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Wizard’s Chess

Overview

Exactly two color decks.

“king”, “rook”, “bishop”, “knight”, and four “pawns” in one color
“queen”, “rook”, “bishop”, “knight”, and four “pawns” in another color
1 “magician”
1 “artifact”
18 enchantments/instants/sorceries
at least 24 lands (at most four non-basic)

Color Restrictions

“Gold” multicolor

Only allowed among the 18 spells. Not among the creatures, magician, or artifact.

“Hybrid” multicolor

Among the creatures, magician, and artifact, you before the game write down what color it represents. For example, you can use Kitchen Finks as a 1WW creature or as a 1GG creature.

Among the 18 spells, off-color hybrid works as above (for example, you might use a WW Wheel of Sun and Moon in an Orzov deck) or if all the colors are within your two colors, it works like normal hybrid.

TDFC

Count the best side for the deckbuilding restrictions below. Both sides need to be the same color and either both needs to be a creature, or neither side (such as Search for Azcanta). For example, for Delver of Secrets count 3/2.

MDFC

Either both sides are enchantment+instant+sorcery, or both sides are land, or both sides are creatures of the same color. Both sides need to fit the deckbuilding restriction for its slot.

Artifact

Colored artifact creatures, if they have a single color, can be used in the creature slots
For the “artifact” non-creature slot, it can be either of the two colors, or be colorless

Other color identity issues (such as off-color activation)

Needs to stick to your two chosen colors but otherwise no restriction. For example, a black/green deck may use Elves of Deep Shadows as pawns.

Creatures

One king

Needs to be single-colored
Needs to have mana cost at least 5
Every time the king goes to the graveyard or to exile, you lose half your life (the loss is rounded up)
If the Queen has been in play since the start of the turn, the king gains “T, sacrifice your Queen: Counter a spell or ability that would’ve caused the king to be leave the battlefield.”

One queen

Needs to be single-colored, and a different color than the king
Needs to have mana cost at least 5

Two rooks

The king’s rook needs to have the same single color as the king, and the queen’s rook needs to have the same single color as the queen
Needs to have higher toughness than the same-colored bishop’s power
Needs to have defender or reach. (If it has reach but not defender, it may attack normally.)

Castling.

You can return a rook to hand to play a king or queen tapped, or vice versa
At most once per game
The two cards need to be the same color
The card you return can never have attacked or blocked
The card you return need to have been there since the start of the round
Auras and equipment fall off (like an normal unsummon)

Two bishops

.* The king’s bishop needs to have the same single color as the king, and the queen’s bishop needs to have the same single color as the queen * Needs to have at least as high power as toughness * Needs to have strictly higher power than the same-colored knight’s power

Two knights

The king’s knight needs to have the same single color as the king, and the queen’s knight needs to have the same single color as the queen
Each knight needs at least one evergreen keyword that is primary, secondary, or tertiary in its own color according to this list.
Each knight can have other abilities in addition to that
Each knight can not have defender
Each knight needs to have sum of power and toughness six or lower
Each knight needs to have power strictly higher than the pawns of its color

2×4 Pawns

Two four-offs, that is to say four copies of the king’s pawn and four copies of the queen’s pawn
The king’s four pawns need to have the same single color as the king, and the queen’s four pawns need to have the same single color as the queen
If the pawn is vanilla, they need to be 2/2, 3/1, or 1/3 and may have any mana value.
If the pawn is non-vanilla, it needs to be 1/1, 1/2, 2/1 or 0/3 and have mana value three or lower. They can’t have p/t-altering abilities (such as shades) and they can’t have non-mana tap abilities (so no Tims but Llano is OK).
Pawns gain haste, but, any pawn blocking a hasting pawn gains +1/+1.
Pawns gain “T, exile this card during your upkeep: Return a non-king creature of this card’s color from graveyard to the battlefield, tapped.”

One Magician

Needs to have a single color but can be either of the deck’s two colors
Either a creature with a tap ability that doesn’t make mana and has sum of p+t max four
Or a planeswalker with max four starting loyalty
The magician can never attack or block (sorry Gideon)

One Artifact

Needs to either be colorless or have a single color, either of the deck’s two colors
If it makes mana it needs to make exactly one of the deck’s two colors. So moxes are ok but not sigils, lotus, or sol rings.
It has to be non-creature. Vehicles, equipment, jade statues etc are allowed.

18 enchantments, instants and/or sorceries

These can be either of the two colors or both. See “gold” and “hybrid“ rules above.
You don’t have to go nine of each color
At most two of each separate card. So not quite singleton, just almost

At least 24 lands

At most four non-basic lands
You can choose one dual of your decks two colors (does not have to be an ABUR dual, can be Adarkar Wastes or Hallowed Fountain).
Except for your chosen duals, each of the four non-basic lands needs to be completely singleton.
This means that you need at least 20 basic lands.

For example you can choose three Hallowed Fountain and one Mishra’s Factory.

Lands are the only way to have more than 60 cards in the deck since you have exactly 36 non-lands and at least 24 lands.

Snow-covered lands and wastes are allowed as basics.

Announcement Rule

Before the game, show your king and queen and announce what they are. “This is my king, and this is my queen.”

As you play creatures, announce what they are. “This is my rook.” etc.

Token Rule

If a token would be created it instead is not created.

Wishing

Creatures and artifacts can not enter from outside the game. Sorry contraptions and companions!

For enchantments, instants and sorceries, you may have a wishboard of up to 100 cards following the same restrictions on color etc as the 18 spells in your deck. So no colorless lessons.

Ban list

Because of the Token Rule, all cards such as Generous Gift, Pongify, Skyclave Apparition, Hunted Phantasm etc that would give your opponent a token as compensation for an effect
All sweepers, wraths, pyroclasms, including one-at-a-time sweepers like Porphyry Nodes and The Abyss or sweepers vs a particular color or type
All discard (this includes wheels, looting and rummaging)
All milling or top-of-deck–exiling (this includes “impulse draw” effects like Torch of Defiance and Bomat Courier, and all Ante cards)
All Control Magic and similar effects
All alt-wins and cant-lose cards
All cards that makes cards leave the graveyard (such as Tormod’s Crypt, Cremate)
All subgames
All racist cards

These specific cards:

Frankie Peanuts
R&D’s Secret Lair
Richard Garfield

Based on Wizard’s Chess by Tom Hazel.

Evergreen keywords by color

Depictions of racism in Magic