{"schemaVersion":1,"record":{"key":"mechanic/deck-building--family-play","type":"mechanic","id":"deck-building--family-play","lang":"en","title":"Play costs and methods","summary":"Playing a card spends a limited turn resource. The player weighs cost against effect and chooses actions that fit the budget.","updatedAt":"2026-10-21","status":"active","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/knowledge/mechanic/deck-building--family-play/","jsonUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/api/v1/knowledge/en/mechanic/deck-building--family-play.json","markdownUrl":"https://gamemechanics.pro/content/knowledge/en/mechanic/deck-building--family-play.md","aliases":["Card costs and energy"],"tags":["Deck building","Card operations"],"sourceIds":["source-c7e358f5e5763ea0","source-7f09c8a736762f4f"],"sources":[{"id":"source-c7e358f5e5763ea0","title":"Dune: Imperium · designer's diary","url":"https://news.direwolfdigital.com/dune-imperium-designer-diary-1-beginnings/","verifiedAt":null},{"id":"source-7f09c8a736762f4f","title":"Slay the Spire","url":"https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/","verifiedAt":null}],"sections":[{"id":"principle","title":"How it works","body":"What restrictions determine how many cards can be applied and in what way."},{"id":"variants","title":"Variants","body":"### Variants and applications\n\n<a id=\"family-play-variants\"></a>\n\n- Energy / mana. Rule: Cards spend their total energy, mana, or other renewable resource. <a id=\"variant-play-01\"></a>\n- Resource ramp / banking. Rule: Cards increase available energy, maximum reserve, or allow you to save an unused resource between turns. <a id=\"variant-play-02\"></a>\n- Overload / resource debt. Rule: An additional resource is available now at the cost of reduced opportunities in the next turn or another future period. <a id=\"variant-play-03\"></a>\n- Action economy. Rule: The number of plays is limited by the individual actions that cards can spend and perform. <a id=\"variant-play-04\"></a>\n- Type play limit. Rule: The rules allow a limited number of attacks, spells, or other categories per turn. <a id=\"variant-play-05\"></a>\n- Alternate cost. Rule: The card is allowed to be paid in different ways, such as energy, health, discard or sacrifice of another card. <a id=\"variant-play-06\"></a>\n- X-cost. Rule: The player chooses the amount of invested resource; the scale of the effect depends on the payment. <a id=\"variant-play-07\"></a>\n- Kicker / overpay. Rule: A card can be played at the base price or you can pay extra for an additional effect. <a id=\"variant-play-08\"></a>\n- Conditional free play. Rule: After a certain action or when a condition is met, the card stops requiring regular payment. <a id=\"variant-play-09\"></a>\n- Modal card. Rule: When cast, the player chooses one of the card's alternative functions. <a id=\"variant-play-10\"></a>\n- Pitch / dual-use. Rule: A card can be spent to pay for another card or produce a resource instead of its main effect. <a id=\"variant-play-11\"></a>\n- Off-hand play. Rule: A card can be used from the top of the deck, from the discard pile, from the reserve, or from the temporary exception. <a id=\"variant-play-12\"></a>\n- Autoplay. Rule: The effect applies the card without the player's normal selection, sometimes with automatic target selection. <a id=\"variant-play-13\"></a>\n- Reaction / interrupt. Rule: A card is used in response to an event, an enemy action, or another player's move. <a id=\"variant-play-14\"></a>"},{"id":"context","title":"Context and limits","body":"Design taxonomy of basic rules and options, including card operations and external systems. The number of entries is not a generally accepted classification of independent mechanics."}],"relations":[],"placements":[{"catalogId":"deck-building","id":"family-play","title":"Deck building","url":"https://gamemechanics.pro/en/mechanics/deck-building/#family-play","categoryIds":["section-2"]}],"supersededBy":[],"attributes":{"preview":{"updatedAt":"2026-10-21","title":"Card costs and energy","description":"Playing a card spends a limited turn resource. The player weighs cost against effect and chooses actions that fit the budget.","image":{"src":"images/mechanics/slay-the-spire-battle.webp","width":1440,"height":810,"game":"Slay the Spire","sourceUrl":"https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/","originalUrl":"https://www.megacrit.com/images/ss8.jpg","credit":"Mega Crit","rights":"© Mega Crit. All rights reserved.","caption":"Card cost and available energy","alt":"Slay the Spire: one energy remains on the left and the selected card costs one energy.","markers":[{"x":11,"y":82,"label":"Energy remaining this turn"},{"x":43,"y":63,"label":"The selected card’s cost"}]},"tips":["Show the remaining resource and the cost at the same time.","Explain why an unavailable card cannot be played."],"examples":[{"title":"Slay the Spire","url":"https://www.megacrit.com/press-kits/slay-the-spire/"}]}},"endsAt":null,"provenance":"Original editorial design catalog consolidated from project discussions on 2026-10-20. Complete discussion item lists and contextual limitations are preserved; linked primary sources support specific techniques, not the entire classification. English translation was prepared with machine assistance and editorial review.","license":"CC-BY-4.0","codeLicense":"MIT","attribution":"gamemechanics.pro contributors","catalogKey":"catalog/deck-building"}}