Deviation Actions
Incoming wall-o-text!
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THE BASICS OF THE GAME
The game is for two players, who share one large deck of cards. The object of the game is to defeat as many of your opponent's Spellcasters as possible. Each player takes turns casting Spells from their Spellcasters to do damage to the opponent's Spellcasters, and when a Spellcaster has 0 HP, he/she/it is defeated and retires to that player's Bleachers (like a discard pile, but just for Spellcasters).
CARD TYPES
There are five main kinds of cards in the game: Spellcasters, Items, Mana, Locations, and Combos.
Spellcasters are characters from the series, and each has a set HP (HP is dealt and recovered in increments of 5) and one or two Spells that they can cast. Spellcasters also come in five Elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Magic) and six Classifications (Earth Pony, Unicorn, Pegasus, Alicorn, Creature, Villain). Spellcasters also have two additional stats, called Power and Guard. Power is how much extra damage they deal with damaging Spells before applying weakness/resistance. Guard is how much less damage they take before applying weakness/resistance. By default, Power and Guard for all Spellcasters is 0; Power and Guard are affected by Equipment and Location.
Items are cards that have certain effects, depending on the card. There are two types: Objects and Equipment. Objects are one-time-use cards: to play it, just do whatever it says on the card and then put the card in the Junkyard (discard pile shared by both players). Equipment cards must be attached to a target Spellcaster in order to have their listed effect. Some Items have different or no effects on certain Spellcasters.
Mana provide the energy needed to cast Spells. Each player has their own Mana Pool into which they play Mana cards. In order for a Spellcaster to cast one of their Spells, the appropriate number and elements of Mana must be tapped. All Mana in a player's Mana Pool is untapped again when their turn ends.
Locations are cards that provide certain effects to the entire play field. At the beginning of the game, one Location card is selected at random to put in play. There must always be a Location card in play, and there cannot be more than one Location card in play at a time. If a player wishes to play a Location card, they must put the previous Location card in the Junkyard first.
Combos are powerful one-time-use cards that you can only play if you have the cards it lists in your hand. To play a Combo card, you must reveal the listed cards and the Combo card from your hand, perform the action on the Combo card, then discard both the Combo card and the required cards. (All of those cards go in the Junkyard except for Spellcasters, which go in your Bleachers.)
ELEMENTS AND WEAKNESS/RESISTANCE
There are five Elements in the game: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Magic. Elements do more or less damage to other Elements just like in Pokemon. Each Element is weak to one other and resistant to one other. When an Element is weak to another, Spellcasters of the first Element take double damage from Spells of the second. When an Element is resistant to another, Spellcasters of the first Element take half damage (rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 where necessary) from Spells of the second Element. All Spells are the same Element as their Spellcasters.
When Element A is resistant to Element B, Element B is also weak to Element A.
Here's how the types match up:
~ Water is weak to Earth and resistant to Fire
~ Fire is weak to Water and resistant to Magic
~ Magic is weak to Fire and resistant to Air
~ Air is weak to Magic and resistant to Earth
~ Earth is weak to Air and resistant to Water
Remember, Power and Guard affect damage received or dealt before applying weakness/resistance.
STATUS CONDITIONS
There are three status conditions that can be incurred on Spellcasters in the game: Disability, Confusion, and Shrinkage.
When a Spellcaster is Shrunk, they get -20 Power, but any Spells that would require a dice roll to determine if they hit no longer require that roll. Shrinkage remains on the affected Spellcaster until healed.
When a Spellcaster is Disabled, they cannot cast any Spells during their player's next turn. Disability automatically heals at the end of that player's turn.
When a Spellcaster is Confused, they must roll a dice in order to cast a Spell. If the roll yields a 4 or higher, the Spell proceeds as normal. If the roll yields 3 or lower, that Spellcaster takes 10 damage instead. Confusion remains on the affected Spellcaster until healed. Confusion damage is also not affected by Guard.
STARTING A GAME
First, the Location cards must be separated from the deck. Pick a Location card at random and, without looking at it, place it on the field face-down. Shuffle the rest of the Location cards back into the deck, and shuffle the deck.
Each player then draws a hand of seven cards from the top of the deck. Each player plays one Spellcaster face-down in front of them. (If a player's initial hand contains no Spellcasters, they must reveal their hand to their opponent, shuffle it into the deck, and draw a new seven-card hand. The other player draws one extra card at this time. They must repeat this until they get a hand with at least one Spellcaster in it.) Each player can now play one Mana card from their hand face-down into their Mana Pool. If one player does not play a Mana card at this time, the other player is not allowed to play a Mana card either.
The players each roll a D6 to see who goes first; whoever rolls the higher number goes first. Both Spellcasters, any Mana, and the Location are flipped right-side-up at this time. The player who goes first is not allowed to cast any Spells during their first turn.
DURING YOUR TURN
To start your turn, draw a card from the top of the deck and put it into your hand. Then, you can do any of the following in any order you wish:
~ play a Mana card into your Mana pool (one per turn)
~ play Object cards (no limit per turn)
~ play Equipment cards (one per Spellcaster per turn)
~ play a Combo card (one per turn)
~ play Spellcasters (you can have up to five in play at a time)
~ play a Location card (one per turn)
Once you've done any or all of that, the final step in your turn is to cast Spells. You can cast Spells with up to two of your Spellcasters each turn (one Spell per Spellcaster per turn), and must tap the appropriate Mana for the desired Spells.
Choose your Spellcasters, the Spell, and the target which will receive the effects of the Spell, then tap the required Mana for the Spell. Most Spells do damage, but some have other or additional effects. Keep in mind that you can cast Spells against any Spellcaster on the field, not just your opponent's Spellcasters (but a Spellcaster cannot cast Spells against themselves).
Once you've cast your Spells, your turn ends. Untap all of your Mana, and your opponent begins their turn.
RULES TO KEEP IN MIND WHILE PLAYING
~ Each player must have at least one Spellcaster in play at all times, and cannot have more than five Spellcasters in play at a time.
~ There cannot be more than one copy of a particular Spellcaster in play at a time.
~ Each Spellcaster can only have one Equipment attached to it at a time, and you can only attach one Equipment per Spellcaster during your turn. If you want to attach an Equipment to a Spellcaster that already has an Equipment attached, you must discard the previous Equipment into the Junkyard. You cannot do this if it would defeat said Spellcaster by reducing their HP.
~ If you wish to play a Location card, you must first discard the previous Location card to the Junkyard. You are not allowed to do this if it would defeat any of your Spellcasters by reducing their HP.
~ You can only play one Combo card per turn. You also cannot play a Combo card if you played one during your previous turn.
~ You can only play a Combo card if you have the required cards in your hand; you cannot remove cards from play to play them with a Combo card.
~ Cards that recover cards from the Junkyard cannot recover Combo cards. Cards that recover cards from the Junkyard or the Bleachers cannot recover cards that were used to play a Combo card that turn.
~ If a card says to do something at the end of your turn, you perform that action AFTER you finish casting spells and BEFORE your opponent draws a card to start their turn.
~ Some cards have additional effects or notes that you need to pay attention to. Certain cards can't be played on some Spellcasters, have different effects on some Spellcasters, or can't be played together. For example, Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna can't both be in play at the same time, and the healing item Chocolate Milk of Glass can only be used on Discord.
~ If all of a player's Spellcasters are defeated, they are given a chance to play a Spellcaster from their hand immediately to continue playing.
~ Players cannot have empty hands. If a player uses all of the cards in their hand during their turn, they must draw a card when their turn ends, before their opponent draws a card to start their turn.
~ Remember, there are two types of discard pile, the Junkyard and the Bleachers. The Junkyard is shared by the players, but each player has their own Bleachers. When Spellcasters are defeated, they go in that player's Bleachers, but when any other type of card is discarded, they go in the Junkyard.
WINNING THE GAME
If at any time a player cannot have a Spellcaster in play (all their Spellcasters in play are defeated and they are unable to play one immediately from their hand), that player loses.
When a player cannot draw a card from the deck to start their turn (or end it if they have an empty hand), the game ends. At this time, both players count the number of Spellcasters in their Bleachers. Whoever has fewer Spellcasters in their Bleachers wins.
If, at the end of the game, both players' Bleachers contain the same amount of Spellcasters, the game must continue in a Sudden Death round. In Sudden Death, play continues as normal except for the drawing of cards and the ignoring of the empty-hand rule, and whoever defeats one of their opponent's Spellcasters first wins.