Learn the Book

ArcoMage is a duel between two mages. Each of you defends a tower and commands a wall, fueled by three resources you grow each turn: mana, casting time, and the structures themselves. Reduce your opponent’s tower to zero — or raise your own to the victory height — and you win.

What makes it different from every other spell game: there is no deck and no draw. Your whole book is open in front of you, every turn. The duel is decided by what you prepared and when you cast it, never by what you happened to draw.

Before a match you build an 8×8 main book plus a 16-spell sideboard — singleton, owned, and locked. During the duel every spell in that book is always castable if you can pay for it. Casting costs mana and casting minutes; bigger spells cost more of both.

Because nothing is hidden behind a random draw, ArcoMage rewards planning: sequencing your spells, baiting counters, and holding the right answer for the right moment. The only luck in the duel is your opponent’s.

Spells are drawn from nine schools, each with its own feel:

• Sorcery — raw, flexible power and spell-copying.
• Instant — fast reactions and counters.
• Enchantment — lasting effects that warp the rules.
• Conjuration — healing and summoned aid.
• Necromancy — sacrifice, drain, and return-from-loss.
• Evocation — direct damage and elemental force.
• Illusion — misdirection and wasted enemy spells.
• Divination — information and foresight.
• Transmutation — reshaping walls, towers, and spells.

Browse every spell by school in the Spell Index.

Each spell sits in a Circle from I (apprentice) to IX (archmage). Higher circles hit harder but demand more casting minutes — the in-duel clock that limits how much you can do in a turn. A 1st-Circle bolt is near-instant; a 7th-Circle colossus takes real time to bring into the world, leaving you exposed while you cast it.

Balancing fast cheap spells against slow devastating ones is the heart of ArcoMage’s tempo.

Matches are best-of-three. After each game you may swap spells one-for-one between your main book and your 16-spell sideboard, trading within the same Circle. Lost to a wall of counters? Bring in spells that punish them. Facing an aggressive rush? Side in your defensive answers.

Sideboarding turns a single duel into a three-game chess match of reads and adaptations — one of the most skill-intensive parts of the game.

Summon-type spells call a creature with its own power and toughness that persists turn after turn, attacking, blocking, and triggering abilities. A Frostbound Colossus shrugs off damage each upkeep; a Blazing Phoenix comes back from the ashes.

Meet every creature, its stats, abilities, and the spell that summons it in the Bestiary.