The X-Files: I Want To Believe

An Old School(-ish) Magic Event

One-Time Special Event

Friday, June 6, 2025

Time TBD (appx. 6PM-??)

Rules Publication Date: Feb 8, 2025

Rules Status: Open for Feedback (email emeraldcitytrolls@gmail.com)

The X-Files: I Want to Believe Rules

The X-Files: I Want To Believe is a special one-time Old School Magic: the Gathering event. Players take on the role of an FBI Agent from the X-Files Unit, investigating seemingly inexplicable phenomena. Pogs are used as game pieces to represent the mysteries a player is pursuing, typically remaining face-down until a player uses a slammer to try to expose the mystery to the world.

Tournament Structure

Straight Swiss for 4-5 rounds (TBD). 50 minute rounds. No intentional draws. Players who would draw a match resolve the match with Orb flips.

A player's finish in the tournament is based on the number of Secrets they acquire. Secrets are victory points players earn by Exposing Mysteries in games they win: whenever a player wins a game, they acquire one Secret for each Mystery they Exposed during that game. At the end of the tournament, a player's final standing is calculated in descending order of the number of Secrets they acquired, with ties broken by standard ranking (match points, opponent match win percentage, match win percentage, opponent game win percentage, game win percentage).

Collusion for purposes of gaining Secrets will result in both players losing one million Secrets.

Prizes will be awarded based on finish and spice. All players who finish with an undefeated match record will win a prize, regardless of Secrets. Additional prizes awarded to any player who wins a game via the Full Investigation Win Condition.

Deck Construction & Game Rules

Deck construction follows standard PAC rules, with these additions:

• Special X-Files Cards featuring show characters are legal and unrestricted. Players will receive printed copies of all X-Files Cards for their decks.
• All decks must include at least 4 X-Files Cards, including after sideboarding.
• All X-Files Cards except one have the special ability Plot Armor: "This creature can't be the target of Swords to Plowshares, Psionic Blast, or Terror."
• You can play them Saturday, have some fun Friday.
• Time Vault is banned because the Full Investigation Win Condition provides a win condition for this deck without requiring a winning card in the deck.

Mysteries & The Field

As an X-Files Agent, you go out into the Field to seek new Mysteries.

• Mysteries are represented by special game-piece pogs.
• Mysteries begin the game in a random order face-down, in a special zone called the Field. Each player has their own Field.
• Players cannot look at the face-up side of a Mystery in any Field unless an effect allows them to do so.
• If a Mystery pog is damaged, it must be replaced by the tournament organizer (TO). Don't be a cheater and mark your pogs, or we'll make sure your spouse/partner/mom/children know what you did, and they'll never respect you again.

Think of the Field as your Library, except for pogs.

Dossier

As an X-Files Agent, you keep the Mysteries you are working on in your Dossier.

• The Dossier is a new zone where Mysteries drawn from the Field are stacked face-down. Each player has their own Dossier.
• In rare circumstances (involving Espionage abilities, see below), a Mystery might enter a Dossier from a location other than the Field.
• Players cannot look at the face-up side of a Mystery in any Dossier unless an effect allows them to do so.

Think of your Dossier as your hand of pogs, except you can't look at it. They're Mysteries after all.

Probe Action

When you want to investigate the Mysteries you have accumulated, you Probe the contents of your Dossier.

• When the game allows, players may Probe their Dossier by striking the stack of pogs in their Dossier with a provided slammer. The provided slammer will be a 1/4" plastic slammer if you want to practice. Players MAY NOT use their own slammer, or modify the provided slammer in such a way that it would affect its performance.
• To legally strike a Dossier, the pogs in it must be placed face down in a single vertically centered stack standing on top of a neoprene (aka normal) playmat or a Spellground playmat, at least 2 inches (5 cm) from any edge of that playmat.
• To legally strike a Dossier, the provided slammer must be thrown vertically and released at least 6 inches (15 cm) above the top of the stack of pogs.
• Mysteries which land face up after a slammer legally strikes a Dossier become Exposed Mysteries.
• Exposed Mysteries remain in their Dossier until their effects resolve (important because some Espionage abilities apply to all Mysteries in a Dossier).
• After a Probe action, exile all Mysteries it Exposed. Shuffle all its un-Exposed Mysteries and return them to the Dossier face-down.

Exposed Mysteries

Once a Mystery is Exposed, its secrets are unleashed on the world.

• The effects of all Exposed Mysteries go onto the stack immediately after being Exposed and resolve simultaneously, unless interrupted by an Espionage ability.
• Choices for all Exposed Mysteries are made before any resolve.
• If a player wins a game, they acquire one Secret for each Mystery they Exposed during that game.
• Mysteries that are legally Exposed by means other than striking the Dossier with a slammer (such by Special Agent Dana Scully's ability) count as Exposed Mysteries for purposes of acquiring Secrets.

Espionage Abilities

Espionage abilities are special actions on X-Files Cards that may be activated once per X-Files Card permanent during a Probe action. They represent an important character interrupting the normal outcome of an investigation and influencing the results.

Once per Probe action, an X-Files Card's Espionage action can be used either:

1. Before a player strikes their Dossier with a slammer.
2. After Mysteries are Exposed, but before choices are made and their effects resolve.

Players follow normal priority rules (Active Player, Non-Active Player, or APNAP) when deciding to use Espionage abilities. Players may not cast spells or use any abilities other than Espionage abilities during a Probe action.

Within the "before" and "after" striking portions of a Probe Action, Espionage abilities form a mini-stack and resolve in last-in, first-out (LIFO) order. These mini-stacks work just like the normal Magic stack, except they only contain the activated Espionage abilities. You can think of them as similar to Interrupts in the original Magic rules.

Believe Action

X-Files Agents know the truth is out there. Players may Believe once per turn when they could cast an Instant:

Choose one:

• {1}: Add 3 Mysteries to the top of your Dossier.
• {3}: Probe.

Full Investigation Win Condition

Mulder never got to the bottom of everything, but you might. A player wins the game if all of the following occur at the same time:

1. The player has no Mysteries remaining in their Field
2. The player controls an X-Files Card
3. The player Exposes at least one Mystery with a Probe action

If Mysteries Become Seen Accidentally

Accidents happen. Un-Exposed Mysteries that are accidentally seen by any player are handled as follows:

• A player makes their own Mystery accidentally seen: Shuffle the seen Mystery into the Dossier or Field it came from.
• A player makes their opponent's Mystery accidentally seen: The opponent may choose to (a) Expose the seen Mystery immediately, (b) shuffle it back into their Field or Dossier, or (c) exile it. A Mystery that is Exposed due to (a) counts as a Secret if the opponent wins the game.
• A player illegally makes any Mystery intentionally seen: That player loses the game. Their spouse/partner/mom/children will hear about it and shame them appropriately.
• A Mystery seen naturally during a Probe action (for example, because it naturally flips in the air or on the table, then lands face down) is not considered accidentally or intentionally seen. Pay attention!
• A Mystery seen as an accidental side effect of an otherwise legal Probe action (for example, because your opponent's slammer knocked over your Dossier after it legally struck their own Dossier) is considered accidentally seen.
• If a slammer is thrown illegally, any Mysteries which become seen are treated as accidentally or intentionally seen based on whether the slammer throw was illegal accidentally or intentionally. Illegal slammer throws may not be re-attempted regardless of whether they were accidental or intentional.
• Any player with a medical issue that prevents them from throwing a slammer may designate another person to throw the slammer for them.

If a Mystery becomes seen in a way not covered by the above, players should come to a mutually agreeable resolution. If they can't, both players have to sing a duet of their choosing to reestablish their friendship.

X-Files Cards

Mysteries

Revision History

• Feb 8
• Added Terror to the list of spells from which Plot Armor provides protection.
• Added medical exemption for throwing a slammer.
• Clarified the mechanism of Assistant Director Walter Skinner's Espionage ability.
• Various wording clarifications and tweaks.