Sorcery, Instant, Interrupt from Magic the Gathering

[Patroclus]

I think we all know Magic the Gathering. It’s a not bad card game for two players. I have quit many years before from playing, but as I am currently played a wizard in HQ, I am feeling that the spell types of Magic could fit really nice in HQ.

For those who don’t know the game, there are three kinds of spells:
The “Sorceries” are the common spells of HQ. You have to wait for your turn to use them.

The “Instants” are type of spells that can be used even in the turn of your enemy. When someone uses an instant, the enemy can use an instant too. The previous instant “wins” the last one but the battle can continue using all your instances in one turn. For example, if your hero has 3 body points, the ball of flame as instant can cause you 2 damages and your body drops to 1 point, if you heal the 2 damages with a spell as instant you can revive your hero for example to 3 body points again, then if your enemy throws you another ball of flame your body will fall to 1 and you won’t die. Now if your hero has 2 body points and the ball of flame causes 2 damages, then you die and even if you try to revive with healing you can’t turn back the time.

The “Interrupts” are like instants but they are faster. In our example if your hero has 2 body points and took the 2 damages with a ball of flame, if you had a healing as interrupt you could play it “faster” (as we say, before the instant is really activated) giving to your hero 2 more body points and with the 4 body points he will survive.

I don’t say that “instants” and “interrupts” could take a main role in HQ, because this could change the way of playing dramatically and I think it’s not good. But an “interrupt” healing as a special spell, or an instant ability (ex counter spell) of a boss could work just fine in my opinion.

[Ethica]

I have 2 "instants" already in my own sets- Counterspell which cancels a spell cast by another magic user (I think there might be one of these already in HQ somewhere), and Necroplasm which reflects the effects of the spell back onto the other magic user.

I plan on introducing a few more because they are definitely a good idea and still simple enough to fit in with the other rules.

[Sjeng]

yes there already is a counterspell card in the wizards of morcar set. personally, I wouldn't make it more complicated than that to be honest.

[Daedalus]

From WoM, both the High Mage spell Dispell and the Protection spell Dispell are played as normal spells in the caster's turn, so they don't work as instants. From the EQP, the Elf spell Flashback kinda works as an interrupt, as it not only allows the Elf or another Hero to replay an entire turn, but also doesn't count as the Elf's action to cast. The Elf spell Timestop kinda works as an instant, as it allows a Hero to take another turn immediately after his current turn (but not on Morcar's/Zargon's turn). Both the EQP Chaos spells Dispell and Magic Mirror work as instants.

The Ancient Staff artifact from the EQP also reflects spells as an instant. From the BQP, the Armband of Ice artifact has interrupt effects against certain spells and conditions. From KK, the Fire Ring artifact has an interrupt effect against Chaos fire spells. (From RotWL, the Anti-Poison Quill and the Armband of Healing artifacts work as interrupts against Body Point damage.) Beyond these, any Spell Scroll artifact from KK, RotWL, the EQP, or the BQP works as an instant.

[Sjeng]

ah yes you're right. I mixed those up. I renamed the Dispell from EQP to Counterspell, to give it a different name from the 2 Dispell cards from WoM.

But the point is that there are already instants in the game, so we could always make new cards based on those.

[Patroclus]

Well, the first good for accepting this terminology is to write less in the card's text. The second is that if you understand well what each spell type means, it is very difficult to make mistakes. In Magic the Gathering it has a label writing “instant”, in HQ it could say “this works as an instant” and that could be enough to understand what it is. There is no other reason.

But think about it, how easy is to make a new spell with the use of this terminology, for example saying “ok, I want a new healing spell”. And finally, “and now what it should be? Sorcery, Instant or Interrupt?”. With only one decision you can have a totally different gameplay… with only one check.