Mental Magic Rules V1.21
by Team War Zone
Introduction:
Mental Magic is a variant on the traditional game of Magic
the
GatheringTM by Wizards of the Coast. In all cases
where the rules of
Mental Magic do not exist the current rules of Magic the
Gathering are to be
used (currently 5th ed.) Mental Magic combines the skills of
blindfold chess
with the enjoyment of Magic. The latest copy of this document
can be found at
http://photobooks.com/~j/mentalmagic.html
or the text file can be downloaded from
http://photobooks.com/~j/mental.txt
Comments and suggestions are welcome.
- How to Play
- Setup
A large stack of random cards (no land)
is shuffled and divided into two piles. Each player selects
one of these stacks
and this stack is considered his or her deck. A large stack
of basic land cards
is divided into two stacks. Each player selects one of the
land piles. This is
that players "Utopia Library". Players determine randomly to
see who plays
first, and then each player draws 7 cards from their deck.
The standard Paris
mulligan rule is used and is the only mulligan rule used with
Mental Magic.
- Optional Land Rule
A few non-basic land
may be inserted into either or both players main library.
These lands are not
Utopia, but can be used as any other land card. This is
limited by the special
rules on cards.
- Basic Game Play
The player who is playing
first does not draw (as per the Magic play or draw rule.)
This player may take
their turn as usual and lay a land, cast spells, attack as by
the rules of
Mental Magic and Magic the Gathering. Play then proceeds when
the first player
is finished with his or her turn to the second player. The
second player then
draws a card from their deck or draws a card from their
Utopia library. Play
continues switching from one player to the next as each
player completes their
turn until one player or the other wins the game as per the
rules of Magic the
Gathering.
- Special Rules on Cards
Cards in Mental Magic
are NEVER what they appear. Each card in Mental Magic when
needed by a spell or
effect can be any card printed by Wizards of the Coast for
use with Magic the
Gathering with the exception of Portal Cards, Astral Cards,
Computer Cards and
Ante Cards (see optional ante rule) that exactly match both
the casting cost
and color cost of the card in question . This has the effect
of making a
template for each card in Magic. Once a template is needed
and used by a spell
or effect that template may not be used again by either
player for the rest of
the game. Cards keep their template until they are removed
from the game OR go
into a players hand or deck. This means a B3 (printed on the
card as a Dungeon
Shade) cast as a Krovikan Horror is a Krovikan Horror in the
graveyard, when a
W1 (printed on the card as a COP White) is discarded and the
templated as a
Youthful Knight put on top of it, until it returns to owners
hand at the end of
any turn, whereupon it is an unnamed B3 with the casting
restriction that it
cannot be cast as an Dungeon Shade (or any used B3 template
like Krovikan
Horror.)
- Out of Play
For the purposes of resetting
a card (and require a new template) out of phase is not
considered out of game
for the purposes of this rule. (A Ring of Mau' Ruf will bring
back a card that
had been removed from this game but as ring of Mau' Ruf does
not need a card
type to be announced it does not use up a card template and
effectively brings
back and unnamed WW (for example.) Cards which are set aside
or in other
temporary out of game zones also do not lose their
template.
- Discard Rule
Cards which have been
discarded may be templated, but do not have to be templated.
If they are not
templated at the time of discarding they are considered
"unnamed card of
casting cost U1" for example. They may not be later templated
until they go
into a players hand or library.
- Using Templates
You may only use a
template when their is a valid game reason to do so. You may
not arbitrarily
use templates without a game mechanism for doing so. The
player who discards
cards may choose their template (or leave them unnamed.) The
player who puts
cards from their library into their graveyard also may choose
the templates (or
leave them unnamed.)
- Dual Libraries and Graveyards
Each player
in a game of Mental Magic has two libraries (the Main Library
and the Utopia
Library.) Any spell that targets a players library, is
treated as targeting one
of a players libraries. Also, any spell that targets a
players graveyard is
treated as targeting one of a players graveyards (but not
both.)
Any effect that deals with a library or
graveyard must complete all effects in the same graveyard.
For example a
Grindstone targeting the Main Library finding two spells that
match color, must
repeat the effect on the Main Library.
- Optional Ante Rule
If both players agree a
game of Mental Magic may be played for Ante. If so all ante
cards are legal and
have their normal affect (i.e. I switch my Jeweled Bird for
the 10 dollars of
Ante.)
- Running Out of Cards
A player loses the
game by being "decked" when they can not draw a card from
either library and
are forced to by the mandatory draw in their draw phase or a
mandatory draw
from a spell or effect.
- Specific Card Rulings
- Clairvoyance
The cards are viewed by
the opponent but they are not and may not be
templated.
- Cursed Scroll
When you name the card
for a cursed scroll you do not name an actual card but
rather name "spell of
unnamed casting cost X". This does not and may not use up a
template.
- Demonic Consultation
You name a card
to be found and thus use up it's template (the card will be
in the consulting
players hand but will be an unnamed card of that casting
cost.) For Example:
You may cast a Demonic Consultation for a Brainstorm and
the 7th card or later
that has casting cost U will go into your hand. It will
then have to be cast as
something other than a Brainstorm.
The cards removed
from play may not be
templated.
- Demonic Tutor
As you do not have to
show the opponent a card no Template is used nor may one be
used in the casting
of this spell.
- Dream Cache
You must draw from the
Main Library but may substitute draws from the Main Library
with draws from the
Utopia Library in any combination drawing a total of 3
cards. You must announce
how many cards will be drawn from each library at the start
of the affect. Any
Utopias put on the top/bottom of the Main Library must
instead be shown to the
opponent and put on the top/bottom of the Utopia
Library.
- Enlightened Tutor
As you must show
your opponent an enchantment or artifact you must use a
template for the card
retrieved. Once the card is in the players hand it may be
cast as any type of
spell.
- Gaea's Blessing
You may target cards
in either graveyard of either player but only one
graveyard. If Utopia cards
are put back (they must be placed into a Utopia library)
then the card drawn
must be drawn from a Utopia library.
- Mulch
Yes, you may target either
library with this card. Yes, this is a very powerful spell
in Mental Magic.
Green deserved something...
- Rowen
As with all effects that target
a single library, the entire effect must target the same
library (in other
words you can draw two lands instead of the regular draw
phase draw with
Rowen.)
- Timetwister
You must shuffle your main
library back into your main deck and the Timetwister
becomes the only card in
your main graveyard. You may substitute some of the 7 cards
with cards from the
Utopia Library.
- Utopia
The Utopia library is stack of the land
Utopia. The land Utopia reads:
Tap: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool.
0:Utopia becomes a forest, island, mountain, plains or a
swamp until the
end of the turn. Play this ability as a mana source.
0:Utopia is
snow-covered. Play this ability as a mana source.
0:Utopia is non-snow
covered. Play this ability as a mana source.
If any
permanents of a color
are in play or in the processes of being cast you are
considered to have a
traditional basic land of the type that produces the color
mana associated with
that color.
Utopia is considered a basic land
- Rulings
Each player along with having a
Utopia library has a special "Utopia Graveyard" where all
discarded/destroyed
Utopia lands go to.
You may replace any draw from your Main Library
with a draw from the Utopia library. Multiple draws from a
single affect may be
divided in any fashion between the main deck and the Utopia
library. The
decision as to how many cards are to be drawn from each
library is made before
any of the cards are drawn.
You may not replace a draw from your Utopia
Library with a draw from your Main Library.
With Utopia in play and a blue permanent you are
considered to have Islands in play but you do not have any
cards which are
actually Islands, so a Tsunami will kill no lands but you may
be Islandwalked
and Islandhome creatures will not die.
When Utopia cards are to be put into a players
library they are instead shown to the opponent and then put
into the Utopia
library. Any associated effects stay in the same library the
cards were placed
into.
Utopia lands which have become a basic land (by
any means) are no longer considered Utopias.
- Tournament Rules
- The Decks
The libraries for all Mental Magic
Tournaments are to be pre-created by the judges and the cards
chosen for
playability (no unusable cards RRRR3 for example) and limited
use of very
restrictive cards. Also a close watch should be taken for
very abusive cards
(BX). All libraries will be placed at tables across from the
opposing
libraries. The libraries remain fixed through the entire
tournament with
players moving to a different position after each game
(similar to duplicate
bridge.) The players play the decks after shuffling them but
not looking at the
contents of their libraries.
Optional Rule: The
players are given 5
minutes to inspect there decks before the start of each
match. There are no
sideboards in Mental Magic tournaments.
The recommended library size for tournaments is 40
cards for the main library and 30 cards in the Utopia
library.
The optional Ante Rule is not used in tournaments.
- Sealed Deck
An alternate method of deck
construction for Mental Magic Tournaments is to use sealed
starters (any format
will do.) The players uses the 22 basic lands in the starters
as their Utopia
Library. The remaining cards are used as the Main Library.
Players are allowed
to look through their sealed decks before the start of a
match.
Optional
Sealed Rule: Each player may choose to remove exactly
three cards from
their Main Library for use as a sideboard.
- Match Victory
Due to the length of time of
games of Mental Magic matches will be only a single duel. If
neither player
wins by the end of time, the active player must their turn.
At that time the
player with the higher life total wins unless either player
can demonstrate a
complete lock (Judges discretion as to what this means.)
- Card Templating
Players must be able to state
the actual card name (and have the required resources) to
successfully cast a
spell. The name must be clear enough to demonstrate knowledge
of the card name
and clearly not another card. This is not meant to penalize
bad pronunciation
(as certain cards like Nevinyrral's Disk are difficult to
pronounce) but to
force memory of card names. The judge in cases of dispute,
may have the player
write out the card name as a means of resolution.
- The Judge
The Judges ruling in all cases will
be final. They will make mistakes but someone has to decide
and they are
it.
- Challenges
If two players cannot agree on what
a card does or on reality a challenge may be made. If a
challenge is made a
judge is called and one player, then the other states what
they consider the
card to do (or what is reality) and the point of contention.
The Judge will
decide who is right. Any player losing two challenges in a
match will lose the
match. Challenges should be watched by the judges for
possibilities of cheating
or stalling. The Judge should consider notes as the primary
evidence in the
case of failure to agree with reality.
- Note Taking
Note taking is allowed and is
Highly Recommended for mental magic. In cases of failure to
agree on reality
notes are about the only basis the Judge has to go on. A
recommended note
system of B1:Demonic Tutor, W1: Balance is suggested, with
two column one for
each players spells.
- Time
As time is very limited in a tournament
environment and it is very easy to think about what card to
play for a great
deal of time in Mental Magic strict time restrictions are to
be enforced.
During the initial part of a round players may only consider
what to play for
45 seconds. During the final 15 minutes of a round players
may only consider
what to play for 15 seconds. Taking longer than this will be
considered
stalling and will be dealt with as per the standard
tournament rules.
- Special Tournament Card Rulings
Chaos Orb and
Falling Star may only target a single card. The target is
announced upon
RESOLUTION of the effect and the drop commences. The target
card must have any
obstructions covering it removed before the drop. This
includes counters and
other cards.
View the
Mental Magic Rules in a standalone file (for saving/printing)
View the
Mental Magic Rules in a Text Only Format
"Antonym, n.: The opposite of the word
you're
trying to think of."
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