Mana Screw? Try Spoils

[Revelade]

I just got into Spoils yesterday and I have to say I like it a LOT. It plays a lot like Magic in some ways, yet has it's own identity in others.

The first thing you'll notice is that you start with a faction, aka rules to play the game, depending on which faction you pick. Well there's only one so far and it's called the tournament faction. What happens before you start the game is that each player looks through his deck and finds 2 resources and places them facedown in his pile. Then to start the game, the first player takes 8 cards, while the second player takes 9.

Mulligans are handled by simply placing any number of cards on the bottom of the deck and drawing the same amount.

On every turn, you have to decide if you want to place a resource OR draw a card. You can only do one of the two at the start of your turn. You can however, pay 3 to draw a card or pay 4 to place a resource down as many times as you want on any turn, so long as you have the resources. This prevents slow games.

Creature cards are called characters. Not only do they have the typical attack and health, but they have speed. Speed is like first-strike. Whoever has the faster speed gets first strike. A tie in speed results in a regular battle. This element adds a third dimension to battles.

Instant cards are called tactics and are played on either players turn.

There are item cards and locations. Items work like enchantments... they can be on the field or on a character. Locations give some powerful effect, but have limited health. That means if 5 was their health, then a character attacks the location for 2 damage, the health becomes 3.

They way resources work is the biggest change. Any card can be placed as a face down resource. It'll count towards the TOTAL resource cards required to play a card, but you'll have symbols that tell you how many REAL resources you need in order to play some cards.

There are 5 "colors" or "trades" in the game. They are the arcanist, gearsmith, rogue, warlord and banker. They are different from the colors of MTG.

The arcanists do things like bounce and they have creatures that have the equivalent of shadow. The gearsmith is like green in a way that they accelerate bigger guys. They do have a lot of items and such. Rogue is about tricky play. They might look through your deck to discard cards or actually have your discarded used against you. Warlord are simply straightforward beaters with good stats. Bankers draw lots of cards and have good removal.

Sounds overwhelming no?

Well, it was when I played the sealed tournament they day I learned the game.

I went with arcanists, banker and rogue.

The day went good. I had lots of early arcanist cards to use. I rarely got to use my rogue cards. Banker cards were absolutely critical to my win. Surprisingly, they had lots of removal and drew me lots of cards.

The top moments were in my first game, I had a character that drew cards at the cost of a damage token on him and he had 2 health. This means he would die after 2 draws. Well I had an item card that gives a health for each token on him. I could get a card a turn with this guy.

But however the best moment was the final game against the best guy there. Turn 1, he played the rarest card in the set, the Heist Planner. Once this guy hits the table, he can go through my deck and discard 3 of my cards. I was discourged. Then on turn 4, he put a guy with 6 ATK on the board. I was alarmed. Luckily, on my turn 5, I got a character that tutors any tactic (instant) card from my deck. I got a removal that read, "Destroy opponent's character, unless he allows you to draw as many cards as the ATK of the character." And... he let me draw 6 cards.

In the end, my card advantage allowed me to swarm my enemy. When time was called his side was empty, except for a guy and two covert guys. Covert is Shadow in magic. Needless to say, the covert guys could not block. He had 10 health and I had 16. So I swung into him and... won!

ANYWAY...

Spoils is great for a number of reasons.

- Speed adds a third dimension to combat.
- A lot of minor details in magic have been removed like mana burn or hand limits.
- You can place any card facedown as "gray" resource in terms of magic
- You can always pay mana to either draw cards or accelerate your resources
- The art is... interesting?

Give it a try. It takes the best elements of magic and removes mana screw.

[Vadriel]

Actually sounds kinda cool. I can't get into another TCG, and I don't know anyone who plays around here, but that's an interesting system.

[Revelade]

Yea, finding players can be tough, but... I really like the game.

If I overloaded you with information, all I can say that I really noticed was that:

- You either play a resource or draw a card when your turn starts
- You can ALWAYS pay 3 to draw a card or pay 4 to play a resource
- Speed is another thing to watch
- any card can be a resource
- start the game with 2 resources ALREADY in play

[Vadriel]

What's your total life start out as?

[Revelade]

If you know what vanguard is in magic, it'll help you understand what I'm about to say.

Okay, in addition to the deck you play, you also have a "faction" card you use with your deck. This faction card determines how your deck will play. Right now there's only one card, it's called the "tournament faction". You start with 25 Life. Life is known as influence in this game.

But another faction card might come out that starts at say... 30 life, but might give you less drawing capabilities.

In magic terms... the faction card is essentially a big sticker that says, you start with 20 life and start with 7 cards. But they might change it to for example, you start with 30 life, but you draw 5 cards, etc.

So right now, you start at 25 life, first player draws 8 cards and second player draws 9.

What i can say about the game is it is really streamlined. When you mulligan, you just pick the cards from your hand that you don't like, simply place it under your deck and draw the same amount you put back. Things like no hand size limit and the ability to draw whenever make the game work smoothly.

Other than popularity, I have to say Spoils is the best strategy card game I've played.