Fear and Exile in Arnak: Keeping Your Deck Clean

You start every game of Lost Ruins of Arnak already afraid. Two of the six cards in your starting deck are Fear. That is a third of your deck, and in round I you draw five of those six cards. This lesson is about that third: where more Fear comes from, what it really costs, and how to get rid of it.

What a Fear card does

Nothing, as an effect. A Fear card has no effect. It does have a boot in its corner, so it can pay a one-boot travel cost. At the end of the game, each Fear card you own scores minus 1.

That is the obvious cost. The hidden cost is bigger. You draw only 5 cards a round, and a Fear card takes one of those slots. A boot is the weakest travel value in the game, and a Fear card can do nothing else.

How likely you are to see your Fear in round I

In round I you draw 5 of your 6 cards. One card stays on top of your deck for round II.

• The chance the card left behind is a Fear card is 2 in 6, so 1 in 3.
• That means 2 times in 3, you draw both Fear cards in round I.

Plan your first round around a hand that probably has two boots and only three useful effects. The openings lesson shows how to put those boots to work at the starting sites.

Where new Fear comes from

• Guardians. At the end of each round, every archaeologist you bring home from a site with a guardian brings a Fear card, even if someone else woke that guardian. This is the big one.
• Some effects. A few sites and cards give you resources plus a Fear card. The Fear goes face up into your play area, and its travel value cannot be used that round.
• The Snake Temple side. One row’s magnifying glass effect gives you a Fear card. The expansions lesson covers that board.

The box holds 19 Fear cards. If the Fear supply ever runs out, players take fear tiles instead, worth minus 2 each. The rulebook says this was needed only in extremely rare situations during testing.

Order matters at the end of the round

At the end of each round you take your archaeologists home and gain any Fear first, then shuffle your play area under your deck. So Fear from a guardian goes straight into the pile you will draw from next round. A Fear card gained in round IV can still show up in your round V hand.

How exile works

Exile is the only way to remove a card from your deck. When an effect shows the exile symbol, you may send a card from your hand or your play area to exile. Exiled Fear goes back to the Fear supply. Exiled Funding and Exploration cards are set aside near it, and exiled items and artifacts go to their own exile piles on the board.

The rulebook adds a useful tip: exiling from your play area is usually more efficient than exiling from your hand. A Fear card in your hand can still pay for a boot. So spend it on travel first, then exile it from your play area when the effect comes up. You get one more boot out of it for free.

Four habits for a clean deck

1. Spend Fear on boots. When a cost asks for a boot, pay with Fear before anything else.
2. Spend Fear on “use up a card” costs. Some effects ask you to put a card from your hand into play with no effect as their price. Any card works, and a Fear card is the cheapest one to give up.
3. Exile Fear first. When an exile effect comes up, a Fear card is usually the best target. It is a point back and a better hand every time you would have drawn it.
4. Know before you stay. Before you pass, look at both archaeologists. If one sits on a guardian’s site, either overcome the guardian, move away with a relocate effect if you have one, or accept the Fear on purpose.

When taking Fear is fine

Fear is a cost, not a disaster. Discovering a level I site in round I gives you an idol worth 3 points, its reward, and the site tile’s reward. One Fear card in exchange is often a fair trade. What hurts is Fear you did not plan for, round after round.

A deck builder rewards a clean deck. Our explainer on deck building games covers why thinning matters in every game of the genre, not just this one.