MtG: the Board Game!

Legacy*

ZendikariWol

---

How it Came to This

My friends and I found this game called MtG: Arena of the Planeswalkers. It was atrocious. In the end, we left the table after an hour of trying to figure out what on earth was going on. Maybe this is just a problem for us, I dunno, but I decided to do something about it.

It's been probably a year now and I've got this idea: a board game version of MtG. I've written up some prototypes and I'm doing some R&D now. Let's see what you all think, the true voice of Magic, the fanbase.

Setup

You get the board (and this can be played on D&D tiles or just a boatload of graph paper or something), placing a d20, usually a spindown, as your base life. These bases should be placed a reasonable distance from one another, we say no more than 8 squares. Creatures may be cast adjacent to your base, but other than that it is basically a life die. However, the game does not end for you when your base is destroyed. You may continue play until all of your creatures die.

Then roll a d20 or 2d6 or whatever. The highest roll chooses who moves first. A different player moves first each turn, shifting clockwise.

Cast 2 1-cost creatures and begin the game.

Turn Order

Turns consist of 3 main phases: mana generation, combat, and purchase.

Mana generation is the most straightforward: generate 2 mana. Mana does not leave your pool as turns and phases end.

Combat: this one is hefty, it gets its own panel.

Purchase: spend your mana on creatures.

Combat

The combat is probably the feature of this game I am most proud of. While I'm sure there are a lot of games that do this I thought of it myslef so like, let me have my moment okay!! Or point out all the games that do this in the comments idc.

Anyway what you've been picturing so far is probably a very Fire-Emblem-esque strategy game. Here's where it goes RTS.

Combat has two steps:

Step one: movement. You... ya move. I don't know what else to say.

Step 2: you may either attack, move again, or do something rather than attacking if the creature can.

Player A goes through combat with one creature, then player B does the same, then player C, and so forth until player A moves his second creature. This means that players do not have individual turns and turns take a while. However, it leads to really interesting strategy and forces you to adapt a lot.

Purchase

In order to cast a creature, just pay its mana cost. Purchase order is the same as combat order.

Expansions

The first expansion I ever wrote was Dragons of Tarkir. I love Tarkir and the flavor really lent itself to this game.

The second expansion, Khans of Tarkir (fate reforged, of course, gotta stay canon folks), was easier to make due to a clearer flavor. And yes. You can play them against the dragons, though they have one unique mechanic not possessed by dragons. I'm trying to make every expansion unique-ish and the Khans needed something to power them up a touch if they actually wanted to stand a chance.

Expansion number three is Allies vs. Eldrazi. This expansion simulates the fierce fight on Zendikar but you can also take the Eldrazi to another plane. How will they stack up? Only hours of playing will tell! Or one game if you're not a NERD like me.

Expansion four is one of my favorites: the Shards of Alara. This is, I suppose, two expansions: pre-and-post-Conflux Alara. Once pre-Conflux Alara loses half its base life, everything on the battlefield is destroyed. You play the rest of the game with post-Conflux alara creatures, which are similar but their stats are shifted to be a touch more warlike and each shard gets a few creatures from different shards.

There are, of course, more expansions coming, I actually have a list of all the ones that I want to brew. I am excited for the future of this game and I hope you are too.

Specifics

So it is quite clear that this article is lacking any real specifics. That has not slipped over my head. I am trying desperately to find some sort of solution, but everything I've tried so far looks really clunky and weird. I'm trying to format things in such a way that it doesn't look like garbage, but it's a work in progress. Bear with me guys.

Okay- working prototype looks like this (this was all a lot easier on paper).

Note: Power//Toughness//Speed//Range

Creature Name

A//B//C//D

Prototype 2:

Creature Name

Power: A

Toughness: B

Speed: C

Range: D

Date added	5 years
Last updated	5 years
Legality	This deck is not Legacy legal.
Cards	0