I had some extra Jumpstart packs and some students wanted to play Ravnica: Clue, so we cracked them open and did it earlier this week.
There were five of us and I only had eight assorted packs, so we used some of the actual Ravnica: Clue packs and everyone got one of those and one of the other packs I had. I was really excited to do this because I really wanted to see how this worked. Here are the packs we all opened:
Five players is not "Ravnica: Clue kosher" by the original rules, but I tend to think it works just fine. We shuffled the cards up, put the three cards into the Confidential envelope, removed and revealed three rooms (Secret Passage, Library, and Study) and dealt three Clue cards to each person. (I got Commander Mustard, the Ballroom, and the Conservatory.) We tore open our packs to discover the themes and put all that in the center:
We were each in three colors, which was fun to me. We decided to play with 20 life, partly because the night before we had finished a game with lots of life after a lot of Clue suggestions. I won the roll to go first, so the players were:
- Me: Welded Azorius Senate
- P2: Golgari Swarm Law
- P3: Adaptive Orzhov Syndicate
- P4: Selesnya Conclave Spirits
- P5: Fiery Simic Combine
P2 cast the first spell of the game with Gideon's Lawkeeper. P3 followed that up with Twilight Panther.
Thankfully I had a second-turn play to prevent cheap shots. I cast War Screecher. P2 immediately played Kraul Harpooner, but didn't realize they could use it to kill my bird and passed. (I think I said something during P3's turn; I did not think of it while the Harpooner hit the battlefield as I was trying to keep up with my notes.) P3 hit P5 with the Panther and made the first guess: Green, Knife, and Lounge. P5 showed them a card. P4 played a Murmuring Phantasm.
I took advantage of my flier in the third round to hit P4. I guessed Plum, Knife, and the Conservatory. They showed me Mastermind Plum. I played a Scrapwork Mutt to be a chump blocker. P2 hit P3 with the Lawkeeper and guessed White, Pipe, and Hall. P3 showed them a card. P3 played Angel of Vitality on their turn, then hit P5 with their Panther again. P3 guessed Plum, Knife, and Conservatory and P5 passed. P4 played Winged Words to get some extra cards and P5 played Spiteful Prankster, which was a great card for this format!
In the fourth round I hit P3 and P4. I guessed Scarlett, Rope, and Kitchen. P3 showed me Scarlett. I played Azorius Justicar and detained the Angel of Vitality and Kraul Harpooner. P2 played a Midnight Guard on their turn. P3 played Princess Yue and Katara, Bending Prodigy. P4 played a Departed Deckhand. P5 played Chandra's Spitfire and hit me with the Spiteful Prankster. They continued the pattern of guessing Plum, Knife, and Conservatory, and I had to show them my Conservatory.
I played Bitter Reunion and Trusted Pegasus in the fifth round, then hit P4 again. (There's something about flying over a wall.) I guessed Peacock, Rope, and Billiard Room. They passed. P2, who was stuck on three lands, hit me with their Midnight Guard and guess the same thing. I also showed them the Conservatory. It was getting problematic that everyone knew I had that card! P3 hit P4 on their turn and guessed Plum, Candlestick, and Ballroom. P4 showed them a card. P4 cast Roaming Ghostlight then hit me with the Departed Deckhand. They also guessed Plum, Knife, and Conservatory. I also showed them the Conservatory. P5 played their own Roaming Ghostlight and hilariously bounced P4's!
Then P5 attacked me with their Spiteful Prankster and P2 with Chandra's Spitfire. I blocked with my Scrapyard Mutt and P2 blocked with their Kraul Harpooner. P2 cast Righteousness, one of the coolest cards ever, but P5 had a response.
In the sixth round, I hit P2 and P5. I guessed White, Knife, and Lounge. P2 showed me the Knife. Then I dropped Mishra's Juggernaut and passed the turn. P3 played The Blue Spirit and hit P4 and P5. They guess Plum, Knife, and Conservatory. P4 showed them a card. I got annoyed about this because with people repeatedly making the same suggestions, my card wasn't getting filled out at all. That might be a good strategy for me to replicate in the future! P4 replayed their Roaming Ghostlight and bounced my War Screecher. P5 hit me and P2, guessing Mustard, Wrench, and Ballroom. I showed them the Ballroom.
I had been holding Supreme Verdict for one or two turns and I thought this (the seventh round) was the time to use it. I hit P2, P3, and P5 with my creatures and guessed Peacock, Candlestick, and Lounge. I got the most value from this, as P2 and P3 passed and P5 showed me the Lounge. Before I could continue with my big player, P3 said out loud they knew something I had because of that. They claimed my guesses always included a card I had... which is something I do a lot! But not this time! They thought I had Peacock in my hand. Without denying or confirming P3's suspicions, I dropped the Supreme Verdict. As we gathered the dying creatures, the ball was in P5's court because they had sixteen Spiteful Prankster triggers to dole out. They first thought about killing me, then thought about killing P3, but finally decided to leave P3 at 1 life. The life totals were now at 9 (me), 15 (P2), 1 (P3), 13 (P4), and 11 (P5).
Still in my main phase, P2 cast Fungal Rebirth on their Kraul Harpooner and cashed in on the two saproling tokens. Since they had done that before my end step, my next play of recasting my War Screecher was a complete misplay, because P2 dropped the Harpooner on their turn. This time they didn't miss the trigger and shot my bird out of the sky. I thought I would have an entire turn without anyone else attacking, but because of the Fungal Rebirth, P2 hit both P4 and P5, guessing Mustard, Pipe, and Dining Room. They both passed. P3 cast Syndicate Heavy, but spent the rest of their mana to recast Katara (I don't remember how it got back in their hand... maybe Boomerang Basics?) so they couldn't extort and replenish their life total a bit. They collected evidence 6 and guessed Green, Pipe, and Dining Room. I got real nervous because P4 passed, P5 passed, I passed, but then P2 showed them a card. Then they accused Mustard, Pipe, and Dining Room. I knew that was wrong because I had Commander Mustard. Whew! P3 had ruled Commander Mustard in because they thought I held Peacock, which is why they were so confident. My accidental ruse had saved the game!
Still in the seventh round, P4 cast Affectionate Indrik and killed the Harpooner. P5 skipped the majority of their turn and confidently collected evidence six, guessing Peacock, Knife, and Billiards. I passed, but P2 showed a card. Then they accused: Peacock, Pipe, and Dining Room. It was correct and they won! P5 had figured out that P3 was wrong about the suspect but right about everything else. They knew it wasn't Commander Mustard and ruled Senator Peacock in from that.
What can I say? This was amazingly fun! Let's wrap it up with some notes:
- This worked great with the assorted packs plus Clue packs. I think it leveled the playing field a lot.
- 20 life was fine. No one was in danger before the Spiteful Prankster enjoyed the thrill of a big board wipe.
- I don't think I'm super good at playing the Clue aspect of the game yet and I do want to get better. I also think that taking all the notes I am prevents me from attempting any deep analysis of what's going on. I can't say I mind that much.
I highly recommend doing this! Any Jumpstart is great with the Clue format and don't be afraid to mix in your Ravnica: Clue packs like we did. Happy Magiclueing!
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