Until then, let’s focus on the card game. This is a tournament game, most and foremost. It’s designed to attract tournament players, and from the looks of it, it’s been able to do so very well. The starter decks and logo all have white backgrounds, adopting a designer look much like the i-Pod or Sony Ericsson M600i. However, none of this has anything to do with the setting or the cards themselves, the packaging having been designed to catch the eye and look different. The actual illustration on the faces of the cards are top-notch and seem to indicate the background is fantasy mixed with steam punk and weird science. Kind of like Mage meets Tales From the Floating Vagabond and Dungeons & Dragons. The feel isn’t Medieval, but early Industrialist. This might be an excellent pulp setting, but until we know more about the idea behind the game, it’s tough to judge.
So let’s look at the merits of the card game itself. Play is much like other collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering or EVE, but thanks to the flavour text, it’s more satirical in nature, with Bankers being one of the playable factions, for example.
The first card each player needs to put in play (face down, at first) is his or her faction card. Faction cards have a set amount of influence (for now, all sets seem to have a faction card with 25 influence). The game is lost when influence is reduced to 0. There’s a fuzzy distinction between battle damage and normal damage, but all damage does lower this statistic. The faction card also determines the number of resources one begins with (2), how many cards a player must draw to start the game (8 if going first, 9 if going second) and other standard information. Before the first turn, each player can discard as many cards as (s)he likes and draw new ones. Decks need at least 45 cards in addition to the faction card (for sealed deck or draft play) or at least 75 cards plus the faction card if the deck is constructed. Naturally, one will need to purchase either two starter decks or a starter deck and some booster packs in order to participate in constructed play, which is a sound principle from a business point of view.
Resource cards always have a descriptor specific for the faction they belong to (‘greed’ for bankers, for example), in addition to a faction icon and the faction’s name, printed on them. To play any other card (whether it is a character, a tactic, an item or a location) usually costs resources, which are attached to the card put into play for that turn only. A lot of cards also need a specific number of resource cards with the appropriate icons on them before they can enter play, but only the total number of icons in play counts, not just the icons of the attached cards. For example if a character costs 5 resources and 2 gearsmith icons, one needs to attach 5 resources, but only 2 need to have a gearsmith icon. In addition, any other resource cards with gearsmith icons in play, even those not attached to the card, count towards the minimum.
Every turn, a player can either draw a card or play a resource. As some of the best cards need 9 resources and you may want to play several cards in one turn, it’s important to have sufficient resources in play. If not enough resources are in hand, a player is allowed to play any other card face down as a resource. Of course, this will always be a generic resource and will never add a resource icon to the game.
Play resolves mostly around character cards. These have a set cost to play, may have subtypes (gear, for example) and have a strength, life and speed rating. Most include favour texts and additional abilities. All factions have their own definite distinctive characteristics, with rogues being the fastest faction and gearsmiths having a lot of items available, for example. This adds a lot to the game and makes one wonder why the full setting hasn’t become available yet.
When the active player plays a card, uses an ability or ends his or her turn, the defender is able to respond with tactics, if he (s)he has any available. In many situations, tactics can also be played while in battle. Of course, the active player often gets to use tactics as well. Tactic cards are discarded after using them. Items are attached to characters and add strength, life and/or speed. They also often grant the character special abilities. Location cards often grant powerful bonuses, but can be attacked and damaged.
When characters attack or defend, they are ‘depleted’. Most players will probably want to turn their cards sideways to indicate this. Attacks proceed from high speed to low. The defender can block with as many of his or her own characters as he wishes, depleting them as well. This also means that if a faction is attacked and blocked by characters with higher speed values, the attackers are damaged first. It usually doesn’t take all that much to destroy a character, so players will have to think carefully while planning their actions. Also, tactics, items and abilities come into play very often, making the game quite involved.
Even though not all of the rules are as clear as beginning players might like them to be, the system is sound and The Spoils provides an excellent alternative to Magic: The Gathering. Much as this critic has said he dislikes the collectible aspect of this kind of game in the past, this is a fun, fast-moving card game and one does not need to participate in tournaments in order to enjoy playing it. However, because of the big awards involved, many players will want to enter tournaments anyway. As long as entry fees aren’t steep, this is okay, and it should make sure the creators gain enough financial power to expand the game into different sets, factions and other areas.
It does seem obvious that some factions – if played correctly – have an advantage over other ones. Thus, be careful when facing off with sealed decks. Warriors, for example, seem to have a more difficult time to defeat rogues than the other way around. This may also have something to do with this critic not being an experienced The Spoils gamer yet.
To summarize, The Spoils is a well-constructed, gorgeous collectible card game, that should attract a lot of players. It’s no surprise that the fan base is growing and is becoming more solid as time passes. Additionally, the focus on tournaments will attract a lot of ‘professional’ players who participate to win awards. We’re not sure if that’s a good thing for the gaming populace in general, but it is certainly a good thing for The Spoils creators. With first price winners going home with laptops, money awards ranging from 1,000 up to 50,000 dollars and even a cruise worth 400,000 bucks, we’re tempted to enter a tournament ourselves sometime soon… Watch out, folks: this one is addictive.
Dirk Vandereyken
