🔺 Promotion System Guide - Ranks, Merges and the Tree

Two recruits on the board merge into a captain for a single Treasure; two captains become a governor. Every deck is a promotion tree with the empire's strongest card at its top — and your opponent will try to cut that tree at the root before you climb it. Promotion is Tughra's core engine: the board is not just where you fight, it is where your deck literally grows taller.

The official example prices a captain at one Treasure (two recruits), which makes the governor tier two captains plus whatever the second merge costs. The strategic implication is that a tall unit is a Treasure investment walking on the board: every removal the opponent points at your governor is a trade of their card against your cards plus your Treasures. Exact costs for all ranks and any empire-specific rules will be confirmed at launch.

Merging is tempo you pay for power: two recruits are two blockers, one captain is one big one. Merge early into aggression (China flooding the board wants your units tall enough to wall), and wait against control (Byzantium punishes a board that commits everything into one fire). The universal rule: never merge into open removal. A governor made the turn before their burn arrives is a donation.

The official description is also a warning: your opponent will try to cut the tree at the root — meaning the low-rank units that would have become your next captain. Defensive play therefore has two layers: protect your tall units from removal, and protect your recruits from being traded away. Conscription (Ottoman) is the sharpest root-cutter in the published set; against it, keep your merge-ready pair apart until the turn you spend them.