(C) 1994 John MacIntyre

In the Multiverse of Dominia a training ground for mages was created. This ground looks remarkably like a modern day world map (Risk board) with many lands. Each of these lands has different resources available to the mage and they are required to use the colour of that land. A mage will gain more control of the training grounds by attacking his neighbours. Up to half of his forces can be dedicated to the offensive and half to the defense. Vanquished lands yield true and proper consideration. Battles are fought one on one to the death. Treaties can be formed for the offense and for the defense if there is clear passage. And of course treaties are bound by valuable consideration and bonds are bound by honor.

Territories

Take a wall map of the world, or a Risk board. This will give you territories. Split multi-bodered countries in order to get an even division for the number of players.

Division of Territories

Take some random method to distribute territories until all territories are owned by players. Create another deck with all colour combinations (you may use combinations of the five colours). Artifacts can be specifically excluded from some colour combinations. Any left over lands are considered "freeform". The mage is allowed to build his spellbook as he sees fit. After all territories are dealt, and all colour combinations are dealt, write colour combinations on the wall map and place markers representing the mages in control of the land. A Mage must choose a territory he controls to be his home territory, and the colours of his deck must be the colours of the territory he currently occupies.

Territory Trade

At this point you may trade any territory with another mage. So in a five player game you may trade four territories, one with each mage.

Due Consideration

Because the practice of magic is not without some risk, and to keep the interest of the mages, all mages will ante an uncommon or better for each territory they control. Home territories shouldhave a rare anted for them. Losing a territory in defense results in loss of ante card. Winning a territory results in the immediate winning of that ante card. Then the mage is required to ante another card for the territory they now control. It does not have to be the same card they just won.

Deck Construction

Generally follow the restrictions in the tournament rules. Along with this, a Mage is restricted to using all of the colours of his territories. You may have no less than 15% of a required colour of a territory. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of the mage in the duel due to failure to meet the training goals of that land.

Borders

You may only attack mages that are immediately bordering you. All territories must have more than one neighbour.

Attacking

A Mage can attack only immediately neighbouring territories. Only up to 50% (rounded up) of a mage's forces can be dedicated to attacking, and no more than 50% (rounded down) of a mage's forces dedicated to defending. Any given force cannot both attack and defend. A mage must defend his territory if it is not otherwise prevented from doing so based on the above restrictions. A Mage is never required to attack (unless bound by treaty). You may not attack a territory from the same territory twice in a row. The mage must either attack another territory from his attacking territory or attack the defending territory from another territory. The only way to gain territory is by attacking your neighbour. See the special rules about Running and Pursuit.

Defending

A defender must defend his territory unless otherwise prevented from doing so. The defender states the time of the duel (recommended time is within two days). If the defender does not show he loses by default. If the attacker does not show up for the battle he is restricted from attacking that territory as stated in the attacking rules. You may not win a territory from an attacker unless you "Pursue".

Running and Pursuit

If an attack is not going well and you are lost you may run back to your home territory. The defender may however choose to pursue. At this point the attacker immediately goes up to twenty life points and the duel continues. At this point the battle is to the death, winner-take-all. If the attacker should lose, he will give up the territory he attacked from. If the defender now loses the game, she loses her territory. Note only principal defenders and attackers (see special treaty rules) may decide to pursue. Allies cannot decide to pursue, but can be the targets of a pursuit.

Treaties

Players can choose to enter into defensive or offensive/defensive treaties with other players. A player cannot enter into a treaty with more than one other player at any point in time. (Exception: If there is an odd player, that player may enter into a treaty with any other player.) In this case only one treaty player is required to show for battle. If it cannot be negotiated which will show for battle, the person that is holding two treaties may bind one of the two players to show. Treaties cannot be held by the same pairs of mages two time periods in a row. A mage may not hold multiple treaties again until all other mages have done so. Treaties are of a fixed limited time (suggested time one week) and are bound by at least one rare card negotiated by each treaty partner. A treaty mage is required to show for the battle if they can show up for the battle. They can show up if the mage immediately borders the land under attack, or can travel through friendly territory (either their own or the other mage's territory). The Treaty player is required to use the deck construction limitations of the territory that they started in.

Breaking a Treaty

A player breaks a treaty if they do not show up for a treaty bound attack or defense. If the treaty is broken, the non-offending player recieves all cards that bind the treaty. Killing the final territory of a treaty player breaks all treaties and the cards that bind that treaty go to the victor of that land. Treaties are very powerful, but treaties should not be entered into lightly as they carry a significant risk.

Special Rules for Treaty Play

Treaty players are allies with the principals. All "opponent" cards affect the opposition and not your ally (this has no effect on "target player" cards which still affect everybody). Treaty players and the principals may share land generated mana, but it is still subject to the untapping rules of the individual players. (Note: except for land sharing players still play as individuals). Strategies can be openly discussed (if discussed must be done openly) only regarding cards currently in play. You may not mention or discuss cards that are in your hand unless made visible by some means within the confines of the game.

Special Pursuit Rules for Treaty Play

Only principles may decide to pursue. All players except the principle defender may decide to run. A principle attacker may choose to pursuit a running treaty defender with the same rules of the treaty defender going immediately up to twenty life points. If more than one player is involved in a pursuit battle the one involved materially in the pursuit wins the territory. For instance, if a principal attacker chooses to pursue a treaty defender and is still attacking a principal defender and loses, the pursued defender wins the attacker's territory. Note: a treaty attacker may not attack a pursued defender, and a treaty defender may not attack a pursued attacker. Pursuit is personal.

Peace

Peace does sometimes come to Dominia and the Training Grounds. Peace may be declared by the near unanimous agreement of all but one of the mages. The moment Peace is declared the Training grounds are dissolved, Mages go back to whence the came taking with them the just and valuable consideration of the territories they controlled at the moment peace was declared.

After a few games, switch decks with your opponent. Play the same number of games again, and see who can get a better game with the same deck. You may also decide to strip out some cards from the switched decks to see who has better skill at deck tuning.

Type 8.3 was invented about 2 years ago by the gang at Dragon's Lair in Worcester, MA. The format is as follows:

• Minimum 100 cards.
• Minimum 3 colors.
• At 3 colors, minumum 15 cards of each color per color. At 4 colors, 10 cards, and 8 at 5.
• Highlander.
• Absolutely any card ever printed is legal. Moxes, Channel, ante cards, Sharazad, Portal, Unglued, you name it. If you onw a copy of Proposal, you can play it!!!
• Ante is mandatory, even in tournaments!

8.3 is a lot of fun. The freedom to dig through your binders and use any card you choose is balanced by the terror of losing your only Tetsuo in ante! Newbies can compete VERY effectively; all-commons decks can be just as deadly as they were 4 years ago. Alternately, new players can cheaply buy singles that were once power cards but have been rotated out of Type II and don't make the cut for Type I; Bolt, Juggy, Hyppy, etc. 100 card Highlander makes narrow decks almost impossible. No two decks are even remotely the same. The format has led to a delightful mix of deep strategy and wackiness... ever seen Sol'Kanar killed by a saproling with Venomous Breath? Bottle Gnomes being Artifact Blasted? Rust... used at all? The recent addition of Unglued to the mix should spice things up even more.

One of the main problems of Magic is called LAND. Land really irritates me. You lose because you got no lands, you lose because you've got too many lands... Landkilling decks are powerful (and you're a pikachu if you play with them) so I've come up with a new Magic variant.

Actions

The big difference is that each player has 4 actions each turn. He can use these four actions to do one of the following:

• Draw a card
• Add 1 mana of any color to his mana pool
• Attack

Because lands are irritaing and overpowered in Type F, we banned all mana producing lands.

Turn Sequence

Because players now have actions there are some changes in turn sequence too.

• Draw (While there is still a draw phase in Type F, players don't draw a card. They can draw a card whenever they want in their turn by spening an action.)
• Main (All rules still apply! You can only play one land, cards that aren't instants must be played now.)
• Attack (A player cannot draw a card now.)

Mana Pool

Another big rule change is that mana burn doesn't exist any more. So when I add a green mana to my pool it will still be there next turn. This allows players to accumulate mana more easily. (You will always need some counters/dice to indicate what color and how much mana you've got left. An easy way to do this is buy 6d10 at your local gaming store in the appropriate Magic colors.)

Changes in Card Value

Type F is very interesting because it offers a huge potential. Cards with landwalk are useless and cards like Armageddon worse then Bog Imp. Other cards get very dangerous, like cards that give you the abbility to empty someone's mana pool.

What cards are Type F legal:

A deck must have at least 40 cards.

Banned

• Cards banned in Type I
• All mana-producing lands
• Mox Jet, Saphire, Ruby, Emerald, Pearl

Restricted

• Cards restricted in Type I
• Mana Drain
• Drain Life
• Soul Burn

Additional Rules

Instants and Sorceries that deal damage to a player cannot reduce his life total below 1.

Q&A

"Do we have to stick with these stupid rules?"

Feel free to change anything in the Type F rules. I'm sure the restricted/banned list needs an update once in a while.

"What are the Type F drawbacks?"

The only drawback is the fact that you have to keep record of your mana AND life. There aren't many people that play Type F. (Maybe that could change in the future?) Also it is not DCI legal.

"What effect does Type F have on the metagame?"

I think green and blue will improve, red being the big looser as it lost an easy (but boring) way of winning the game.

You may put down as many lands as you want. Putting down lands is considered an interrupt. During the draw phase, you must draw your hand up to eight cards. Because of the massive amount of lands coming out, direct damage spells can be blocked by any one of your creatures. You may discard at any time. Since four or five colour decks are possible, landwalking abilities are valid only when an opponent's land of the appropriate type is tapped, not just in play.

This is a great game variant that can be played with 2 or more players. When a player kills another player with a creature, that creature gets a Veteran counter. For each Veteran counter, that creature gets a permanent +1/+1 bonus (which carries over to the next game and so forth). It is advisable to play with ante rules, but if a player loses a card, he/she should be allowed to trade it back reasonably.

By Ozmar

This refers to a style of play wherein each player plays with one or two starter decks. There is no deck construction. All cards are played with, and all games are played for ante. The decks are shuffled, cut and the top card is anted. Basic lands or rare, ante is ante. If anyone forfeits for any reason, they lose their ante. I suppose you might play with a mulligan (but real men play without lands!). Winner takes both cards and shuffles them right in! Continue playing all night (until 3am at least!).

Wizard's Chess is a deck-building variant for Magic in which cards represent the different pieces used in chess. Although the game is played as a standard duel, some Magic rules have been modified and others added to capture the feeling of chess. Wizard's Chess can be played one-on-one, two-on-two, or as a multi-player free-for-all.

Components of the Deck

Each player's deck must contain a minimum of sixty cards: seventeen creature cards, eighteen non-creature spells, one artifact, and at least twenty-four lands. The creatures are chosen to represent the player's chess pieces. These are the standard chess pieces plus two additional pieces, the King's Wizard and the Queen's Artifact. All decks are constructed using only two colours, one for the King and one for the Queen. Players select a Bishop, Knight, Rook, and four Pawns of the Queen's colour, and a corresponding set of pieces for the King.

King

May be any creature; must be masculine or gender-neutral.

Queen

May be any creature; may be a different colour than the King; must be feminine or gender-neutral.

King's Bishop

Must have power equal to or greater than toughness; may not be a Legend; must be same colour as King.

Queen's Bishop

As above, but same colour as Queen.

King's Knight

Sum of power and toughness may not be greater than five; must have at least one of the following special abilities: flying, first strike or have protection; same colour as King.

Queen's Knight

As above, but same colour as Queen.

King's Rook

Must have toughness greater than power, and this total must be at least three; may not have any special abilities not related to blocking or damage redirection unless it is a Wall; same colour as King.

Queen's Rook

As above, but same colour as Queen.

Pawns

Must be either 1/1 with or without one or more of the following special abilities (banding, flying, first strike, regeneration, landwalk); the only other allowable special abilities are that of preventing a point of damage by tapping and of not tapping when attacking; may be 1/2, 2/1 or 2/2 without the aforementioned abilities; half should be same colour as Queen, half same as king, but there are no limitations on their makeup.

The King's Wizard and Queen's Artifact

Along with the standard chess pieces, Wizard's Chess uses two additional pieces, the King's Wizard and the Queen's Artifact. The King's Wizard can be any creature of the King's or Queen's colour that has a special ability; the ability should require tapping the creature. This piece may never block or attack unless forced to by a spell or effect. The creature's power and toughness must total four or less and cannot vary. The Queen's Artifact can be any non-creature artifact, as long as it can't produce mana of a colour other than the colour of the King or Queen.

Non-Creature Cards

The remaining cards in the deck include eighteen non-creature spells and as many basic lands as the player wants. The spells can be in either the King's or the Queen's colour, but no more than two of any card may be selected. Players may use up to four special lands, as long as each land type used is unique within the deck (however, up to four of one dual land can be used). Players may only use lands that produce mana of the King's colour and/or the Queen's colour.

Banned Cards

In general, cards are banned that damage, destroy, or bury all creatures (or a class of creatures) in play; take control of creatures; remove cards from the graveyard; or force a player to discard. (Cards that generate creatures can be incorporated into a deck, but their creatures-generating abilities may not be used.) Otherwise, see a banned card list for tournament play.

Rules Changes

When the game begins, players must announce which creatures they are using for the King and Queen before drawing their first card. As cards are put into play, the piece each card represents must also be announced. This is done so that opponents can tell which of the following rules apply to these cards.

Pawn Starting Move

Whenever a pawn is brought into play from player's hand, the controlling player has the option to attack with the Pawn during the same turn that it was summoned.

En Passant

If a player brings a Pawn into play and immediately attacks with it, then any other Pawn blocking the new Pawn gains +1/+1 until the end of the turn.

Pawn Promotion

Players may also remove one of their Pawns in play from the game during their Upkeep to bring any creature of the same colour (other than the King) from their graveyard directly into play at no casting cost. The player must have controlled the Pawn since the start of the turn, and the creature from the graveyard enters play tapped. A player may promote only one Pawn per turn.

Castling

During Upkeep, a player may swap a Rook for a King or Queen from his cards in play to his hand, or from his hand to his cards in play. The piece entering play is brought in at no casting cost, and comes into play tapped. Any enchantments on the card being returned to the player's hand are discarded. The pieces being exchanged must be of the same colour, and the player must have controlled the piece in play since the start of the turn. If the creature in play has blocked or attacked since it was brought into play, then it may not be used to castle. A player may only castle once per game.

Queen Sacrifice

The King has a fast effect, treated as if it were written on the card: "(T): Sacrifice your Queen to counter a spell or effect that would cause the King to be killed or removed from play. You must have controlled the King and Queen since the start of the turn, and the spell or effect must only target the King".

Death of the King

If a King is buried or removed from play, the owner of the King loses half his life total (rounding up). If the King is returned to play for any reason, the player does not gain the lost life back.

By David S. Wilson

An alternative game mixing M:tG with roleplaying.

Welcome to Zenhelm, a world where the land produces zero mana and yet, magic duels are the number one form of entertainment featured at the big five academia lodges of magic!

The first thing you must know about Zenhelm is that over 800 million Quantum Elves rule 70% of the living world. Men, Mermen, Centaurs, Minotaurs and their other allies followed "Yah", the elder god of light and law into battle against the trolls, orcs, goblins and their allies who followed "Nay" the elder god of darkness and chaos. Ten thousand years later the few survivors of the great war have actually rebuilt both sides to almost a million strong and are once again butting heads, each trying to increase their 15% of the world. And yes, "Yah" and "Nay" are still locked onto each other in a battle that is now a little over 10,000 years old. Quantum Elves who follow Zen, the elder god of colour and harmony continue to expand their hold on Zenhelm as they wonder when the other races will realize neither side will ever win.

Quantum Elves are similar to Quirion Elves in that they have the ability to produce their own mana of any colour. But some quantum elves can produce it in greater quantities than one per turn. It is this ability that has allowed the development of magic on zenhelm. Quantum Elves look like Humans with pointed ears, eyes twice the size of Humans, and eye and hair colours that always match. Hair/eye colours are red, blue, green or yellow. Skin colour is white, black, or various shades of gray. According to history the white elves and black elves were once considered different races called high elves and wild elves.

Every Quantum Elf is a born magic user. At age sixteen they join a guild as an apprentice and are taught to use the magic power that is within them. For example, if an elf joined the woodworkers guild to become a carpenter or barrelmaker he would be taught how to use his power to shape wood or repair wood as these are the skills that will allow him to produce the finest products on Zenhelm.

But some elves are blessed by Zen with a special ability. These elves can generate mana at an accelerated rate and are sought out by the five academia lodges. Each lodge tries their best to recruit these blessed elves for training in the arts of magic. These special elves then may earn wondrous titles like spell-caster, magician, sorcerer, wizard, mage, or even grand artificer depending on how well they do in their studies and the magic duels associated with the lodges.

The five lodges are:

Plains lodge

colours are white & purple - allies are forest and island

Island lodge

colours are blue and gold - allies are plains and swamp

Swamp lodge

colours are black and gray - allies are island and mountain

Mountain lodge

colours are red and silver - allies are swamp and forest

Forest lodge

colours are green and brown - allies are mountain and plains

Now it took a while but I think we are at the point where we can now begin to discuss the game.

Changes for a duel in Zenhelm are:

• No lands or cards that effect land are used.
• No cards that force an opponent to draw any cards are used.
• Use of types of cards is restricted by character level.
• A character may draw as many cards as they wish during their turn.
• A character reduced to zero life points is unconscious not dead. -1 is dead.
• Someone is grand artificer of Zenhelm and keeps history of every duel.
• Cards a character can play depends on their level and spell book.
• Every character requires a character sheet/spell book.
• Winning by killing an opponent earns one experience point.
• A win by knocking an opponent unconscious earns two experience points.
• Everyone starts at level one with an IQ rating of seven and a health rating of twenty.
• Only Type 2 legal cards may be used.
• Every ten experience points advances a character to the next level.
• Duels start with each character drawing three cards (leaving four mana available).
• First character to become grand artificer is the overall game winner.

On the front...

1. The player's name (your name).
2. The character's name (you name characters, not decks).
3. Lodge (school) name (never wear anything but your school colours to a duel).
4. You character's description (physical description and dress).
5. Experience points (0) IQ (7) Health (20).
6. A running history of those characters you defeated.

1. A list of learned or won spells by colour (it is your spell book).

Level One - Spellcaster

You have completed one year of school. You were taught thirty spells in the primary colour of your school. Spells can only be summons or sorcery spells. You have been invited to participate in opening duels. This means you can only duel other first level characters of your own school. Try to knock them unconscious, not to kill them. If you do kill them they will be immediately regenerated by local school officials there for that purpose but the duel is over. You won! Record it! Add the experience. You wear one earring.

Level Two - Magician

You now have an IQ of eight and health of twenty-one. you have been taught to cast local enchantment spells. You have learned thirty new spells, twenty in one allied colour and ten new spells in your primary colour. You can now attend duels at the allied lodge whose spells you chose as your secondary field of magical arts. You may challenge their second level characters who have your primary colour as their secondary colour. Add a second earring to the same ear.

Level Three - Sorcerer

You now have an IQ of nine and health of twenty-two. You have been taught to cast instant spells. You learn thirty new spells, ten in each of your allied colours. You now the the right to attend duels at either of your allied lodges and challenge any of their sorcerers. Add a third earring.

Level Four - Wizard

You are taught to cast interrupts. You are given any one artifact of your choice by a school graduate who has reached grand artificer and has noticed your advance. You may now attend any duel at any lodge. If you defeat a wizard from a school you are not allied with you may look at their spell book and take one of their spells. Remove it from their spell list and add it to yours. Your IQ is ten, your health is twenty-three. You are taught thirty new spells, ten in each of your colours. Add a fourth earring.

Level Five - Mage

Your IQ is eleven your health is twenty-four. You can duel anyone at any school. Take one spell from any mage you defeat. You are awarded three different artifacts from three different grand artificers - one from each of the schools that are proud to have had a part in your training. You were taught to cast world enchantments and ten spells in each of your three allied colours. Add a fifth earring.

Level Six - Grand artificer

You have learned to make artifacts and can cast as many as you want to. You have won the game. Artificers do not fight in school duels. If artificers fight they fight to the death. No audience. If an artificer earns ten experience points he becomes a planeswalker and leaves Zenhelm. IQ twelve, health twenty-five.

This means no one is ever totally out of mana. But also remember each time you draw a card your ability to generate mana is reduced by one. You might overdraw and be in a short mana lock until you can discard enough spells to get back up to the mana level you need to cast one of your spells.

This game was designed to mix a taste of roleplaying with card playing. You can add optional rules - challenges and acceptances must be roleplayed verbally to get a duel started. Spells must be spoken out loud, etc.