Cost

Cost refers to the resources you must have to play a card and/or other requirements enact an effect in The Spoils.

Cost Number
Most cards have a cost number in the upper left corner. It represents the number of resources needed to play the card. To pay a card’s numeric cost, you must attach that many resources to your faction. Once a resource has been attached to your faction, it can’t be used again until it becomes detached. Your faction’s restore rule tells you how and when your resources can be detached.

Extra Costs
Some cards have extra costs written in their rules text. They are clearly labeled and are usually a list of instructions. If you can’t follow all of these instructions, then you can’t play the card. For example, if an extra cost says “pick an item” then you can’t play the card if there are no items in play to pick.

Sometimes an extra cost instructs you to “pay” a number. To satisfy this cost, you must attach that number of resources to your faction.