Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Magnum Opus is a deck-building game in which each player is an Alchemist trying to be the first and only scientist to complete their life's great work by successfully fabricating the ultimate alchemical substance– the Philosophers' Stone.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Deck / Bag Building
Add new pieces during play to improve the cards, tokens, or dice drawn later.
Modular Board
Build the play area from interchangeable sections that vary between games.
Hand Management
Time and sequence a limited hand of cards to preserve future options.
Set Collection
Gather related items that become more valuable when scored together.
Read the full game description
Magnum Opus is a deck-building game in which each player is an Alchemist trying to be the first and only scientist to complete their life's great work by successfully fabricating the ultimate alchemical substance– the Philosophers' Stone. Unlike most victory point-oriented deck-building games, Magnum Opus is goal-oriented and plays more like a traditional card game but with a deck-building twist. Players collect different alchemical ingredients, called reagents, over the course of the game and combine them in a series of experiments in order to discover the mysteries of the Philosophers' Stone. The Discovery Matrix is where all of these experiments are conducted and the random selection and placement of Research and Discovery cards in the matrix insures that no two games are ever the same. Earn the gold you need to purchase your reagents, gain experience from your failures and knowledge from your successes, transmute the physical and mystical elements into the Philosopher's Stone and you will go down in history for your Magnum Opus.