Mage Wars Academy Game

I prefer casting spells by using strategy not by luck of the draw. I also like the dice rolling mechanics and gameplay. The spell book is a great approach to deck building games like this. Gathering mana, currency of the game is not by chance, thus preventing mana burn as in Magic The Gathering. Overall a much better and well thought out game with great variety in expansions.

I haven't had a chance yet to play the game, but I'm happy to report that the manufacturer is responsive. The game arrived with one very small piece missing; because of this, it wasn't possible to assemble both of the mana/damage trackers. I emailed the company, and they sent more parts (including some extra dice!). The replacement arrived only a week or so later. Good job!

As background, I'm an avid Hearthstone player, generally love these one-on-one games, and have been a fan of Mage Wars... but had really never played it! I knew that the Spellbook idea was really unique, and I was not mistaken.In more detail, consider this (always considering base rules only, not card effects):Magic the Gathering - you get cards out of a large universe and shuffle a deck. You get an opening hand (luck of draw) and you will draw one card per turn. To pay for cards, you use cards to generate the resources you need, that are available to you each turn. Each start of turn it is back to zero.Hearthstone - you get cards out of a large universe and shuffle a deck. You get an opening hand (luck of draw) and you will see draw one card per turn. To pay for cards, you use mana. Each player has mana, which on each player's first turn is one, then next turn each player gets two mana, etc. increasing by one mana a turn. Unspent mana at the end of a turn is not kept to the next.Finally, Mage Wars (academy). You get cards out of a large universe and place them in a spellbook. You have no opening hand, every time you want to play a card, you can play any card in your spellbook (no luck of draw!). Each player has mana, which is kept so you can do mana management across turns.The spellbook, but also the mana management, are what make this game unique and I think quite entertaining. Without a physical board (as Mage Wars non-Academy has) this is much like hearthstone - just one "area", so there's no movement, which simplifies things and makes it a quick game. Note that I have found games actually need about an hour, sometimes a tad more; to make it 30 minutes both players would probably need to be quite the speed players. It isn't the game per-se, just that looking through a spellbook obviously takes time (indecision time).I suggest anybody, really anybody who has any inclination to play a head-to-head game get this core set. The price is incredible low, two spellbooks, lots of cards, all the tokens you need to get going. Can't wait for the expansions to Academy.

Great 1vs1 dueling game similar to Magic or Hearthstone. What makes this game unique is being able to play any card from your deck instead of having to draw. Combat is done with dice which I enjoy.The rules are very simple and easier to learn than any other game of this genre IMO.What can be confusing is the difference between Mage Wars, Mage Wars Arena, and this game - Mage Wars Academy.Mage Wars and MWArena are, for the most part, the same game. Arena is the "rebranding" of the original Mage Wars which uses a board and a more tactical and complicated game in that there are a few more rules and strategies to take into consideration.Mage Wars Academy is the "lite" version and a standalone game. It has no board so plays more like a typical dueling game and sessions are much faster.There are a ton of options as far as cards you can use. It has suggested starter decks but you can customize them using a point system. If you decide to move up to Arena you can use the cards from Academy but cannot go backwards (Arena cards will not work in Academy). If you're an Arena player wondering if there are a good cards here you can use most of the feedback I have seen is that there are only a few worth having. However if even if you are an Arena player you may want to consider getting Academy if want something to play with friends who you thank may find Arena too overwhelming.As far as critiques there are a few I can offer but don't break the game at all. 1. Box is small hard to fit everything especially if you sleeve your cards. Personally I don't use the spellbooks so I made room that way. 2. Would have been cool to include both a male/female version of the spellcasters. Could have put them on flipside of character card.All in all great game. Looking forward to expansions.

My 9 and 12 year olds really like playing this game with me. Some aspects are a bit crunchy for the 12 yo but she has fun with it anyways.Note that the Mage wars academy expansions are compatible with mage wars arena but not the other way around. If you want to play with more than the two decks that some with the core set you need to buy the academy expansions.The Necromancer expansion is really strong and a lot of fun.

This is a very fun card game I play with my eleven year old son. We have many great mage battles when the chance to play presents itself. The game is fairly quick compared to many card games I've played (about 30-40 minutes or even less once the rules are learned) but the depth of the game itself is very impressive as, even after multiple plays, we are both still discovering new strategies and tricks of play. For anyone that enjoys Magic or other card games, this one is highly recommended. Personally, since playing this, I prefer it over Magic as it just feels like a better quality game overall.

I haven't played the original version. - even though this is supposed to be an easier to learn version, there's lots to chew on here! Very different from other card games - knowing what you can draw, really teaches timing and strategy. I suspect it's a great gateway to more MW, but I think many would be happy in this version

Lots of fun and nuance! Really feels like 2 mages dueling it out, more so than MTG as there is no element of “luck of the draw”. Lots of tokens to keep track of but the learning curve is worth it!