TheWholeShoeAlthough I know how to do research on this topic, think you could describe for other non-tabletop geeks why this is a must purchase? I haven't played the game yet otherwise I'd chime in more.
ElliottAlso owning this game, let me tell you some about it.
You play as a bunch of wizards that are trying to be the last man/woman standing to win. The game consists of taking cards and building spells that you will cast, and that by itself is loads fun. You can build a spell with up to 3 cards consisting of a beginning, middle, and end to the spell. You end up with spells like "Thai Foon's (beginning card) Delicious (Middle card) Meatier Swarm (ending card)". Each card you add will make for more fun effects and hilarious dismemberment.
Now notice I said "up to 3 cards" in a spell, this means you can have just one card (a beginning) or two cards (a beginning and middle). Each card you add to your spell means more desctruction, but also means you are "slower". Each player has an initiative assigned to them based on the number of cards played, meaning it becomes more tactical. You are trading power for speed. It becomes this super fun battle of wizard deathmatch where you are trying to do the most damage, but do it first (or not for even more damage), and hope you can kill your buddies while staying alive in the process.
Hope that helps!
ElliottI wouldn't call it a "must-purchase", but it is a quite entertaining lightweight card game. The art is maybe a bit niche, but if you like Adult Swim or anything like that you will probably love it, it's very well done. The card combining mechanic is instantly intuitive and allows for a surprising amount of strategy, aided by predetermined spell targets on the cards, so everyone can't just gang up on one player, and a simultaneous play/initiative mechanism that lets you choose power or speed. There is still an element of kill-the-leader as in Munchkin, but it's not nearly as game-defining. The main reason I don't play it super often is that with more than 3 players it runs rather long for the filler game that it is -- you have to be the last wizard standing twice, which in our games tends to mean as many rounds as players + 1.
You play as a bunch of wizards that are trying to be the last man/woman standing to win. The game consists of taking cards and building spells that you will cast, and that by itself is loads fun. You can build a spell with up to 3 cards consisting of a beginning, middle, and end to the spell. You end up with spells like "Thai Foon's (beginning card) Delicious (Middle card) Meatier Swarm (ending card)". Each card you add will make for more fun effects and hilarious dismemberment.
Now notice I said "up to 3 cards" in a spell, this means you can have just one card (a beginning) or two cards (a beginning and middle). Each card you add to your spell means more desctruction, but also means you are "slower". Each player has an initiative assigned to them based on the number of cards played, meaning it becomes more tactical. You are trading power for speed. It becomes this super fun battle of wizard deathmatch where you are trying to do the most damage, but do it first (or not for even more damage), and hope you can kill your buddies while staying alive in the process.
Hope that helps!