Ophidian 2350

For this week, I have a little treat for all of you. Okay, so it was more a treat for me since I got to play it.

Ophidian 2350 is another one of the dead games that are floating around. Unlike most of the others though, this game went through a period of great fan support after cancellation. This alone shows the caliber of the game.

Now it is time for the boring part that I know you all skim over, the game play rundown.

From the start there is an evident deviation from the standard CCG formula. There are no turns! (duh duh duh…) Instead, the game takes place in a series of “Waves”. Each wave is controlled by a system known as the “Flow”. You will read more about this later on.

The cards are broken down into two main types. There are “Gladiators” and there are “Support” cards. The gladiator cards are kept in your “Gladiator Pile”, and your support cards are kept in you “Arsenal”.

Gladiator cards are broken down into two more categories. There are “Standard Gladiators” and there are “Reinforcement Gladiators”. The standard gladiators are double sided and start off in play, while the reinforcement gladiators start off in the gladiator pile with the higher level gladiator cards. Some gladiators have a second card that represents their higher levels, these are stored outside of play in the gladiator pile.

Gladiator cards are lucky enough to start off in play. Support cards, however, need to be brought into play in another fashion. To bring support cards into play, one must first meet a couple of criteria. Each support card has one to several symbols in the upper left corner. You must have at least one gladiator card that matched one of those symbols. The gladiator that matches the larger symbol must then have the same level as the card (the number next to the symbol). If those criteria are met, you can then pay the “Play Cost” using your “CP”s .

Support cards also have a couple of different types. These are: “Quick-Hit”, “Minion”, “Pump”, and “Zone”. Quick-hits are “Scrapped” once they resolve, but the other types stay in play. If a card is meant to stay in play, it has a “Maintain Cost” next to the play cost. Be sure you want to pay it. If you do not/ cannot pay that cost, then that card is scrapped before the next wave.

When you use a card or an ability on a card in play, you will notice a symbol in red. This tells you how using the card or ability affects the flow. They work as follows:
“+”= You must have the flow, and you keep the flow.
“-“= You must have the flow, and you lose the flow.
“?”= You must have the flow, and depending on certain factors you may keep or lose it.
“R”= You can play in response to anything. Does not affect the flow.
“OR”= You must have the flow. You can play in response. Does not affect the flow.
“DR”= You must NOT have the play. You can play in response. Does not affect the flow.

The flow is what determines who can do what when during a wave. It goes back and forth based on the symbols on the cards that are played during that wave. Once you learn how to use the flow, it becomes second nature.

When both players pass their turn, the wave ends. Then starts the “Breather”. This is when you can level up one of you gladiators, replace a fallen gladiator with a reinforcement gladiator, draw back up to seven cards, reset your CP amount (10+the wave number), determine who has flow, and pay you maintain costs.

At the end of the fourth wave you count up how many points worth of opponent gladiators you have killed. The player who has killed the most wins. If there is a tie, you keep going until there is a winner. A player who kills 12 points worth automatically wins. Also if you wipe out all of your opponent’s gladiators you win. And if you get 15 “Crowd Favor” points, the audience rushes the stage and rips your opponents limb from limb (see more on that in the rules).

I hope all of this info got you interested, because Ophidian is a good game. Unfortunately it is no longer with us. The good news is that booster boxes are $10 on eBay! The main site is still up: http://www.ophidiangames.com/ Check it out.