Wizard's Arena (hereafter WA) is a 2-player battle game made to be played over digital media (such as forums). Each player plays a wizard capable of summoning powerful warriors to do battle. Each player starts with 15 life; reduce your foe to 0 Life to win. Enter the arena!
ZONES:
Since WA doesn't have a game board, zones are the areas of play that contain cards. The contents of all zones are public knowledge as is the order of each player's Pattern.
Pattern:
Each player starts the game with 25 cards in their Pattern. Except as noted, cards in a player's Pattern remain in their initial order. Each player owns all cards that start the game in their pattern, no matter where those cards go during the game.
Hand:
Each player starts the game with no cards in their Hand. Each turn, players move cards from their Pattern to their Hand. Players can only summon the cards currently in their hand.
Arena:
The arena starts the game empty, but most of the action in the game starts here. When you summon a card from your Hand, it goes into the Arena.
CARD STATS:
Each card has 3 very important stats: cost, attack and health. Every card has a stat line that looks like this: [B]C1-A1/H1(---)
The letter is the ID letter of the card. The numbers are Cost, Attack and Health, in that order. If there is an word at the end, that word is a special ability. The various abilities in WA are Source, Healer, Crasher, Blocker, Stealth, Support, Archer and Leader. The effect of these abilities are explained as they come up in the rules.
RESOURCES:
Players have to manage 3 important resources in WA.
Life:
Each player starts the game with 15 Life. If a player ever has 0 or less Life, they lose the game instantly. A player can never have more than 15 Life.
Crystals:
Each player starts the game with 0 Crystals and gains 1 Crystal every turn. Crystals give mana. A player can never have more than 5 Crystals.
Mana:
Each player starts the game with 0 Mana and gains 1 Mana every turn for every Crystal they have. Mana is spent to play cards and is lost at the end of each turn. A player can never have more than 8 Mana.
BUILDING YOUR PATTERN:
To build a pattern, choose 25 cards; you may not choose the same card more than 3 times. Put the cards in the order of your choosing; in digital formats, put the card's ID letters in the order of your choosing.
ACTIONS:
This section describes how you can play cards and spend mana. During each turn, you will have a Summoning phase in which you can play as many cards as you can afford.
Summoning:
One of the most important actions in WA is Summoning. To Summon a card, choose one of the cards in your Hand. Pay Mana equal to the Cost of the card and move it to the Arena.
Triggering:
The Support, Archer and Leader abilities can be Triggered. There are two ways to trigger these abilities: Casting or Flashing.
To Cast trigger an ability, you must have the card with the ability in the Arena and it must have been there since the start of the turn. Pay 1 Mana and resolve the ability. A card can only be Cast triggered once per turn.
To Flash trigger an ability, the card with the ability must be in your Hand. Pay Mana equal to the Cost of the card minus 1 and resolve the ability. Afterward, move the card to the end of your Pattern.
The effect of the triggered ability is as follows:
Support: Target a card in the Arena. Increase the Attack of the target card by the Attack of the triggered card; increase the Health of the target card by the Health of the triggered card. This increase lasts until the start of your next turn.
Archer: Target a card in the Arena. Deal damage to the target card equal to the Attack of the triggered card.
Leader: Target a card in the Arena. Give the target card Blocker; furthermore, increase the Health of the target card by the Health of the triggered card. These effects last until the start of your next turn.
ROLLOVER:
Running through your Pattern can be a bad thing. After the starting cut, each player puts the Rollover card/mark (X) at the end of their Pattern. Whenever the Rollover mark (X) reaches the start of your Pattern, you suffer Rollover. You lose 3 Life. Then, move the Rollover mark to the end of your Pattern.
COMBAT:
The primary way to win the game is to attack with your cards.
During each turn, you will have an Attack phase. During your attack phase, you may declare any number of attacks. Each attack is resolved one at a time.
When you declare an attack, choose one of your cards in the arena; this card is the Attacker. The chosen card must have been in the arena at the start of your turn and may not have been Triggered this turn. If the Attacker has the Blocker ability, it loses that ability until the start of your next turn.
If the Attacker has the ability Crasher, you can spend 1 Mana to increase its Attack by 3; this increase lasts until the end of the phase.
Then, target either a card in the arena or another player; the target is the Defender. If a player has cards with Blocker in the arena, you can not attack them or any of their non-Blocker cards; if the attacker has the Stealth ability, it can ignore this rule.
Finally, the Attacker and Defender do battle. The Attacker deals damage to the Defender equal to its Attack. If the Defender is a card, it deals damage to the Attacker equal to its Attack. Damage dealt to a player reduces their Life.
DESTROYING A CARD:
If a card in the Arena ever has damage equaling or exceeding its Health, it is destroyed. When one of your cards is destroyed, move it to the bottom of your Pattern. Damage taken by cards is removed at the end of every turn.
SETUP:
To play, you will need two players. Each player needs to have crafted their own Pattern. Each player starts with 15 Life. Select a random player to go first.
Before the first turn, each player needs to perform the Starting Cut. The player taking the first turn chooses a number between 0 and 24 and then moves that many cards from the start of their opponent's Pattern to the end of their opponent's Pattern. The other player than does the same. Afterward, each player puts the Rollover card/mark (X) at the end of their pattern.
Each player moves the first 3 cards in their Pattern to their Hand. That player starts the game with their Opening Phase.
TURN FLOW:
Below are the parts of a turn. Each turn proceeds in the same sequence.
Opening Phase:
During your Opening Phase, you gain resources.
First, you gain 1 Crystal. Then, you gain 1 Mana for every Crystal you have plus 1 for each card you have in the Arena with the Source ability.
If you have any cards in the arena with the Healer ability, you may pay 1 Crystal to gain 1 Life for each of them.
In addition, effects that last "until the start of your next turn" end now.
Lastly, move the top card of your Pattern to your Hand. You may pay 1 Crystal to move the top two cards instead.
Summoning Phase:
During your Summoning Phase, you may take any number of Summon or Trigger actions.
Attack Phase:
During your Attack Phase, you may declare and resolve any number of attacks.
Closing Phase:
During your Ending Phase, remove all damage from all cards in the arena and lose all remaining Mana.
Ending the Turn:
After your Closing Phase, it's now your opponent's turn. Players alternate turns until someone runs out of Life and loses the game. If your opponent loses, you win!
CARD LIST:
A complete list of all 21 cards in AW can be found here:
[A]C0-A0/H1(Blocker)
[B]C1-A1/H1(---)
[C]C1-A0/H2(Blocker)
[D]C1-A0/H1(Source)
[E]C1-A0/H1(Crasher)
[F]C1-A0/H1(Leader)
[G]C2-A2/H1(---)
[H]C2-A1/H2(---)
[I]C2-A0/H3(Blocker)
[J]C2-A1/H1(Support)
[K]C2-A1/H1(Archer)
[L]C2-A1/H1(Stealth)
[M]C2-A0/H2(Crasher)
[N]C2-A0/H2(Source)
[O]C2-A0/H2(Leader)
[P]C3-A2/H2(---)
[Q]C3-A1/H3(Blocker)
[R]C3-A2/H1(Archer)
[S]C3-A1/H2(Support)
[T]C3-A0/H3(Healer)
[U]C4-A2/H3(Blocker)
