What is an ER?

Haymaker costs 2 resources and deals 3 damage. The real price is 3ER, and the number printed in the corner will never tell you that.

ER is the price tag

ER stands for Equivalent Resource. It is the one currency every effect in the game can be converted into, so you can compare a punch, a thwart and a heal on the same scale.

The reason is simple: a resource can pay for any card, so every card competes for the same resources. Resources are the money of the game, and 1 resource is 1ER.

The card you spend counts

Every card you play is a card you no longer hold, and that card could have been a resource. Playing it costs 1ER on top of its printed cost.

Haymaker: 2 resources + 1 card = 3ER for 3 damage. That is 1 damage per ER. This is why a 0-cost event is not free: Emergency costs 0 resources and still costs 1ER.

The three currencies

A turn in this game is a trade between three things: removing threat, dealing damage, and healing. One card of each, priced the same way, gives the exchange rate of each currency. The price of a card is its printed cost plus 1ER for the card.

Threat: 1ER

For Justice! costs 2, so 3ER, and removes 3 threat: 1ER per threat. Pay it with a mental resource and it removes 4: 0.75ER.
Surveillance Team costs 2, so 3ER, and removes 1 threat for each of its 3 counters: 1ER per threat, spread over 3 actions.
Chase Them Down costs 0, so 1ER, and removes 2 threat, but only after your hero defeats an enemy: 0.5ER per threat, if you earned it.

An unconditional threat costs 1ER. Cheaper prices come with a condition you have to pay for elsewhere.

Damage: 0.6ER to 1ER

Haymaker costs 2, so 3ER, for 3 damage: 1ER per damage.
Uppercut costs 3, so 4ER, for 5 damage: 0.8ER per damage.
Relentless Assault costs 2, so 3ER, for 5 damage to a minion: 0.6ER per damage.

The more a card concentrates on a minion, the cheaper the damage. For the HP of a minion, I keep 0.5ER, the price of letting it hit a chump block (see what a hit point costs).

Healing: 0.7ER to 1ER

First Aid costs 1, so 2ER, and heals 2: 1ER per HP.
Med Team costs 3, so 4ER, and heals 2 for each of its 3 counters, 6HP in total: 0.7ER per HP.

The best healing card sets the price, 0.7ER per HP. A basic heal costs 1ER. Preventing the damage is cheaper than healing it: 0.5ER per HP.

For Justice! 3ER / 3 threat = 1ER. Relentless Assault 3ER / 5 damage = 0.6ER. Med Team 4ER / 6HP = 0.7ER. Add the card you draw, 1.2ER, and these four numbers price almost every effect of the game.

What to do with them

Now every card has a price tag, and so does every turn of a villain: his threat, his attack and his encounter cards each convert into ER. A card you draw is worth 1.2ER. Once both sides are in the same currency, you can compare what the villain asks with what you can answer, which is the subject of the next article.

Read the ratio, not the corner.