Battle Decks
The fun of a game like Magic with none of the cost. All you need is a normal deck of playing cards for each player to take on the role of a Wizard fighting for dominance.
Setup
Each player needs a standard deck of 52 cards, setting any jokers aside. Each player shuffles their deck and draws 12 cards from it. They choose 7 to keep as their starting hand and shuffle the other 5 back into their deck. Each player then deals five cards from their deck to form their Shield row. Choose a random player to go first.
Card Suits
Each suit has a special meaning.
- Diamonds -- Diamonds are Mana Crystals. Wizards use them to power their spells.
At any time, you may exhaust a Diamond to gain Mana equal to its Rank.
When you spend Mana, any excess Mana you have is lost instantly; you can't split the mana from one Crystal between two things.
- Clubs -- Clubs are Flame Dragons. Wizards summon them to wage war against their opponents.
- Hearts -- Hearts are Ice Golems. Wizards summon them to ward off opposing monsters.
- Dragons and Golems are collectively known as Monsters.
If a Monster ever takes damage equaling or exceeding its Rank, the monster is discarded.
- Spades -- Spades are Lightning Orbs. Wizards use them to blast away at opposing monsters and to defend against other lightning orbs.
Card Ranks
Each card's Rank indicates how powerful it is. Jacks are Rank 11, Queens are Rank 12 and Kings are Rank 13. Aces are always Rank 1.
Exhaustion
During play, cards on the table will be exhausted when used. While a card is exhausted, you can not do anything that would exhaust that card. When a card is reset, it becomes unexhausted and can be used again.
Running out of Cards
If you need to draw a card from your deck and no cards remain, draw from your Shield row instead. If you can't (because your Shield row is empty), you have run out of energy; you lose the battle and your opponent wins.
Flow of a Turn
During a player's turn, they progress through the following 4 phases in order.
Reset Phase
NOTE: The player who goes first skips this entire step on their first turn.
Reset all of your cards on the table. Then, draw 1 card from your deck into your hand; you may spend 10 Mana to draw an extra card. After drawing, advance to your Play Phase.
Play Phase
You can play any number of cards from your hand, as long as you can pay for them. Once you finish playing all of the cards you want to play, advance to your Battle Phase.
Battle Phase
You can have your Monsters attack your opponent. Choose any number of Monsters you control to attack with. You may choose any number of Dragons and up to one Golem. A Monster can not be attack if it was played this turn. All attacking Monsters are exhausted.
For each attacking Monster, your opponent may choose one or two of their Monsters to block it. Only unexhausted Monsters may block and each may one block one attacker. At most one Dragon may block once per turn.
Closing Phase
At this time, Monsters heal, removing all damage from all monsters. If you have more than 7 cards in your hand, discard cards from your hand until you have only 7. After discarding, your opponent starts their turn with their Reset Phase.