Mnemonic

Summary

Mnemonic is a combat-style card game played with standard playing cards. The base rules--how turns are taken, the effect that attacks have, how the game is won, etc.--are the same as those of your favorite tabletop CCG. However:

• The set of playable cards in Mnemonic is restricted to those in a standard 52-card deck of French playing cards.
• Mnemonic divides a standard deck of playing cards into its four suits, in lieu of the mana "types" or "colors" of a traditional CCG.
• To facilitate playing with just 52 cards between two players, a special drafting format is needed (see "Drafting").
• When a player draws on an empty library, rather than losing the game, he or she simply reshuffles his or her graveyard into his or her library and loses 1 life.
• To facilitate playing the game with standard playing cards, which do not bear the printed rules of Mnemonic, there are mnemonics for the casting cost and abilities of each card.

Card values and abilities

2-6 are lands that can be tapped for 1 mana in their suit, or to complete a "mana hand" (see face card costs below). 7s are land creatures in their suit with 1/1 strength/toughness. 8-10 are creatures that cost 1 mana in their suit.

The face cards--Jack, Queen, King and Ace--cost ascending poker hands, starting from a pair and capped at 3 cards. (Thus, all cost a 3-card hand of some form, except the Jack, which costs a pair.) In all cases, these "mana hands" must have at least one card in the suit of the card being summoned.

All creatures (except 7s) have strength and toughness equal to their converted mana cost. (E.g., a 9 is a 1/1, a Jack is a 2/2, and King, Queen and Ace are all 3/3s.)

Each type of face card has an additional alternate ability that costs 1 mana in its suit. Ace alone has a second special ability, which costs a 3-card straight flush in the Ace's suit.

• Ace
  • Casting cost: (X)(Y)(Z),([SUIT])([SUIT])([SUIT])
  • Creature -- Face
  • Ace to the Face -- ([SUIT]), discard $THIS: deal 3 damage to target player.
  • Annihilate -- (Z)(Z+1)(Z+2),([SUIT])([SUIT])([SUIT]), discard $THIS: destroy all creatures on the battlefield.
  
  
• King
  • Casting cost: (Z)(Z+1)(Z+2),(*)(*)([SUIT])
  • Creature -- Face
  • Kings Command -- ([SUIT]), discard $THIS: untap target creature and gain control of it until end of turn. That creature gains haste until end of turn.
  
  
• Queen
  • Casting cost: (Z)(Z)(Z),(*)(*)([SUIT])
  • Creature -- Face
  • Killer Queen -- ([SUIT]), discard $THIS: destroy target creature.
  
  
• Jack
  • Casting cost: (Z)(Z),(*)([SUIT])
  • Enchantment Creature -- Face
  • Jumping Jacks -- ([SUIT]): cast $THIS. It becomes an aura spell with enchant target creature.
    
    Enchanted creature has flying.
  
  
• 8-10
  • Casting cost: ([SUIT])
  • Creature -- Number
  • 1/1
  
  
• 7
  • Land Creature -- [SUIT] Number
  • [TAP]: Add ([SUIT]) to your mana pool
  • 1/1
  
  
• 2-6
  • Basic Land -- [SUIT]
  • [TAP]: Add ([SUIT]) to your mana pool

Suit abilities

Additionally, each suit has a special ability that applies to all cards in that suit.

• Clubs
  • Membership Benefits (This card costs (*) less to play if you control a [CLUBS] creature. If this card's cost is only 1 or more ([CLUBS]), this card costs ([CLUBS]) less to play if you control a [CLUBS] creature.)
  
  
• Hearts
  • Healing (When this card is put into a graveyard, its owner gains 1 life.)
  
  
• Diamonds
  • Durable (When this card is put into a graveyard, you may return it to the top of its owner's library.)
  
  
• Spades
  • Dig (When this card is put into a graveyard, you may search its owner's graveyard for a card and shuffle that card into its owner's library.)

Drafting

A special drafting system is needed to create two decks with hidden information out of 52 known cards.

1. Shuffle the deck.
2. Discard 10 cards, leaving 42.
3. Remove the largest possible power of 2 of cards from the remaining pile (32, at first).
4. Split the removed cards, giving half to each player.
5. From the cards that each player received, he or she chooses half of them to keep, then passes the remaining half to the other player.
6. Repeat from step 5 until each player receives exactly one card.
7. Each player keeps the received card.
8. Repeat from step 3 until the pile of remaining cards is empty.
9. Each player should now have a library of 21 cards, from which he or she may discard up to 5 cards. These become the player's sideboard.
10. Each player's remaining cards become his or her library for the game.

Mnemonics

• Lucky Sevens
  • 7s are land-creatures; they can be summoned as your land for a turn without paying any mana. They can attack and defend like creatures, but do have summoning sickness.
  • These also serve as the division point between lands and creatures in the ordering of each suit.
• Ordinary creatures cost 1 mana in their suit
• Face cards cost ascending poker hands, capped at 3 cards.
• Jumping Jacks
  • Jacks' special ability allows you to enchant other creatures with flying.
• Killer Queens
  • Queens' special ability allows you to destroy other creatures without matching their toughnesses with other creatures.
• Kings Command
  • Kings' special ability allows you to temporarily take control of other creatures.
• Ace to the Face
  • Aces' special ability allows you to deal "face damage", depleting your opponent's life points without having your creatures attack (or be defended against).
• Aces Annihilate
  Aces' extra-special ability allows you to instantly destroy all creatures on the battlefield-- but you'll need to have a 3-card straight flush of untapped lands in play in order to use it.
• Clubs have Membership Benefits
• Diamonds are Durable
• Hearts are for Healing
• Spades are for Digging