The Spoils

About this board game

The Spoils is a card game for 2–6 players, with an approximate play time of 40 minutes. First released in 2006, it combines mechanisms associated with games such as Magic: The Gathering and Magi-Nation while establishing its own distinct system.

Each player begins with a figurehead or faction card in play. This card determines how the player begins their turn and which actions they are allowed to take. Factions also provide special abilities that are unique to each faction card, making the starting choice an important part of the game.

To play cards, players need to amass resource cards. Resources support the game’s characters, tactics, items, and locations, with many of these card types also featuring subtypes. Any card from a player’s hand may be placed face down as a resource, but a card used this way does not count as having resource icons.

Resource icons come from five different trades:

• Banker — Greed
• Rogue — Deception
• Warlord — Rage
• Gearsmith — Elitism
• Arcanist — Obsession

Because face-down resources provide no icons, players must consider how to build a usable resource base while managing the cards they want to play. The Spoils offers a faction-led card game experience centered on resource icons, distinct card types, and specialized trades.

The game was discontinued on January 1, 2017.