Kickstart Your Weekend - Magicka Mayhem!
Magicka Mayhem
Type:Competitive Table Top Card gameFunding End Date: Apr 14, 2016Funding Status: FUNDED!
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1834911866/magicka-mayhem-the-card-game-of-elements-spells-an[yasr_multiset setid=8]
The Story
You have the power of the elements at your finger tips. Phenomenal Cosmic Power!!! And all that Jazz. But with great power, comes great... potential for it all to go up in flames.Combine the Elements to case powerful magics and destroy your enemies, maybe. Powerful forces are difficult to contain and can frequently go out of control. Use your magic to help or hinder your friends and enemies alike.Magicka Mayhem is created by 9yo Ethan and his Older Dad Ken. Ethan reached out to Paradox to get their permission to create this game, and they said YES! Not only did they say yes, but they invited him out to their headquarters. On top of that, it looks like they authorized him to use all the official art and symbols from their massively popular PC game.
The Gameplay
In Magicka Mayhem you are duelling other magi for supremacy you. Collect the elements to cast powerful spells. Once you cast a spell, you will Flip a coin to possibly draw a Mayhem card to determine what additional effect the spell has. This can be anything from a more powerful version being cast, to the spell fizzling out, or even a silly bunny catching on fire and then spreading said fire to all players. This continues until 1 magi reigns supreme!There are also several different game modes to play including the basic Spellmaggedon and Spell vs Spell where you have the option of countering your opponents attacks.
The Aesthetic
Magicka Mayhem is Approved by Paradox games. While not produced by them, they have given permission to use images from the game itself. All cards contain images from Paradox's game art for Magicka.The cards are nicely laid out with the titles at the top, card type is nicely accentuated with a scroll effect, and the element costs are clearly visible on the side. However the flavor text isn't the easiest to read since they've opted for Full art backgrounds on the card, but this is minor and doesn't impede gameplay.
The Box art is taking right from the Magicka game box, and the font is the same as the offical game. Not only does it seem like Paradox gave them their permission, but the tools to make this as accurate as possible.
The Perks
No stretch goals.$1 You get Tiny PDFs of the cards for your micro enjoyment!$25 You get the game!$45 You get 2 games! Can be combined for up to 7 players.$95 You get 2 games 3 Expansion Packs and a neato box to hold it all in!$145 You get GIANT CARDS!$195 You get the $95 level and All of the Magicka Video games!$245 You get the $195 level and WIZARD ROBES?!!$495 You get the $245 level and your own personalized card backs!$6700 You get All of the things above, and sending Ethan to a semester in College! He will also thank you profusely.
The Verdict
Fund!
I love Magicka. I don't get to play it with my friends enough in a local setting but when we do it is immense fun. It usually devolves into us just repeatedly killing each other so why not cut out the middle man and discard all pretence. The implementation of this game feels somewhere between Magic: The Gathering and The Pokemon TCG.I'm going to be backing it at the $95 level because I have a larger gaming group and I want the expansions. I wish the expansions were stand alone add ons though and the lack of stretch goals is unfortunate, but it's better to know what you're getting instead of overreaching with features. The game looks nearly complete from their playtest videos so delivery doesn't look too far off.If you'd like to hear more from Ethan and Ken, please click below and listen to our interview with them![iframe id="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_7Bi-mlpaLI"]Happy Gaming!