Jul 23, 2026 · 93 turns
Spell mechanics as of July 2026
These are the in-game card values, read straight off the spell cards. Mechanics can change between patches. This is a snapshot of patch 2026.07, not a lookup for any one match.
- mana cost
- casts per match
- restriction
- cost drops per cast
- drawback
- delayed
- random
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Slip
1 mana ×5 casts per matchMove a piece 1 square diagonally. Steal 1 mana.
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Juke
2 mana ×4 casts per matchMove a piece up to 2 squares vertically. It can pass through pieces. Steal 1 mana.
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Shift
2 mana ×6 casts per matchMove a piece horizontally in any distance. It can move past pieces.
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Bis-Hop2.0
3 mana ×6 casts per matchMake a Bishop leap over one piece. It can capture.
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Pengu Dive
3 mana ×6 casts per matchTeleport a piece to an empty square within a 5x5 area.
Restriction Cannot target a Pawn.
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Parkour Mech
3 mana ×2 casts per matchTransform a piece into a Knight.
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Shot in The Dark
3 mana ×3 casts per matchMake a piece invisible for 1 turn. You may move it or leave it in place.
Restriction Cannot target a Queen.
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Imposter
4 mana ×3 casts per matchSwap one of your pieces with an enemy piece of the same type.
Restriction Cannot target a Pawn or King.
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House Recruit
4 mana ×2 casts per matchCreate a Pawn on an empty square between ranks 3 and 6.
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Pounce And Purr
4 mana ×2 casts per matchLeap to an adjacent empty square and stun a nearby piece for 1 turn.
Restriction Cannot stun a King.
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Transcendence
5 mana ×2 casts per matchSelect a piece. It can wrap across the left and right edges once, and can capture.
Restriction Cannot target a King.
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Pengu Blast
5 mana ×2 casts per match Delayed effectPlace up to 3 connected bombs on ranks 2 to 7. They detonate after 3 turns and destroy everything in range.
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Chaos Summon
6 mana ×2 casts per match Random outcomeSummon a piece between ranks 3 and 6. Knight, Bishop or Rook at 30% each, Pawn at 10%.
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Queen Time
7 mana ×1 cast per matchMove a Knight, Bishop or Rook as a Queen once. It can capture.
Restriction Cannot target a King.
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Plasma Beam
8 mana ×1 cast per match Drawback: You skip your next turn.A Rook fires a beam, including diagonally, destroying everything up to 4 squares.
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Power Infusion
8 mana to start ×5 casts per matchPromote a piece by one tier, up to Rook.
Scaling Each cast reduces this spell's cost by 1, so the listed cost is the starting cost only.
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Tactical Necessity
0 mana ×4 casts per matchSacrifice a piece to destroy an enemy piece of lower value. Gain 4 mana.
Condition The target must be lower value than the piece sacrificed.
Promotion on the Clock
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The full story
White began with a direct center and early kingside development, then kept the structure steady while Black castled and probed with Parkour Mech.
The middle game turned on summoned material and central trades. White used Chaos Summon on g3 and d4, while Black answered with Chaos Summon and Parkour Mech, but White kept finding ways to trade through the pressure.
Transcendence and Juke carried the game toward the queenside. White's pawn jumps on c3-c5, b4-b6, a3-a5, and a5-a7 built the promotion path while Black spent the lone Queen Time cast on e3 to e1.
The finish was visible on b8: White promoted the b-pawn to a queen. The result came by Black timeout, with the promotion showing the work built by the previous spell timing and pawn trades.
Full coaching breakdown
White's Seat
White's job was not just to convert material. Black's draft made empty squares part of the danger map — Queen Time could wrap a piece across the board to threaten the king, and Parkour Mech could turn a pawn into a knight anywhere in the center. The challenge was to navigate that environment while keeping enough mana for the spell schedule.
- goodChaos Summon on g3
Spending 6 mana on a bishop that immediately eyes Black's kingside was the right priority. The trade-off was real — White dropped to 2 mana — but the new bishop was safe and contributed to the central pressure.
- goodSecond Chaos Summon on d4
Putting a bishop onto d4 turned the center into a White-controlled zone and forced Black's knight to spend tempo defending. Worth the second 6-mana investment; Black's response came a ply later and didn't recover.
- goodTranscendence queen b3 to h3
Swinging the queen from b3 to h3 found a new attack axis on the kingside while keeping the threat of a future wrap. Five mana well spent — the queen kept initiative without needing defensive support.
- goodTranscendence wraps the queen onto g8
Transcendence exploited the square Black had chosen at Turn 33. Nothing on the board could reach g8 when the queen moved, so the wrap took the queen Black had kept on d8 since the opening. The king recaptured on Turn 37, costing Black a tempo that would have gone to queenside defense. White's promotion race was uncontested from there.
- riskyKnight captures on a6
White's knight on c5 captured the Black knight on a6. Black's pawn from b7 recaptured on the next move, taking the White knight off a6.
- goodPromotion on b8
The b-pawn finished its march. Promoting to a queen secured White a winning material advantage and capped the timeout.
A held Transcendence can punish any square an opponent calls safe. Black chose g8 at Turn 33 (Black) under ordinary chess reasoning, and the wrap on Turn 36 (White) took the queen because nothing on the board could reach g8. Hold the spell for the moment the opponent creates.
Black's Seat
Black's game was not primarily about winning material. White's Chaos Summons could create unexpected threats, and White's Transcendence gave White a way to swing a queen across the board. The challenge was to manage time on the clock while keeping enough material to answer White's summons.
- goodParkour Mech on e5
Transforming the e5 pawn into a knight was the right use of the 3-mana slot — it gave Black a real central presence and forced White to spend tempo answering.
- goodParkour Mech on d5
Second Parkour Mech cast gave Black another knight in the center. The center was heavily populated and White's d4 bishop had to navigate around it.
- goodKing to h8
Stepping out of the g-file with the king was defensive correctness — Black needed to be ready for White's Transcendence wrap.
- riskyQueen Time from e3 to e1
Spending the single Queen Time cast to wrap a knight toward White's king was an attempt at counterplay, but the knight didn't reach a square where it created a direct threat. Black paid 7 mana for tempo that didn't pay off.
A lone Queen Time cast needs to land on a square where it creates a real threat, not just tempo. Cast it for contact with the enemy king — if the wrapped piece can't attack something valuable on arrival, the spell is wasted.
The Verdict
white
Black chose g8 for the queen at Turn 33 (Black) with no attack on it, and White's held Transcendence made that judgment worthless. The wrap on Turn 36 (White) took the queen when nothing on the board could reach g8, and Black had no counterplay from there. Black's Queen Time cast on e3-e1 didn't generate enough counterplay to recover the tempo.
Black's queen on d8 was attacked by White's knight on e6. Four squares were safe under ordinary chess - d7, e8, b6, a5 - and Black chose g8. White held Transcendence with a cast remaining. The wrap on Turn 36 (White) placed the queen on g8 when nothing on the board could reach g8. The king recaptured on Turn 37, and Black had no counterplay from there; the Queen Time on Turn 40 was the failed attempt to manufacture some.
White won on Black timeout, but with a fresh queen on b8 and the promotion already secured this was a position lost on the board, not one decided only by the clock.