5. Fights

Winning the game

The last point is the hardest to get

Earlier we said the first to 8 points wins. That's true, with two more things to know: the last point has a catch, and points can come from places other than battlefields.

8 points

The points you need to win are the Victory Score, 8 in a normal game. As soon as you have that many, and more than your opponent, you win. It doesn't wait for the end of a turn.

Points don't only come from battlefields. Some cards say "Score 1 point", and they count the same.

The last point

Getting to 8 by conquering has a catch. If you're on 7 and you conquer a battlefield, you only get the point if you've scored every battlefield this turn. Otherwise you draw a card instead, and stay on 7. That last point is the final point.

There are two battlefields, so scoring every battlefield means both. On 7, you can win by:

• Holding a battlefield at the start of your turn. The catch is only for conquering, so holding gets you the 8th point.
• Conquering after you've scored the other one this turn. Hold one, then conquer the other.
• Conquering both on the same turn. The first conquest draws you a card, and the second, with both now scored, wins.

So one conquest on its own isn't enough to win from 7: the other battlefield has to be scored that turn too.

Running out of cards

When you have to draw and your main deck is empty, you don't lose. You shuffle your trash into your main deck, your opponent gets 1 point, and you carry on drawing. That's to burn out. It's a point for your opponent each time, so a long game can end this way.