Chess

Chess is an abstract strategy board game that is played on a square board consisting of 64 squares arranged in an 8×8 grid. The players, referred to as "White" and "Black", each control sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns, with each piece type having a different pattern of movement. An enemy piece may be captured (removed from the board) by moving one's own piece onto the square it occupies. The object of the game is to "checkmate" (threaten with inescapable capture) the enemy king. There are also several ways a game can end in a draw. Because both games require players to use logic, long-term planning, foresight, and creativity to control the board, Magic: The Gathering is often compared to chess.

Chess and Magic

Similarities and differences

Magic shares some similarities with chess, but it also features some very key differences. Both are one-on-one strategy games; at the simplest level, your creatures are your chess pieces, and your spells are simply one extra layer of support for them. Both games require strategic thinking, long-term planning, and an eye for advantageous openings. However, in chess, the whole game is laid out clearly on the table, where in Magic there is uncertainty.

Both games make use of the Swiss tournament system. Important Magic games are played with a Chess clock. Among professional players, Stanislav Cifka is the only one known to also be an International Master in Chess.

Variance

Chess is about thinking several moves ahead. The same is true of Magic, but with the extra challenge of considering possibilities. Magic is imperfect information and luck. Random draws introduce the need for probability assessment, and risk and resource management. It also means that every game will be different, even between the same two players using the same two decks.

Hidden information

In addition to the variance aspects of the game, there's also uncertainty in that you don't know what cards your opponent has in his or her hand or library. Hidden information introduces the possibility of bluffing.

In the aspects of variance and hidden information, Magic more closely resembles games played with a standard deck of playing cards, like bridge or poker.

Tempo

Tempo is a strategic concept derived from chess, but in Magic, players have the capacity to make anywhere from zero to four meaningful actions in a turn cycle, as opposed to one per player in chess. Both games have significant first-turn advantage weighting, but as chess no longer has any new game design input, Magic has the potential to mitigate this in the future, especially in smaller formats.

Card designs influenced by chess

The chess playtest cards from Legends

The original design file for Legends contained six full cycles of creatures representing the six different pieces in chess. Each color had a Pawn, a Rook, a Knight, a Queen, and a King that were identical across the colors; for example, the red King and the blue King did exactly the same thing.

Almost all the pieces were cut in development, and while a few of the abilities were used elsewhere (the green Rook inspired Jacques le Vert, for instance), only the green Pawn made it through relatively unscathed. Its mana cost was changed from to (in those days 2G meant two mana, one of which was green), and it was given protection from black and renamed Whirling Dervish.

Chess in card art

The illustration of Knight of Stromgald (Ice Age) references chess: the ground is colored like a chessboard, to the left is a tower ("rook" in English), to the right another tower shaped like the chess war elephant ("bishop" in English), therefore the knight corresponds to the chess horseman (or "knight", that is the same thing); near the "war elephant tower" are two towers looking like chess foot soldiers ("pawns" in English).

Within the Magic universe, chess boards and pieces are also depicted on Divine Gambit (Kaldheim), Make Your Move on the plane of Ravnica, Puppeteer on Dominaria, Scrambleverse, Talisman of Hierarchy and Wild Evocation.

Chess in the Magic storyline

Jace Beleren plays chess and considers himself good at it. The board game Clans & Legions is popular across the plane of Ravnica. It appears to be similar to chess, although played on a six-by-six board. A chess-like is also played on Kamigawa.

In the Un-iverse, a game called recursive chess is played. In this game, one piece can capture another only after beating it in another game of recursive chess.

Wizard's Chess

Wizard's Chess is a deck-building variant for Magic in which cards represent the different pieces used in chess. Although the game is played as a standard duel, some Magic rules have been modified and others added to capture the feeling of chess. Wizard's Chess can be played one-on-one, two-on-two, or as a multiplayer free-for all.

Component of the deck

Each player's deck must contain a minimum of sixty cards: seventeen creature cards, eighteen non-creature spells, one artifact, and at least twenty-four lands. The creatures are chosen to represent the player's chess pieces. These are the sixteen standard chess pieces plus two additional pieces, the King's Wizard and the Queen's Artifact. All decks are constructed using only two colors, one for the King and one for the Queen. Players select a Bishop, Knight, Rook, and four Pawns of the Queen's color, and a corresponding set of pieces for the King.

King and Queen

The King and Queen can be any non-wall creatures with a casting cost of five or more.

The supporting pieces

The player must select three different creatures to represent the Bishop, the Knight, and the Rook, and four of the same creature to represent the Pawns. Each of these creatures must follow the color requirements and other restrictions for that piece. Additionally, the power of the pieces must be decreasing; that is, the Knight must have lower power than the Bishop, and the Pawns must have a lower power than the Knights. The Rook is the defender of the kingdom, and its toughness should exceed the power of each of the other pieces.

Because artifacts are colorless and therefore can't follow the color of either the King or the Queen, the only artifact permitted in Wizard's Chess is the Queen's Artifact.

The Bishop

The Bishop is the most powerful warrior piece in the service of the King and Queen. To reflect this, the Bishop may be any non-wall creature with power greater than or equal to its toughness.

The Knight

The Knight is the warrior piece that leads the Pawns into battle, and can be counted on to face any enemy Knight that challenges it. To reflect this, the Knight may he any non-wall creature with a combined power and toughness totaling six or less. The Knight must have one of the following abilities: Flying, First Strike, Trample, Rampage, or Protection from a color.

The Rook

The Rook is the kingdom's defense and may be any wall. Creatures with special blocking abilities also make good Rooks.

The Pawns

The grunt fighters for the King and Queen, the Pawns, fight most of the battles in Wizards' Chess. Players must select four identical, non-wall Pawns for each color. In general, almost any creature with a casting cost of three or less can work, as long as your opponent approves of the piece. To balance the game, though, Pawns must adhere to the following rules:

• Casting cost must be three or less.
• Combined power and toughness must total three or less.
• The creature's power or toughness cannot be "inflatable" as with Order of Leitbur or Frozen Shade.
• The creature cannot have a tapping ability other than one that provides mana.
• If a creature has no special abilities, combined power and toughness can total four, and there is no restriction on casting cost.

The King's Wizard and Queen's Artifact

Along with the standard chess pieces, Wizard's Chess uses two additional pieces, the King's Wizard and the Queen's Artifact. The King's Wizard provides the magic for the kingdom. The King's Wizard can be any creature of the King's or Queen's color that has a special ability; the ability should require tapping the creature. This piece may never block or attack unless forced to by a spell or effect. The creature's power and toughness must total four or less and cannot vary.

The Queen's Artifact can be any non-creature artifact, as long as it can't produce mana of a color other than the color of the King or Queen.

Non-creature cards

The remaining cards in the deck include eighteen non-creature spells and as many basic lands as the player wants. The spells can be in either the King's or the Queen's color, but no more than two of any card may be selected. Players may use up to four special lands, as long as each land type used is unique within the deck (however, up to four of one dual land can be used). Players may only use lands that produce mana of the King's color and/or the Queen's color.

Banned cards

In general, cards are banned that damage, destroy, or bury all creatures (or a class of creatures) in play; take control of creatures; remove cards from the graveyard; or force a player to discard. (Cards that generate creatures can he incorporated into a deck, but their creature-generating abilities may not be used.)

Rules changes

When the game begins, players must announce which creatures they are using for the King and Queen before drawing their first card. As cards are put into play, the piece each card represents must also be announced. This is done so that opponents can tell which of the following rules apply to these cards.

• PAWN STARTING MOVE: Whenever a Pawn is brought into play from a player's hand, the controlling player has the option to attack with the pawn during the same turn that it was summoned.
• EN PASSANT: If a player brings a Pawn into play and immediately attacks with it, then any other Pawn blocking the new Pawn gains +1/+1 until the end of the turn.
• PAWN PROMOTION: Players may also remove one of their Pawns in play from the game during their upkeep to bring any creature of the same color (other than the King) from their graveyard directly into play at no casting cost. The player must have controlled the Pawn since the start of the turn, and the creature from the graveyard enters play tapped. A player may promote only one Pawn per turn.
• CASTLING: During upkeep, a player may swap a Rook for a King or Queen from his cards in play to his hand, or from his hand to his cards in play. The piece entering play is brought in at no casting cost and comes into play tapped. Any enchantments on the card being returned to the player's hand are discarded. The pieces being exchanged must be of the same color, and the player must have controlled the piece in play since the start of the turn. If the creature in play has blocked or attacked since it was brought into play, then it may not be used to Castle. A player may Castle only once per game.
• QUEEN SACRIFICE: The King has a fast effect, treated as if it were written on the card: "Sacrifice your Queen to counter a spell or effect that would cause the King to be killed or removed from play. You must have controlled the King and Queen since the start of the turn, and the spell or effect must only target the King." For example, consider a 4/4 King and a 7/7 Queen. The King is targeted by a 5-point Fireball. The King's controller can tap the King and sacrifice the Queen, saving the King from the Fireball.
• DEATH OF THE KING: If a King is buried or removed from play, the owner of the King loses half her life total (rounding up). If the King is returned to play for any reason, the player does not gain the lost life back.

Example

Here is an example of a Wizard's Chess deck, using cards available in 1995:

CHESS PIECES

• King: Force of Nature
• King's Wizard: Niall Silvain
• Bishop: Craw Wurm
• Knight: Cockatrice
• Rook: Carnivorous Plant
• Pawns: Llanowar Elves

• Queen: Shivan Dragon
• Queen's Artifact: Rod of Ruin
• Bishop: Fire Elemental
• Knight: Dragon Whelp
• Rook: Granite Gargoyle
• Pawns: Goblin Hero

SPELLS

• Aspect of Wolf (2)
• Stream of Life (2)
• Tranquility (2)
• Hurricane
• Regeneration (2)
• Desert Twister
• Fireball (2)
• Disintegrate (2)
• Fissure (2)
• Lightning Bolt (2)

LANDS

• Forest (15)
• Mountain (15)
• Taiga (4)