Certamen key art: five elemental worlds around a central void
Ludus · The Game Made Real

CERTAMEN

The Five Pillars

The card game of Navu, where champions are summoned to life by Veth and five philosophies war for the field.

Learn the Game
The Game of Navu

A Contest of Living Cards

In the world of Navu, the people play Certamen, a contest in which the heroes and creatures they idolize are drawn upon cards and called to living form by Veth. To play is to take up the same game the people of Navu play, and to command the same champions.

Each Arbiter builds an Archive around one of the five Pillars, the philosophies that divide all power in Navu, and a single Ascendant to lead them. Reduce your opponent’s Vitality to nothing, and the field is yours.

The Foundations

The Five Pillars

Every card in Certamen is aligned to one of five Pillars. Each is both a color of Veth and a philosophy, a way of seeing the world. An Arbiter’s deck is shaped by the Pillar, or Pillars, they choose to embody.

Aetherlight pillar emblem
Aetherlight
Gold
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Umbrage pillar emblem
Umbrage
Black
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Verdance pillar emblem
Verdance
Green
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Veilflux pillar emblem
Veilflux
Purple
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Emberwake pillar emblem
Emberwake
Red-Orange
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The Object

How the Game Is Won

You Win When

  • All opponents have lost the game.
  • A card effect states that you win.

You Lose When

  • Your Vitality reaches 0.
  • You must draw from an empty Archive.
  • A card effect states that you lose.
The Cards

Types of Cards

Pillar
The source of your Veth. You may play one Pillar per turn, during a main phase when nothing else is resolving.
Creature
Has Power and Toughness, and can engage in combat.
Ascendant
A powerful permanent that begins in the Ascendant Zone. Your signature champion.
Snap
A fast spell. May be cast at almost any moment, even during an opponent’s turn or in the middle of combat.
Rite
A slow, deliberate spell. May only be cast during your own main phase, when nothing else is resolving.
Rune
A lasting magical effect that remains in play and shapes the field for as long as it endures.
Relic
A crafted object of power that stays in play and lends its effect while it remains.
The Flow of Play

Structure of a Turn

I · Awaken

Ready all spent permanents you control. “Beginning of turn” effects trigger.

II · Draw

Draw one card from your Archive. (The starting Arbiter skips their first draw.)

III · Main Phase I

Play one Pillar, cast spells, activate abilities, or call your Ascendant. Spells resolve on the stack.

IV · Combat

Declare attackers, the defender declares intercepts, then damage is dealt, simultaneously unless a keyword says otherwise.

V · Main Phase II

A second main phase, identical to the first. Additional combats, if created, occur here.

VI · End

End-step triggers resolve, lasting effects end, and you Shed down to your maximum Spellbook size.

The Signature Mechanic

Ascendants & Will

Your deck holds a single Ascendant, your champion, who begins not in the Archive but in the Ascendant Zone. An Ascendant is powerful, but never truly gone: when defeated, it withdraws to recover, and may rise again.

Will

An Ascendant enters with Will counters equal to its starting Will. Damage removes Will rather than destroying it outright. At 0 Will, it leaves the Livingfield. An Ascendant may use one Will ability on each of your turns, unless an ability says otherwise.

Cooldown

When an Ascendant leaves the field, it returns to the Ascendant Zone and enters Cooldown. It may not return at once, unless you pay an additional Veth cost to call it back early.

Return After CooldownAdded Cost
Your next turn+6 Veth
Second turn after+4 Veth
Third turn after+2 Veth
Fourth turn afterNo cost
The Cards

The First Set

Set One
Pillars of Origin

The first set of Certamen cards, the heroes, creatures, and Ascendants of Navu, drawn and bound to the five Pillars. The cards are being forged.

Coming Soon
The Lexicon

Glossary & Keywords

The Tongue of Certamen

Arbiter
A player.
Archive
The stack of cards you draw from across the game. Run out of cards to draw, and you lose.
Spellbook
The cards held in your hand, ready to be played.
Livingfield
The field of play where summoned cards exist and do battle. Cards enter it once they resolve.
Hollow
Where cards go when destroyed, discarded, or used up. The resting place of the spent and the fallen.
Void
Where cards are cast out entirely, removed from the game and beyond reach of nearly all effects.
Veth
The living magic of Navu, and the resource you spend to summon cards and use abilities. Drawn from your Pillars.
Vitality
How much life you have left. Reach 0 Vitality and you lose the game.
Spend / Ready
To turn a permanent sideways when used, and upright again when it may be used once more.
Engage
To send a creature into attack. Engaging creatures strike at the opposing Arbiter or their Ascendant unless they are intercepted.
Intercept
To meet an engaging creature with one of your own, stopping its attack. A creature can intercept only one engaging creature, unless an ability says otherwise, but any number of creatures may intercept the same engaging creature. The creatures deal their combat damage to each other. This is how an Arbiter defends.
Shed
To move a card from your Spellbook to the Hollow.
Growth Counter
A counter placed on a Pillar. The Pillar produces 1 additional Verdance each time it is spent.
Wither Counter
A counter placed on a permanent. A creature gets −1/−1 for each wither counter on it, and each of its activated abilities costs 1 more for each wither counter on it.

Keywords

ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
A
Aegis
Can’t be targeted by opponents unless they pay the listed additional cost.
C
Cultivate
When this creature enters the Livingfield, you may put a growth counter on a Pillar you control.
D
Dreadmarked
Can only be intercepted by two or more Creatures.
Dualfang
Deals combat damage both as a Swiftfang strike and again with regular combat damage.
E
Echoform
You may cast this card from your Hollow for its Echoform cost. If you do, Erase it when it leaves the Livingfield.
Enduring
Can’t be obliterated. It can still be moved by other means, such as sacrifice or being Erased.
F
Flickerborne
May be cast any time a Snap could be cast.
O
Oathbound
Can’t be sacrificed, and its control can’t change.
Overwhelm
When intercepted, its controller may assign excess combat damage (beyond what’s lethal to the interceptors) to the player or Ascendant it was engaging.
P
Protection
Can’t be targeted, damaged, attached to, or intercepted by anything with the named quality.
R
Radiance
At the beginning of each combat, target Creature you control gains +2/+0 and Warborn until end of turn.
S
Shadow-walker
Can’t be intercepted except by Shadows.
Skyborne
Can only be intercepted by Creatures with Skyborne or Skypierce.
Skypierce
Can intercept Creatures with Skyborne.
Soulbound
Whenever this Creature deals damage, its controller gains that much Vitality.
Steadfast
Does not spend when it engages.
Swiftfang
Deals combat damage before Creatures without Swiftfang.
U
Unravel
Whenever this Creature becomes intercepted, it phases out until the end of combat.
V
Veilshroud
Can’t be the target of spells or abilities opponents control.
Venombreed
Destroys any Creature it deals damage to.
W
Warborn
Can engage the turn it enters the Livingfield.
Wardenbound
Can’t engage.
Whisperstep
Can’t be intercepted by Creatures with greater Power.
Witherhold
Whenever an opponent sacrifices a permanent, you may put a wither counter on target permanent they control.

More keywords join the lexicon as new cards are forged.