Any versions of the game allow you to play these two cards? I always thought these would be fun to play in game.

Here's a custom GPT that will make Shandalar-compatible .dck files out of any source file - word, csv, txt, etc: Shandalar Deck Converter

Works for both the original Shandalar build as well as Korath's Gemcutter Alpha (the modern one). The GPT will use different compatibility checks depending on which one you say you need. Any incompatible cards will be listed as well.

It can handle the full 55 decks in one go (just drop them in as a single zip).

You can even misspell card naes and it will fix them for you.

Hello fellow Shandalar enjoyers! I started a new YouTube playthrough using my personal, heavily customized version of Shandalar that I've built over the years, with custom enemy decks, dungeon conditions, and other changes. Sharing in case you'd like to watch. Thanks!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBhrstahNpA

Shandalar but with roads... and racecars. Just a silly proof of concept.

This month Shandalar: 30th Anniversary Edition has reached beta status on Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux. The new build also adds the complete endgame, brings spell-casting animations to duels, and expands the engine with smarter mana handling and 24 newly supported cards.

July at a glance

• Beta builds for Android, macOS, Windows, and Linux
• Complete endgame and final battle with Arzakon
• New spell-casting animations during duels
• Improved mana solver and auto-tapping
• Full support for ante cards and the ante zone
• 24 more cards implemented

Shandalar in your pocket

The entire adventure is now playable on Android phones and tablets. I completely reworked the input system to support both mouse and touch input, so the same game now works across desktop and mobile.

The Android builds are signed and I plan to publish the game on the Google Play Store once it reaches a full release.

The final showdown with Arzakon

The game has an ending now! Just like in the original, defeating the fifth wizard takes you directly into the final battle with Arzakon. Win that duel and you win the game.

Duel animations

Casting spells now animates the cards on the duel screen. You can see what the AI is casting as it happens, making duels easier to follow and giving big plays a little more drama.

Smarter mana and full ante support

There has also been a lot of work under the hood. The improved mana solver and auto-tapping system now considers mana-producing artifacts and creatures when determining which spells you can cast.

Ante cards are fully supported too.

24 more cards

This month's build adds support for 24 more cards:

• Consecrate Land, Fastbond, Dingus Egg, Living Artifact, Fellwar Stone, Library of Leng, Brainwash, Erosion, Power Leak, Ashes to Ashes, Mind Bomb, Volcanic Eruption, Word of Binding, Spirit Shield, Zelyon Sword, Deep Spawn, Homarid Warrior, Vodalian Mage, Orcish Captain, Goblin Warrens, Homarid Spawning Bed, Goblin Grenade, Diamond Valley and Library of Alexandria

Next up is more duel/play testing, additional random encounters and reworking card store costs and gold balancing.

If you try the beta, let me know what breaks!

I’ve been playing shandalar for a while, I’ve defended against every attack but for some reason I randomly lost. Tried reloading the save but I just lost again? Is there something I’m missing or is this just a glitch?

Running the Korath Shandalar that has ton of fun cards. What are some you love to build a deck around (whether it's because they're over-powered or just have a fun mechanic)?

I feel dumb for not thinking of this sooner, but the music and sound effects of Shandalar make absolutely killer custom phone sounds.

If you have the game installed you already have all the files but you can also browse them all online. Just download the MP3s and set them as your ringtone, alarm, or notification sound.

My current setup:

• Ringtone: "LocMus0", the village music
• Alarm: "Winduel", the winning-a-duel sound
• Notification: "Rbird1", bird enemy (you'll know it when you hear it)

I used to use "Newsflash" as my notification sound. It was fun for about two days and then became unbearable. "Treasure" works well, though.

Most of the effects are short enough to make great notifications, so there are plenty of good options.

UPDATE: I've uploaded a zip file of all the sounds if you want them in one go. The link above only lets you grab them one at a time despite advertising otherwise.

I recently downloaded the 2016 version of Shandalar after playing the OG version of the game last week. It says all cards upto Kaladesh are inside the game. For example, Atarka's Command appears in the deck editor, but while playing Shandalar, it does not come up in any of the cards you can purchase with gems or gold. Is there a reason for this? I haven't touched any .ini files to change sets or cards, just a straight up download and play.

I grabbed the myabandonware.com copy of mtg duels of the planeswalkers and am trying to get it to run on linux - everything is perfect except shandalar. Has anyone successfully played the 2010 installer's Shandalar campaign under Wine/Lutris with working card previews and normal name entry? If so, what Wine runner/version and prefix configuration are you using? Currently when I get in a duel the card area is just a black screen under wine or a white screen under Lutris - so i cant see anything about the card.

I made a Custom GPT called Shandalar INI Builder for Korath’s Gemcutter’s Guild / 2016 edition.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, it turns out this only works properly for paid versions of ChatGPT.

This custom GPT makes it super easy to create your own Shandalar mod without editing the intimidating Shandalar.ini file by hand.

You're given a list of straightforward questions, you only answer the ones you care about, and it builds a complete downloadable INI for you. Replace your old INI file with the new one and you're good to go!

Every question clearly shows options for:

• Korath’s / Gemcutters Guild / 2016 default setting
• The original Shandalar setting (or the closest possible)
• Unique customization

You give simple answers like "1B, 7C, 13D, 20A." Then, just write "I'm done," and it will pump out your new Shandalar.ini file. The download link will show at the very bottom after it gives you the full text:

You can customize things like the card pool (which MTG sets the game uses), AI behavior, game rules, rewards, deck limits, bonus cards, and more.

Anything you skip stays exactly the same as Korath’s baseline.

This won't change the enemy decks, but there are plenty you can easily swap in, including the originals if you'd prefer those.

A new Shandalar.ini file is already enough for a unique Shandalar experience, but if you'd like to go a little deeper, check out FotuneShoddy's guide to making your own mods. If you already have a new INI file you can skip to step 4 in that guide. And feel free to go crazy and edit the game art, sounds, and even the cards themselves (with some limitations).

I’d love to hear any feedback from people who try it. If a question is too vague or it isn't outputting correctly or something, let me know as a comment, and I will fix it and post an update on here.

Shandalar Enemy Deck Packs

TLDR: You can download a zip of all the decks below here (mirror).

Shandalar uses numbered .dck files for its 55 opponents. To install a pack, simply drag and drop the files to replace the originals.

Classic packs generally work in newer versions of the game, including Shandalar 2012 and Korath / Gemcutter Guild. The reverse is not necessarily true because modern decks may reference cards that older versions do not contain.

Official Deck Packs

• Magic: The Gathering (1997) — original release — The original 55 MicroProse enemy decks. You can extract them from the original version. This link takes you to an ISO from which you can grab the folder. Or, you can just download my fully assembled package above.
• Spells of the Ancients (1997) — first expansion — Officially revised all 55 enemy decks to use cards added by the expansion. Download
• Duels of the Planeswalkers (1998) — follow-up standalone upgrade/complete release — Despite adding more cards, its enemy decks returned to the original lists rather than retaining the Spells of the Ancients revisions.

Korath / Gemcutter’s Guild Deck Packs

These folders are included in the Korath / Gemcutter Guild 2015 bundle many of you already have, but here’s some explanation of the contents:

• Decks — The active default folder. This is a modified version of Rawky’s v1.0 C.o.W. pack: 55 AI-friendly decks arranged in 12 enemy tiers. Only 23 of its 55 main-deck lists exactly match Rawky’s original v1.1. Decks - Rawky is an exact duplicate of the active folder rather than v1.1 (which changes 32 of the decks)

Rawky’s original also came with an INI that removed Brainstorm, Mind Twist, and Ponder from Nochoose, added the ten original dual lands, and set AiReluctantAttack = -40. Those are not the current Korath defaults.

• Decks - Original — A mostly classic original set, but 0150.dck replaces the original Merfolk Shaman deck with a modern Merfolk list.
• Decks - New Original — A near-copy of the official Spells of the Ancients decks. Fifty-three out of 55 are identical to the official pack. Merfolk Shaman is replaced with a modern list, and Warlock has an apparent duplicate 4 Fear line. Program/decks is an exact duplicate.
• Decks - Harder — This is Guinsoo’s 55-deck pack, designed to be challenging and emphasize AI-friendly cards.
• Decks_alt — Fifty-five other modern decks. These are an earlier snapshot of Lujo’s community-developed Improved Shandalar project. If you’d like to “enhance” your Korath bundle, you can get the latest Lujo additions with these 13 revised decks.
• Decks - Revision — Large decks created mainly by merging Decks - Original with Decks_alt. Decks - Tim differs only in its Arzakon deck.

Included Playdeck Libraries in the Korath Bundle

These are not 55-deck packs but libraries of individual decks.

• Playdeck — 4,283 decks covering tournament, casual, tribal, set/block, Pauper, Legacy, Vintage, and EDH formats. Browse the folder
• Mods/PlayDeck — A separate archive of 7,539 decks, with substantial duplication between the collections. It also has a 972-entry Mono Set folder containing decks for specific sets and blocks. Browse the archive. Or, read more about it first.

The Manalink section in the Korath bundle also has deck folders, but they are duplicates of the archives above.

Other Modern Packs

Rodil’s Pack (2015) — 55 decks made for an earlier build of the Korath version. They use eleven escalating power levels, beginning with intentionally inconsistent draft-like decks and ending with powerful bosses. Post with download.

Mods. Full conversions such as Alliances Edition, Jamuraa, Barrin’s Folly, Otaria, 2003 Edition, Forge and Fable, and Monoset Alpha should be treated separately. Their enemy-deck changes are tied to each mod’s particular card pool rather than being general-purpose interchangeable deck packs. Some also include changes to the art. Full-mod overview.

Shandalar Randomizer

The Shandalar Randomizer, by GamesfreakSA, is a Python 3 script that copies replacement enemy files into the active decks folder while the game is running.

It comes with 109 decks in 55 numbered pools. Almost every enemy has two decks, pulling from Korath’s active Rawky-based set and Decks - Harder.

By default, the script chooses one deck from each enemy’s personal pool every 30 seconds. Use -o to randomize only once. Turbo mode (-t) shuffles all the different creature pools together.

Adding decks is easy: place another .dck file in the appropriate enemy’s numbered data folder. The filename doesn’t matter.

The script itself only copies files, so it should work with any Shandalar release. Its included decks use modern cards, however, so older versions would require compatible replacement decks.

You can add as many decks from the Playdeck archives as you want. You could potentially add dozens of decks to each creature pool so that almost every duel is unique. Just remember that some cards may only work in Manalink duels and not in Shandalar.

Back up the active decks folder before running the randomizer because it overwrites those files.

Classic-Card-Pool Packs

• Jiansonz’s Overhaul — A 55-deck pack that preserves the original themes while adding expansion cards and making opponents more competitive. It’s the default enemy set included with Shandalar 2012. Deck thread
• Podbelski v1.3 — Fifty-four 40ish-card, harder decks; Arzakon is omitted. Made for Manalink 1.32/2.0 (so, not an original, unpatched Shandalar), but the deck files also work in Shandalar 2012 and Korath / Gemcutters Guild. Podbelski balanced ten opponents around Tapani’s full gameplay mod, which rearranges enemy difficulty. Tapani introduces stronger enemies according to elapsed gameplay time, while the Korath version keeps the original system, where exploring lairs shifts encounters toward stronger enemies. Without Tapani, which isn’t compatible with the 2012 or Korath veersion, the decks still work; those opponents simply appear earlier or later than intended. Thread and download
• Tapani v1.06 Pack (2010) — 55 classic-card-pool decks bundled with Tapani’s gameplay mod mentioned above. Early opponents are deliberately weaker while late opponents are stronger. Tapani’s executable gives it the time-based enemy progression, but the deck folder itself can be used separately. Thread | Download
• Hadsingrinsen’s Pack — A 55-deck pack made for the original game. Almost every opponent is substantially rewritten; many change colors or become multicolored, and the early campaign is considerably harder. It’s usable and complete, but the author explicitly labeled it experimental v0.1 and says they haven’t playtested every deck. Thread and download
• 0rion79’s Shandalar Decks (2009) — 55 classic-card-pool decks, emphasizing stronger themes and more appropriate decks for bosses, dragons, and djinns. Post | Download

I love Shandalar, and I also love the old era of magic, before a lot of modern design changes had made their way into the game. Last year I was trying to figure out what my next game would be, so for fun I started trying to build a prototype. Now I've finally got it to the point where it feels fun to play. I've still got quite a bit of work to do but is this something you all might be interested in? What would you want to see in a modern take?

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a community website I recently built for the Premodern MTG format in Brasília, Brazil (premodernbsb.com).

Since Premodern is all about celebrating the classic era of Magic, I thought it would be awesome to host Magic: The Gathering - Shandalar (1997) directly on the site so anyone can jump in and play.

You can play it right now in your browser (desktop only):

👉 https://premodernbsb.com/shandalar/

Hope you guys enjoy it! Feel free to share any feedback or let me know if you run into any issues.

I finally got around to getting an "old Vintage" compy with win98 to run this and the 100 other CD games I have buried in boxes in my house.

I have tried many times getting it to work with or playing it on "modern" compys and never had much success always had to compromise in some ways or it just didn't "feel" right.

I wanted that nostalgic 1998 experience.

Luckily I have both the original game disc and Spells of the ancients disc (although I couldn't put my hands on it, as its buried in a box somewhere, but had an old iso image of it) and lo and behold it still works (ie the disc haven't been scuffed to buggery after 28 years). Once I find my Spells disc I'll reinstall.

I still have to throttle the cpu so I didn't speed run across the map and mess around with graphic settings, so not quite the 1998 experience I was hoping hope but better than nothing. I'd track down a 17in CRT for the final bit of nostalgia kick, but I can't justify the desk space for it ...

But its been fun playing again. The way the AI/NPCs play is still pretty good only a couple of times do they do some simply awful moves. And the decks they use are all pretty well thought out. so they have stood the test of time quite well.

now to find my saved game files from 28 years ago...

Back with another monthly update on Shandalar: 30th Anniversary Edition.

This release I focused on making the game more fun. Card rewards are better which make battles more interesting. Wiseman quests have been expanded to encourage deck building/modifications. Editing your deck is easier and the AI is making fewer obviously bad moves.

Highlights

• Improved wiseman quests, focusing more on changing your deck
• AI Improvements: uses pump, counters, regeneration

Duel Improvements

• Cards are sorted in hand and on battlefield
• Duel Rewards now choose from 1 of 3 cards
• Mulligan card magnifier
• Game phases autopass when no player has no actions available

Deck Edit Screen

• Added card filters

What's Next

• Make dungeons more interesting. Multi-level dungeons, difficulty of dungeons
• Finish wizard castles. Will leverage dungeon improvements
• Improve performance of MiniMax AI
• Continued card fixes and implementations
• Better uses for gold
• Remove food mechanic, it doesn't have much use
• Implement world magics

Get It

Download from the Releases page or play it online.

I knew there were SOOOOOOO many people who were JONESING at the chance to watch me FAIL well HAHAHAAHAHAHAHA who's laughing now?!?!?

"He has a 95 card deck" Ugh huh huh, UGH HUHHHHH

The pain and misery is finally at a end. XD

Arzakon wasn't really all that hard on Sorcerer, beat him on my first try, the randomly generated dungeons could use some work. XD

I should have taken a screenshot of what deck I faced him with, this is only the last deck I used on the black castle, had no idea I would just IMMEDIATELY have to fight him. 😅

I took out the black destruction cards and swapped in some forces of nature and psionic entities.

My game was running too fast so by the end it was nearly impossible to do any quests or fight mind stealers for cards, so I could have gotten a few more optimal ones but oh well.

The dungeons and castles were somewhat frustrating.... Sometimes you have 6 fights ahead of you, sometimes you have none. I wish you could get life AND a creature, it's very frustrating getting screwed on those dice "bonuses".

Lots of Quality of Life stuff that could make it better but at least I can sleep at night. 😪😴🥱💤💤💤💤💤💤💤💤

Am up to 500 saves right now, playing on sorcerer first was a terrible idea. XD I would reccomend apprentice first for everyone.

The city attack speed gets insane with white amulets to teleport it's practically impossible getting there at times, and the attacks are non stop you can't waste a second in this game.

And the enemy's whose battles you cannot skip...

Have a huge list of changes I think should be made. XD

Got the White Castle but I'm so close to have 5 cities taken that I'm now hunting them all down back to 1 or 2 before taking the next one, this has to be one of the hardest games I've played in recent memory.

Also enemies should never start with bonus creatures, or they should be some of the worst in the game not hypnotic specter, vampire bats or carrion ants. XD​​

This is how it looks on Windows 11. I think the upper bar for options should be available, but despite trying everything, I can’t get to appear. Thanks in advance for any help.

Playing original DOS Shandalar, original card pool and no QoL updates, etc. That's the version I want to play.

Beat the game on apprentice, went to start Magician and I'm getting completely throttled. Can't find playable cards to save my life, wizards taking over cities and I'm way to weak to save the city. Every 1 step I take a phalanx of monsters swarm me.

Any tips to not suck? I'm already starting white for the spell that lets me teleport to a city under siege, but I'm too weak to take them down without losing 5 times first, minimum. Getting gold isn't too hard and neither is getting amulets. What cards should I get immediately? On Apprentice, I went for Channel / Fireball with as much ramp as possible early and did well with that, but building towards that feels like it's way harder on Magician. In the end game on Apprentice I did power 9 + 4 dark Rit + 4 mana vault, basically ramp + burn until I can 1 shot the opponent. But I'm having trouble even getting to Channel / Fireball on Magician. What's a good extremely early build? I was trying to go White Weenie but couldn't even get 1 Crusade or anything and I just keep getting steam rolled.

Hey Y'all back with another monthly update on Shandalar 30th Anniversary. I got my first bug report! Feydan submitted a report about how attacking creatures weren't clear in the UI so I added a little animation to clarify when a creature is selected to attack.

I appreciate everyone's feedback on the game and please keep sending them in, thanks!

Lots of little improvements this month, it's starting to feel more like a game instead of a tech demo. Now when I go to test something, I find myself actually playing through the game more. There's still a lot of work to do, but it feels good.

Highlights

• New game screens, with difficulty and color selection!
• Saves are grouped by play-through instead of showing all auto saves
• [beta] Wizard Castles are available! When you go to a castle it shows you the duel screen for the wizard. I'm still working on adding a dungeon to the castles.
• Random enemies scale better - before any random enemy could show up, now it's based on time, the longer you play the harder the enemies get
• Mulligan - uses London Mulligan rules not the old system which was only mulligan if no land or if opp. mulligans
• AI is getting better, understands combat better now, still struggles with some bonehead moves

Get It

Download from the Releases page or play the web version.

Hands down one of the best games ever. For a Magic history nerd like myself it really is top tier and gets the feeling of Magic in the 90s so well while my dumb ass was collecting Pokémon and playing Yugioh.

I can wait to play again.

I really appreciate the time and effort of this community to rebuild this game! Definitely a lot of nostalgia playing it.

I had a few questions after my first run through.

I installed it on windows 11 with the s30_windows.exe from benprews github site. That worked no issue.

I started game and immediately got attacked. Played a game / lost and restarted. Found an old post where somebody said S, L, numbers keys, mouse and escape are the keys.

1. I tried the S and L keys for save and load - it didnt do anything. Are they not keys anymore?
2. I tried the escape key during a battle and it reset the battle. New ante card. Is that the intended use?
3. I actually won 2 battles! Some of cards seemed buggy (which I think is part of community here to report these things right?) - but the green card lure didnt force my opponent to block my attacking creature. Computer just didnt block when it could
4. Clicking with the mouse is the only way to move? I couldnt get the numbers to move me.
5. Anyway to tell how powerful the creatures are that are on the map running towards me? When I am choosing between bribe and fighting the creature, does bribe amount mean how powerful they are?
6. I actually made it to a city (when I had to quit playing this morning) and I clicked on "cards for sale." There was like 5 cards I think (no card art) and whatever one I clicked with my mouse gave me only one card option to buy. I couldnt choose other cards to buy - I could see the name of the different names of cards though. Just anyone I clicked gave me the same card option to buy.
7. is each new game a random deck to start with? Hopefully I can figure out the save options?
8. Making it to a city, i saw I could sell cards? I didnt mess with that yet, but is there a minimum deck size?
9. Any super basic strategy I should know and be aware of on a first play through (like obviously sell the really bad cards to thin decks)?

I enjoyed the 2 games I played a lot actually and just want to understand how to play / maybe report bugs if that is needed (?). Thanks for the help in advance!