Duel of Wands: Review
Information:
Mechanics: Two-Players, Deduction
Player Age: 10+ Player Count: 2 PlayersTime to Play: 30 - 45 Minutes
Game Designer: Doug Levandowski, Luke Muench
Player Age: 10+
Game Designer: Doug Levandowski, Luke Muench
Objective:
In Duel of Wands you are trying to outmaneuver and outwit your opponent by slinging spells at them until they have discarded their psyche or ran out of cards to draw. Do this twice and you have won. The catch is that when your opponent loses they will have a chance to study in between matches and upgrade two of their spells.
Card Anatomy:
Standard Spells:
Each player will have a deck of 11 standard spells. This will include your psyche and will have some spells appear twice. This is how you will manipulate your opponent's cards and force them to discard their psyche.
Upgraded Spells:
In between rounds and at the start of the game there will be opportunities to upgrade spells into stronger versions. The interesting part of the upgrades is that this will make your deck unique to your opponent’s. Each basic spell with two cards (duplicate) has two different upgraded versions of that spell to let the player choose what upgrade they prefer.
Unique Spells:
There are seven unique spells and each round four of these will be used randomly as each player will have two in their deck.
Set up:
- Give each player their basic spell cards.
- Each player will choose two basic spells to deal out for their matching upgraded spell.
- Shuffle and place two unique spells into each players deck then shuffle each deck.
- Each player will draw four cards to begin the game.
How to Play:
On your turn, you either cast a spell and do the effect listed on the card, or you discard a spell and perform no effect on your turn. Whenever your hand goes below four you will draw a new card. This may happen on your opponent’s turn as some cards have reactive abilities that let you play it outside your turn. The round will end if a player’s psyche is placed in the banish pile (remove from game) or cast pile (discarded). When the round ends, the player who lost the round will trade two of the basic spells for upgraded versions of that spell. If a player wins two rounds they have won the game.
Final Thoughts:
Pros:
- Interesting upgrade spell system.
- Can be used within the kids on bikes RPG.
- Easy setup and tear down.
Cons:
-Lackluster deduction game.
Duel of Wands is all about trying to deduce when your opponent has the psyche card in their hand and then try to remove that card. It is a game about keeping the right cards close to your chest and using them when the time is right. It is similar to games like love letter and Rumpelstiltskin. If you enjoy those deduction games then you should give this one a try.
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