Grail Map and Nodes
The river is the real game. Combat is the replay of the nodes you took.
Every Grail day is a short walk along a river or a hillside with a handful of nodes and a player battle at the end. If you treat the map as flavour, you will arrive at PvP with the wrong gold, the wrong health, and a deck that does not match itself. This page is the node sheet. Pair it with how to win a run and the run planner.
How a day is laid out
The overworld shows a portrait, a health bar, a deck-count badge, gold, trophies, a day clock, and hearts for player-battle progress. Banners on the land are prices: 0, 2, 4, or 8 gold. A ribbon such as Low energy shop or Medium shop names the special node. Woods clusters offer Search, Berries, Forage, or a weird mushroom. You click one node, pay if it costs, resolve the event, then the next choice appears until the day closes with a snapshot fight.
You cannot rewind a node. You can skip some events. Skipping is a skill, not a cowardice check.
Shop nodes
Shops sell cards from your hero’s pool. A Ratagnan shop will not print Johanna’s prosthetic. Read characters before you copy a snapshot you lost to.
Common shop flavours in footage:
- Low energy shop — recovery when last fight stalled on unfilled pips. Take it when energy and cards is the problem, not when you merely want a rare.
- Medium shop — ordinary gold sink. Fine when you have a named engine and leftover coins.
- Rare shop — tempting. Only if the rare fills and matches the sentence of the run. See starter builds.
Shop windows in launch footage show three cards at once, for example Arrowroot, Caltrops, and Matchstick on a river day. Caltrops (“6, when opponent shuffles, this”) is a poison-shuffle tax. Matchstick is a burn seed. Arrowroot is a food-adjacent tool. Buy the one that ticks a box on the synergy checklist. Leave the rest. You can sell later; you cannot unspend the gold you used to clutter the deck.
Free cards and gold finds
Free-three commons exist to rescue broke decks, not to celebrate. If you are already at ten cards, a free common is still a pip competitor. [Find gold] nodes print coins without a fight. Take them when the next banner is 8 and you have 6.
Woods and forage
Woods nodes are event clusters: Search, Berries, Forage, weird mushroom. They can inject a trait that costs 8 or more, a small heal, or a skip. The skip button is real. If the trait names cheese and you are on Ratagnan bleed, skip. If it completes a Mabel food hook, pay. Details on greedy traits live on the trait tier list.
Side quests are fights or events with a reward. They cost health. Take them when HP is high and the reward is gold or an attack upgrade. Skip them at three player-battle losses even if they look spicy. That rule is also on how to win a run.
Blacksmith and trait shops
The anvil upgrades a card and may attach a blister. Upgrades and enchantments is the refuse-or-accept script. Trait shops sell passives. You hold three. Hold to remove. Do not visit a trait shop because the node is pretty. Visit it because a slot is empty and the text names a type you own.
Price discipline
An 8-gold shop when you have 9 gold means the next node is skipped whether you like it or not. Plan two banners ahead. Gold-rich and HP-poor: heals, skip side quests. HP-rich and gold-poor: free cards or a paying side quest, skip the anvil. Both rich: anvil then a trait if a slot is empty. Both poor: 0-gold node or a sell.
The day clock on the right is not decoration. Day 10 is the boss. Arrive with lives and a thin deck, not with a museum of souvenirs.
How to find the node you actually need
- Name the engine in six words.
- Ask whether last fight filled pips. If no, hunt a low energy shop or sell.
- Ask whether last PvP was bleed, poison, or shock. Take strip, thinner, or a faster cycle — one answer.
- If a woods cluster offers a mushroom trait, match it to the engine or skip.
- If you are hunting a secret event, take nodes that look like workshops, kitchens, or canals for that hero — not every glowing tree.
The map does not hide a second combat button. It hides the permission to skip. Use it. Then fight. Then open the planner again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What do the gold numbers on map banners mean?
They are node prices: 0, 2, 4, or 8 gold. Pay them or pick another node. An 8-cost shop at 9 gold spends your next choice.
Should I take every Woods event?
No. Skip traits that name a type you do not play. Skipping is part of routing.
When is a low energy shop correct?
When the last fight stalled on unfilled pips. It is a recovery node, not a rare hunt.
Do shops sell every character's cards?
No. Shops use your current hero pool. Ratagnan will not be offered Zappy Iconics.
Where do I track the next node?
On the run planner. Fill it after each player battle, then click one node.