EPIC SPELL WARS II: RUMBLE AT CASTLE TENTAKILL (Cryptozoic Games)
From their original concepts to their licensed projects (basing games off of the comic book Locke and Key, tv show Archer and coming soon, video game Portal – included in our upcoming Gen Con review), Cryptozoic has fast become a favorite publisher of our gaming group.
And at the summit of that stack of boxes of fun, sits Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre. Playing as a demented and depraved wizard driven only to be the Last Wizard Standing (the title bestowed upon a round’s winner) your goal is to create the most deadly spell card combinations. Each turn’s spell is made up of a Source, Quality and Delivery, each from one of the five types of magic, all playing off each other for more devastating effect. The cards also have fun names to shout out in a booming wizardy voice, like Midnight Merlin or Devilicious or Meatier Swarm or Testikill.
Now Cryoptizoic have delivered unto us the electrifying follow-up, Rumble at Castle Tentakill (hurray callbacks!). Playable as a stand-alone game or as an expansion to the original, either shuffled in or set aside as a separate drawdeck, Castle Tentakill delivers more of what we loved about Mt. Skullzfyre. The concept and play remain the same, but now we have access to reaction cards, creatures (spell cards that remain in play), blood (a new resource in spellcraft) and the Standee – a cardboard tower that grants benefits and blood to its controller.

Though it’s a lot of fun, Castle Tentakill probably isn’t different enough that if you have Mt. Skullzfyre you don’t “need” to have it too. But if the idea of adding Carnivorous Clowns, Baconus the Butcher, Baron Squirrlington, Bung Burner and Fart Knight to your wizarding vocabulary has you in a bloodlust (for blood magic, no doubt), Tentakill is a welcomed new battleground. (Cryptozoic Games) by David C. Obenour