This is the complete tutorial video.

This is the gameplay walkthrough tutorial video.

Set up for Epic is fast and easy. You just need a box of Epic and a way to keep score. Open the box, take out the token cards and set them off to one side where both players can reach them. Then take the 120 game cards and shuffle them up. Deal 30 cards to each player. That becomes their deck for the game. Take your deck, draw a five-card starting hand, and you are ready to go.

Randomly determine who goes first. Starting with that player, each player may try to improve their hand with a single “mulligan.” To mulligan, put any number of cards from your hand on the bottom of your deck, then draw that many replacement cards. For each card you mulliganed, you lose 1 health. After both players have had a chance to mulligan, the first player starts his turn, but because he is going first, he doesn’t get to draw a card at the beginning of this turn.

For your first few games, until you have a feel for what makes a good opening hand in Epic, you can just skip the mulligans and just go straight into the first players turn.

Each player begins with a score of 30 health. In most games, you’ll win by dealing damage to your opponent and reducing their health to 0. You also win if would draw a card, but there are no cards left in your deck.

Each turn, both players get a gold. Extremely powerful cards cost a gold to play; other cards are free. Each turn, you can play one card that costs a gold and as many free cards as you like.

When you play a card, no one can respond or otherwise interfere.

Events are one of the two card types in Epic. You may play events on your turn or at certain times on your opponent’s turn. Events are powerful, one-time effects that can do almost anything. You’ll use events to draw cards, to deal damage, or to lay waste to entire armies!

When you play an event, do what it says on the card in the order listed, and then put it into your discard pile.

Champions are the second type of card in Epic. They are heroes and monsters that fight for you. You may only play champions on your turn. When you play a champion, simply place it face-up in front of you. You use champions to attack your opponent, block their attacks, and sometimes to use special powers and abilities that are described in their text box.

The number inside the crossed-swords is the champion’s offense; this is how much damage it deals in battle. The number inside the shield is the champion’s defense. If a champion takes damage greater than or equal to their defense in a single turn, it is “broken” and put into the discard pile.

For your first few games, until you have a feel for what makes a good opening hand in Epic, you can just skip the mulligans and just go straight into the first players turn.

At the beginning of your turn both you and your opponent get a gold. Gold can’t be saved up from turn to turn so you’ll never have more than one.

Next, you draw a card and then prepare your champions by taking any that are sideways or upside down and turning them right-side-up.

After that, you are in the main part of your turn where you can:  attack your opponent, use your champions’ powers, and play cards. You can do each of those things as many times as you like, in any order you want. Your opponent doesn’t get to do anything during this main part of your turn unless you attack them or try to end your turn.

You can attack your opponent as many times as you like during your turn. To attack, choose one or more of your right-side-up champion cards and expend them by turning them sideways and let your opponent know those champions are attacking them.

A champion that you just got this turn is busy deploying, and can’t attack.  You can only attack with champions you had in play on the table at the start of your turn.

When champions deal damage in battle, the attacking player decides exactly how their damage is broken up.

For example, if Rob attacked an opponent with a wolf token and they blocked with a zombie token and two human tokens:

The defending champions would deal a total of 4 damage to Rob’s wolf, breaking it. Rob could choose to do any of the following with his champion’s damage:

• His wolf deals 2 damage to the zombie, breaking it.
• or 2 damage to one of the humans, breaking him.
• or 1 damage to each of the humans, breaking them both.
• or even 1 damage to the zombie and 1 damage to one of the humans, breaking just one human.

When you done with your turn, let your opponent know you would like to end your turn.

They can either pass, in which case your turn ends, or they can make as many plays as they like. A play could be playing an event card, a champion with ambush, or a power from one of their champions already in play.

If they make any plays, you’re pushed back to the main part of your turn and you can continue doing stuff until you’re ready to try and end your turn again.

There are three positions a champion can be in: prepared (which is right side up), expended (which is tuned 90 degrees on its side) or flipped (which is turned 180 degrees upside-down).

Some cards have powers you can use. The cost to use that power appears to the left of the colon, and what the power does appears on the right.

Many champions have triggered abilities. Those are abilities that wait around for something to happen, and when they do, they take effect. The thing that triggers the ability is to the left of the arrow, and what the ability does is to the right.

When you play a champion, it is “deploying” which means it can’t attack or use expend powers. Your champion is no longer deploying once you begin your turn with it in play.

There are three important keywords to know when playing a champion: Tribute, Loyalty, and Ambush.

• When a champion with Tribute enters play, you gain the effect listed.
• When a champion with Loyalty enters play, you gain the effect listed only if you reveal cards from your hand of the same color as that champion.
• Finally, many champions have Ambush. This means you can play them on your turn OR on your opponent’s turn, just like an Event.
  

In Epic, when you play a card, it just happens. There are no responses, there is no stack or chain or prevention. There are exactly three times that you may play cards and powers during your opponent’s turn:

• When they attack you,
• after you declare blocks,
• and when they want to end their turn.
  

Unbreakable champions will not be put into the discard pile from a break effect or from damage. It will still take damage, but it still won’t break.

One thing to know about unbreakable is that if you must break a champion as part of using a power, and that power is on an unbreakable champion, you can’t use that power. So, if you use a Brave Squire on your Crystal Golem, you can’t then try to break the golem to draw cards.

Airborne is a way for your champions to soar over the enemy defenses. If all of your attackers are airborne, the attack may only be blocked by other airborne champions. You can attack with airborne and non-airborne champions together, but remember, if any attacker is blocked they are all blocked.

Ally abilities reward you for playing a deck with one or two colors. An Ally Ability happens when you play a card from your hand, that costs a gold, and is that color.

Ally Abilities are triggered when you play a card, but they don’t happen until the card you played finishes resolving. Let’s say you had an Infernal Gatekeeper in play facing down an army of 6 champions. You might play Apocalypse, breaking all champions. When you play Apocalypse, Infernal Gatekeeper is in play so his Ally Ability will trigger… but that ability waits for Apocalypse to finish resolving. Everything is broken, THEN you may put a demon token into play. Little tricks like this can make all the difference in a close battle.

You may play a champion with ambush any time you are allowed to play an event, even during your opponent’s turn. You usually play them after your opponent declares an attack.

Until you have a feel for what makes a good opening hand in Epic, you can just skip the mulligans and just go straight into the first players turn.

A banished card is put on the bottom of its owner’s deck. If a player has multiple cards banished at the same time, shuffle them first.

Blitz champions may attack and use expend powers right away. They are great to play right after someone wipes the board clear with a big event.

Breakthrough is a bit tricky, but is a great way to force damage through during combat. Attacking breakthrough champions may deal damage to the defending player after they have dealt enough damage to the blockers to break them all.

There are two important rules to know about breakthrough. First, if multiple champions are attacking together, only the damage from breakthrough champions can get to the defending player and only if those champions deal enough damage by themselves to break all of the defenders.

Second, just like damage from other champions won’t help, damage from events won’t help either. Breakthrough champions need to do it on their own.

Recall is a powerful ability that allows you to use the same card again and again. A recalled card returns from your discard pile to your hand. Let’s look at two examples. Lightning Storm lets you spend a gold to return it to your hand. Cave Troll uses an Ally Ability to be recalled. Notice that both abilities are in shaded backgrounds – that is your cue to notice that the text works even while it is in the discard pile.

How do you deal with your opponent’s powerful recall cards? By banishing them. Amnesia is a great way to handle that – it banishes an entire discard pile!

Recycling is a great way to turn your trash into treasure and to keep your cards flowing. To recycle, you may banish two cards from your discard pile. If you do, you get to draw a card. Of course, recycling doesn’t work unless you already have at least two cards in your discard pile. Also, recycling is optional.

When a Righteous champions deals damage, you gain that much health.

Tokens begin the game outside of the decks, but many cards will allow you to put them into play. When they are in play, token champions act just like normal champions. But when they leave play, return it to your pile of spare tokens instead of anywhere else.

Token champions can’t ever be anywhere other than in play or in the spare tokens pile – they can’t go to someone’s hand, deck, or discard pile.

Unbanishable champions cannot be banished while they are in play. Palace Guard won’t work, and neither will Divine Judgment. But note – like most rules text, this only works while the champion is in play. You can banish Thundarus while it is in the discard pile.

Many cards refer to targets. Flame Strike says “deal 8 damage to a target.” This means you can choose anything that can take damage — a champion or a player — and deal 8 damage to it. Some champions protect themselves by being “untargetable.”

Crystal Golem, for instance, can’t be broken by a Flame Strike because you can’t even target it. However, you can get around that by play a card that can damage everything, like Hurricane. Because Hurricane hits every champion and not a specific “targeted” champion, it will get the job done.

As a reminder, like all keywords, Untargetable only works while the champion is in play. You can target it while it is in the discard pile.

There are four alignments in Epic, each with their own color. You can play any mix of alignments in your deck. There is no restriction as to which color cards you may play, but sometimes you get bonuses for matching your colors. For more about this, please see our videos about Loyalty and Ally Abilities.