2v1--2v2 style!

[Sailor Vulcan]

So this is kind of an idea I had, but it needs fleshing out. I thought that for a 2v1 game, it might be better if it worked as if it were a 2v2. What I mean by that is that the single player is treated as two players who share position and control of spells.

The single player gets twice as many spellbook points and actions, and twice as much health, channeling and starting mana. However, the single player cannot take consecutive action phases.

Alternatively, you could just have the single player control two spellbooks and two mages and play a regular 2v2 game.
Or you could have the single player fuse his mages together into one by adding all of their stats together and sharing position but having separate non-consecutive action phases.

Or you could try switching Mages in a manner similar to Quirrel format. With this option, you can, during the reset phase, choose to switch out your mage with your other mage. When this happens, all Mageclass and school class only spells that you control are switched out as well. Then all damage on your switched out Mage is transferred to your active Mage.


Thoughts?

[Zuberi]

I think this is a very interesting idea. I would really enjoy a 3-player variant other than FFA. Increasing the solo mage's spellpoints, health, and channeling all seem like obvious things to do. I'm not certain if he needs his starting mana increased as well. I'm not certain exactly how much these traits should be increased by either. Doubling them might sound obvious, but it doesn't just allow him twice as many spells, it also allows him more expensive spells. We're talking about a Priestess being able to summon an Angel every round for the first 3 rounds and still having 17 mana left over for other spells during that time. I think the numbers will need played around with a bit.

Besides these increases, I think the only other change you are suggesting is to give the solo mage an extra action marker on their mage? That way they could take twice the actions per round, but still only one action per turn. Should they also get a second Quick Cast marker?

[aquestrion]

I have played a lot of handicapped (2 vs 1) matches and the fairest way to change the stats is to reduce the 2 mages life by a set amount and giving it to the solo mage... ie 5 life loss to 10 plus gain for solo mage or 25% loss to 50% gain for solo mage.

[abyssalstalker]

I like this idea a lot. My group generally only plays 2v2 since they don't enjoy the pressure of 1v1. Sometimes we only have 3 people and I have a strong urge to play Mage Wars.

I'll have to give this a try and tweak it in the future!