Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

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Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:59 am

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Hatalom Kártyái (Cards of Power) is a Hungarian TCG that was first published in 1995, and is still going strong, with a total of 11 core sets and 51 expansions to date (not counting mini-expansions). The latest expansion is Kristályláz (Crystal Fever), which came out on July 17, 2021.

The game is essentially a cheaper, Hungarian-language alternative to Magic the Gathering, and I played it a ton in high school when it came out. Despite the whole "budget MTG" thing, it is very much its own game and has a lot of very cool design ideas, some of which preceded similar designs by Magic, and some that I'm still waiting for Magic to discover.

The game has a pretty weird design philosophy: instead of set rotations, it kept the meta fresh and new cards relevant through constant and very deliberate power creep. Over 26 years! It added up: in 1995, 3 mana got you a 3/1 vanilla creature, while in 2021, a 1 mana 3/3 with a relevant combat ability is not considered good enough.

I have very fond memories of playing this game in my teenage years, and this thread is going to be my attempt to translate some of it into English. I have no idea how far I'll get, but my first goal is to translate the very first core set (349 cards) and enough of the rules to make it playable.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:59 am

RULES

These are relatively quick-n-dirty rules, intended to make the game playable for people who already know how to play Magic. I may translate the rules more rigorously later. For now, though, if something isn't specified, that's because it works exactly like Magic. Blue text will denote rules that may be especially important, surprising and easily missed.

Deckbuilding
Decks are a minimum of 30 cards, with max. 3 of any single card. A deck may contain a maximum of 4 different colors of cards.

Game Setup and Start
Each player starts with 20 HP, 0 MP (mana points), and 5 cards in hand. Note that unlike Magic, there is a maximum HP (20), and a maximum MP (also 20). Any HP or MP in excess of the maximum is lost immediately. Also, MP is not lost at the end of phases or turns! You can save up.

GAME PHASES

1 - Preparation Phase
1.1 The active player gains MP equal to the turn number (1 mana on turn 1, 2 mana on turn 2, etc.), but not more than 5. In addition, for every 2 creatures in the player's Reserves (whether tapped or untapped, it doesn't matter), they gain 1 additional MP.

1.2 All effects scheduled to happen in the Preparation Phase happen. If there are multiple such effects, the active player determines what order they happen in.

1.3 The active player untaps all of their tapped cards.

1.4 The active player may choose to sacrifice any number of their monsters that contain Monster Components (🦴), and can gain up to the corresponding number of Monster Components. You cannot sacrifice monsters that do not contain Monster Components.

Important: no cards can be played during the Preparation Phase (not even Instant spells), and no abilities can be activated, unless they specify that they can be used in the Preparation Phase.

2 - Draw Phase
The active player draws a card. If their library is empty, nothing happens. The starting player does not a draw a card on their first turn.

3 - First Main Phase
Active player can play cards. (The non-active player can only play Instant spells.)

4 - Move Phase
The active player can choose to move creatures between their Reserves and their Outpost as they like. (See Combat, below.) Note that the Outpost can hold a maximum of 3 creatures (you can have any number of creatures in your Reserves). Also, tapped creatures cannot be moved into the Outpost, and creatures in the Outpost cannot become tapped through any means.

5 - Combat Phase
The active player can use the creatures in their Outpost to attack the non-active player's creatures, buildings, or the player themselves. (See Combat, below.)

6 - Second Main Phase
Active player can play cards. (The non-active player can only play Instant spells.)

7 - Healing Phase
Remove all damage from creatures and buildings, then the turn ends and the next player's turn begins.


CARD TYPES

Creatures
Creatures come into play tapped in their controller's Reserves (unless they have Flying). Tapped creatures cannot move into the Outpost, meaning they can't enter combat.

All creatures get +1/+1 when it's not their controller's turn. This is called the Defense Bonus.

Whenever a creature dies, the opponent gains any Monster Components (🦴) marked on it. The exceptions are if a creature is sacrificed or if it dies in the Preparation Phase (in which case no one gets its Monster Components), or if it was sacrificed in the Preparation Phase (see Game Phase 1.4), in which case its controller gains its Monster Components.

There are two types of creatures: Monsters and Adventurers. Adventurers can gain Levels through Level Up cards. An Adventurer gains +1/+1 for each Level it has, and many of them also gain extra abilities at certain levels.

Spells
There are three types of spells: Enchantments, Instant spells, and General spells (Sorceries). All of them work exactly like they do in Magic, except that tapped enchantments are considered blank. Instant spells have a subtype, Instant Reaction, which work like Interrupts in Magic (Cards of Power's timing rules are largely like pre-6th Edition Magic's).

Buildings
Buildings do not have a mana cost, instead, they require the player to tap a number of creatures equal to their Construction Cost (at sorcery speed). Buildings come into play tapped. Tapped buildings are considered blank, and cannot be attacked (they can still be targeted by spells and abilities).

Items
Items do not have a mana cost, instead, they cost a certain number of Monster Components (🦴), which are usually gained from creatures (by killing the opponent's creatures or by sacrificing your own in the Preparation Phase, see Game Phase 1.4). They are played at sorcery speed. They come into play untapped. However, if they become tapped for any reason, they are considered blank while tapped. Items attached to a creature cannot become tapped.

If a creature kills another creature that had one or more items attached in the Combat Phase, and the victorious creature is capable of using items (✋icon), it can loot the body: its controller can choose to transfer any of the items to it. Items not looted are sent to the graveyard along with the dead creature.

Skills
Skills work like Enchantments (but they are not Enchantments or even Spells). Your Skill Level in a Skill is equal to the number of Skill cards of that type you have in play. Your default Skill Level in all other Skills is 0. Skill cards are colorless.


COMBAT

The Combat Phase consists of the following steps:

5.1 - Players can cast Instant spells and activate abilities.

5.2 - Declare Attackers. Only creatures in the Outpost may attack. The attacker decides what each creature attacks, Hearthstone-style. Creatures can attack enemy creatures in the opponent's Outpost, or may attack the opponent's buildings (Planeswalker-style), or the opponent directly. However, creatures cannot attack the opponent's buildings or the opponent unless all of the creatures in the defender's Outpost are also being attacked (this is called "overrunning the outpost").

Up to two creatures may attack a single defending creature, in which case the defender must now decide which of the two attackers the defending creature will strike in the Strike Step (5.7). It will not be able to damage the other attacker.

5.3 - Players can cast Instant spells and activate abilities.

5.4 - Activated combat abilities can be used (these are denoted with a sword icon in the text box, and 🗡️ in text form). Each creature can use each of its activated combat abilities once. Players take turns declaring their creatures' abilities until no one wants to declare any more: once all activated combat abilities are declared, they all take effect simultaneously.

5.5 - Life-saving abilities can be used to save any creatures with 0 or less HP. A life-saving ability is an ability that increases a creature's HP, even if indirectly. Next, any creature with 0 or less HP dies, it is put into the graveyard and the opponent receives any Monster Components marked on it.

5.6 - Players can cast Instant spells and activate abilities.

5.7 - Strike Step. Each creature strikes the creature assigned as its target in Declare Attackers. IMPORTANT: Creatures gain +1/+1 when it is not their turn. This is called the Defense Bonus.

5.8. - Life-saving abilities can be used again, to save creatures fatally wounded during the Strike Step. Same as 5.5.


CARD COLORS

There are seven card colors, corresponding to the seven gods. Card color matters much less than in Magic, because there's no colored mana, so it's only really important for the deckbuilding restriction (your deck can't have more than 4 different colors. But a lot of cards do reference the colors/gods, so here they are:

RAIA is the Good god of light, heroism, purity, healing, and holy retribution. His color is white.

ELENIOS is the Good goddess of song, love, wind, laughter and psionic power. Her color is blue.

SHERAN is the Neutral goddess of nature and the untamed wilderness. Her color is green.

FAIRLIGHT is the Neutral god of primal magic and experimentation. His color is yellow.

THARR is the Neutral god of stone and iron, battle and strength. His color is brown.

DORNODON is the Evil god of fire and mayhem. His color is red.

LEAH is the Evil god of death and decay. His color is black.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:59 am

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Field of Peace (Sheran)
Enchantment
4 MP
Tharr cards cost 2 more MP to play. This means that Tharr Buildings and Items also cost 2 MP in addition to their normal costs.


Image

Skeleton (Leah)
Monster - Skeleton (Undead)
3 MP
🦴 ✋
Regeneration 1
What may this mean, that thou, dead corpse, again in complete steel
Revisit'st thus the glimpses of the moon, making night hideous? --Shakespeare

1/1


Image

Rain of Fire (Dornodon)
Instant (Fire)
7 MP
All creatures in target Outpost (except those with Magic Immunity) lose HP equal to 2 + your Thaumaturgy Skill.
The clouds are rent as if with fire --János Arany


Image

Monastery (Tharr)
Building
3 Construction
Every turn, you may tap an Adventurer in your Reserves (they are training in the Monastery). Place a Level Up card or marker from outside the game on that Adventurer: this marker grants them +1/+1 and may allow them to use some of their special abilities. The Level Up marker can be removed through Level Drain abilities. Any Adventurer may only study in the Monastery once.
5 HP

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Thievery Skill
Skill
2 MP
In every one of your Preparation Phases, you may attempt to steal an Item from your opponent. The target Item's cost may not exceed your Thievery Skill level +1. You must spend an amount of MP equal to the Item's cost. You may only attempt to steal Items attached to creatures if you have a creature capable of using Items. The chance of success is 50% (use a coin or a die).

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:59 am

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 3:59 am

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by the_zoomies » Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:00 am

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Edit: Smash cut to crunchums swipping left on an endless selection of Seriz a Kaszás

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Rylinks » Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:00 am

Ashenai wrote:post reserved
reserved

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by the_zoomies » Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:02 am

Rylinks wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:00 am
Ashenai wrote:post reserved
reserved

:owned:

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 4:54 am

I'm not quite done with the rules (still need a glossary, an explanation of creature abilities, and something about card colors), but I translated and posted a couple of cards, lemme know if anything is weird or confusing. I'm still trying to figure out how to properly organize translations for 349 cards (the size of the 1st Edition core set).

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Blissful » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:31 am

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Blissful » Mon Sep 06, 2021 8:20 am

i think i need to spectate a game of this to fully understand it, but im very down to play games of this in whatever playable format we eventually wrangle it into
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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Mon Sep 06, 2021 8:42 am

It's gonna a long time for me to get this to any kind of playable state, even with help, and there's no guarantee I won't lose interest! But it would be awesome, it's fun as heck.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Skeletor » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:09 pm

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wow, [you]. that all sounds terrible. i hope it gets better for you

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Khaos » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:18 pm

as i said in the discord, if you translate cards into a spreadsheet i can convert it into a playable cockatrice thing pretty easily. also a draftable set too, i think

i did it for my cube and i dont think being nonmagic cards makes anything more confusing. i guess we should care about rarity?

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Khaos » Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:27 pm

we can also make cards that just explain some keywords and reference them with other cards. if you wanna make more work for yourself!

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Rylinks » Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:00 pm

Skeletor wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:09 pmpost reserved
reserved

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by the_zoomies » Mon Sep 06, 2021 7:30 pm

Khaos wrote: Mon Sep 06, 2021 5:18 pm as i said in the discord, if you translate cards into a spreadsheet i can convert it into a playable cockatrice thing pretty easily. also a draftable set too, i think

i did it for my cube and i dont think being nonmagic cards makes anything more confusing. i guess we should care about rarity?
Please don't Arti Bait.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:10 pm

I want your opinion on how much I should edit the original text for rules precision, or contrariwise, how much of an effort I should make the preserve the original charming nonsense.

Here's an example:


Image


This card is called Relocation, and it's a Control Magic for buildings. It literally reads:

Relocation (Tharr)
Enchant Building
4 MP
Target building goes over to your side, and stays there as long as Relocation is on it.
Some say that the real miracle was not the construction of the Onyx Pyramid, but Zarknod somehow moving it over 100 miles in a single night.


That rules text is... uh... I guess you can understand what it's trying to say! So what is cooler, keeping it like that, streamlining it to "You control enchanted building", or some kind of in-between solution, e.g. ""You control enchanted building while Relocation is attached to it"?

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Doug » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:44 pm

I would just translate it, I wouldn't try to change it to Magicese

It is charming, as you said
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:49 pm

I am inclined to agree!


Image

Love Potion (Elenios)
Item
2 Monster Components
When used, you may choose one of your creatures, and one of your opponent's creatures. From now on, they will be occupied with each other, not with protecting their masters, meaning they both go to the graveyard, along with the Love Potion.


In which case, viva the graveyard as the place where creatures go to have sex (securities fraud), I guess!

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Doug » Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:51 pm

I see the graveyard as a little cottage far off in the low hills, where there's a meadow near, and a tiny brook. The sun sets across the valley in red and pink hues
It's your turn in Cthulhu Wars
It's your turn in Squirrel Wars
It's your turn in Demon Wars
It's your turn in Wall Street Wars

http://devilsbiscuit.com/

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:30 pm

I've made some good progress! All 349 of the (Hungarian) card images are now up in this imgur gallery, and I've added all the name translations and card metadata (types, subtypes, icons, rarity) to this excel file.

The only thing left is to, ugh, actually translate all of the card text. That's gonna take a while. But I'm feeling good about it!

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Khaos » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:33 pm

neato. do you remember how many cards were in a pack, and of which rarity?

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Tue Sep 07, 2021 10:45 pm

I think core sets only came in tournament packs (not boosters), and I don't remember the 1st edition stats, but 10th edition tournament packs have 36 cards: 3 rares, 8 uncommons and 25 commons.

According to this Cards of Power draft simulator, booster pack sizes (for expansions) apparently vary: one that I checked had 21 cards: 2 rares, 6 uncommons, and 13 commons, but the newest one has 18: 2 rares + 5 uncommons + 11 commons.

I'll try to get some better info, but I'm pretty sure we can just come up with whatever for the early sets, as draft didn't even exist as a format in 1995.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Blissful » Wed Sep 08, 2021 2:24 pm

Doug wrote: Tue Sep 07, 2021 12:44 pm I would just translate it, I wouldn't try to change it to Magicese

It is charming, as you said
yeah, seconding this
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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Khaos » Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:52 pm

component collector (new MID card) made me think of you both because of this game and also because of potions

unfortunately it does not really collect anything

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:05 pm

Khaos wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:52 pm component collector (new MID card) made me think of you both because of this game and also because of potions

unfortunately it does not really collect anything
Image

(not from the first edition)

Rundhal the Collector (Fairlight)
2 MP
Adventurer - Gnome
✋
Flying.
Tap: You may search your deck for a card that is identical to one in play (with the exception of Rundhal). Put it into your hand, reveal it, and shuffle your library.
"Wowww! What a cute little thingy, I'll put it right here with the whatsits."
0/1


Note that Flying in Cards of Power is just the rough equivalent of Haste in Magic: Flying creatures come into play untapped, meaning they can fight or (more likely, in this case) tap the turn they come into play.

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Khaos » Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:11 pm

Jujjjjj!

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Ashenai » Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:12 pm

pronounced "yuyyy!" btw

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Re: Hatalom Kárytái (Cards of Power)

Post by Blissful » Sun Sep 12, 2021 8:32 am

Ashenai wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:05 pm"Wowww! What a cute little thingy, I'll put it right here with the whatsits."
:wub:
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