The four categories of card games - Bridge, Rummy, Snap, and Solitaire - are generally played with a single shared, closed, isomorphic and symmetric deck (a CIS deck).

• One shared deck is randomly distributed between the players, with or without leftover cards.
• The deck is closed because the set of playable cards is defined once then becomes immutable.
• The deck is isomorphic in that it can be divided into suits with the same number of cards per suit. Non-isomorphic cards (such as Jokers) are `wild' and allowed with any suit.
• The deck becomes symmetric because all suits use the same internal organization. I.E., the Jack of Hearts can be paired to a Jack of Spades. Using set theory, the suits are equivalent.
• Rank is the most commonly used internal structure. In fact, snap, poker, and bridge games depend on using the same rank structure in each suit.
• Rummy games without ranking structures (such as American Women) are still usually symmetric because all players are given an equal chance of completing equivalent sets.

CIS decks are popular with educational card game designers because much educational material can be organized into sets (build a rummy), ranks (build a snap) or patterns (build a solitaire).

But the popularity of Magic The Gathering or Pokemon among children leaves some questions. How do you design an educational card game when there's one open, non-isomorphic, and asymmetric deck per player instead of all players sharing a CIS deck? What type of educational material do you teach? And do card games of this nature represent a new category of card game or another set of categories?

Analysis

This analysis is based on Magic the Gathering (commonly called MTG or just Magic ); the first commercialized asymmetric card game.

Openness

Magic uses an open deck. That is, the number of different legal cards (in the thousands) is much larger then the size of any legal deck (between 60 and 80, depending on the tournament). By definition, the game manufacturer is the final arbiter as to what is playable, which leads to a constantly changing card set.

• The number of legal cards decreases when:
• the game maker (Wizards of the Coast, or WOTC) bans cards from tournaments.
• a tournament is restricted to a subset of cards.
• The number of legal cards increases when the manufacturer decides to earn more money by:
• making another expansion set, adding new cards to the current mix.
• changing the rules for the current card set and making a new edition (of the same cards). Each front card face in a new edition is marked to show that the new rule set applies.

Human nature being what it is, the total number of legal cards has constantly increased for the past five years. Nor is there is any sign that the manufacturer is tired of making money by increasing the card set.

Using an open deck causes the following changes in how the game is played.

• Players control the contents of their deck – no two decks are the same.
• Decks are played against each other rather than players sharing a single deck (if you develop the game, you must build two decks).
• Play balance is maintained by unpredictability, rather than a shared and predictable understanding of the same deck. You have absolutely no hint of what your opponent can do.

Isomorphism and asymmetry in each deck

Magic takes advantage of the fact that decks can be isomorphic without being symmetric. That is, you can create two (or more) sets with the same number of items per set without requiring the sets to have anything to do with each other ("1,2,3" compared to "Apple, Pencil, Elephant").

Each released edition or expansion set includes five isomorphic card sets. WOTC play tests sets against each other in advance to verify that they have similar levels of power and playability. The sets are called `colors' rather than `suits' because they're orthogonal to each other rather than symmetric.

Colors are loosely based on traditional forms of magic – life and death, fire, water, air and earth.

• 'White magic' is life and holy magic. In game terms, White has a strong defense, weaker offense, and lots of cheap, weak cards that are easy to play.
• 'Black magic' is death or unholy magic with opposite strengths and weakness. Black has a destructive offense, a weak defense and focuses on a few powerful cards that are hard to play.
• Red is fire and mountain magic. Red is a potent offense mix of nasty mountain creatures and fire spells. Conversely, Red is the easiest color to defend against or counter-attack.
• Blue combines water, air, and pure magic. Blue has an interesting and eclectic collection of special attribute, counter-magic, or meta-rule cards. Blue is fun to play, but difficult to master.
• Green is the earth magic. Green has a solid defense and offensively moves very slowly with great destruction. Green decks usually win in the long run - if they don't get killed right away.

Each edition or expansion set may also include:

• Multi-colored cards. For example, a card can be simultaneously green and red.
• Two types of colorless cards:
• Land cards generate the magical power (mana) required to play colored or artifact cards. Land cards can be played without cost. For example, one Forest land card can be played freely then used to generate the one green mana required to play a (very cheap) green card.
• Artifact cards require a mana cost of any color but do not take on color characteristics.

The difference between artifacts and multi-colored cards is determined by the polarity of their response to color-driving cards. For example, a card that affects "Green" cards will also affect Green/Red multi-colored cards but is ignored by artifacts. Colorless cards are not `wild' because they can't be used to replace a colored card.

There's no rule requiring players to build isomorphic decks. Instead, decks may be (and almost always are) composed of haphazard combinations of cards. This makes it difficult to characterize played decks.

Perhaps the simplest explanation is to see any deck as a polyhedron, with each side representing the subset of cards belonging to a pure color, artifact, or multi-color. The size of each side would represent the number of cards in that subset (zero is allowed). In this case, the maximum number of sides of the polyhedron (or card subsets in a deck) is computed by the power series:

Or to write this out in long hand, N!/(N-0)!+N!/(N-1)! + N!/(N-2)! + N!/(N-3)!+N!/(N-4!)+N!/(N-5)!+1 where N is the number of colors in the deck.

For example, a three-color Red/Green/White deck with artifacts can be visualized as an 8-sided die, with the size of each face representing the number of cards belonging to that subset.

• Three die sides are reserved for each color (Red, Green, and White)
• Three sides are reserved for the 3!/2! multi-colored cards (3 colors, taken 2 at a time – Red/Green, Red/White, White/Green).
• One side is the Red/Green/White multi-colored combination – affected by all three colors.
• The artifact side is polar opposite the Red/Green/White side – affected by no color.

Any game can be understood as comparing the power, flexibility and availability of individual cards from random slices of both players' polyhedron decks, given the same meta-rule set.

Asymmetry in each color

It is possible to create a card game with orthogonal colors which includes a consistent structure inside each color. For example, three suits in Mille Bournes (Driver Ace, Extra Tank, and Puncture Proof, plus their subsidiary cards) are symmetric to each other and orthogonal to the mileage cards. In addition, the mileage cards are consistent with each other even though that organization is not shared with the other suits.¹

But Magic colors are not only orthogonal to each other, the internal structure of each color is asymmetric. The colors can be divided into categories - creatures, spells, and land. However, there is no ordering in how cards go into any category for any color – everything depends purely on the whims of WOTC.

The whimsical nature of Magic means that some cards are naturally more useful or powerful than others. Play balance is maintained by making powerful cards difficult to play. Magic does this by creating a dependency between card categories.

• Land cards generating any colored mana must be played before colored creatures and spells. At the beginning of the game, one land card can generate one mana point per turn.
• The greater the power of the creature or spell, the greater the number of mana points required to play the card. This requires players to balance decks by pairing card power with land amounts.
• Each category can influence conditions in any other category. In addition, overall game conditions usually depend on the conditions of the categories rather than color behaviors.

Asymmetry of cards

Category behaviors depend largely on the quirky behavior of individual cards. It's worth examining a few cards in detail. Card behaviors can be modified by other cards by 5 characteristics (at least) plus 3 scales:

• The edition or release to which a card belongs. Different rule sets apply to different editions.
• The card color (E.G., "Destroy all Red creatures").
• The card category - creature, spell, land, or artifact. (E.G., "All creatures gain +2 power").
• The mana cost required playing the card. This is a scale from -1 to 10 (so far. WOTC can legally change the scale). A negative score means that you gain mana by discarding the card.
• Creature power. This measures a creature's attack value and is scaled from 0 to 10 (so far).
• Creature toughness. This measures a creature's survivability and is also scaled 0 to 10 (so far).
• Additional creature attributes, if any. E.G., non-fliers must ignore `flying' creatures.
• Any special rules or capabilities that apply only to that card. Spells always describe this attribute.

Creatures are the only cards that can include all eight items and will always include the category (creature), a mana cost, power, and toughness. The Kird Ape below shows how this data is crammed into one card.

The difference between a creature's `additional attribute' and any `additional rule' is commonality rather than function. An `additional rule' starts by applying only to one card and becomes an attribute if it spreads among future cards. In this case, the `additional rule' is assigned a one-word attribute and the meta-rules are modified to describe the behavior of that attribute. WOTC may also design new attributes in advance.

Spell cards are used to modify the current game conditions and include only two card characteristics - the cost to play the card and the effect it has on the game. Spells are subdivided by when they can be played.

• Sorcery can only be played on your turn. The effect is immediate and lasts for only that turn.
• Enchantments can only be played on your turn. However, an enchantment lasts the entire game, or until the enchantment is somehow removed.
• Instants and interrupts can be played on either turn and the effects are immediate.

The Army of Allah card below shows a typical Instant.

Playing instant cards back-to-back (or sometimes even just one) can have a drastic affect on the current game conditions. For example, playing Army of Allah on your opponent's turn will increase the damage you take while playing `Reverse Damage' next converts the damage to health.

The Tetravus card shows a typical artifact creature (it is both an artifact and a creature).

Tetravus is an example of a token generating card -the +1/+1 Power/Toughness counters can be swapped for +1/+1 creatures. Tokens must be killed separately from the card that created them. Thus, a player could pull tokens off Tetravus , deliberately kill Tetravus, somehow recycle the card then pull off more tokens.

Summary of Magic

Magic resembles Nomic ² in that each card is a self-contained rule and players are looking for ways to combine rules in order to reach a desired end. The game deviates from Nomic in that the rules cannot be changed midstream by mutual agreement with your opponent(s).

As a game, Magic represents complex relationships in a rapidly changing combat environment. Players are given a lot of control over how rules are applied and player creativity is rewarded. The game complexity causes a steep learning curve but creates a rewarding and highly addictive playing environment.

Educationally, Magic provides a constructivist's dream. Players are literally required to construct a mental model that they believe will thrive in a difficult and unstable environment.

Summary of the analysis phase

It may be necessary to develop another set of categories rather than assigning non-isomorphic card games to a single category, given the plethora of possible designs.

• Closed, isomorphic, and symmetric decks are used to create Bridges, Rummies or Pokers, Snaps and Solitaires. Players share one single CIS deck randomly distributed.
• Open, non-isomorphic decks are used in Magic, Pokemon, and others. Players customize and compare their individual deck to an opponent's deck, given the same meta-rule set.

The customizability of Magic or similar card games does make them difficult to analyze. However, you can develop additional card game categories by examining different ways in which to make card games asymmetric. Customizable card games can be designed by (at least):

• Using asymmetric colors, or any mix of symmetric suits and colors
• Mixing symmetric or asymmetric categories inside a color or suit.
• Adding multiple scales within assigned categories, colors, or suits.
• Assigning special characteristics to individual cards.
• Assigning different victory conditions to different decks, with the winner being determined by who reaches victory first (this is true in NetRunner).
• Building solitaire combat puzzles whose objective is to determine how to win (or simply not to lose) given a game condition.

There is no shortage of ways by which decks can be unbalanced. However, Magic and Pokemon both show that balanced play is still possible with unbalanced decks, given the proper rule set.

Design

Educational design

Given the number of school-aged children playing Pokemon, unbalanced card games are probably not too complex for educational purposes (unlike Bridge). So what type of subject can you teach or reinforce with an unbalanced card game?

The first topic that came to mind was law, especially criminal trial law. Consider that:

• Both prosecutor and defender must abide by the same set of meta-rules established by the state.
• The state or federal government constantly changes the meta-rules.
• The defender and prosecutor do not share the same facts or resources (a defending attorney can see all evidence seen by the prosecutor, but not vice-versa).
• A criminal trial proceeds in a strict turn order (prosecutor, cross-examination, defense, cross-examination, prosecuting summary, defense summary, deliberation, and verdict).
• Trial lawyers can `object' during their opponent's turn in an attempt to change the ground conditions (an `instant' or `interrupt' spell).
• Some evidence is considered stronger than others (for example, wiretaps or DNA) but is harder to present (because you have to get approval from a judge in advance or because of the expense).
• Nuances of the law are subject to interpretation on the fly.

This idea was rejected primarily because I don't know a thing about law. The ideal topic to teach must fall somewhere in a Csikszentmihalyi flow - easy enough for a game designer to supply and hard enough to make it fun and challenging. This is unfortunate because several other complex and highly ordered fields (such as particle physics) might be good candidates for a Magic.

Network system administration, business competition, and history were also considered. I seriously thought about designing an unbalanced Cold War game because:

• It's easy to find Cold War historians and the Cold War is a good High School topic.
• The US and the USSR can have different victory conditions (with the Soviets merely trying to survive until the year 2000) or they can compete for prestige points among neutral countries.
• The military, economy, technologies, and spy organizations can be used as different colors.
• Colors can be broken down into subcategories (army/navy; micro/macro computers/space, and so on).

These topics were eliminated because the game design seemed too complex, given the time constraints.

I was about to give up and participate in someone else's board game design when Dr. Dodge suggested Greek Mythology. This seemed odd at first but some research convinced me to adopt the idea because:

• There are generally two types of Greek myths.
• Quests, where a hero starts at home, has multiple adventures in search of an item, then returns home with the item. This suggests a trip-around-the-board board game.
• Behaviors of a god. These myths discuss complex relationships in a rapidly changing environment ( The Metamorphoses comes to mind), which suggests an asymmetric card game.

• There's enough similarity between Greek gods to see them as a single color. This simplifies the game design while allowing game expansions by color (Roman gods, Norse gods, Hindu gods…).
• Greek gods only used artifacts. For example, Prometheus stole fire, Eros shot arrows, Perseus used a mirrored shield to lop off Medusa's head (which then became an artifact) and so on. This simplifies the game further because designers don't have to think about spells.
• Special abilities of the gods can be easily mapped to a card game. For example, Eros's love/hate arrows can be represented by tapping Eros to force a god into an attack (or refusal to defend).

Game design

The game designer decided to develop a prototype game to model Greek myths and call this Pantheon. The drawback is that a full-scale version requires mixing a board game with a card game because Greek quest and relationship myths are tightly integrated. For example:

• Zeus's relations with Leda caused Castor, Pollux, and Helen.
• Castor and Pollux joined Jason and the Argonauts on the quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece and had various quests and relationships of their own (including some Roman myths).
• Helen married Menelaus then had an affair with Paris. This relationship started the Trojan wars, which in turn spawned off multiple quests and a few myths about Dionysus, Apollo, and the other gods.

Full-scale realistic simulations such as God I hate this were not considered in lieu of a board game because:

• It's easy for learners to get off track in any simulation.
• Board games are portable, easier to develop, and give close to the same educational benefit.
• Pantheon is based on the premise that items can be shared in both card and board games. Tokens, counters and cards do not exist in simulations.

Due to time constraints and the proposed game size, Pantheon focuses strictly on Analysis and Design. A sample board game is discussed below. However, I focused more on the card game and the connection between the card and board games because:

• quest board games have already been designed ³
• not much work has been done in designing either an educational asymmetric card game or in connecting a card game to a board game.

The Pantheon board

A typical layout would be a square around-the-board game where the object is for the hero to return home with the quested item. The sample Greek quest game below is based on the myth of Perseus killing Medusa.

The myth states that Persus could not kill Medusa without first finding a mirror, a Zeus-blessed weapon, a magic pouch, a pair of winged sandals, and Hades' Helm of Darkness (note that these are all artifacts). The winner of the game is the first person who returns home with any Gorgon's Head (one Gorgon per player).

• Players start at home. All players may consult the current quest list (the full version includes a stack of quests) to determine what is needed to complete that quest, where items are located, and how to use the items. Players then must laid aside the quest list and roll a 6-sided die in turn order.
• Players may move freely in either direction between Zeus's Temple and The Styx until they cross the river. Players can only progress forward towards home after they cross The Styx.
• Players must stop on The Styx until either the Hermes or Charon token lands in the same square. Players must petition Hermes or have an obolus in order to cross The Styx.
• Crossing The Styx takes an entire turn and puts the player on the space immediately next to The Styx on either side. Players may resume die rolling as normal on their next turn.
• Players can receive items, cash, or an obolus (their choice) by answering questions about Greece or Greek Mythology at the temples. Players may continue answering questions as long as desired, one question per turn. You must roll again between each turn.

There's a trade-off between educational goals and game design at this point. If you want to test students on the gods, you need one stack of questions about each god at the appropriate temple. But in game terms, this is a lot of bookkeeping. Pantheon already has a lot of bookkeeping already, so my gut tells me to use one stack of questions for all temples.

• Two tokens other than the players move on the board and take their turn after the players.
• Charon patrols the underworld (only) by starting on either Styx square and rolling 1 die until he reaches the opposite Styx square and ends his turn. Charon then reverses direction and rolls 1 die until he reaches the first square and so on. Charon continues patrolling the underworld the entire game. Charon will not ferry players over The Styx unless they pay him an obolus (you must have two for Charon to ferry you twice). Charon can ferry any number of players across The Styx simultaneously.

  Charon shows up in the game despite being a minor god partly because the myths show him controlling a critical crossroads and partly to increase the flow of players across The Styx. In game terms, The Styx can be a bottleneck without Charon, because Hermes only helps one player at a time.

• Hermes starts in Mt. Olympus but will not move until he is petitioned. Players may petition for Hermes' help at Hera's Temple, Hermes' Temple or in Hades in lieu of answering a question. Petitions are handled in the order they are received.

Once Hermes receives his first petition, he rolls two dice and proceeds to the petitioning player in the shortest possible route (using 8 steps from Mt Olympus to Hermes' Temple). Hermes stops to land on the square currently occupied by the requesting player. Hermes may help players two ways:

• Players can consult the current quest list to refresh their memory (if the game is adapted to handle more than one quest). If more than one player is on the square, they can both look (anything he said is overheard).
• Hermes accompanies the requesting player (only) across The Styx. I.E., the player moves both their token and Hermes on their die roll until The Styx is crossed by both tokens simultaneously. Players must attempt to cross The Styx each die roll or Hermes immediately leaves that player to answer the next petition.

Hermes leaves for the next petition (on the next turn) as soon as he helps any player.

Educationally, Perseus did Hera a favor once, so she sent Hermes to help him in his quest. Hermes is actually much more proactive in the myth than shown in the game design.

• Players must end their turn at Hades. Players must answer a question before the god Hades lends them his Helm of Darkness (one per player). Players may continue without the Helm if they want to encounter other squares.
• Any player who lands on Poseidon's Temple must roll a 1,or 2 before they can continue (Medusa was Poseidon's lover). Players can increase their odds by:
• answering 1 question for 1, 2, or 3
• answering 2 questions for 1, 2, 3 or 4
• answering 3 questions for anything but a 6.
• Paying 100$ in lieu of any one question after the first (you must answer at least one question to bump the odds).
• Deliberately losing a turn and paying 500$ (just in case a student gets real stuck).

Players can roll only once per turn in Poseidon's Temple.

• Players must stop at Medusa and describe how they will kill the Gorgon without consulting any written notes. This answer must match what was taught in class or players are turned to stone (they lose). The myth requires the Helm of Darkness so Perseus can sneak up on Medusa.
• Players must end their turn on Scylla and Charybdis. There is a separate stack of difficult questions for this square. Players must answer 2 difficult questions in a row before they can continue. Only 2 questions are asked per turn. Alternate rule : players have 6 companions and lose 1 companion per missed question to Scylla's and Charybdis's hunger. Players are eaten next (they lose) if they have zero companions and can't answer the next question.
• Random shortcuts and obstacles occur to players when they landing on The Fates squares. A stack of appropriate events and questions will be generated in the full version. Here are a few sample events:

• Poseidon discovers you're trying to kill his lover. Lose next turn.
• Encounter a really cute nymph. Flip a coin. Heads, you lose a turn in wild debauchery. Tails and you introduce her to Zeus, who thanks you by letting you roll twice next turn.
• Prometheus asks you to carry his flame while he takes a break. Gain $200.
• Gain one free obolus.
• You meet Aphrodite. The opponent of your choice gets to add or subtract 1 from your die roll next turn while you stand in complete bewilderment at her beauty. Of course, they get this card next turn for standing too close. Two uses only before Aphrodite gets bored from all that adoration and wanders off.
• You meet Athena. Just seeing her fills you with so much wisdom that you get to add or subtract one from your die roll next turn. You're not obligated to do this, of course, if you like where you're at. One use only.
• The winner is the first player to return home with any Gorgon's head. Players are assigned runner-up status by how far they got around the board (one reason to continue without the Helm of Darkness). If two players ended on the same square then the first tiebreaker is which player is still alive. The second tiebreaker is which player has more cash.
• The full version of this game fills out the other squares as appropriate and decorates the board.

Transition from board to card game

The winner of the board game receives a 500$ cash bonus. All players may now choose to buy cards or tokens usable in the card game from the price list. Players choose items in the order in which they finished the board game (the winner spends all their cash first, the first runner-up chooses second, and so on).

All players currently start with identical Pantheon decks and use the items below to destabilize their decks. Thus, the longer the list of buyable items and the cheaper the prices, the easier it is to customize a deck and the more decks tend to separate from each other. Pantheon should include a long list of items to pick.

Items purchased can only be used in the card game once (you must play the board game again in order to re-earn the same extra cards or tokens). However, players are allowed to save cash won from either the card or the board game. This allows trailing players to hoard cash while they suffer through a few more loses then blow it all at once in an effort to catch up.

A large amount of tweaking is anticipated, to say the least.

The Pantheon card game

Pantheon vastly simplifies the rules of Magic (perhaps too much).

1. Each player starts with 20 life points. The object of the game is to kill your opponent (forcing them to zero or fewer life points) without being killed. Pantheon does not use spells per se. You must use summon gods or mortals to attack your opponent.
2. Players can defend themselves by:
• Using creatures they control to block an attack (if possible).
• Somehow generating more life points.
3. Players start with identical decks, as described below.

Card Name	Description
Sacrifice	Tap sacrifice to generate 1 mana point. There are 30 sacrifices in the deck.
Gods	Gods attack/defend against normally, but can not go to the underworld if they receive more damage then their toughness. Instead, they are automatically tapped (if they aren't tapped already) and can not be untapped during the next untap phase. There are 14 gods, 15 if you add Epimetheus.
Zeus	+10/+10. May not attack. Tap Zeus to. Throw a lightning bolt to tap or untap any god (except himself). Will not tap Ares or Athena (his two favorite children), even if those cards are under the control of an opponent. Throw a lightning bolt to kill any mortal. Generate 3 mana points.
Poseidon	+9/+9, costs 9 mana. Tap Poseidon to cause 2 damage to all mortals (yours too).
Apollo	+8/+8, costs 8 mana. Pay 4 mana points and tap to summon Artemis card directly into play (Artemis was his twin sister and they team-fought). Reshuffle library if this is used. May also pay 3 mana points and view the top 3 cards on any library (Apollo had a limited knowledge of the future).
Ares	+9/+4, costs 6 mana. Two +5/+5 god tokens (Phoebos and Deimos) show up the turn after Ares shows up. If Ares receives more damage than his toughness, he can only be untapped by Zeus (Daddy). Phoebos and Deimos are automatically tapped whenever Ares is tapped. "War is always followed by Pain, Panic, Famine, and Oblivion".
Eros	+6/+6, costs 6 mana. Tap to: Shoot gold arrow and force any god or mortal into an attack (whether they want to or not). Shoot lead arrow and prevent any god or mortal from defending
Atlas	+8/+8, costs 7. "The weight of the world really is on my shoulders".
Athena	+6/+7, costs 8. +5/+5 flying Nike token comes into play the turn after Athena shows up. Treat Nike as a god. Tap Athena to roll 1 dice. Either Zeus will throw a thunderbolt at Athena's desired target on a 5 or a 6. "`That's my girl.' – Zeus" Note that Athena was one gnarly goddess in the myths and Zeus' favorite. Nike is the goddess of victory. Another good quote would be "Let Ares have destruction. I'll take victory any day."
Hermes	+6/+6, Flying. Costs 7. Pay 3 and tap to steal an artifact or artifact token and give to any mortal. Two uses only. "I really do take it with me."
Aphrodite	+6/+8, costs 6. Tap Aphrodite to tap any god or mortal, except Athena, Nike, Artemis and Hera. "Beauty lies in the eye of the beheld. Behold. Me."
Artemis	+7/+7, costs 7. Pay 4 and tap to bring twin Apollo into play. Reshuffle library. Pay 2 (w/out tapping) and increase power by one for that turn only.
Hera	+8/+8, costs 8. Tap Hera to tap either Zeus. May also pay 3 to tap any god or mortal, except Athena, Nike, Aprodite, & Artemis. "Zeus, come here right now!"
Prometheus	+8/+8, costs 8. Comes into play tapped. Pay 3 to give +2/+2 to all mortals once per turn. Tap to view the top 5 cards of any library.
Helios	+7/+7, costs 7. "I pulled the sun, and then the son pulled me". (Helios, upon losing his son Phaeton when he ran the chariot pulling the sun around the earth in the wrong direction.)
Hades	+9/+9, costs 9. Pay 3 and tap to bring any mortal from the underworld back into your hand.
Mythical Creatures	Count as gods for game purposes. Broken out as a separate category in case we want to do anything with that category later. There are 6 such creatures.
The Fates	+5/+5, Costs 5. Immune to Zeus's bolts. Pay 3 and tap to kill any mortal. "One to spin, one to measure. And one to cut the thread of life."
The Muses	+5/+5, Costs 5. Pay 2 to increase toughness of all mortals (including your opponent's mortals) by one. May be used any number of times per turn. "Don't look for me in the museum. Listen for me in the music of your heart."
Pegasus	+5/+5, Costs 6. Flying, Rampage 1.
Cyclops	+7/+6, Costs 6. Rampage 2. Defender controls how Cyclops assigns damage. "Duh, now where is he?"
Scylla and Charybdis	+1/+7, costs 5. Counts as a wall. Pay 1 mana to increase power by 1 for this turn, as much as you like. Scylla and Charybdis may block 2 creatures simultaneously. If they do, then 1/2 the power is used to block each creature.
Medusa	+6/+6, Costs 6. Automatically kills any mortal she blocks or is blocked by. Automatically taps any god she blocks or is blocked by one extra turn (two full untap phases). "What do you expect?, I can't shave without a mirror."
Artifacts	These cards are played on top of other gods or creatures, like spells in magic. The difference is that they never go away, unless their owner goes to the underworld. Artifacts can also be stolen by Hermes (the god of thieves). There are 6 artifacts
Winged Sandals	Target gains flight. Costs 7.
Pandora's box	-3 Toughness. Costs 6. "Now was it turn the key to the left or to the right?"
Aegis	+3 Toughness. Costs 6. "Just try me." Aegis belonged to Athena.
Helmet of Hades	Target gains invisibility (cannot be blocked). Costs 6.
Apollo's Tripod	Costs 6. Tap and pay two to see the top 3 cards of any library.
Mirror	Costs 6. Grant's Immunity to any god's power, except Zeus's thunderbolts. This includes The Fates, as the Fates aren't willing to cut their own thread. Medusa is automatically removed from the game if Mirror is played on her. "Mirror, mirror, on the wall, she ain't the fairest of them all. Thanks for your help!"
Mortals	There are 14 mortals, 15 if you add Pandora. Pandora and Epimetheus were married so should be added together.
Argos	+3/+3, costs 3 to summon. "Who can have a boatload of heroes without first making the boat?"
Theuseus	+2/+5, costs 4. Cannot be blocked "Me? Lost? Never!" Theuseus, on making it out of the Minotaur's maze.
Nestor	+1/+5, costs 4. Pay 2 and tap to give either +1 toughness or +1 Power to mortals you control (but not both the same turn). "Older really is better." (Nestor was the only Argonaut who fought in the Trojan wars and was considered a true inspiration, being rather old by then).
Ajax	+5/+4, costs 5. "Let's have at it!"
Medea	+4/+4, costs 4. Pay 2 and tap to tap any mortal, or pay 2 and tap to cause 2 damage to any mortal "Dear, this argument is leaving a bad taste in my mouth." Jason to Medea, upon eating his own children after she killed them in revenge for his infidelity.
Odysseus	+4/+4, costs 4. First strike (assesses all damage before he receives any. A creature may die without causing damage as a result of a first strike). Tap to give +1 toughness to all mortal defenders.
Cassandra	+2/+2, costs 3. Tap to read the first three cards in any library. Opponent may then rearrange those 3 cards in any order but may not look at those cards.
Pollux	+5/+4, costs 4. Pay 2 and tap to bring Castor directly into play. Reshuffle library. "It takes two to tangle."
Castor	+4/+5, costs 4. Pay 2 and tap to bring Pollux directly into play. Reshuffle library. "Tangle with me, tangle with him."
Jason	+4/+3, costs 4. Tap to add 3 mana. This mana can only be used to summon mortals. "Let's get this boat moving!"
Hercules	+6/+6, costs 5. Automatically tapped if Hera comes into play. "Don't look at me, Mom. Talk to Dad." Hercules, of course, is being charitable.
King Midas	+3/+3, costs 3. Banding. Any creature blocking, blocked or banding with King Midas is automatically tapped and cannot be untapped next turn. Midas must band if possible each turn and must also attack and defend each turn.
Helen of Troy	+2/+3, costs 3. Banding. Must be blocked by all mortals when she attacks. Tap to force any mortal into an attack, except Castor and Pollux. "I am not the most beautiful. Just the most fought over."
Penelope	+0/+2, costs 1. Adds +2 toughness to Odysseus if the same player controls both cards. "They also serve who only stand and wait."

4. Players shuffle in all cards bought from the board game, except those which do not count against hand limits. Zeus is removed from the deck before shuffling and placed directly into play (This design decision was made during very early development when I noticed that it was too expensive to play any gods. Both players now get the Zeus card free and Zeus can be tapped to generate mana. This should solve the problem. I hope.)
5. Each player deals themselves 7 cards.
6. Play proceeds in the following order, starting with Player #1:
1. Player #1 untaps all their cards. The resource represented by a card can only be `tapped' once per turn. Tapped cards are turned sideways. A turn always starts by renewing the card resource, if possible. Untapped cards are placed portrait.
2. Player #1 pays an upkeep cost, if any, or adds counters to cards currently in play, as desired. A card goes into the discard pile (called `the underworld') face up if the cost isn't paid.
3. Player #1 draws a card from their deck (called a `library'). Cards in the library are face down.
4. Player #1 summons creatures, if possible.
5. Player #1 uses creatures to attack their opponent. Any attacking creatures are tapped.
• Creatures may not attack on the turn they are summoned.
• Walls are considered to be creatures but may not attack.
6. Player #2 may decide to block the attacking creatures with their own creatures (if possible). The defending player controls blocking assignments (if any), unless the attacking creature has the `Banding' common attribute. That is, the defending player defines how attacking creatures are blocked by defending creatures, given the attributes of all creatures.
• An attacking creature may be blocked by more than one defendant.
• A common attribute or special rule applying to that creature may modify the power and toughness of either attacking or defending creatures. In particular:
• Flying creatures cannot be blocked except by other flying creatures.
• Rampage 1' increases the power of an attacking creature by one for each additional blocker past one. `Rampage 2' increases the power of an attacking creature by two for each additional blocker past one, and so forth.
• Banding' creatures may (but are not required to) combine their power (but not toughness) into a single number and attack or defend as a group. A band may include one and only one creature without the banding attribute. If one member of the band can be blocked, then the entire band is blocked. For example, a band cannot fly unless all members in the band can fly.

7. Damage is determined by comparing a creature's current power to their opponent's current toughness and vice-versa. If the current power of creature A exceeds the current toughness of creature B and one is blocking the other then creature B is removed and vice-versa.
• Any player controls the damage assignments for their band, so long as all damage is directed into one creature in the band. For example, damage can be redirected either to kill a minor creature or to some creature with a toughness higher than the damage.
• The attacking player controls damage assignments if a creature is assigned more than one blocker. In this case, the power may be distributed as the attacker sees fit (except bands).
• Creatures may simultaneously kill each other. Killed creatures go into each respective underworld (my dead creatures go into my underworld, your dead creatures go into your underworld).
• Any unblocked creatures cause damage directly to the opponent.
7. Player #1 has the option to summon additional gods or mortals assuming they still have mana.
8. Effects that take play at the end of a turn occur now.

• Damage is removed from injured gods or mortals still in play. This does not change the tap or untap status of creatures, especially gods. It just means that everybody starts fresh the next turn. After all, tomorrow really is another day.
• Player #1 must discard any cards in their hand in excess of 7 into their underworld. Gods may be deliberately discarded into the underworld, having suddenly developed a yen to visit Hades.
9. Player #2 takes their turn and repeats steps A through A of Rule #6.
10. Play continues until one player has no life points left at the end of any upper case alphabetical step in Rule #6. If both players drop below zero life simultaneously, the game is a draw.
11. Special characteristics written by the game designer on a card `trump' any of the above rules.
12. Any rule (including this one) may be changed at the whim of the designer at any time. Rules may be added or deleted as the designer sees fit. The game designer is the final arbitrator of any rule dispute. ⁴

Summary

This game needs significant play testing and tweaking.

The basic educational problem so far has been that the number of cards used provides a large set of items to remember. However, it is currently belied that this will not be an issue because each card is self-contained. You don't have to remember a set of items. You just read the card and remember what's in play. Whether or not this works as planned remains to be seen.

The basic game problem is still the mana/creature cost ratio. 30 sacrifice cards and 40 creatures or artifacts is about 42%, which is approximately correct for a normal game of magic. But the high cost of gods may drag this down and the effects of Zeus or other mana boosting cards cannot be predicted in advance.

The way to fix this matter if it becomes an issue is to uniformly reduce both the power/toughness and the mana cost of gods first, then of mortals. Thus, cards should be made with only the names and pictures indelible. The mana cost, power, toughness and possibly the rule for that card should be made with easily removable stickums (or similar devices) for a very long time.

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1. Mille Bournes uses 3 categories of card - 1 safety, 2 hazard, and 6 repair cards - for 3 suits, 5 categories in a trump suit, and 46 non-scaled mileage cards. This suggests that colors or suits in a deck, categories in a color or suit, and scaling inside one or more categories can be freely mixed into a workable card game. See http://www.lilux.lu/htmlman/m/mille.6.html for a complete description.

2. Rule #1. Nomic is a game consisting entirely of rules. Rule #2. The object of Nomic is to add, subtract, or modify existing rules with the consent of your opponent until you win.

3. For example, see Hero'sQuest by Milton Bradley. This game uses Medieval quests but can be adapted. Hero building rules, scenarios and so on are at http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Chasm/9223/

4. There are times when one can easily imagine hearing WOTC say `ninner, ninner, ninner'. However, the first purpose of Pantheon is to educate, not to make money.