Cards And Zones
How Do Tokens Work?
Use a clear marker for a token, follow its type and the creating effect, and remove it when it leaves for most off-board zones.
RiftPal explanation · Answer first
The short answer
A TokenA game object created by a spell or ability during play, represented by a printed token or another marker. It follows its type's rules but is not a card. After moving to a non-board zone other than the Chain, it immediately ceases to exist.View in Glossary is a game piece made by a spell or ability during play. Use a printed token or another clear marker. Follow the effect that makes it and the normal rules for its type: a unit token is a unit, for example.
Tokens are not cards. An official printed token may look like a card, but it represents a Token game object. Token and Card are different categories in the rules, regardless of what the physical piece looks like. If a token moves to a non-board zone other than the ChainAn off-board zone that holds cards and abilities during the process of playing them. Cards and abilities on it are public information.View in Glossary , it ceases to exist immediately after arriving there.
RiftPal explanation
How it works
Follow the creating effect for the token's type, abilities, location and entry state. A unit token normally enters exhausted, has MightMight represents both how much Combat Damage a unit can contribute and how much marked Damage it can normally take before being killed.View in Glossary and can use Standard MoveA Standard Move is the normal way a unit moves between its Base and a Battlefield.View in Glossary . A gear token follows gear rules.
“Play a token” uses that type's playing rules, with any changes the effect gives. The token starts on the Chain. Creating a PermanentA Main Deck game object that remains on the board after being played. Unit and Gear are permanent types. Runes, battlefields and legends are not permanents simply because they stay on the board.View in Glossary directly at a location is not playing it; if no location is specified, use a location where it could be played.
A killed unit token goes to the TrashA player's off-board zone for cards that are killed or discarded and spells that finish resolving, unless an effect changes their destination. Its cards are public information and their order does not matter.View in Glossary , then disappears. A recycled unit token goes to the Main DeckThe deck of units, gear and spells, separate from your Rune Deck. Your deckbuilding list has at least 40 cards including your Chosen Champion; that chosen copy starts in the Champion Zone instead of the shuffled pile.View in Glossary ; a recycled rune token goes to the Rune DeckYour separate deck of exactly 12 runes. Shuffle it separately from your Main Deck. Channeling takes runes from this deck and puts them on the board.View in Glossary . They disappear there too. You cannot keep a token in your hand or deck to play again.
Tokens normally have no domain and a cost treated as 0. Effects such as copying can give them a domain or cost without making them cards. Follow any extra abilities the token has; not every token has the same abilities or lifespan.
At tournament events, tokens must use card objects capable of showing ready state, and every player must be able to understand and distinguish them. A casual substitute marker does not override that tournament requirement.
In practice
Example
Card example
Recruit
An effect tells you to play a 1 MightMight represents both how much Combat Damage a unit can contribute and how much marked Damage it can normally take before being killed.View in Glossary Recruit TokenA game object created by a spell or ability during play, represented by a printed token or another marker. It follows its type's rules but is not a card. After moving to a non-board zone other than the Chain, it immediately ceases to exist.View in Glossary . Represent it with a printed token or another clear marker, then play it as a unit. It enters exhausted at a legal location unless the effect says otherwise. If it is later returned to hand, it moves there and immediately ceases to exist; it is not a card you can play again.
Token Unit