I used my Ravnica Clue box set tonight and it was wicked fun. Unlike the last time I played with the combined Clue rules, I studied up on how to take notes using the provided sheets. I made sure to get the three other players prepared too and we sat down to play.
Right out of the gate, we... did things wrong. We shuffled the suspects, weapons, and rooms and picked one of each for the Confidential Envelope. Then we dealt out the rest of the cards until they were gone and started to note what we'd got in our individual sheets.
Unfortunately we didn't take two room cards out first. Whoops! Back to square one. Sort out the clue cards again, shuffle the three piles, select one of each for the Confidential Envelope, remove two rooms and reveal them to all, then deal out the remaining sixteen cards.
Then we started to fill out our sheets with the cards we'd gotten.
I labelled the four columns with our names and added an extra space on the right for the envelope. I got the suspects Apothecary White and Senator Peacock, the Lead Pipe, and the Hall. So, I put a circle in my column for those four cards (indicating that I have that card) an X in the other squares in my column (indicating that I don't have those cards) and an X in the other squares in the rows of those four cards, indicating that other people (and the envelope) don't have them.
The player to my right won the roll to go first. The packs they (P1) opened were Gruul and Rakdos. I opened Izzet and Azorius. The player to my left (P3) got Izzet and Selesnya, and the player across from me (P4) got Simic and Boros. We sleeved, shuffled, and got down to playing, starting with 30 life each.
Under the Combination Clue rules, there are two ways to win. The first is by killing all your opponents via Magic rules. The second is by solving the murder. At the end of any of your turns, you may make an Accusation. You announce your guess at the three cards in the Confidential Envelope. Then you check the cards in the envelope. If you guessed right, then you win. If not, then you cannot make any other Accusations for the rest of the game (or Suggestions) and you can only win by normal magic rules.
In the first turn brought a land each, except that P4 also played a Novice Inspector. I got an Erratic Visionary, which meant that I could block the inspector. On their second turn, P4 attacked P1 instead, dealing one important point of damage.
Why is that damage important? Because if you deal combat damage to one or more players, you get to make a Suggestion. You "suggest" one each of a suspect, weapon, and room. Then you go in turn order of the people still alive that were just dealt the damage:
- If that person has one of the three cards, then they secretly show you (who made the suggestion) one of those cards of their choice. Then they get a treasure token and this process ends.
- Or, if they don't have any of the cards, they pass (they're not allowed to lie) and it moves on to the next person who was damaged.
You keep doing this until either everyone has passed or one person has shown the Suggester a card. (The reason you only worry about the people still alive is that once you die, you immediately reveal all of your Clue cards.)
Additionally, if you don't deal any combat damage on a turn, you can make a Suggestion by Collecting Evidence 6 (exiling 6 mana value worth of cards in your graveyard) at the beginning of your end step. Two points about this:
- This happens before you decide whether to make an accusation, and
- You treat this as though you've dealt everyone combat damage.
Finally, this last rule makes it seem like you can only make one Suggestion per turn, but I don't actually see anything about whether or not you can make more if you have first or double-striking creatures or have a way to get extra attack phases. I don't see any restriction in the rules, so I have to assume you get to do it multiple times.
Back to the game! P4 dealt P1 one damage with the Novice Inspector, and Suggested that Mastermind Plum killed Guildmage Boddy with the Candlestick in the Conservatory. P1 had one of those cards and had to show it to P4. Obviously, P4 got a lot of information here, but myself and P3 got a little as well. We knew that P1 had one of those three cards. I noted that by drawing a little number 1 in each of those three boxes. (If this happened again, I would use a different number.)
On my third turn I cast Lavinia, Foil to Conspiracy, then attacked P3 with my Visionary, dealing 1, and Suggested that Emissary Green murdered Boddy with the Wrench in the Dining Room. They passed, unable to reveal any cards. This gives me a lot of information, but unfortunately also gives it to the other two players as well.
P4 hit P3 on their turn and Suggested Peacock, Lead Pipe, and Library. P3 had to Pass, which gave me less information than the other players since I held two of those cards. Drat!
On my fourth turn I attacked two different players (thank you, Lavinia, for having Vigilance!) but only got through on P3. I Suggested Plum with the Rope in the Study and P3 showed me Professor Plum. Getting secret information is the best case!
(Note: at this point in the game I messed up my sheet, which I expect is common for Clue-newbies like me. All the sheets shown here are a reconstruction of what I should have done had I not messed up, so understand that I'm lying to you about what I actually did.)
P4 played Master Biomancer and kept up their aggression on P1, hitting them then Suggesting: Peacock, Rope, and Library. P1 revealed a card. I have Peacock in hand, so I drew two 2's:
P1 played a Spawn of Mayhem, the biggest creature so far, and passed the turn. I Ousted it on my turn, then attacked and hit P1 and P3 with my creatures. I Suggested Commander Mustard, the Knife, and the Study. P3 revealed the Knife card to me, so P1 didn't have to say anything.
Following me, P3 had a big turn with the treasure tokens they'd received, casting both Spellgorger Weird and Goblin Wizardry. P4 cast Parhelion Patrol and continued their assault, hitting P1 and Suggesting: Peacock, Rope, and the Hall. P1 had to pass. Since I now knew they didn't have the Rope, there's only one box in their column marked with a 2 so they must have the Library!
I Repealed P4's Parhelion Patrol before my sixth turn, then untapped and cast Azorius Arrester so that I could swing in safely on P4 and finally get some information out of them. I Suggested Green, Rope, and Secret Passage. They showed me the Secret Passage. Excellent!
P3 followed on their turn by hitting P1 and P4, Suggesting: Peacock, Candlestick, and Hall. P4 passed, but P1 revealed a card to P3. Since I had both Peacock and Hall, I knew that card was Candlestick.
P4 replayed their Parhelion Patrol, then hit P1 and P3, Suggesting Green, Knife, and Ballroom. P1 Passed, but P3 revealed a card to P1. I already knew that P3 had the knife, so the reveal gave me nothing. The other player's pass did, however.
P1 started the seventh round, replaying their Spawn of Mayhem, followed by a Firespout using both green and red mana. Thankfully I had Rally to Battle and saved my team of three-toughness creatures. On my turn I made a bad attack and only got through on P3. I made the Suggestion: Green, Rope, Billiard, and they had to Pass. I probably should have asked something else, as I already knew they didn't have Emissary Green. Nevertheless, I got two more Xs. I played a Thunder Drake and passed the turn.
P3 played an Ecstatic Electromancer, cast Overcome, then hit me with their Spellgorger Weird for 8 damage. This was my first damage! They Suggested: Peacock, Rope, and the Hall. I decided not to reveal Senator Peacock since many people had been asking about her and showed P3 the Hall. It now became clear to me how important it was to not get hit so you could keep your own information hidden.
At the end of that turn, P4 flashed in a Scuttling Sentinel, which was beefed up by the Biomancer, which then got pumped up itself. Then, on their own turn, they played a Skitter Eel which got three +1/+1 counters automatically. Suddenly they were gained Archenemy status. They made a crushing attack on P1, Suggesting Green, the Wrench, and the Billiards Room. P1 had to Pass.
P1 cast Incriminating Impetus on their own Spawn of Mayhem, then hit me for six, putting me to 15. They Suggested: Peacock, Pipe, and the Hall. I didn't want to share the same information that I had with P3, so I showed them the Lead Pipe card.
On my eighth turn, I drew Supreme Verdict. Awesome! Then I attacked but only got through on P4. I realized then that I probably should have used the Collect Evidence version of Suggesting so I could get information from more people instead of just one. I Suggested Scarlett, Rope, and the Ballroom and they had to Pass. Crossing the Rope off of P4's options meant that no one had it; it had to be in the Confidential Envelope! I knew the murder weapon! This also meant that P4 must have the Wrench. I cast Trusted Pegasus and passed.
The rest of the group was acting pretty confident right now, though I still felt like the room was unknown. On their turn, P3 cast Affectionate Indrik, fought and traded with the Scuttling Sentinel, and then attacked me with the Weird for six more damage. They Suggested: Peacock, the Rope, and the Billiard Room. I finally had to show someone my Senator Peacock card.
P4 played Sunhome Stalwart and attacked P3 for ten damage, then Suggested Green, the Pipe, and the Ballroom. P3 showed them a card. I knew they didn't have Emissary Green, nor the Pipe, so they must have revealed the Ballroom.
P4 wasn't done yet, though. They then spent their Accusation: Green, Pipe, Conservatory. Whew! I knew that wasn't right since I had the Pipe card. They checked the Confidential Envelope, saw they were wrong, and the game continued. P4 now could not win via Clue, though everyone thought they had the best board state and could win via Magic rules.
Starting off the ninth round, P1 decided they needed to try to finish the game immediately too. Their Spawn put them from 11 to 10, so it got a counter as well. Then they cast a Vindictive Vampire and attacked to put P3 down to two life. They Suggested: Green, Wrench, Study. P3 Passed.
Then P1 used their Accusation: Green, Wrench, Billiard Room. They checked and were wrong.
It was time for me to try to win. Accusations happen at the end of the turn, so I wanted to make sure P4 couldn't win with their massive biomanced-creatures. I dropped the Supreme Verdict. P4 did have a Slip out the Back to save their Biomancer, unfortunately. I hadn't attacked because I wanted to check my solution with everyone first. So I used the Collect Evidence 6 ability to get a Suggestion: Green, Rope, and the Billiard Room. Pass, Pass, Pass. P4 hadn't been lying.
I Accused the same thing: Emissary Green with the Rope in the Billiard Room. I checked the Envelope and won!
This was so much fun! I'm really glad I read up on how to play Clue better because that made that part more meaningful than when I played last time. Here are some quick thoughts:
- I thought that 30 life would be too much, but it was just right. The game ended with people getting low (P3 had one life at the end) but with everyone still in.
- I'm not going to save the cards to use again. I'm a bit conflicted about this, but I didn't do a good job of keeping the different groups separated after we finished. I'm also a fiend for reasons to open new packs, so...
- I want to see what else works with this system. Is it fun to open non-Clue-Jumpstart packs for this? I guess the only thing that might make it less fun is if it would be better with a different amount of starting life. Hopefully I can find other groups to try out different scenarios at 30 life.
- How does this work with more or fewer players? I suspect that the most important part is having an equal number of clue cards dealt out at the beginning. After removing three for the envelope, the total is 5 + 4 + 9 = 18. With four players, you remove two rooms to get to a multiple of four. With five, you'd want to remove three to reach 15. With six, you wouldn't want to remove any. I would definitely be interested in trying those two options out!
- If I play this again, I'm not going to go as deep with recreating the process as I did here.
- Is there a way to mix Magic and the opposite of Clue: Kill Doctor Lucky?
Happy Magicking and I hope you solve the murder!