Mage Wars Arena

The game was published by Arcane Wonders in 2012. It was designed by Bryan Bishop and Jason Maxwell as a tactical, spellcasting combat game. It quickly became a hit on Kickstarter before its widespread retail release.

Unlike collectible card games like Magic: The Gathering, Mage Wars Arena is a non-collectible game that uses a spellbook construction system. Players select spells directly from their pre-built spellbook each turn rather than drawing randomly from a shuffled deck. This eliminates the element of 'mana screw' or 'mana flood' found in random draw games.

No, the game uses an open-access mechanic where players do not draw from a randomized deck. Instead, you choose exactly which spells to cast from a customized spellbook that you build before the match. This ensures every spell in your arsenal is always available to you.

No, it is explicitly a non-collectible card game, meaning you do not need to buy randomized booster packs to play. All the available spells and mages come included in the base box and its specific expansion sets. This allows for balanced, deliberate strategy during deck-building.