When is a deck builder not a deck builder?
Well The Language of Magic is close to not being a deck builder as advertised on the box.
A player does start with a deck of personal cards, which you essentially buy from over the course of the game to add to the playable cards you have access too. So you are building a deck, but you won’t really feel like you are playing a deck builder.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, because there are literally dozens of deck builders out there so you want something a bit different with the mechanic and here it is only a little flavouring on the game.
That said the overview of the game by Shawn Hescock makes use of the current interest in the genre to promote the game.
“The Language of Magic is a deck building card game which was inspired by the works of Richard Garriott and my long-time appreciation for the world he created. Players of The Language of Magic take on a role of the Avatar, the defenders of Spirituality, in their fight against the vile lich, the Master of Hythloth. The Avatar amass their collection of the Words of Power and combines them into powerful spells. The battle will be fierce and those with the most potential, best strategies, and loudest voice are likely to come out alive,” notes the ruleset.
The game can be played three ways: solitary, 2-4 player cooperation, and multi-player duel.
The versatility of play is a definite plus.
The game for a group is a co-operative one where you work to expand your spell elements resources, the cards you have access to use, so you can cast spells, typically against the big baddie and its minions. I say typically because you can cast spells to help protect yourself and fellow players, or to heal damage taken too.
The idea is pretty solid, not surprising as it’s based on a book. However, the terminology on the cards is a bit hard to grasp, and understanding which ‘words’ work with others to link up a more complicated spell will have you digging into the rule book a bit more than our group liked.
There is a fine line between interesting game and one a bit too complicated to be worth the effort to learn well. The Language of Magic definitely flirts with that line, at least for our group.
We enjoyed the idea we saw in the game, but may never devote the time to learning it well enough to be truly appreciates.
Check it out at www.indivirev.com
