Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards Duel at Mt Skullzfyr...whew. That is a mouth full. We much prefer playing this game to trying to memorize its name! So we just call it Spell Wars.
Spell Wars was released in 2012 by Cryptozoic. We bought our copy at Barnes and Noble. It is the game that got me started buying at BN. There is an expansion out and another one on the way. Spell Wars is a card game with 120 spell cards.
Spell Wars is a ‘go to’ game in our house. Fun with great art. Quirky. A couple really neat mechanics. And you get to cast nasty spells at your family and friends!
Players take turns casting spells. Each spell can have up to 3 cards (although like most great games there are ways to expand past that rule). The spell cards are of three component types and have special names but we just call them Left, Middle and Right cards due to the banner at the bottom. The cards work together to modify dice rolls and increase the power of the spell. Also there are bonuses if two or three of the cards are from the same realm (fire, illusion, dark etc).
Spells can hurt your friends, heal yourself and find treasure.
Some of the spell cards are Wild Magic which are...well...Wild.
And there are artifacts that you can acquire to also modify your play and spells.
And there are Dead Wizard cards that are really cool...instead of dying and being out of the game Dead Wizard cards actually give you a boost to help equalize the game.
Each round consists of building up your artifacts, casting spells and killing off your friends. Oddly enough the last wizard standing gets a Last Wizard Standing token. Win two Last Wizard Standing tokens and you win the game!
The Good: The spell mechanics create 1000’s of unique spells and effects. Just perfect.
The Bad: My wife insists we read the funny phrases created in the banners in order to cast the spells...kids find these hilarious.
The Dastardly: Dead Wizard cards are an awesome way to keep everyone in the game and balance game play auto-magically as the rounds proceed.