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Mountain Magic

Introduction

The war has been long and bloody. Both you and your enemy have suffered hard and heavy losses through your countless assaults and counterstrikes. Your resources are dwindling fast, and at times it seemed that you were about to lose control of it all. Fortunately, your enemy is in the same position. You stand in the middle of an uneasy, precarious balance, a balance that could shift in either direction with no warning at all.

After what seemed to be eons of studying and incantations that nearly drained you of all your strength, you have located a place of immense power, power that could be used to banish your enemy from the face of the world forever. You ready the remainder of your troops to set for this place where victory will be yours.

Shortly thereafter you catch a spy. Too late, the ogre had already informed your enemy of your plans and is also preparing his assault on the place of power. You are in need of utmost haste. Your enemy's last reported position of Ghazban is days closer than your current holdout in the Kerr Ridges.

When you arrive at the foot of the mountain, you realize that your fears were not unfounded. Already the face of the mountain is dotted with countless campfires. Your advanced scouts report many sentry patrols. Your enemy is nearing the place of power near the mountain's summit.

Next morning at the break of day, you start your assault. This is unlikely to be the final battle, but it is probably the most important.

Object

To climb the Magic Mountain, bringing up enough forces to destroy the forces occupying it.

Setup

First you need to create a solitaire deck. This deck should compose of sixty-five cards with the following distribution (you can substitute an artifact for any non-land card, to a maximum of four artifacts):

Twenty lands, four of each color. Any multi-lands can be substituted for any land that generates either mana produced by the multi-land.
Fifteen creatures, three from each color.
Ten sorceries, two from each color.
Ten enchantments, two from each color.
Ten fast effects (interrupts and instants) of your choosing.

Separate the land cards from the rest of the deck. Shuffle the land deck and the spell deck separately. Clear a rather large section of your table. Place the land deck on one side of the table and the spell deck on the other side. Turn over the first seven cards from your spell deck and place them in a row at the foot of the table. This represents your initial forces. From an unused deck of cards, choose five cards at random and place them face down without looking at them at the head of the table. These represent the forces occupying the mountain. These cards should be non-land cards.

The Play

Start by flipping over the top card in your spell deck. If you are able to, you can place this card on the next row, touching two cards in the row below it. If you are unable to play the card immediately, you must place it face up in your discard pile. You can place a card from the spell deck on two adjacent cards in a row if any of the following apply:

The new card has at least one thing in common with each of the cards below it.
The new card will complete a "set" with the two cards below it. A set includes: three types of spells (enchantment, sorcery and fast effect spells), or placing a card on two of its color's natural enemies.

Continuing Play

If, after placing any card on your mountain, you are able to legally place the first face up card in your graveyard on your mountain, you may do so. If you are unable to move any cards from your graveyard to the mountain, draw another card and continue. Artifacts are wild cards. That is, they may be placed on any set of cards and any card may be placed on an artifact if it has something in common with the other card upon which it is placed.

If you draw the last card from you spell deck and cannot legally place it or complete the mountain, you have failed to climb the mountain and lose immediately.

When the Mountain is Complete

When the mountain is complete, trace a path from the top card to the bottom of the mountain. These cards represent the forces you will use to overthrow the occupying forces. The path is chosen as such: starting with the top card, choose one of the cards it is touching in the row below it. Repeat with the chosen card until you choose a card in the bottom row.

After having chosen your forces, turn over the five cards representing the occupying forces and do battle. You may want to remove the chosen cards from the mountain at this point.

Battle

Both you and your "opponent" draw from your mana deck. You and your enemy use mana to power your cards. A card is considered powered when it has received enough mana to satisfy its colored mana requirement. Artifacts cannot be powered. They are under a damping field.

Draw a card from the mana deck. If any of your cards are able to use that colored mana place it on the card. If the card is powered, you may use it. Otherwise, draw a card for your opponent. If your opponent can use this mana, it shall be used. If any choice is involved, follow this order:

Counterspells, power sinks, spell blasts, etc.
Damage dealing spells
Creatures

You are allowed to place only one land card per turn. You and your opponent continue to take turns drawing cards until the mana deck is empty or one of the forces is eliminated. After a card is used, it becomes unpowered and must be powered again before it is reused.

Creature Battle

Powered creatures can attack any one creature of the opposing forces. If more than one creature is powered, they may attack the same creature. Compare power vs. toughness and remove any dead creatures from play. The opposing forces will always assign damage to kill the greatest number of creatures. Powered creatures of the opponents will attack the creature with the highest power, providing it can survive the attack.

Only flyers can launch an attack against a powered flyer. If a landwalker is powered, it can only be attacked by another landwalker of the same type. If a powered creature has a special ability, it may be used. Special abilities which have an activation cost must be powered separately at the cost written on the card. These abilities can be "stacked" or saved up by paying for more than one use. If part of the cost to use the special ability requires that the card become tapped, the creature will become unpowered.

Spell Battle

Powered damage dealing spells with an X as the casting cost will have X large enough to do exactly the amount needed to kill the creature it is targeting. Spells of this nature powered by the opponent will be targeted at your creature with the highest power. Powered counterspell effects can be targeted at sorceries, instants and interrupts, whether powered or not. They cannot be targeted at creatures; they have been summoned long ago. If a spell is counterspelled, it is removed from play. Counterspells by your opponent will first target your counterspells, then your damage dealing spells. Counterspells with an X as part of the casting cost will have X large enough to be exactly the amount needed to counter the target spell. X-spells that do not cause damage or counter spells will have an X equal to three.

Special Rules

Effects that cause a powered card to become tapped unpower it. Effects that cause an unpowered card to become tapped remove the target card from the game. Effects that cause an unpowered card to become untapped power it. Powered cards cannot benefit from "untapping".

If you are forced to pick up extra cards, take them from the land deck. Remember that you are allowed to place only one land per turn. The extras must be discarded immediately. If you are forced to discard, discard from the top of the land deck. This includes the card that would normally have been drawn by the wizard targeted by the effect. These cards are out of play for the remainder of the game.

If an effect calls for the destruction of a land, destroy the next land card to be drawn by the wizard targeted by the effect.

Upkeep costs for creatures must be paid immediately upon powering of the creature. Upkeep costs must only be paid once for each power up. If the cost cannot be paid upon power up, then the creature will refuse to serve you and walk from the battlefield. Unpowered creatures do not require upkeep payment.

Effects that cause the emptying of a mana pool will cause all cards of the target wizard to become unpowered. Cards that would normally have been drawn from your library due to some effect must be drawn from the cards remaining in your mountain.

End of Game

The game can end in any of the following ways:

Your forces destroy all cards in the enemy's territory. You find him and say "NI" until he goes mad and jumps off of a cliff. This is a total victory.
You draw your last mana card and your opponent has spells in play, but no creatures. All spells fizzle. Your remaining creatures can take over the mountain. This is a victory.
You draw your last mana card and neither you nor your opponent has any creatures in play. All spells fizzle. You have fought for naught. This is a draw.
Your draw your last mana card and both your and your opponent have creatures in play. All spells fizzle. A passing Shivan Dragon sees your exhausted troops and decides to have lunch. This is a draw.
You draw your last mana card and you have no creatures in play. Your opponent's remaining creatures have a firm hold on the mountain. Try again tomorrow. This is a defeat.
Your enemy destroys all your cards. He then finds you hiding under a shrubbery, whimpering and calling for your mommy. He forces you to watch reruns of the Smurfs dubbed in Icelandic with Russian subtitles. This is an absolute, total, humiliating defeat. Have a nice day.

History

This variant was created by Dean Maki.