Fantasy Realms

Version and setup: Use the original 2017 WizKids base game, SKU 72934, standard 3–6 players. Its 53 cards comprise ten suits and three Wilds. Deal seven each, choose a starting player randomly and continue clockwise. The opening discard area is empty, so the first turn draws from the deck. Exclude The Cursed Hoard suits, Deluxe promos and the separate two-player or Chaos setups.

Drawing and discarding: Take the top deck card or any face-up discard, then discard one face up at turn end, spreading discards for visibility. Normally seven becomes eight and returns to seven; explicit card abilities apply as written. Taking a discard first reduces that area's count before your own discard restores it. The ending is therefore not a fixed round count or a count of every discard ever made.

Scoring and ending: After a turn-ending discard leaves ten cards in the discard area, end without an extra round. Score each final hand by names, suits, base strengths and bonuses or penalties. Base strengths normally range from zero to forty. Opponents' hands do not directly change your score. Mirage and Shapeshifter have particular identity-selection rules, not permission to score an opponent's physical card as yours. Apply both rewards and penalties where required.

Clear versus Blank: Clear removes the specified penalty or part of it before penalties apply, preserving the target's suit, strength and bonus. Blank leaves a card with no suit, base strength, bonus or penalty for scoring, so its old attributes cannot support another combination. A successfully cleared penalty does not return merely because the clearing card is subsequently blanked. Blanked Unless With requires the named condition, rather than a choice to ignore an unwanted effect.

For Each versus With: For Each counts qualifying cards individually; With gives one bonus for the required association. The rulebook's Magic Wand example awards its Wizard bonus once even with two Wizards. Check whether a condition names a card or a suit, since changing suit does not change a name. Do not multiply an association reward unless the text does so, or count a blanked card's former suit toward a condition.

Effect order: The printed Q&A first resolves Doppelgänger, Mirage and Shapeshifter in that order, then Book of Changes, then penalty clearing, and finally penalties starting with cards not blanked by another. Do not rearrange the sequence for a better score. In its example, Cavern clears Blizzard, preserving Great Flood, which can then blank Wildfire and Cavern. Cavern's subsequent blanking does not undo the earlier clearing.

Wild boundaries: Mirage and Shapeshifter take an eligible name and suit within their printed suit restrictions, even when the physical target is not in hand, or may declare a legal generic suit. Those two retain zero base strength and do not copy the target's own bonus or penalty; declining their ability preserves their original identity. Do not generalize this zero-strength rule to every Wild. The Q&A separately rules that Doppelgänger copying Basilisk leaves both blanked unless the relevant penalties are cleared.

Book of Changes and exact wording: Change one other card's suit before general scoring effects, preserving its name, strength and own bonus or penalty. Name-based references still recognize its name; suit-based conditions may change. Similarly, Rangers clears the word Army from penalty text rather than every effect that can hurt armies. The Q&A says it does not protect armies from Wildfire, whose penalty does not use that word.

Winning and ties: After identity choices, suit changes, clearing and penalties, combine active base strengths and applicable modifiers. Highest total wins. Tied highest totals compare total base strength, with the lower total winning. Do not substitute hand size, suit count or who triggered the ending. The original booklet gives no next step when both totals tie; any additional agreement should be made before play rather than presented as a printed ruling.