine into one ★★ piece, and three ★★ combine into ★★★. Each star roughly doubles HP and damage and levels up the ability.
Druids are special: with Druid 2/4 active, only two copies are needed for the upgrade.
Gold & interest
You earn 10% interest on your unspent gold at the start of each turn (max +4, reached at 40 gold).
Winning or losing streaks give bonus gold. Selling a piece refunds its cost.
Tip: sit on 40+ gold in the mid game and only spend the excess, unless you are about to lose a lot of HP.
Synergies
Every piece has 1-3 synergies: races (Orc, Elf, Human…) and classes (Warrior, Mage, Hunter…). An effect turns on when you have N DIFFERENT pieces of that type on the board (duplicates do not count), and higher tiers stack with lower ones.
Demon is unusual: it only works if you control a single Demon type, unless you have 2 Demon Hunters.
Some items make the holder count as an extra synergy: Minotaur Horn (Dragon), Telescope (Dwarf, ranged only), Spider Leg (Aqir), Kobold Cup (Kobold), Satanic (Faceless), Ogre Hood (Ogre).
Hidden pools
Undead (☆) pieces never appear in the shop. A non-Undead piece holding Ascetic's Cap may be reborn as an Undead of the same cost and star.
Pandaren Spirits (✪: Ember, Storm, Earth, Void) are only invited by the Pandaren synergy — keep Brewmaster on the board.
Not every Legendary (5-cost) is available every game; part of the legendary pool is revealed per match.
Items & relics
Creep rounds and loot boxes drop equipment of levels 1-5. Drag an item onto a piece to equip it. Higher rounds drop higher-level items.
Relic boxes (rounds 10, 20, 30, 40, 50) offer relics that change your economy or rules for the game.