Parlor Magic: a Magic The Gathering variant for use with standard playing card decks.
	Magic game rules by Richard Garfield; elements used without permission. The MTG material of Parlor Magic is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/ endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Variant copyright 2024 by Droll.

	This is an adaptation of the Magic game rules, set within the outlines of a generalized feudal or Machiavellian backdrop. These rules are for a game played between two opponents, each using one full deck of cards. In the programmed web page application, one player contends with a computerized opponent.
	This ruleset is for tabletop play. The computer moderated version follows these same rules, but utilizes some representational conventions for accounting and display purposes. The coded symbols used aren't too hard to interpret offhand, but to find details for the implementation of the computer version, consult the plrG1.txt file (with more information in the G2, G3 & G4 files).

Rulers and their possessions:
	A Wizard's starting life total= 20. But rather than a wizard, one is better characterized in this context as a feudal ruler ("Rlr" eg emperor, imperator, dynast, sultan, khan, padishah, pharaoh, sovereign, caesar, czar, archon, suzerain, kaiser, mogul, baron, sachem, maharajah, overlord, autocrat, syndic, satrap).

Layout:
	The playing setup includes the following for each Rlr.
	Draw pile - A facedown pile initially containing the Rlr's starting deck.
	Recycle pile - A facedown pile of cards for reuse, that replaces an exhausted Draw pile.
	Discard pile - A facedown pile of cards removed from play.
	Home(-land) area - Cards laid faceup here represent the exploited Lands in the Rlr's territory.
	Domain area - Cards laid faceup here reflect protective Enhancements placed upon the Rlr.
	Field area - Cards laid faceup here show the Rlr's Creature forces maneuvering for advantage.

Full Spread:
	Trumps stack - In addition to the space allotted for each Rlr, the overall layout is finished with the reserved location for what will act as a single faceup pile, for play on by either Rlr, with the suit of the top card becoming the current trump suit.

Deck construction:
	In the basic game described here, each Rlr plays with an entire 52- card standard Poker deck: four suits of thirteen cards each.

Card types:
	The type of a card is determined by its value, in common for all suits.
	2 ..6 Enhancement ("Enh" eg trump: enactment)
	7 ..10 Land ("Lnd" eg pool: estate)
	A, J, Q, K Creature ("Cre" eg leader: league)

	When shuflling a deck of cards, it's desirable to make for a fairly even distribution of types. Separate the deck into three piles: Cre cards, Enh cards and Lnd cards, and shuffle each pile individually. Then simply riffle the Lnd and Enh piles together, deal out the initial seven Hand cards from just this Lnd/ Enh set, and then riffle the Cre pile into the remaining combined cards to compose the Draw deck. The riffles needn't be exacting: this procedure is just a means to prevent some wildly unbalanced arrangements in purely random constructs, and lessen any first deal jump start dis-/ advantage likelihood.

Turn Sequence:
	Designate phasing and opponent Rlrs for this turn - randomly on the first player turn.
	Untax cards that were taxed on the phasing Rlr's turn. Remove any inactivating effects (eg summoning sickness).
	The phasing Rlr Recycles cards for no more than seven in hand.
	The phasing Rlr Draws two cards, and either chooses one and Recycles the other, or else Redraws ending that Rlr's turn.
	The Turn Cycle (see next) then gets repeated until the phasing Rlr chooses not to attack, when the phasing and opponent Rlr's situations are reversed and the next turn begins.

Turn Cycle:
	If any Mnr points remain in the phasing Rlr's Mnr pool, the Rlr loses Life equal to that total as those points are exacted in Mnr burn.
	The phasing Rlr may pass on first play or play a Hand card by:
		Taxing Lnd cards to source their mnr into one's manor pool (none required to lay a Land).
		Designating a card to play, and paying any required cost out of one's manor pool.
		Laying the card on its chosen target area.
	After the phasing Rlr lays one card, the opponent has the option to play one Hand card in the same way, or pass. And this play would alternate until one passes.
	The phasing Rlr may choose any cards in one's Field area to attack the opponent Rlr, assigning no more than 6 in a single attack phase force.
	The opponent chooses opposing Field cards as blockers against the attack as desired, assigning no more than three blockers to any one attacker card.
	The phasing Rlr's Cre cards' special abilities may be activated.
	The opposing Rlr's Cre cards' special abilities may be activated.
	The opposing Rlr may play a Hand card, or pass.
	After the opposing Rlr lays one card, the phasing Rlr has the option to play one Hand card in the same way, or pass. And this play would alternate until one passes.
	Combat is resolved for the attackers and blockers, including bonus outranking Enh points.
	Damage to and from any unblocked attackers is dealt by and to the opposing Rlr, including bonus outranking Enh points.
	If the opposing Rlr's life total drops to zero from an attack, the phasing Rlr wins the game. Although a Rlr can be damaged by an expel (counterspell) against its domain, even if this results in 0 life the Rlr continues to play until further damaged by an attacking Cre.
	
Drawing:
	The game starts with a hand of 7 drawn. Prior to the Draw at the beginning of one's turn, a Rlr must choose & send to the Recycle pile enough cards to keep his at- turn Hand from exceeding a total of 7 cards.
	To initiate one's turn, a Rlr draws 2 cards, and either chooses 1 for his Hand and places the other in the Recycle pile, which will get shuffled and returned to the Draw pile when the Draw pile is exhausted, or else elects to Redraw. If but one card remains in a Rlr's Draw pile at the start of his turn, he takes that as the first drawn card before shuffling the Recycle pile back into his Draw pile and taking the second drawn card from it. If both the Draw and Recycle cards of a Rlr are depleted, he no longer Draws and must rely on what remains in his Hand.
	To Redraw, the Rlr first needs to select one card currently out of his Hand (not including the two presently drawn cards) which will be recycled along with the two drawn cards. Although if he has no cards currently in hand, no selection from Hand is required. Then, after recycling the drawn cards and any selected card, another Draw as usual is performed. The Rlr's current turn is ended upon performing a Redraw: an opponent immediately becomes the phasing Rlr. Only one Redraw is allowed to a Rlr on each of his turns.

Taxing:
	"Tax"= a tax/ task -like polling of resources or energies; by which a card on the layout is turned sidewise in the usual manner of tapping. Taxed cards will become untaxed at the start of the next turn of the Rlr on whose turn they were taxed. Due to this "turn taxing" variant for taxing, in tabletop play a card could be turned at a 45- degree angle to one side of the layout or the other to denote the turn it was taxed.
	Inactive (newbie, summoning sickness) Cre condition is indicated by turning a card at a 90- degree angle, and is removed at the start of the next turn of either Rlr after being played.

Mnr Pool:
	Upon a Lnd being taxed, a point of Mnr in its suit is added to the Rlr's Mnr pool. Such points are then available for reduction in use of powering operations. When Mnr in the pool is sufficient to cover the cost of a designated function, the pertinent holdings are reduced at the operator's specification.
	Mnr Burn occurs when there is any Mnr remaining in a Rlr's Mnr pool at the commencement of the Rlr's turn. In that case, the Rlr loses Life points equal to the total points remaining as those points get exacted without powering anything.

Suits & Spots:
	All cards are of one of 4 base suits: Hearts, Diamonds, Spades or Clubs, and also of one of 2 colors: red or black.
	The term "spot count" refers to the highest value card, usually of a particular suit, that applies to a target, rather than to a total of all applicable cards' spots. Aces & Court/ Face cards by themselves have a spot count of 1 in their base suit.
	For example, a Jack of Clubs with a 3 of Clubs Enh played upon it has a spot count in Clubs of 3. If it has a further 5 of Clubs Enh played upon it, it then has a spot count in Clubs of 5. If it has a further 2 of Diamonds Enh played upon it, it has a spot count in Diamonds of 2, as well as a spot count in Clubs of 5.

Lands:
	Lnds in this variant operate just as in the Magic rules, though conceptually they may be viewed as fiefs, and the "mana" they provide considered to be the local "manor"s' levies of men and material to the controlling Rlr. There's no difference in mnr sourcing between Lnd cards with different spot counts: each Lnd provides one point of mnr of its suit when taxed; thus a point of mnr will be of one of the 4 suit types.
	Even if a Lnd has an Enh upon it, it still sources a point of mnr of its base suit. But a Lnd which is taxed when it has an Enh of the same suit as the current Trump stack's top card sources 1 point of mnr of the trump suit instead.
	One Lnd may be played from a Rlr's hand per turn, if held, at no cost: but only when the chance is taken. If it's preferred to instead summon a card on the phasing Rlr's first action option, and the opponent passes, the Rlr would have to initiate an attack in order to be able to drop a Lnd card upon the option following combat resolution, or else yield the turn to the opponent without playing a Lnd.

Creatures:
	Aces are 1/1 (Power/ Toughness) Cres, Jacks are 1/2, Queens are 2/2, and Kings are 2/3. 	The cost to cast a Cre is its Tgh in mnr of its suit, in addition to its Pwr in generic mnr. 	Inactivity (Summoning Sickness) applies on the turn summoned, which prevents a Cre from joining in an attack or using its special feature ability, but not from defending - although it would deal no damage (Pwr is nullified).
	A Cre declared as an attacker or blocker may still use a voluntary special feature, and if the use requires the Cre to be taxed, the tax takes effect immediately upon the feature use. The taxed Cre still participates in the combat, but will deal no damage.
	At  the end of combat resolution, all attacking and blocking Cres that participated in that one combat are taxed. After combat, an acting Cre will persist in the field while any subsequent attacks are waged in that turn, at least until the next Untax phase of either Rlr, even having been tagged as taking terminal damage. Eliminated Cres are placed in the Discard pile.

Court cards have special feature abilities as follows. The color and suit of the card exercising the ability refers to its base suit, and the card which is the target of the ability is also qualified by its base suit, rather than any Enh upon it. An ability of a Cre isn't effective however, when the target (or activating card) outranks or outtrumps it. All these effects occur in the special abilities/ feature use phase of the Turn Cycle.

	Volley - Those bearing missile weapons (JC javelin, JS sling) have the ability to cause a fixed 1 damage point to an opponent Cre which is making an attack or blocking, by being taxed themselves. The javelin- bearing JC may not target an unblocked attacker.

	Sally - Those bearing swords (KH, KC, KS) when attacking and blocked by a card of their color, gain Pwr +1. The more awkward KH suffers hp (Tgh) -1 when it chooses to use this ability.

	Harry - Those bearing polearms (JH bill, KD pikeaxe, JD halberd) when blocking a card of the color opposite to theirs, gain hp (Tgh) +1. The feather- bearing JH must be taxed to use this ability (ie. after being declared as a blocker) then deals no damage.

	Ally - Those bearing emblems (KC orb, QS scepter) have the ability to tax an opponent Cre of their suit by being taxed themselves.

	Carry - Those bearing corsages (QH, QD, QS, QC) have the ability to allow their controlling Rlr to tax and receive mnr from an untaxed Lnd of the queen's color in the opponent's Domain by being taxed themselves. Since a Lnd of one's suit will initially outrank a queen, in a same- suit case one would need a supporting Enh of the trump suit. Or, just for this purpose, any Enh of the queen's suit upon her receives a bonus spot count "booster" equal to the number of petals on the blossom in her hand (or assume a general +4 for any queen).
	For example, the Queen of Hearts by herself could Carry a Lnd of the Diamonds suit (as being outshown but not outranked) since all the Diamonds in the world won't outrank her one Heart unless & until a Hearts Enh is played on the Lnd, or a Diamonds Enh on the Queen. She could only Carry a Lnd of the Hearts suit, which would always outrank her, if she's had an Enh of the current trump suit played upon her that's greater than any on the Lnd, or if the spot count of a Hearts Enh added on the queen's one heart rank, plus the petals on her corsage, equals or exceeds the Lnd card's spot count.
	contextual note: A corsage is the masculine counterpart of a lady's favor such as would be bestowed upon one whom the giver would support, though perhaps unofficially or clandestinely. It suggests that the Queen has the attentions or interests of some party in a position which makes open adulation impractical.

Enhancements:
	Other than in summoning Cre cards, and in the use of their immediate abilities, the only spells that a Rlr casts are Enhs. Enhs constitute the "trumps" of the game, and the target of an Enh may be a Lnd or Cre card of any Rlr, any Rlr's Domain defense, or the Trumps stack. Rlrs can effectively cast Enhs without regard to a target's existing spot count, with the exception of revising the Trumps stack, and attempts to expel.
	The number of spots on an Enh card is significant. The mnr cost to cast an Enh is the number of spots on the Enh card, and half (rounding up) must be in mnr of its suit. Note that if the card played is of lesser value than another of the same suit already affecting the target, the new card will bestow no extra effect (except possibly as a fallback after an expel targeting the higher value Enh).

Trumps:
	A Rlr may play an Enh onto the Trumps stack only if it is of an equal or greater spot value than the top/ last- placed card in that stack. The suit of the top card of the Trumps stack designates the currently effectual trump suit of the game in progress. 

Outshown, Outranked or Outtrumped:
	An entity, for the purpose of deterimining ranking, may be a Cre or Lnd card, a Domain defense or a designated grouping (of targets, attackers or blockers).

	Outshown= An entity outshows another which has a highest spot count lower than its highest spot count, but in an unmatched suit. In the basic game described here, there's no numerical bonus value for merely outshowing another entity. However, `lone targeted nontrump (ref trumps stack) Enh can be expelled by being outshown - AND - `that it can prevent one from being outranked.
	For an instance of preventing one from being outranked (in reference to Counterspells/ Expel below), a Jack of Hearts having a 3 of Clubs Enh can't be outranked by a 2 of Hearts expel attempt unless Hearts are the trump suit. It could still be outranked by a 3 of Hearts, when the expel damage calculation ignores the lesser or equal value Clubs Enh and would cause the typical half of (3 minus 1) rounded up= 1 damge point to the Jack: not enough alone to eliminate it, but only recycle it. The JH3C could also be expelled with a 4C (but not with a 3C) - when it would also take nonterminal damage of half of (4 minus 3) rounded up= 1 damage point.

	Outranked= An entity gains an Outranking bonus if it is not outshown and has an Enh of a like suit and with the highest spot count of any matching suits by the affected opposing entity - assuming neither opponent entity has an Enh of the trump suit, or no Trumps stack is yet in play. A target can't be outranked in a suit of which it has neither a base suit nor an Enh, and two entities can never simultaneously outrank each other. 
	Note that every Cre card has an inherent rank of 1 in its base suit, until an Enh is cast upon it. A Domain defense, having no base suit, can't outrank or be outranked until an Enh has been played on it.
	Note that Lnds can't be outranked by Enhs alone due to Lnds' high base suit spot counts (so their mnr can usually go anywhere as directed), but they'll only automatically outrank something that's trying to affect them (such as the Queens) which has a spot count in their base suit.

	Outtrumped= When a Trumps stack is in play, an entity gains a trumping bonus if it has an Enh or base suit of the trump suit which is of a higher spot count than the highest trump suit spot count of the affected opposing entity. Unlike outranking, trumped includes no trump to trumps; as well as ranked in trumps. An entity whose base suit is that of the current trump suit, or which has an Enh of the current trump suit can't be ranked by any other single suit high spot value - it can only be trumped. Being matched in its trump count confers no bonus, as though cancelled out. However, should it happen to be matched in trumps as well as being outranked in a mutually present other suit, the outranking bonus gets applied.
	The priority of a trump suit Enh effectively "under"-rides any higher value Enh of another suit. For instance, while a JH Akr having both 4H and 2S Enhs would gain a (half the difference of 3 rounded up)= 2 points Cbt bonus against a QH Bkr when no trump stack Enh exists, with a Spades trump on the stack, the J gains only a (half the difference of 2 rounded up)= 1 point Cbt bonus.
	As examples, a King of Hearts with no Enhs would be outranked by any card with a 2 of Hearts Enh, even on the Ace of Spades or the Queen of Diamonds. If the King gains a 5 of Diamonds Enh, the Ace would no longer outrank it since the Ace is now outshown in Diamonds; however the King would then instead outrank the Queen (albeit she yet sports more Hearts than the King's base suit). Neither ranking nor trumping is effected by ties, so the Ace and Queen are level. If the Trumps stack turns to Spades, the Ace would then trump either the King or the Queen. An unblocked attacking card of the trump suit gains no bonus against a Domain with no Enh, same as with outshowing. Should there be tied high card but mutually outranking pairs of Enhs on subject and object (for instance a JC/2C/4H vs a JH/4C/3H), the advantage and bonus is ruled to go to the actor with the least differential - if not tied in that regard as well (in this case, the JC with a bonus of half of one, rather than the JH whose bonus otherwise would've been half of 2).

Outranking Bonus:
	In the basic game described here, the bonuses for outranking or outtrumping are the same. Only, when the bonus is for trumping, the differential can be made to a subtrahend of zero as no trumps, unlike with outranking, so that the base differential is bumped into a range of 1.. 6, rather than 1.. 5.
	In considering a grouping of cards, the group's overall ranking for each suit is determined by the highest among those cards in the group, so that in the case of aggregated actions the whole group pitches in. Even though an attacker and its blockers will be apportioned within the forces of any combat for power/ toughness application, the outranking bonus for the combat is adjudged by taking all participating forces on either side of a combat: all designated attackers (including unblocked) versus all blockers. This is followed by the separation of all unblocked attackers versus every Enh in the attacked Rlr's domain defense.
	`the success of an expell is dependent on whatever Enhs may be attached to its target
	`the ability of a court card to target its special feature is determined by the suits of all blockers against a specific attacker: even if the feature user or target card isn't the outranking one
	An outranking or trumping side of attackers or blockers as a whole gains bonus damage of +1 ..+3 determined by halving the differential in spots (rounding up). This is distributed against the opposing Cres at the controlling Rlr's option.
	An outranking or trumping side of all unblocked attacking Cres, or else the attacked Rlr's Domain, can receive an outranking bonus. If the domain defense is superior, the defending Rlr's life total is bolstered by the addition of 1 point (2 points if trumping), then the Rlr deals the 1 ..3 points bonus damage, determined in the same manner as for opposing Cres above, distributed as he desires versus any unblocked Cres. If the attacker is superior, the Rlr is dealt an additional 1 ..3 points in loss of life. In either case, the attackers are not prevented from finally dealing their power damage against the Rlr.
	The calculation used considers the highest outranking card, including if there are two or more outranking cards on the same side of different suits but of the same value. If there is one highest outranking card, the bonus is figured against the highest- valued outranked card of the other side. Similarly, if one side has two (or more) outranking cards of the same value, the bonus is chosen as being the smallest differential of the suits outranked. As example, using unblocked Cre attackers with Enh KS4S KC against an opponent's domain with Enhs 6S 5C, the highest outranking card is the 6S: so the Domain's Enh bonus versus the the attacker's 4S is just the +1 of the 6S minus the 4S halved (rounding up). Replace the 6S with a 5S, and it's still the same. But Replace the 6S with a 4S, and the Domain's bonus is figured as +2 due to the now highest 5C's differential of 4.

Counterspells (code Xsp: eg Expel/ expulsions/ contrivances):
	Any single Enh card existing anywhere on the layout, including the Trumps stack, or attached to another card, or a Cre or Lnd card along with any number of Enh cards remaining on it may be unsummoned with a counterspell. A counterspell/ Xsp is an Enh, normally cast by an opponent Rlr, which outshows, outranks or outtrumps the target card or cards being expelled. To expel a single nontrump Enh card, regardless of its situation, one only needs to outshow that card. To expel an effectually nontrump Cre requires just an Enh that outranks it (ie both outshows its high suit spot count and exceeds a matching suit spot count: see Outranked above). But to expel a Lnd requires it be outtrumped due to its high spot count.
	A target that evaluates as being of the trump suit has to be outtrumped to be expelled. For the Trumps stack, if there is a top card or none it can be suborned under any card of a higher spot value - which suit then becomes the current trump. If a card of the same suit as the top card and a higher spot value is played to the stack, the Rlr has the option of expelling the top card it's laid on: when both the expel Enh card and the previous top card are removed from the stack to expose whatever was below the previous top card as the new trump (or nontrump vacancy). 
	Damage is dealt to a targeted Cre, or to a Rlr whose targeted Domain defense is outranked or outtrumped overall by an opponent's expel, with power equal to the expel's Outranking Bonus. A Rlr expelling an Enh in its own domain takes no damage points - no matter which side put it there. A Rlr expelling a Cre in its own field would have to be careful not to eliminate the Cre with damage equal to or greater than the Cre's Tgh in order to recycle it.
	The played expel Enh is placed in the caster's Discard pile. The expelled cards are placed in their respective owners' Recycle piles if the expel outshows or outranks them, or their Discard piles if the expel trumps or eliminates them by damage.

Tournament Play (emphasizing the game's relation to Count- type constructs - especially as in Mae Enga's party focus):
	The players will be apportioned into sides/ teams. A player engages in contests only against players from other teams (?by agreement). Each player receives a dole of perhaps 4 talents & is out of the tournament upon having none left. A winner collects talents from the loser based on the winner's remaining life: >8) all, <5) 1, 5.. 8) no immediate payment required although the loser must play future contests using single- card draws unless & until a ransom of (life-4) is furnished to the winner from any player(s) on the loser's team. The player with the highest talents total after a set number of rounds or length of time wins the tournament.
	Strictures: A Lnd once taxed having its Mnr added to a Rlr's Mnr pool, can't be rescinded/ undone during match play. Although in casual play the Discard piles of both players are available to examination by either one, a player in a match might be required to forego any recording notation and rely upon memory.