Review: Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards

Once upon a time, there was a world filled to the brim with radical magic.  And not pussy magic, like rabbits in hats or shit like that.  No, it was kick-ass magic, where one guy blows another guy's head off with like, a fireball or something!  You know, BALL-ROCKING MAGIC!

This is the intro to the card game:

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre!

 What the frak is this all about?

Well it is a card game that peaked my interest thanks to the TableTop YouTube video show thingy.

This is a card game for a group of 2-6 players. The goal is to become the last wizard standing after various rounds of: brain exploding, polymorphing, acid spraying, lightning bolt throwing fire blasting spells.

Each player first selects a wizard to use. Picking a wizard is simple, grab the one that sounds the coolest. The name and artwork are the only differences between the wizards. You can choose from the likes of:  Krazztar the Blood o’ Mancer, Jung Jung the Spirit Master,  Fey Ticklebottom the Enchanter, Zanzabart the Slag Genie, Princess Holiday and her vicious Furicorn or Pisster the Pissed wizard. They are all just place holders for your hit points, so it doesn’t truly matter who you choose.

After grabbing a wizard everyone grabs a hand of eight cards. These are used to create your devastating spells.

Spells are made for one to three component cards. There are source cards, which is the start of a spell. There are quality cards or the middle of the spell. Then there are the delivery cards which are the end of the spell and also contain a power level that is used for initiative. Finally, there are wild magic cards which can be used in place of any of the cards named previous.

You throw down anywhere from 1-3 cards to form a spell. Then each player acts in initiative order with the highest power level going first. Well that is unless someone plays two or fewer cards as a spell, then they will go first. Using 3 cards creates a more powerful spell. Less cards means less power, or does it? There is a bit of strategy here as going first can mean the difference between life and death in an epic spell battle!

Spell creation is where the game really grabbed my interest. The names and powers of each card are ridiculous. When thrown together in a 3 card group they sound destructively awesome or just damn silly: Beard o’ Blasty’s Disco Mirrored Nuke-U-Lar- Meltdown, Scorchia’s Festering Gore-Nado, Thai-Foon’s Explodifying Meatier Swarm, Walker the Time Ranger’s Two-Faced Death Wish, or perhaps Dr Rooty Bark’s Ballsy Testikill. There are an insane amount of combinations to create and every game has different spells being crafted.

Each wizard starts with 20 health and as the spells start flying you start dying. The game is all about damage output and offense. There is no defense to be had here. The sooner you can drop one or more wizards health the better. The goal is to be the last wizard standing each round. They even gain a token to show they have done this. After a set amount of rounds, the player who has the most Last Wizard Standing tokens is the winner.

Guess this was special or promo set of spell cards. Hmmm...

Now if you die, and you will quite often, all is not lost. After you die, your wizard can come back with varying one and done abilities, treasures, extra spell cards or extra health for the next round of the game. Death is not truly permanent for an epic spell wizard. Well…not until then end of the game when only one wizard is left with numerous victories over his foes.

The artwork for this game is reminiscent of something you would have seen on Night Flight, Liquid Television, early Bevis and Butt-Head, or Super Jail. It is a great look for the game. It ups the crazy in a game that is already rampant with it. I know the artwork will deter some as it is not the best, but it matches this game perfectly. Hell, I wasn’t crazy about it at all until I started playing and the it just made sense that is should look that way.

This game is coco bananas crazy! Once you get the rules down (which are covered in about two pages and are pee-pee simple) the game moves very fast. It is a purely screw your neighbor game, which is quite popular in our home. This does run $30 so it isn’t the cheapest card game out there, but I think it is worth the price. We are fans of original Munchkin, another great screw your neighbor game, and this has a similar and more frantic feel. It does have a recommendation of 15 years or above. There are a lot of graphic cartoon depictions of violence , “toilet” humor, violent references and a random swear or two. These can offend some parental units and kids. Just a minor warning for any straight lacers out there.

If you like some fast crazy game play with a really twisted take on wizarding, then go drop the $30. The game is a really damn fun time.

If you are skeptical then go watch the Table Top YouTube video about it. They cover the gist of the game and play a turn with four people. Just be warned Wil Weaton is really annoying in this video.