This is a ruleset for playing Codex without access to any sort of randomizer (basically, playing without cards). The goal is to replicate the interactions of Codex as faithfully as possible, while requiring nothing but something to write on, and either knowing your cards really well or access to a card reference.
I tried this with @EricF , and while it’s a perceivably different game, it seems like a game worth playing.
Central rule: You can play whatever your hand could possibly contain, just track the number of cards in each location, as well as which cards are known to be in each.
Each turn should include board state in clear text, indicating revealed cards in discard:
- Patrol Iron Man [4/5+1] in SL
- Hand 4 deck 2, discard 4+2 tech (Bloom, Timely Messenger, xxxx, xxxx)
As well as a spoiler listing:
- All cards in your worker pile as of the end of the current turn.
- All tech choices as of the start of the current turn.
- Any thoughts you care to include.
The main differences are that combos always line up and dead draws just don’t happen. A side effect of this is that going low on cards isn’t quite as damaging, since you’ll always have your best (possible) tool in hand.
Any further input or suggestions? If you want to play this, go into the PbP forums. I suggest a [mental] tag.
Additional advice by EricF on listing information:
Worker (card A, card B): Card C - where card A and card B were previous turns, and Card C is this turn’s worker
Hand + Deck (4/9) - Card D, Card E, Card F, etc. - this way I can see everything I have access to, and how many cards are in my hand
One little quirk is you could have a situational card like an Ultimate Spell in your deck, discard a card at the beginning of a cycle, and just retroactively decide that it was the ultimate if you end up not needing to play said ultimate for the rest of the cycle.