What would it be like to pit Mages of vastly different schools and philosophies of magic into an arena to fight to the death? How would their spells work against each other? How would a Druid fight an Illusionist? A Paladin against a Shaman? Or a Beastmaster against a Warlock?
The game is played in a battle arena which is divided into 12 separate zones, which regulate movement and range. Mages start in opposite corners, armed only with their spellbook. Players create the battlefield as they cast spells. After a few rounds the arena becomes filled with creatures, walls, conjurations, traps, and enchantments!
Players keep their spells in their spellbook. This creates the experience of being an actual Mage searching through your book of spells to find the perfect choice each round. Players don’t draw cards randomly hoping to get the spell they need! Instead, they have total control to cast exactly what they want, when they want, allowing for an unprecedented level of rich strategy and tactics.
Before each game, players will customize their spellbooks, choosing from the 322 spells included in the set. There is an untold number of combinations of what they can build. A point building system allows players to build balanced spellbooks, with plenty of ingenious strategies and diabolical surprises for their opponents.
Mage Wars plays intuitively, and was designed to be a realistic representation of Mage combat, as if magic were real. Things work exactly as you think they should work.
Mage Wars is fast-paced, with intense action and tough tactical decisions every game round.
Many parts of the game round are played simultaneously. And the game has been designed to keep everyone actively engaged at all times. Each action your opponent takes can change the game and require new tactics.
Players make all the decisions and don’t rely on random card draws to see what spells they have available each turn. At the beginning of each round, each Mage may choose 2 spells to cast from their spellbook. These are tough choices. Your decision making has to include what you need to accomplish this round, what can you do to advance or reverse the situation, and also ask yourself “what is my opponent going to do?”.
With the right choice of spells, the tides can turn quickly; the dominating player can become the dominated, keeping the game unpredictable, engaging and exciting. You never know who is going to win until the last drop of blood is drawn!
