Magic: the War Game
n this two to four player
variant, your goal is to navigate your creatures through areas of
terrain in the center of the table and reach the strongholds of your
opponents. Most of the rules are covered in the turn sequence, but
first, there are a couple of important rules governing the casting of
spells.
Global spells and effects
do not affect the entire table. Instead, you must choose a terrain that
you are targeting; only creatures within that terrain are affected. You
may never target an opponent's stronghold terrain. Creatures with
special abilities that target creatures may only target creatures that
are in the same terrain. Finally, you may only target opposing creatures
with a spell or effect if you have a creature in the same or an adjacent
terrain.
Object
Overwhelm your opponent(s)
with an army of creatures and take over their stronghold(s). When you
control all the strongholds, you win.
Setup
Each player needs a deck of
at least forty cards - no lands except for one basic land of each
player's choice. Shuffle another fifteen lands, three of each, and lay
them out face up in a 3x5 grid. Each of these lands is considered a
"terrain." Players then place their own basic land face down
to signify their stronghold.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
C
|
|
|
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
E
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
D
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rules Changes
You do not have any life
points. You win by taking over other players' strongholds.
You only gain mana from a
six-sided die which you roll at the beginning of your turn or from
creatures that can be tapped for mana.
Any cards that would go
into the graveyard are placed in a "removed from the game"
pile. If you run out of cards in your library, shuffle all these cards
to create a new library.
Creatures do not heal at
the end of turn. All damage remains until healed during the heal phase
or until removed by spells.
The Tides of War
Players take turns in a
clockwise fashion, rolling a die to see who goes first. The modified
turn sequence is as follows.
 | Untap Phase: standard untap phase. |
| Draw Phase: all players start with five cards
in hand. On your turn, draw one card. |
| Supply Phase: roll a six-sided die to determine
how many supply points (mana) you add to your mana pool. You do not
have to spend all of these points, and whatever is not spent can be
carried over into your next turn. Any creatures that may be tapped
for mana may be used at this point as well. |
| Upkeep/Heal Phase: upkeep costs are paid using
supply points. You may heal your creatures by spending a supply
point for each damage point healed, up to a maximum of two points
per creature. All creatures with regeneration automatically heal one
point for free during this phase. |
| Movement Phase: You may move each of your
creatures one space, horizontally or vertically, to an adjacent
terrain. Creatures with the flying ability may also move diagonally.
Moving a creature does not cause it to tap, and tapped creatures can
still move normally. Creatures with landwalking ability have special
movement. If a landwalker's initial move is into a terrain in which
it is "attuned," it may move one additional time. |
| Special rules also apply to island and mountain
terrains. For islands, only creatures that have flying or islandhome
may enter this terrain unaided. Conversely, islandhome creatures can
only move across non-island terrains if they are "carried"
by another creature. Both creatures remain tapped and cannot untap
until the islandhome creature is moved into an island; the carrier
remains where it is for that turn. |
|
All creatures entering a mountain
terrain become tapped at the end of the movement phase. Neither this
restriction nor the island one apply to strongholds; however, when a
group of creatures attacks a stronghold, the owner of the stronghold
may tap one of the attackers. |
|
Combat Phase: when your
creatures enter a terrain containing an opponent's creatures, you
are considered the attacker and combat ensues. Combat begins after
all movement is done. Any creature whose color matches the terrain
in which it is located gains a +1/+1 bonus which lasts until the
creature moves to a different terrain. Players can respond with fast
effects to alter power/toughness ratings or to remove a creature
from the game. |
|
After
all fast effects are resolved, total the power of the remaining
untapped creatures on both sides. You may divide the damage your
creatures do among your opponent's creatures however you choose -
unless one of the opposing creatures has banding, in which case,
your opponent chooses. No creature may be dealt more damage than its
current toughness. Your opponent then does the same for your
creatures.
|
|
Players
may now cast healing spells or use any CoP's they control to prevent
damage. Any creatures receiving lethal damage are placed in the
"removed from the game" pile. Use counters to mark any
damage taken by the surviving creatures.
|
| Casting Phase:
supply points are used to cast spells, one point per mana required
to cast the particular card; colored mana doesn't matter. When you
cast a creature, it is placed in your stronghold. If you already
have three creatures in there, you cannot summon more until you
create a vacancy.
|
| Discard
Phase: each player's maximum hand size is eight cards. |
How To Win
At the end of a turn, if
you are the only player with creatures in an opponent's stronghold, you
take control. That player is not out of the game, but they no longer
gain any supply points and they may not bring any new creatures into
play. If they manage to retake their stronghold, they may once again
gain supply points and cast creatures. The game ends when one player
controls all the strongholds.
History
This variant was created by Zev Shlasinger.
