Parlor Magic: a Magic The Gathering variant for use with a standard deck of playing cards.
Magic game rules by Richard Garfield; elements used without permission of copyright holder.
Copyright 2007 by Droll (updated 08 Dec 16: changed to Out- Ranking Bonus & added assoc dmg fx to Counterspells).

This is an adaptation of the Magic rules, set within the outlines of a generalized feudal or Machiavellian backdrop.


Rulers and their Domains:

A Wizard's starting life total= 20. But rather than a wizard, one is better characterized in this context as a feudal ruler ("Rlr" eg emperor, imperator, dynast, sultan, khan, padishah, pharaoh, sovereign, caesar, czar, archon, suzerain, kaiser, mogul, baron, sachem, maharajah, overlord, autocrat, syndic, satrap).


The playing field layout includes the following for each Rlr, within a domain area where he will also place the cards that he plays from his hand:

Draw pile - A facedown pile initially containing the Rlr's starting deck.

Recycle pile - A facedown pile of cards for reuse, that replaces the Draw pile when it's been exhausted.

Discard pile - A facedown pile of cards removed from play.

Domain Defense stack(s) - This just allows the Rlr to have Enchantments placed upon him as do individual cards.


Full Field:

Trumps stack - In addition to a domain area for each Rlr, the overall layout is finished with the reserved location of this single faceup pile, for play on by any Rlr, with the suit of the top card becoming the new trump suit.


Deck construction:

In the basic game described here, each Rlr plays with an entire 52- card standard Poker deck.


Card types:

The type of a card is determined by its value, in common for all suits:


Cards Type
2 ..6 Enchantment ( "Ech" eg trump: enhancement)
7 ..10 Land ("Lnd" eg pool: estate)
A, J, Q, K Creature ("Cre" eg leader: league)

Drawing:

The game starts with a hand of 7 drawn. At the start of one's turn, a player draws 2 cards, chooses 1 and places the other in a Recycle pile, which will get shuffled and returned to the draw deck when the draw deck is exhausted. At the end of one's turn a Rlr must choose & send to the Recycle pile enough cards to keep his hand from exceeding a total of 7 cards.


Tapping:

"Tap"=a tax/ task -like polling of resources or energies; by which a card on the layout is turned sidewise in the usual manner. Tapped cards will normally become untapped at the start of a Rlr's turn, unless otherwise affected.


Suits & Spots:

All cards are of one of 4 base suits: Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs, and also of one of 2 colors: red or black.

The term "spot count" refers to the highest value card, usually of a particular suit, that applies to a target, rather than to a total of all applicable cards' spots. Aces & Court/ Face cards by themselves have a spot count of 1 in their base suit.

For example, a Jack of Clubs with a 3 of Clubs Ech played upon it has a spot count in Clubs of 3. If it has a further 5 of Clubs Ech played upon it, it then has a spot count in Clubs of 5. If it has a further 2 of Diamonds Ech played upon it, it has a spot count in Diamonds of 2, as well as a spot count in Clubs of 5.


Lands:

Lnds in this variant operate just as in the Magic rules, though conceptually they may be viewed as fiefs, and the "mana" they provide considered to be the local "manor"s' levies of men and material to the controlling Rlr. There's no difference in mana sourcing between Lnd cards with different spot counts: each Lnd provides one point of mana of its suit when tapped; thus a point of mana will be of one of the 4 suit types. But a Lnd which is tapped when it has an Ech of the same suit as the current Trump stack's top card sources 1 point of mana of the trump suit instead. One Lnd may be played from a Rlr's hand per turn, if held, at no cost.


Creatures:

Aces are 1/1 (Power/ Toughness) Cres, Jacks are 1/2, Queens are 2/2, and Kings are 2/3. The cost to cast a Cre is its Tgh in mana of its suit, in addition to its Pwr in generic mana. Summoning Sickness applies on the turn summoned.


Court cards have abilities as follows. The color and suit of the card exercising the ability refers to its base suit, while the card which is the target of the ability may be qualified by either its base suit or any enchantment upon it. An ability of a Cre isn't effective when the target (or activating card) ranks it or trumps it.

Volley- Those bearing missile weapons (JC javelin, JS sling) have the ability to cause a fixed 1 damage point to an opponent Cre which is making an attack or blocking, by being tapped. The javelin- bearing JC may not target an unblocked attacker.


Sally - Those bearing swords (KH, KC, KS) when attacking and blocked by a card of their color, gain Pwr +1. The more awkward KH suffers Tgh -1 when it uses this ability.


Harry - Those bearing polearms (JH bill, KD pikeaxe, JD halberd) when blocking a card of the color opposite to theirs, gain Tgh +1. The feather- bearing JH must tap to use this ability (ie. after being declared as a blocker, so his Pwr is then nullified).


Ally - Those bearing emblems (KC orb, QS scepter) have the ability to tap an opponent Cre of their suit by being tapped themselves. The subject Cre doesn't untap at the start of its owner's next turn.


Carry - Those bearing corsages (QH, QD, QS, QC) have the ability to allow their controlling Rlr to tap and receive mana from an untapped Lnd of their color in the opponent's Domain by being tapped themselves. Since a land of one's suit will initially outrank a Queen, in a same- suit case one would need a supporting Ech of the trump suit, or just for this purpose, any enchantment of the Queen's suit upon her receives a bonus adder equal to the number of petals on the blossom in hand. The affected Lnd doesn't untap on its owner's next turn.

For example, the Queen of Hearts by herself could Carry a Lnd of the Diamonds suit, since all the Diamonds in the world won't outrank her one Heart unless & until a Hearts Ech is played on the Lnd, or a Diamonds Ech on the Queen. She could only Carry a Lnd of the Hearts suit, which would always outrank her, if she's had an Ech of the current trump suit played upon her that's greater than any on the land, or if the spot count of a Hearts Ech on the Queen plus the petals on her corsage equals or exceeds the Lnd card's spot count.

contextual note: A corsage is the masculine counterpart of a lady's favor such as would be bestowed upon one whom the giver would support, though perhaps unofficially or clandestinely. It suggests that the Queen has the attentions or interests of some party in a position which makes open adulation impracticable.


Enchantments:

Other than in summoning Cre cards, and in the use of their immediate abilities, the only spells that a Rlr casts are Echs. Echs constitute the "trumps" of the game, and the target of an Ech may be a Lnd or Cre card of any Rlr, any Rlr's Domain Defense stack(s), or the Trumps stack. Rlrs can cast Echs without regard to a target's existing spot count, with the exception of the Trumps stack.

The number of spots on an Ech card is significant. The mana cost to cast an Ech is the number of spots on the Ech card, and half (rounding up) must be in mana of its suit. Note that if the card played is of lesser value than another of the same suit already affecting the target, the new card will bestow no extra effect (except possibly as a fallback after a Counterspell targeting the higher value Ech).


Trumps:

A Rlr may play an Ech onto the Trumps stack only if it is of an equal or greater spot value than the top/ last- placed card in that stack. The suit of the top card of the Trumps stack designates the currently effectual trump suit of the game in progress.


Ranked, Outranked or Trumped:

An entity, for the purpose of deterimining ranking, may be a Cre or Lnd card, a Domain Defense stack or a designated grouping (of targets, attackers or blockers).

Ranked= In the basic game described here, there's no bonus for merely ranking another entity. An entity ranks another which has a spot count of at least one in a suit of which it has a higher spot count. It is said to rank the other in that particular suit. Thus, a target can't be ranked in a suit of which it has neither a base suit nor an Ech. Two entities might rank each other in two different suits.

Note that every Cre card has an inherent rank of 1 in its base suit, until an Ech is cast upon it. A Domain Defense, having no base suit, can't rank or be ranked until an Ech has been played on it.

Outranked= An entity gains an outranking bonus if it has an Ech of the same suit and with the highest spot count of any suit matched by the affected opposing entity - assuming neither opponent entity has an Ech of the trump suit, or no Trumps stack is yet in play. Thus, two entities can never simultaneously outrank each other.

Note that Lnds can't be outranked by Echs alone due to Lnds' high base suit spot counts (so their mana can usually go anywhere as directed), but they'll only automatically outrank something that's trying to affect them which has a spot count in their their base suit.

Trumped= When a Trumps stack is in play, an entity gains a trumping bonus if it has an Ech or base suit of the trump suit which is of a higher spot count than the highest trump suit spot count of the affected opposing entity. An entity whose base suit is that of the current trump suit, or which has an Ech of the current trump suit can't be ranked - it can only be trumped. Thus, trumped includes no trump to trumps, as well as ranked in trumps.

As examples, a King of Hearts with no Echs would be outranked by any card with a 2 of Hearts Ech, even on the Ace of Spades or the Queen of Diamonds. If the King gains a 5 of Diamonds Ech, the Ace would still outrank it, however the King would then instead outrank the Queen (albeit she yet ranks the King in Hearts). Neither ranking nor trumping is effected by ties, so the Ace and Queen are level. If the Trumps stack turns to Spades, the Ace would then trump either the King or the Queen. An attacking card of the trump suit does gain a bonus against a Domain Defense with no Ech, unlike for ranking.


Outranking Bonus:

In considering a grouping of cards, the group's ranking in each suit is determined by the highest among those cards in the group.

In the basic game described here, the bonuses for outranking or trumping are the same. A Cre card which outranks or trumps a card it blocks or is blocked by gains Tgh +1. This would apply to one card of the owning Rlr's choice within a grouping of blockers against an attacking Cre.

An outranking or trumping Cre card in attack or blocking versus another Cre gains Pwr +1 ..+3 determined by halving the difference in spots (rounding up). In the case of a grouping of blockers that outranks or trumps an attacker, or a grouping of all unblocked attackers which outranks or trumps a Rlr's Domain Defense, this is distributed among the qualified Cres' Pwr at the owning Rlr's option.

If a Rlr's Domain Defense outranks or trumps a grouping of all unblocked attacking Cres, the ruler deducts 1 point of damage from any taken in the attack (overall; not from each damaging card), then the ruler deals 1 ..3 pts damage, determined in the same manner as for opposing Cres above, distributed as he desires versus any unblocked Cres.


Counterspells (eg contrivances):

Any single Ech card existing anywhere on the layout (including the Trumps stack), or a Cre or Lnd card (with any number of Ech cards remaining on it) may be unsummoned with a counterspell. A counterspell is an Ech, normally cast by an opponent Rlr, which ranks, outranks or trumps the target card or cards being dispelled. To unsummon a single Ech card, regardless of its situation, one only needs to rank that card. To unsummon a Cre requires an Ech that outranks it. To unsummon a Lnd, it must be trumped.

Damage is dealt to a targeted Cre, or to a Rlr whose targeted Domain Defense is outranked or trumped overall by the counterspell, with Pwr equal to the counterspell's Outranking Bonus.

The cast counterspell Ech is placed in the caster's Discard pile. The dispelled cards are placed in their respective owners' Recycle piles if the counterspell ranks or outranks them, or their Discard piles if the counterspell trumps or eliminates them.