Gems & your first fight
Your gems
have
other plans.
Straights, sacrifices, and the pair that turns a small creature into a problem. A first guide to fighting in Superjack.
A matching pair gives the Queen +1/+1.
A Queen starts at 2/2. Equip her with a pair of gems and she becomes a 3/3.
In Superjack, the number cards are gems. They provide energy to play creatures. Pairs become equipment; consecutive numbers form straights. Sacrifice a gem for damage, extra energy, or a card draw.
Gems make energy
On your turn, you may play one gem from your hand. Place it upright. This is called untapped: the gem is ready to use.
When you need energy, turn the gem sideways. This is called tapping. Each gem makes one energy of its color: hearts and diamonds make red; spades and clubs make black. A seven makes one energy, just like a two.
Spend that energy to play creatures of the same color. Jacks cost two, Aces three, Queens four, and Kings five. Unspent energy disappears when the phase ends.
A tapped gem cannot make energy again until it untaps. Your tapped cards return upright at the start of your next turn.
Equip pairs to strengthen creatures
A creature's first number is its power: the damage it deals. The second is toughness: how much damage kills it.
A pair is two gems of the same rank and color: 4♥ and 4♦ qualify. Tap both and attach them to a creature you control for +1/+1: one more power, one more toughness. The creature can be either color.
Each creature has two equipment slots. Two pairs of different ranks give +2/+2 in total. Equip all four gems of one rank, as a red pair and a black pair, for +3/+3 instead.
Use pairs to pay for a creature and they automatically equip it, up to those two slots. Pay for a red Queen with 2♥, 2♦, 3♥, and 3♦, and she enters as a 4/4.
2/2 → 4/4Four red energy pays her cost. Both pairs equip her.
Equipment comes off and untaps at the start of your next turn. You cannot detach it whenever you like. If the creature dies, its gems come back to your play area tapped.
Straights: three to six gems in order
A straight is three to six gems with consecutive numbers, all the same color. A red 3, 4, and 5 makes a straight. A red 3, 4, and 6 does not. Hearts and diamonds can be used together; so can spades and clubs.
All those gems must already be in play and untapped. Tap them together to use an ability. The number of gems determines which one:
| Number of gems | Ability | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Plus One | Gain one health. |
| 4 | Research | Draw a card, then discard a card. |
| 5 | Gravedigger | Return one creature card from your graveyard to play, untrained. Then sacrifice one gem from this straight. |
| 6 | Mind Control | Take an opponent's creature. Then sacrifice one gem from this straight. |
The gems stay in play unless the ability tells you to sacrifice one. You choose which gem to sacrifice; this does not also trigger its individual sacrifice ability.
Mind Control removes the stolen creature from combat and sends its equipment back to its owner tapped. It also makes the creature untrained, so it normally waits until your next turn to attack. Gravedigger returns one creature card, including just one Jack from a destroyed stack. An Ace returned this way must also wait until your next turn to attack.
Sacrifice a gem for an ability
An untapped gem can also be tapped and sacrificed: it goes to your graveyard, the game's discard pile, for a single effect. You cannot first tap it for energy and then sacrifice it this way.
| Sacrifice | Ability | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| A 2 or 3 | Fireball | Two damage to a creature, or one damage to a player. |
| A 4 or 5 | Mine | Three energy of that gem's color, to spend this phase. |
| A 6 or 7 | Draw | One card from your deck. |
Mine can help pay for a larger creature; Fireball can finish a wounded one. Either way, you'll have one less gem next turn.
When creatures can attack and block
A newly played creature is untrained. It normally waits until your next turn to attack, but it can already block, wear equipment, and use abilities. Once it has been under your control since the start of your turn, it is trained. Rush and Royal Charge let it attack sooner; equipment alone does not.
Choose your trained, untapped attackers and turn them sideways. Your opponent assigns upright blockers; blocking does not tap them. Then there is a chance to respond before damage, including equipping a waiting pair.
Imagine your 2/2 Queen blocks a 3/3 King. Without help, she dies. Equip one pair before damage and she becomes a 3/3. They deal damage simultaneously, so now both die. A small pair has bought you a much better trade.
Damage stays on surviving creatures until the turn ends, then clears. A creature that has been blocked stays blocked even if its blockers disappear; Trample is the exception that can carry damage through.
Before you tap a gem, take a second look at its rank. The Queen might need it.