The Rules of the Game

The duels in The Magician's Journey take heavy inspiration from those that appeared in the manga and Duel Monsters anime. Thus, there’s a certain ‘looseness’ to how the games are played, the sense that there’s a little more to each card than what is recorded on its text. But I also play the TCG, and I’m pretty good at it — for a certain definition of good — so I’m seeking a balance between various extremes.

In short, the duels are played under the New Expert Rules (the rules immediately prior to 5D’s), with the following exceptions:

• Monsters can be Normal Summoned in face-up Defense Position.
• As in the manga and early anime, if an attack target leaves the field, the attack fails.
• There is no Ignition Effect priority (if you don’t know what Ignition Effect priority is, don’t worry, it was removed in Master Rule 2 and it was always stupid).
• And also...

Ritual Monsters
I wanted to make Ritual Monsters a focus of The Magician’s Journey, but to do that in this retro (or pseudo-retro) format, they needed an overhaul. For that reason, I have placed Ritual Monsters in the Extra Deck (you're welcome). In exchange, most Ritual Spells can only Tribute monsters from the field, not the hand. The end result is halfway between Fusion and Synchro, I suppose.

Speed Duels
Duels with both 4000 and 8000 Life Points will appear over the course of the story. For convenience, within the story I call the 4000 LP duels ‘Speed Duels’, but other than the lower starting LP their rules are the same as typical Master Duels. The exception is that most burn damage effects and LP costs are reduced during Speed Duels, with the exact reduction decided on a case-by-case basis. If I were to pick a median, I’d say most burn has been reduced by a third.

 

 

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