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Spellfire Card Game Rules
by Robert Allen
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Overview
Spellfire is a card game that was produced by TSR, the company that published the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game. Spellfire was released as a competitor for Magic: The Gathering, the collectible card game. While Spellfire is no longer being produced, there is still a strong player base who continue to enjoy the game and play in tournaments ranging from local gaming stores to national conventions like Gencon. The rules for the Spellfire card game are maintained today by the player base.
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The Objective
The objective of the Spellfire card game is for each player to build an empire. Each player builds her empire by playing cards known as "realm" cards. The other player or players attempt to destroy those realms using a card type known as "champions." Champions may include monsters, heroes and other characters from the Dungeons and Dragons world. Players also use several other card types, including spells, magical items, artifacts, events and allies to aid their champions. When champions defeat a realm, the realm is removed from play. When a player ends his turn with six realms in play, he wins the game.
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Deck Construction Rules
Like other collectible card games, Spellfire players construct their own deck. Each deck consists of a variety of card types. The exact mixture of cards and types depends on the player and the deck style. A player may not include more than one copy of a given card in the deck. There are cards that make exception to this rule, and they are so noted on the card itself. There are three different deck sizes in the Spellfire card game, and each deck has its own rules as to which cards it can include. Decks may be in 55-, 75- or 110-card sizes.
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Starting the Game
To start a Spellfire card game, each player draws a card from her deck. The final digits of each player's card number are compared, and the player whose card has the highest number goes first. The players then shuffle their decks and place them face down on the playing surface. The first player draws his starting hand, and the starting hand size is determined by the deck size. The first player then moves into the turn phases. When that player has completed all of the turn phases, her turn is complete.
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Turn Phases
There are seven turns to a game of Spellfire, phase 0 through phase 7. During phase 0, the player performs actions that occur, according to the text on any cards in play, "at the beginning of the player's turn." Next, the player draws three cards from the draw pile to complete phase 1. Phase 2 allows the player to play a realm or a holding card, or to rebuild a realm. During phase 3, the player may play cards into the pool, and use certain spells and abilities. Phase 4 allows the player to attack another player's realm. During Phase 5, the player may play special "phase 5" cards that are labeled as such. The final phase, phase 6, is when the player raps on the table to end her turn.
