Cheaty Mages Card Game First Impressions

Cheaty Mages was another Essen 2013 pick-up I didn’t get a chance to play until I got back to England.

I always have high hopes for Seiji Kanai games.

Cheaty Mages puts you in the role of a wizard who has come to watch and bet on monsters fighting in an arena. Of course, you have all of your spells to help the monsters you’ve bet on win (or harm the monsters fighting against yours) – but then again, so do all of the other players, too!

You play a Wizard who is casting spells on several creatures who have a power value and a money value.

The aim is to make these creatures stronger or weaker to make them win the fight…

Why? Well, when the monster is revealed and you draw cards you’ll have spells. You bet on who you would like to win.

The Judge bans certain types of spells and also ejects/dispels fighters who have had too much mana spent on them.

It’s OK but as with Wooolf!! I played with some slow players and it’s not supposed to be a slow game. I’m looking forward to playing it again to see how things work out.

Cheaty Mages Update 27/05/2018

I really wanted to like this game but it just didn’t go well with a lot of the people I played it with. The characters are great and the cards you play on them are good too.

Having a judge that changes the state of the game round to round is a lot of fun. It keeps the game fresh and stops the same tactics from being used all the time.

But the problem is, it’s a little random… Or, if a couple of players bet on the same character and have the cards to make them win, they will.

So while the game is a great idea and works quite well, it is flawed. There are other games, like Shinobi Clans that do the same thing but I have yet to find one I like.

Maybe one day I’ll finally get a game that works using this system that I’ll keep 🙂

Jesta ThaRogue