Witches’ Revel is an expandable card game by Aura V., also known online by her alias, millenomi. It’s all about witches, spellslinging, drama, and friendship!
In the current market where card game prices continue to increase, with more games releasing cards which can only be acquired through premium products, or products being scalped to exorbitant prices, Witches’ Revel dares to go the other way: “Buy only once, get the whole set!” is the game’s rallying cry. Designed as a love letter to Aura’s beloved card games and witch fiction which has shaped her identity, the game revolves around flashy spells, cute characters, and it’s a game that revolves around a rather unique win condition: we aren’t racing towards depleting the opponent’s life total.
The first set, Eternal Rhapsody, comes with two witch cards, which represent the identity and playstyle of players. Celosia is an intense, fiery witch. She excels at firing off huge fire-adjacent spells in rapid succession. Meanwhile, Nymphaea is a bit more subdued — she enjoys toying around with water-themed spells and moving counters around. This provides two distinct approaches to the decks straight out of the box.
Pick Up and Play, ASAP
With a promise that it can be taught and learned in 15 minutes, Witches’ Revel is simple enough to be picked up by a complete card game newbie, yet has enough depth for TCG veterans. The rulebook is tiny, and can be read through in one sitting. Each player can only take one of two actions every turn: either play a card, or skip our turn to draw a card. That’s it!
In Witches’ Revel, our goal is to control several spell spaces, of which there are five. The game revolves around casting powerful spells in these areas in a bid to assert dominance over the other witch. At the end of the game, when one witch runs out of cards in the deck, or after one player runs out of the Stamina resource (which allows the opposing player to take one final turn), the witch with the most controlled spell spaces, wins. There’s also a Domination win condition: if a player controls all five spaces at the end of their turn, they instantly win the game!
What’s In the Package?
The Witches’ Revel 2-Player Ready-to-Play Kit comes with two decks, ready to play out of the box: one each for Celosia and Nymphaea. Each deck is composed of one witch card, one resource card, four Stamina markers, and 25 spell and stance cards. Finally, the package is rounded off with the aforementioned tiny rulebook and a punch-out counters sheet.
Witches Do What They Do Best
Oh yes, we’re spellslinging!
The game currently has four types of playable cards: strike spells, shield spells, stances, and witchseals.
Strike spells are the quintessential attacks in Witches’ Revel. These are denoted by a triangle with a power number on the top right of the card. Shield spells, on the other hand, are defensive options to hold lanes and may have other on-field abilities to activate per turn. Be careful, though; when an opponent plays a Strike spell with a higher power, our card in that space gets Overpowered and is then discarded from play.
Meanwhile, Stances act similar to equipment or enhancements: they provide additional effects on play and on a turn-by-turn basis.
Finally, Witchseals are some of the most powerful cards in the game, hence them being limited to one per deck. Witchseal: Unyielding outright nukes any card in any other lane; note, however, that takes considerable sacrifice, with the controlling witch losing one Stamina, if possible, at the end of turn.
One more mechanic on Strike spells are their icons, as denoted on the bottom right. Currently, there are fire and water icons, though this design space will become extremely interesting as more cards are released. By spending one Stamina, we can Stitch a spell in hand with one on the board with matching icons, combining their powers in hopes to Overpower the opponent’s spells. While running one icon is extremely beneficial in terms of synergy, players can play include cards of different icons in their constructed decks.
Card Variety
Each witch specializes in specific spell elements, though we aren’t limited to only playing one element at a time. In fact, the Nymphaea deck comes with a mixture of fire and water cards in different ratios.
Some standout cards include Cataclysm as the top-end spell, while Pyrocolumn! allows us to dump all our Passion to solidify our board state.
Be Quiet! and Repress Emotions let us manipulate our +1 counters on the board, so we can reallocate the buffs from losing lanes to win new ones.
Shields such as Fiery Taunt and Perennial Serenity have recurring effects per turn, but may be interacted with, so the opponent won’t let these effects last long on our board.
Speaking of interaction, there are also “hand traps” or “counterspells” in the game in the form of Don’t Touch Me! and Steam’s Cover, which stops potential Overpower effects.
A divisive card is Scorched Earth, which completely razes one entire spell area; both our area and our opponent’s, regardless of power. This might be a cheeky nod to one of Netrunner‘s most iconic cards as well. I do think this might be one of the most game-warping cards in the game at the moment: do we save it until they’ve stitched on the board, or do we just play it early to bait out an overpower? The card occupies an interesting space in the game and I’m excited to explore it further.
First Impressions
As I brought the game out for my playgroup, we were slinging spells within less than five minutes of introduction.
The area control aspect reminds me of Legend of the Five Rings, Warhammer: Conquest, and Marvel Snap. There’s a delicate dance between both players on where to play their spells, which areas to give up or contest, and how to bait opponents into overcommitting before a blowout play.
Decision trees aren’t extremely complex on the surface, thanks to the game’s limited action system, but that isn’t a downside; it simply means even new players aren’t going to be prone to analysis paralysis, while more experienced players can easily plan out complex sequences several turns in advance, without taking too much time in either case.
I met Aura through Netrunner, as we both belong to the same testing group called Queering the Message. Being able to skip our turn to draw a card is reminiscent of clicking to draw cards in Netrunner, where we’re able to dig for answers to the current board state, at the cost of shifting the tempo back to the opponent. This is all to say: we aren’t restricted to topdecking draw spells or setting up engines to accrue card advantage; we can simply draw and plan for a comeback later on.
The Stamina system is one which warps the game around it. Since a trigger for the end of the game is one witch running out of Stamina, there may be times one witch can decide to play extremely aggressive with stitches, Witchseals, and Stances to end the game in quick fashion. Other times, the game can be about attrition, with both players saving their Stamina and best cards for the very end of the game, after they see the opponent’s second copy of Scorched Earth hit the bin.
Spaces on the board are limited to five, which naturally restricts where players can place their cards, even more so when the opponent already has control of a particular spot. This makes board management an essential element to track throughout the game, but one that isn’t overbearing for either player.
The Resource mechanic screams expansions! The current two witches use Passion as their resource, but there may be future witches who use a different resource system. In this way, there will be “factions” in the game, such as the current Passion decks, and any further resource systems in future sets. In fact, by joining the Witches’ Revel Discord, you might even be able to peek into a new resource system.
With that all said, the game is simple to pick up and play, and is a great way to break the ice during long game nights, or to sneak in between other games. With the amount of customization, however, there’s also potential for it to become a meaty main game, depending on the playgroup.
An Ode to Accessibility
To reiterate: I met Aura, the creator, through Netrunner, the very same game which lets players print out their own cards at home, and allows use of these in tournaments. Witches’ Revel adopts a similar distribution model. The base game includes every card, in maximum playable copies, just from one set. There’s no need to buy more boxes for a chase rare or mythic. “It can be hard to justify paying for cardboard. So, I tried to make this game radically available; there are options to play at all price level, including free!” Aura shares on the Witches’ Revel website.
Print On Demand options likewise exist on DriveThruCards and MakePlayingCards, should these options be more convenient. The third option is Print and Play. Available on the Witches’ Revel site, the file comes with the full PDF file, with the exact same cards as the base set. It comes with a pay what you want model, as the webpage exclaims: “even free, if you want!” Finally, the game can also be played digitally, through TCG Arena and Tabletop Simulator. The Witches’ Revel Discord is a great way to get started socializing with the community.
And There’s Still Bling!
If there’s one thing card gamers love, it’s a way to show off more premium variants in their decks. While Witches’ Revel emphasizes accessibility, it doesn’t shy away from providing some sought-after upgrades to its game pieces.
The Collector’s Upgrade Pack, which contains 18 borderless foil full-art cards, is one such product, providing access to some slick-looking game pieces for those who want shinier cardboard, all while supporting the development of the game.
The catch: there’s no rarity chasing; each pack contains the same foil cards. We only ever need to buy one booster pack!
Each card can be flipped over to view a version without the game text for a full art display. I personally love doing this for the Passion marker and Scorched Earth cards!
Okay, I’m Sold: Sign Me Up!
If you want more Witches’ Revel content, the Guild Pack recently featured the game on their Youtube channel, wherein they played a full game. They also talked about the pick-up-and-play nature of the game, which I wholeheartedly agree with; I keep my copy around in case we have downtime to squeeze in a quick game or two every now and then. Ultimately, in a world where card games demand more product purchases more than ever before, Witches’ Revel is continuing a trend of accessible, yet fully fleshed-out card games that do not break the bank. I think that’s a wonderful direction for the hobby to head in.
Visit the Witches’ Revel website here, and note that you can acquire the cards here.
Check out our coverage of other indie card games, such as Ulandi Wars and Genesis: Battle of Champions.
