Magyarcana

A 2 player territorial battle inspired by Zarcana, Gnostica, and Zark City

GOAL: Control the most valuable territories at the end of the game

EQUIPMENT:

• 32 card Hungarian Suited Deck (7-10,  Upper Knave, Lower Knave, King, and Queen in Acorns, Hearts, Leaves, and Bells).
• 5 Looney Pyramid Trios per player. These pieces are referred to as "Minions." The sizes of the Minions are determined by the number of pips on the pyramid. A 3-minion has 3 pips, a 2-minion has 2 pips, etc.
• 2 6-sided dice, one for each player

SETUP:

1. Each player takes the 15 minions of their color.
2. Place a Knave of Acorns in front of each player. Each player places a 1-minion on the Knave closest to them.
3. Shuffle the deck and put top 3 cards from the deck as the starting territories between the two knaves, cards will be at 90 degree angles to one another. (See the image below)
4. Deal 6 cards to each player.

THE WORLD:

The world of Magyarcana is laid out in a repeated pattern where each time a new card is added it is added at a 90 degree angle to its neighbors. Cards on the board are referred to as “Territories”. The board represents a continent on an oddly shaped three dimensional world. If a minion moves off the "edge" of the board, it wraps around as best as possible to the opposite territory. It is possible that in certain layouts, a minion moving off of the board from one territory would simply appear on the same territory it started from.

If a card's power allows a player to change or remove a territory, the player can choose to affect any territory on the board. Note that this may result in a territory becoming disconnected.

OCCUPYING VS CONTROLLING A TERRITORY:
A minion occupies any territory that they are on. If the total number of pips on all of your minions in a territory is equal to or greater than the total number of pips on all of your opponent’s minions in that same territory, you control the territory. To use the suit power of a territory, you must control it.

DISCONNECTED TERRITORIES:
If a player creates a situation in which an unoccupied territory is no longer accessible via movement, then that territory is removed from the board. If an occupied territory is no longer accessible via movement it remains on the board and can be reconnected to the rest of the board later.

TERRITORIAL LIMITS:

Territories have a limited capacity for how many minions they can support. For number cards, the number of the card determines how many pips can be present in that territory, regardless of the number of minions present in the territory.  For example, a territory with the number 7 has the capacity to support 2 3-minions and a 1-minion, or 3 2-minions and a 1-minion. A minion may move through a territory that has no capacity, but the minion may not end movement on a territory with no capacity.

Face cards have a hard limit of three minions, regardless of the number of pips on those minions.  

PLAYING THE GAME

The game is played in a series of turns. After randomly determining the first player, each player alternates turns.

ON YOUR TURN: On your turn you may perform one of three actions:

• Choose a territory on the board that has one of your minions on it and resolve that territory's suit power.
• Play a card from your hand to the discard pile and resolve that card's suit or face card power.
• Discard cards from your hand and refill to 6 cards. (You may discard zero cards.)
  If the deck runs out of cards, shuffle the discard pile to create a new deck. If you would need to shuffle the deck a third time to complete your draw, the game ends.

END OF THE GAME:
The game ends if the discard pile would need to be shuffled to create a new deck for the third time. Alternately, if a player needs to draw a card and both the deck and the discard pile are empty, the game ends immediately.

Scoring

For each number card territory, the player who controls the territory scores a number of points equal to the value of the card (For example the player who controls the 8 of Bells scores 8 points.) For each face card territory, the controlling player scores 11 points.

The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. If there is a tie, the player who controls the most territories wins. If there is still a tie, players rejoice in their shared victory.

CARD POWERS:

All number cards have what is referred to as a “Suit Power”. If a player chooses to resolve the power of a territory or plays a number card from their hand, they resolve the suit power of that card. There are four suit powers:

Acorns - Add minions and territory to the board

You may add a territory to the board. Then you must place a 1-minion on any territory with capacity.

Bells - Expel an opponent's minion.

The current player chooses a territory occupied by both players. The current player then chooses an opponent's minion to attempt to expel. Each player counts the TOTAL number of pips on their minions in the territory and rolls a die. If the attacking player's sum of pips plus die roll is greater than the opponent, the opponent's minion is expelled to an adjacent territory. If no adjacent territory has capacity, the expelled minion is returned to its owner. (If the players tie or the current player’s roll is less than the opponent, nothing happens.)

Hearts - Move one of your minions
Choose one of your minions in a territory and move it in a straight line up to the number of pips on the minion. (1-minion moves 1, 2-minion moves up to 2, 3-minion moves up to 3. A piece may not move 0 spaces.) A minion cannot change direction while moving, and may not end its movement on a territory if it would exceed that territory's capacity.

Leaves - Grow a minion or replace a territory
Either grow one of your minions by one size or discard a territory and replace it with another larger territory from your hand. (A face card can replace any face card.)  Any minions that were on the replaced territory are placed on the new territory.

SPECIAL POWERS:

Face cards that are territories act just like number cards (with the exception of the different capacity). If a face card is played from the hand, however, the player may choose to resolve the card's suit power OR its special power. You can see details of the special powers on the player reference below.

Magyarcana Player Reference