Suffering damage forces you to Downgrade one or more of the Mage Cards in your Hand.

To Downgrade a card, Orient it so that its Level is reduced by 1. This Soaks damage equal to the card’s Armor before it is Downgraded. If the Ether element of the Amor matches that of the Enemy’s Attack , the Armor Soaks double it's printed value. Armor without an Ether element never doubles its value.

If you Downgrade a Level 1 card, Trash it instead, removing it from play for the rest of the game. Put Trashed cards between the Dragon Card and the inactive Region Card to separate them from the rest of the Deck.

If a card can Soak more damage than it needs to, it is still Downgraded.

If unsoaked damage remains after Downgrading a card, Downgrade another card, repeating this process until all damage has been accounted for.

You cannot Downgrade the same card more than once in the same Encounter.

If you cannot Soak all of the damage you must suffer with the cards in your Hand, you are Knocked Out. In that case, Downgrade any cards not already Downgraded this Encounter and discard four cards from the top of the Deck. Then, continue play.