Wizards Cup

The auto-battler 2-player card game by Seiji Kanai (Love Letter).

Tonight starts the Wizards' Cup, a magical dueling tournament held once every century. As the king of a country, you will select the six best wizards from your kingdom and decide the order in which they will compete. Yes, your role ends there, and all that remains is to watch your trusted wizards battle it out.

In Wizards Cup, you want to build the best team you can, anticipating how your opponent might attack. Each player starts with a set of 18 cards, and your opponent draws a card at random from your deck that must be one of the wizards on your team. You then choose five more wizards, arrange five of the six wizards into a deck, then place the sixth aside in a waiting zone.

Gameplay

Engage in epic wizard duels! Each player reveals their top wizard and places it in the duel zone. First, resolve wizard powers. Then, if necessary, compare card elements (light beats shadow, nature beats water). If elements match, compare values to determine the winner. The losing player discards their wizard and draws a new one to challenge the victor. Continue duels until one player is out of wizards; the other claims a victory token.

After each round, players may swap one wizard from their hand of six with an unused card, and then create a new five-card deck to duel with. The first player to collect two victory tokens wins!

What the reviews say...

"A bit like Love Letter 1.5... this is a great game, and it comes in the smallest box imaginable." - Staying In Podcast