My girlfriend and I just concluded our first game of Mage Knight last night, and we both loved it. We played the training scenario (“The First Reconnaissance”) to learn the game. But prior to playing, I’d read the walkthrough book twice and the rule book once to ensure I could address any questions she had without referring to either book. After the first round-and-a-half, we both started to grok the strategy of the game. You know that moment, when everything clicks and you mutter “Ahhhh!” to yourself.
On one of my turns in Round 3, I thought long and hard about entering an Ancient Ruins that contained a face-down brown (3rd toughest monsters in the game) and Draconum (toughest monsters in the game) token, but yielded two Artifacts as a reward. Since Goldyx (my character) was only level 4, I thought, “Well, let me check what monsters might be waiting for me to see if I even have a chance.”
So I consulted the list on the back of the walkthrough book and thought, “Hmm…only the Medusa (brown token, 20% chance of drawing) would suck, since, if I can’t block her Physical Damage 6, I’ll lose all 6 cards from my hand (had 7 cards in my hand, but one was a Wound) from being paralyzed. But even if a Medusa isn’t in the ancient ruins, finding even a lowly Swamp Dragon (Draconum token, 20% chance of drawing) would be a challenge to defeat.”
But since, in Ancient Ruins, defeated monsters remain defeated, as opposed to being replaced with new monsters, I thought I might be able to pull it off by killing one monster in one turn, and the other the following turn. “But please don’t let the brown token be a Medusa!”
So, being the brave (and greedy!) Mage Knight that I am, I moved onto the Ancient Ruins and declared I would enter them! I flipped the Draconum token and…“Swamp Dragon! Sweet!” As I placed my hand on the brown token, I prayed, “Please, no Medusa!” I flipped the brown token and…“Nooooooo! Curse you, Medusa!”
Since neither monster had resistances or were fortified, I decided to attack both at range instead of individually. But since I had only one action card with a Ranged Attack (strong effect), I wasn’t able to kill either as they slithered and flew towards me!
So now I had to attempt to block each one individually. In this case, the lesser of the two evils was the Swamp Dragon–I could handle being poisoned, but being paralyzed was not an option! So I maneuvered around the ancient ruins in a way that allowed the Medusa to engage me first. I needed Block 6 to prevent being paralyzed which, thanks to one of my two units and a mana die from the Source, I was able to achieve! Medusa attack blocked = no damage = no paralysis! Huzzah! But now the Swamp Dragon was upon me, and I had no way to block his Physical Damage 5, so I threw my two units to the Dragon as he chomped down on each, poisoning both in the process (i.e., each unit receives two Wound cards instead of one). Since I had only enough Attack to kill the Medusa, I did so to get that bitch out of the picture and collect the 5 Fame! I then ran and hid behind a pillar to catch my breath while the Swamp Dragon was still chewing on my units
On my next turn, I had only 6 cards in my hand, one of which was still a Wound, so only 5 action cards with which to engage the Swamp Dragon. So, I reviewed my 5 action cards along with my two skill tokens, crystals in my inventory, and mana in the Source. “Damn. I dunno if I can kill him. If only my two units weren’t wounded, I might have a chance!”
[As an aside for what I’m about to say, for those who play Dominion, do you know the feeling you get when you string together an awesome chain? Well, Dominion’s got nothing on this game when you do something similar in Mage Knight!]
Regardless of what I thought my chances for success were, I started to put the pieces together in my head…"Okay, first, there’s no way I can kill him at range, so I won’t even try. But I really need Block 10 or higher (since he has Swiftness) to block his attack, 'cause I don’t want to take poison damage (2 Wound cards to my hand and 2 Wound cards to my discard pile). But even if I block him, the attack would be useless if I can’t kill him. Will I have the proper cards remaining in my hand for an Attack 9 or higher after I block him?
“Okay, I can power this card with blue mana from the Source for Block 5 and this card with a red crystal from my inventory for another Block 3 for a total of Block 8. And this card’s basic effect gives me another Block 2 for a total of Block 10! Sweet! But do I have enough Attack (need 9+) with my remaining two cards? Oh! I can power this one with a green crystal from my inventory and then spend a red mana token I gained this turn from my once-per-round skill token for Attack 7, and my remaining action card has a basic effect of Attack 2! That’s Attack 9! Yes!”
I block the Swamp Dragon’s attack, which means no poison damage to me (my Hero’s deck), and kill him for 7 Fame and the reward of two Artifacts! Huzzah!
Even though my girlfriend won the training game by about 10 Fame, it was an awesome experience! If any of what I said interested you, purchase the game yesterday. It has a steep learning slope, but the view from the top is epic!
