Cast spells and win – “Arcana of Magic” review

A magic card game

There are some topics that attract my attention and thanks to this the game is immediately put on the list for checking. It is obvious that as a fan of broadly understood fantasy, I prefer to play the role of a wizard or a werewolf than a carrot planting farmer. No wonder the Arcana of Magic made their way to my table and they took on quite well.

It only takes a moment to disassemble the components. Each one receives a board and places one resource token on the five spaces representing the different schools of magic. In a place that is accessible to everyone, we put the conjunction board and a bag into which we put ten moons markers, and then fill in the recesses in the mentioned board in random order. Place the remaining resource and point tokens next to it. Divide the deck into three piles as indicated on the back and deal six cards from the first to each player.

Everyone chooses one of the cards in their hand and passes the player to the left in the first and third rounds, and to the right player in the second. In our turn, we can prepare a spell, i.e. pay the cost of the card and add it under the area of ​​the same color or put it away, in return casting spells in accordance with the markers of moons assigned to the given round. After three hands, the mage with the most resource tokens wins.

Magic in a nutshell

The rules seem simple and they are. This is another card game recently on my table, which is based on a draft. In the Arkana of Magic, we can expand our knowledge by adding more spells to a given field, use the artifact as described or run the engine under construction thanks to the moons markers. We know in advance what order we will be able to use them, as there are only two of them per turn. This allows you to plan our actions or get rid of cards that are attractive to others, and use your spells at the same time.

Although the illustrations on the cards are repeated, they are quite atmospheric and fit the theme of the game. All components are made very neatly and the symbols are clear and easy to locate. The whole thing looks good and although we quickly stop looking at the graphic part of the title and focus on icons, the elements look nice on the table.

Arcana of magic allows you to have fun in finding different ways to victory. The spells we are going to learn belong to one of five schools that use different types of spells – alchemy, charms, potions, herbalism and blood magic. Each gives you the opportunity to lead your mage in the chosen direction and score points in a different way.

The card game is intended for a fairly wide audience – from one to six players. Thanks to the simultaneous selection of cards from their hand, it doesn’t take long for the others to think about their move, because we usually do it at the same time. In multiplayer games, two-player games often limp, but Arcana of Magic performs surprisingly well in a duo, and it is even easier to control the direction in which the opponent and his motor are going. The game time is fast even in a larger team, so it can be a good proposition for fans of card games who do not have a few hours for a board game.