[RULES] Battle Boards V1.218 - Neo Dynasty - Battle Gaiden

Let's start with the big question:

What is Battle Boards?

tl;dr: You do some roleplaying, and then make a card about it. Your opponent does the same, and judges you for some points out of 10. You judge them, and the cycle rinses and repeats.

If the idea of roleplaying via card design interests you in more detail, I'd suggest starting out with the Getting Started Thread. If you want a more comprehensive overview of the rules or have further questions, feel free to come back to this thread.

If you're reading on, though:

To join, simply make a new topic in Contests and Games titled [Name's] Battle Board (This helps distinguish this game from other forum games. Please do this to help the moderators run the game smoothly!)
You then need to create a Profile, which will determine what cards you can initially design. For starting out, you should know that you start with 10 skill points and can buy the anything listed in "Skill Point Spending" for their listed cost (usually 1-2 Skill Points). You also get some “freebie skills” at the start to give you a starting point to make cards.

To be precise, you start with:

• Colorless color identity (You can only make cards that use generic mana symbols, unless you buy colors)
• A color identity level of 1. (For each color identity level you have, you can add one mana color of mana symbol in the card’s mana cost or text box.)
• No card type masteries (In order to make a card of a certain type, you must have the type mastery for that type, or have the perk that lets you make cards of that type.)
• Mana Value . (The mana value of any cards you make must be equal to or less than your mana value.)
• Your cards can only use evergreen keywords. (Note: Enchant and Equip are evergreen.)
• Your cards can only be Common () or Uncommon ().
• Cards you make are allowed to generate Food/Treasure/Clue/etc. tokens without buying related mechanics.


Before you step further: Don't worry too much about making mistakes, having questions, or getting cards "exactly" right. Battle Boards is a spirit of the rule game and generally portraying your character well will generally make weird/ambiguous designs or loophole exploits more interesting/fun. As long as you're helping create a fun environment to roleplay in, people will take what you're doing in good spirit.

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Base Character Options (Cost: 1 Skill Point per Perk)

• Add a color to your color identity. (1 of ) (You can only make cards that use generic mana + mana symbols of colors you own.)
• Increase color identity level by 1. (For each color identity level you have, you can add one mana color of mana symbol in the card’s mana cost or text box.)
• Increase mana value by 1. (The mana value of any cards you make must be equal to or less than your mana value.)
• Add a type mastery. (1 of: artifact, battle, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, tribal or sorcery. Some types grant extra bonuses:)

• Unlock an existing keyword or mechanic, or create a new keyword or mechanic. (This includes making a fanmade token canon (like Clues or Food) for yourself.)
• Add two additional sets to Conjure spells from.

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Basic Perks (Cost: 1 Skill Point per Perk):

• Artificer (Unlocks Equipment, Fortification, Vehicle, Contraption and their corresponding keywords (Equip, Fortify, Crew, Assemble))
• Enchanter (Unlocks Aura, Class, Curse, Shrine, and Saga)
• Questmaster (Unlocks Legendary)
• Explorer (Unlocks World and Basic supertypes)
• Multityper (Allows combined typing)
• Rarity Upgrader (Unlocks and )
• Winterborn (Unlocks Snow)
• Tainted (Unlocks Phyrexian Mana)
• One With the Void (Unlocks Colorless Cost, Grants Devoid)
• Triumphant Adventurer (Unlocks Dungeons, Grants Venture)
• Twin-Souled (Unlocks Flip and Double-Faced Cards, Grants Transform and Meld.)
• Biomage Engineer (Unlocks Host/Augment)
• Planar Champion (Unlocks Planes and their relevant subtypes.)
• Hero's Legacy (Unlocks Vanguards and Hero cards)
• Renowned Spy (Unlocks Conspiracies. Note: Does not grant Hidden Agenda, since Conspiracies can function without them.)
• Sinister Decree (Unlocks Schemes and their relevant subtypes.)
• Jester (Unlocks Silver-Border)
• Flusterstorm (Whenever you respond to two or more cards with a single card, you get +1 Valor for each card you countered after the first.)

Advanced Perks (Cost: 2 Skill Points per Perk):
• Sigil of the Commander (Allows you to set a single card in your Command Zone to serve as your Commander, of any type that your character can create. (e.g. Plane, Conspiracy, Scheme, or other card type that normally exists in the command zone exclusively) If the card is an Artifact, Creature, Enchantment, Instant, Land, Planeswalker, Sorcery, or other card type that normally is part of the deck itself. If you design a card with one of the following keywords: Partner, Partner with, Host/Augment, Meld, or Hidden agenda, you may design a second corresponding card to place in the Command Zone.
• Magus of the Forgotten (Allows creation and use of a new color.)
• Herald of a New Archetype (Allows creation and use of a new card Type or Supertype.)
• Breach Specialist (Allows creation and use of a new zone.)
• Tactical Imperator (You may create a second card for your attack or defense.)
• Credo of the Ruler (You may add a restriction to your opponent's next attack or defense.)
• Open The Vault (You have designed a tool of surpassing power! Choose a card type you can pair with another type and create a card with those traits. You may lend that card to other players as a gift, allowing them to use it as part of a paired attack or defense. You may buy this perk repeatedly; any gift after the first costs 1 skill point. Gift is treated as a card belonging to the current owner until the original owner takes it back. Lended-out gifts may remain after a reincarnation.)

Once you're character is set up, you can now attack or gift other players with a card design. That player will defend, and other players may assist either side. You can attack however many players you want at once, as long as you don't currently have an attack already waiting for that player to answer.

• Attack - Go to any other player's board and attack by posting a card design that fits your character sheet. The defender will rate your card out of 10; You will gain that much Valor. They will then defend and you will rate their card out of 10. Note that if you don’t make a follow-up attack, you do still have to make a post rating the defender’s card. If multiple players attack together, whoever posted first is the “attack leader”, in which case only the attack leader will rate the defender’s cards.

• Defend - Once attacked, defend by posting a card design that fits your character sheet that in some way answers or counters the effect of the attack card. The attacker you are responding to will rank your card out of 10, earning you that much Valor, and then may choose to follow up with further attacks. If there are multiple players attacking you together, whoever attacked first will rate your cards.

• Gift - Gifting works similarly to attacking, but if the defender accepts the gift, they'll design a card that works with the gift, rather than trying to defend against an attack. Valor occurs as normal.

• Assist- Other players may join the fight, assisting the defender against an attack on their board with a second card design of their own. When assisting, you don't rate anyone's cards, but the attack leader will rate your assist out of 10. Assisting an attacker is treated as a separate attack for scoring purposes.

Example of multiple player combat:


You are allowed to reuse previous custom designs your character made for Attack/Defend/Gift/Assist.

• Conjure - You may cast any card from a set you have unlocked to assist your attack, even if the card casted normally does not fit your character requirements. You start with all core sets unlocked, and unlock any set you want for free every time you gain 100 Score. (You may buy additional sets for 50 Valor.) Please note anything with a set code counts as its own set, so Masterpieces or Commander Decks accompanying a set do not come with the set. (Planeswalker decks on the other hand do, since they use the same set code.)

You are allowed to unlock custom sets.


Attacking and Defending with Multiple Cards:

Normally attacks and defenses are done with a single card, but in Magic, some cards don't make sense by themselves. In addition to Conjure, a player can attack/defend with two cards if certain conditions are met. When multiple cards are created to attack or defend, the other player will rate each card, and you will take Valor equal to the average of those scores.

For a player to attack with multiple cards:

• They have the perks required to make both cards.
• If they don't have Tactical Imperator, the total mana value of the two cards are within the player's MV Level.
• They have the Tactical Imperator perk, or are using one of the following pairings:
• They are making a Vehicle, an Equipment, a Bestow card, or a Soulbond card plus the creature to crew/equip/enchant/pair with it.
• They are making an Aura plus a permanent it can enchant.
• They are making a Fortification plus a land to be fortified.
• They are making a Conspiracy plus a card assisting it.
• They are making a pair of cards with Meld, Partner with, or Host/Augment.


Hey! What if I want to play, but don't want to go through the whole Battle Boards creation process?
For you busy folks, look no further than the walk-on Guest System. Even if you don't have a battleboard you may chose to a send an enemy card at a player's Battle Board - since you have no profile of your own, you won't gain any Valor/Score, but you can participate in all the fun without any of the hassle! Just remember to rate the card the Board player attempts to respond to you with.

Additionally, If you want to do silly things that break the game to give players a challenge to respond to, the Guest System is always available. You may attack with no restrictions, however you do not earn Valor or Score.

Valor is essentially the amalgation of glory, gold, and experience you've gathered as you fight on for your stake in the kingdom, and as such it is the ingame currency here. At any time, you may spend 100 Valor to gain 1 Skill Point. This Skill point can be spent on any perk mentioned under Skill Point Spending.

Achievements also grant Skill Points. See their respective section for more details.

If you don't like a perk you've picked, you may refund it for half it's value in Valor. For example, a skill that cost 2 skill points would give you 100 Valor back.

If you're crafty, perhaps you'll create your own Valor establishments that offer services of your own. If you have an idea on creating a Valor-based service you'd like to host (e.g. a mercenary house, a trade room, a bar etc...), you are welcome to either PM ZephyrPhantom, BluesEclipse, or (in the absence of both GM and Rules Manager) take it up as a community vote.

Your Second Character: (Reincarnation, Switching, and Null)
A player's first character may reincarnate after attaining 300 Score.  Subsequent characters made by that player may reincarnate at any time after attaining 500Score.  Upon reincarnation, determine any achievements that the character qualifies for and note those achievements on the character's sheet. Save that character's sheet, either in a spoiler in the main post or in a separate post on the character's board, then create your new character.
Reincarnated characters can receive additional Skill Points based on achievements earned on prior characters.  However, your new character can only claim the Skill Points for an achievement once, no matter how many times it is earned (with the exception of Experimental Frenzy, Wojek Veteran, and Old Fogey).

When a character is reincarnated, you may choose to Switch back to the character at a later time, so long as your current character has met the requirements for reincarnation. You will reincarnate the current character as normal, but then restore your previous character's sheet as it was at the time of their reincarnation. You do not receive any additional Skill Points on the reinstated character for achievements earned on that character or subsequent characters. All Skill Points gained and spent on the character remain as they were at the time of reincarnation, but the character begins tracking score again from 0, and unlocks additional Valor, Skill Points, Mana Pool increases and Call for Aid sets accordingly.  If this character earns further achievements through the course of play, skill points obtained from those achievements are only applied to new characters made afterwards, up to the cap.

If you are at any time dissatisfied with your current character, you may choose to Null the character - simply indicate that you are choosing to Null your character in a post. The character is discarded - no achievements are earned from playing them, and you cannot resume play with the character in the future (you may choose to recreate the character for roleplay purposes later on, but they will be treated as a new character mechanically speaking).

While creating your new profile after a Reincarnation, you gain 1 additional skill point for each achievement below you've fulfilled below. New characters can only claim the Skill Points for an achievement once, no matter how many times it is earned (with the exception of Experimental Frenzy, Wojek Veteran, and Old Fogey).

• Lotus Guardian : A previous character obtained a mastery of all five colors of mana.
• Conflux : A previous character obtained a color identity level of 5.
• Epic Proportions : A previous character obtained a mana value of 10.
• Holistic Wisdom : A previous character obtained a mastery of all card types. (Artifact, creature, enchantment, instant, land, planeswalker, sorcery, and tribal are card types.)
• Enter the Infinite : A previous character reincarnated with 12 or more Skill Points spent in addition to the starting 10.
• Experimental Frenzy : This character has reincarnated without earning any other achievements that the player has not already earned. Can be obtained multiple times.
• Heroes Remembered : Your character forever leaves the game in a dramatic conclusion to their story. You can never play this character again.
• Three Visits : You are on your third or higher character.
• Lotus Bloom : Your previous character has created a new color that has had at least five cards with ratings of 8/10 or above.
• Librarian of Leng : Your previous character created a new card type or supertype that has had at least five cards with ratings of 8/10 or above.
• Through the Breach : Your previous character has created a new zone that has had at least five cards with ratings of 8/10 or above.
• Cartouche of Zeal : Your previous character created a new card subtype that has had at least five cards with ratings of 8/10 or above. This subtype must drastically adjust how the card works - Vehicles and Sagas are a good example. A Planeswalker type by itself will not work but a Planeswalker type that does correspond to a distinct mechanical gimmick (e.g. Type "Fortress", indicating Planeswalkers that only 'react' to being attacked) can count.
• Humility : A previous character had no perks.
• Not of This World : A previous character had no color.
• Wojek Veteran : Reincarnate with 1000 score. Can be obtained multiple times.
• Old Fogey : Reincarnate with 2000 score. Can be obtained multiple times.
• One with Nothing : A previous character had a mana value of .
• Arbiter of the Ideal : A previous character had only one color.
• Enchanted Evening : A previous character had only one card type mastery.
• Blind Seer : A previous character purchased the ability to Conjure from at least 4 non-Core Sets.
• Akroma's Memorial : A previous character had no keywords outside of the evergreen.
• True Classicist : A previous character had no keywords outside of the evergreen and no new card types and one of your previous incarnations had Akroma's Memorial.
• Homicidal Seclusion : A previous character you had never Conjured and had at least one encounter where at least two players attacked them at the same time (either by having multiple players attempt an attack on the same board, or having at least one other player come to the aid of a defender when you attacked).
• Modern Master: A previous character had at least seven non-evergreen keywords unlocked.
• Conqueror's Pledge : A previous character started a conflict that involved four or more players. Requires mutual agreement between all Board owners involved.
• Helix Pinnacle : Your previous character had 10 or more cards with total ratings of 10 or more.
• Heroic Intervention : Assist the defense of another player 10 times with a rating of 8/10 or greater.


Restriction Achievements: (These achievements are closer to challenge runs that must be adhered to at any time you are using this character to obtain the achievement. (You may 'break' these restricted achievements on a character, but if this would cause any character you have to lose skill points, you must adjust that character's skill points before you post another card as them.)

• Gamble : You're a risk taker, a know it all, a hotshot, a cocky kid - whatever you want to call yourself, whenever you receive a score of 9 or higher, you take double valor, but anything less results in 1 Valor/Score.
• Evil Twin : Your new character cannot have colors or card types that your previous character had.
• Apex of Power : Whether you have just begun or have practiced for centuries, you are always on the edge of what your powers are capable of. This comes with the downside that you don't know how to hold back. For each card you cast, it must be of the maximum CMC you are able to use. You must be able to cast spells with converted mana costs and have a CMC level of at least 10 when you reincarnate to earn it.
• Monomania : Choose a perk you've purchased during character creation. (Basic Perks or Advanced Perks under "Skill Point Spending" qualify as perks.). Each card you make must use that perk. (For example, if you chose Jester, you can only make silver-bordered cards. If you chose Planar Champion, you can only make Planes.)