Spells control the board rather than fighting on it, and they are cast before you roll the dice. The Culdcept BEGINS best spell cards are the ones that change what your opponent can do — because a Spell that decides the turn is worth more than a Spell that deals damage.

Culdcept BEGINS Best Spell Cards: The Extra Six

There are 120 Spell cards in total, and the six Extra ones are the most powerful effects in the game.

  • Armageddon deals 30 damage to every creature with 40 or more MHP and lowers the level of all the territories those creatures occupy by one.
  • Culdra averages the current magic of all Cepters, locks every Cepter's next dice roll to 6 and fully heals the HP of all creatures.
  • Bistair, Iksear, Selenear and Terrair each draw two cards of a fixed type: Bistair draws Fire creatures or weapons, Iksear draws Water creatures or armor, Selenear draws Earth creatures or tools, and Terrair draws Air creatures or scrolls. Because a card may be copied up to four times, one of these can hold a quarter of your Book.

Rare Spells by Job

Direct removal

  • Evil Blast — 30 damage to one enemy creature.
  • Avalanche — 30 damage to every creature on a level 5 territory.
  • Tempest — 20 damage to every creature with AT 40 or under.
  • Dread Blast — 30 damage to a creature whose element differs from the territory it occupies.
  • Elemental Wrath — 20 damage to every creature whose element differs from the territory it occupies.
  • Death Miasma — 20 damage to every Attacks First and Support creature.
  • Insect Swarm — 20 damage to every creature that has lost HP.
  • Punisher — 20 damage to every creature carrying an enchantment.

Terrain

  • Meteor lowers the level of the target territory by two; an unchained territory drops to level 1.
  • Mass Growth gives HP and MHP+5 to all creatures.
  • Mass Phantasm locks the HP of all creatures so spells cannot change it.
  • Metal Form gives the target creature Neutralizes Attacks but it cannot use armor.
  • Erasure clears all enchantments from creatures and Cepters.
  • Quicksand forces any Cepter that steps onto the target territory to stop.
  • Dream Terrain lets you gain 50% of the tolls collected by other Cepters for 5 rounds.
  • Senility destroys the target creature at the end of the battle.
  • Immobilize stops creatures from using Creature Move during territory development.

Economy and control

  • Manna pays (laps completed + 1) ×100 magic.
  • Incineration pays 20 magic per creature destroyed so far, then the count resets.
  • Corruption makes the target Cepter lose 10 magic per symbol it owns.
  • Disbelief makes every Cepter lose 5 magic per symbol.
  • Unholy Grasp removes 10 of the target Cepter's most numerous symbol and gives you the equivalent magic.
  • Footrace locks every Cepter's next two dice rolls to their rank ×2.
  • Holy Word 1, 3, 6 and 8 lock the target's next roll to that number; Haste locks their next two rolls to 5-7 and Slow locks them to 1-3.

Card manipulation

Shatter destroys a non-creature card in the target's hand, Theft steals a spell card from the target's hand, Poison Mind lets you view the top 6 cards of the target's book and destroy one, Changeling turns two cards left in the target's book into Neutral Goblins, Discord transforms every copy of the most numerous creature type on the board into Neutral Goblins, Polymorph transforms the target creature into a random different creature, Turn to Wall transforms the target creature into a Defensive creature of the same element, and Reform turns every copy of the chosen non-creature card in every hand and Book into a Manna.

Cards and tempo

Prophecy draws one card of the selected type, Foresight lets you look at the top 6 cards of your Book and take one, Find draws one card and returns it to your hand, Wind of Hope draws two cards, Reincarnation discards your hand and draws the same number plus one, Gift gives you 50 magic times your current rank and draws that many cards, Temptation lets you use the target creature's Territory Ability, and Telekinesis moves a target creature one space.

Movement

Fly rolls two dice and moves the total, Shadow Leap warps 1-5 spaces, Escape warps to the nearest vacant territory, Mountain Leap, Lake Leap, Forest Leap and Plain Leap warp to the nearest territory of that element, and Word of Recall warps straight to the castle.

The Spells Most Books Actually Run

The most useful spells are rarely the biggest ones. Manna, Holy Word 3 and Holy Word 8, Shatter, Wind of Hope, Evil Blast and a movement spell are the ones that appear in most competitive Books.

Spell Combos Worth Building

Some Spells are only good because of what they sit next to: Conjurer lands a Ba-Al on a territory the same turn Evil Blast clears it, and the Shift spells pull a land out of an enemy's chain without a fight. Card combos lists the pairings that are worth building a Book around.

Spells That Decide the Run Home

Movement Spells are the difference between winning the map and winning the match. Fly and Word of Recall are what you cast when the number is reached on the wrong side of the board. How to win a match covers when to spend them.