Congress: the Gathering

Although the play mechanics of Congress: the Gathering are practically identical to Magic’s, the use of political terminology imparts a different flavor to the game. In Magic, you tap lands to produce mana, which is used to cast spells; in Congress, you tap districts to produce votes, which are used to pass legislation. In Magic, you use creatures, artifacts and enchantments in an attempt to reduce your opponent’s life total to zero; in Congress, you use citizens, icons and amendments in an attempt to reduce your opponent’s popularity rating to zero. In Magic, the five colors represent five different “schools” of magical ability; in Congress...

The Five Colors of Congress

CITING DRASTIC DIP IN NATIONWIDE LITERACY RATES, HOUSE SPEAKER URGES ADOPTION OF NEW COLOR-CODED BALLOT SYSTEM FOR “TEXTUALLY CHALLENGED” VOTERS

— Washington Post headline, October 2, 2010

In Congress: the Gathering, the five colors correspond to the five principal political factions in 21st-century Washington, D.C.:

Republicans are socially conservative and economically liberal. Their ties to big business—in particular to industrial polluters, arms dealers, and cigarette manufacturers—have earned them a fashionably evil reputation as “the party of death and greed.” The Republicans’ slogan is “Mean Enough To Protect Your Money”; their color is black.

Democrats are socially liberal and economically conservative. As the self-proclaimed defenders of the underprivileged, the Democrats are out to protect the masses—from the rich, from the powerful, and from the threat of politically incorrect language. The Democrats’ slogan is “We Know What’s Best For You”; their color is white.

Libertarians are socially and economically liberal. Viewed as ideological misfits by both the left and the right, Libertarians are largely shut out of traditional Washington power circles—it is a rare year when they control more than two seats in Congress, for example. To compensate for this, Libertarians have developed an arcane understanding of parliamentary procedure, which they use to twist other groups’ legislation to their own ends. If you want to change black into white, or turn a capital gains tax bill into a referendum on school lunch funding, this is the faction to talk to. The Libertarians’ slogan is “A is A...Unless We Need It To Be Something Else”; their color is blue.

The Green Party are radical environmentalists turned legislators. Despite being relative newcomers to Washington, the Greens have the most efficient vote-generating organization on the Hill—which isn’t surprising, given their history of grassroots activism. They also have a knack for exploiting the public’s love of cute, fuzzy animals, and have already managed to grant honorary citizenship status to several endangered species. Next step: full voting rights for baby seals. The Greens’ slogan is “Hug the Earth”; their color, of course, is green.

Populists are a chaotic and often violent coalition of all those groups who don’t fit in to any of the other factions: communists, anarchists, militiamen, neo-Nazis, and other assorted outcasts. Like the Libertarians, Populists are treated as pariahs by the Washington establishment, but because they appeal to a broader spectrum of the public, they have an easier time getting candidates elected. Keeping them elected is another matter: Populist Senators and Representatives have the highest impeachment rate of any faction in Congress, due to their incessant procedural, ethics, and weapons violations. The Populists’ slogan is “Don’t Tread On Us”; their color is red.

In addition to the many mono-colored cards that are associated with a single faction, there are also multi-colored, or bipartisan, cards that belong to two or more factions at once. For example, Bill Clinton is an Executive citizen who counts as both a Democrat and a Republican (and who requires both white and black votes to bring into play). Bipartisan cards have gold borders. Nonpartisan, or colorless, cards have brown or gray borders, and are not affiliated with any specific faction.

We the People

Citizens are the creatures of Congress. Rather than being summoned magically, citizens are recruited to your cause, generally by means of some political favor. To secure a senator’s loyalty, for example, you might offer her a seat on a Congressional subcommittee; an oil company might support you in exchange for a healthy tax abatement; and to earn the undying gratitude of a White House intern, a kind word from the president—and maybe a good cigar—should suffice. Votes spent on recruit citizen (and icon-citizen) legislation represent the political capital expended in setting up the “favor.”

If these recruitment favors sound a lot like bribes, it’s because they are. To avoid public scandal, most recruits insist on a “cooling off period” following the receipt of the bribe before they will openly declare their allegiance to you. This discretionary tactic is known as the ethics rule, and it works exactly like summoning sickness: your citizens may not attack or use special abilities with tapping as part of the activation cost unless they were already under your control at the beginning of your most recent turn.

Some citizens are exempt from the ethics rule. These citizens either don’t care what the public thinks of them or actually enjoy being viewed as unethical.

All non-icon citizens belong to one or another citizen type, as noted on their recruit citizen card. For example, all presidents and vice-presidents are Executive citizens; all senators and representatives are Legislators; and all judges are Jurists. Two noteworthy citizen types are bureaucracies and legends.

Bureaucracies are government-run organizations whose primary function is the creation of red tape. Sprawling and overstaffed, most bureaucracies make tough, effective blockers, but they are generally too inefficient to mount a credible offense. Unless a special ability or piece of legislation allows them to do so, bureaucracies, like walls, cannot attack.

The legends of Congress, like those in Magic, are unique individuals; only one legend of the same name may be in play at any particular time. Congressional legends come in two flavors, however: loyal and corrupt. Loyal legends, like good politicians, stay bought: if you have a loyal legend in play, and someone attempts to recruit a copy of the same legend, the copy is immediately buried. Corrupt legends, on the other hand, pledge allegiance to whichever player has done them the most recent favor: if someone successfully recruits a copy of a corrupt legend, the original is buried.

Citizen Special Abilities

Citizens, like creatures, have special abilities of evasion and protection:

Slick citizens have an amazing knack for wiggling out of trouble. Criticism won’t stick to them; bad publicity slides right off them; even impeachment charges seem to have no effect on them. About the only way to slow them down is to match them up against someone as slippery as they are. When attacking, slick citizens may only be blocked by other slick citizens.

Incumbents have spent most of their professional lives inside the Beltway, and are extremely well-connected among the Washington power elite. This allows them to seize the initiative in any conflict. Incumbents always deal and resolve their combat damage first, before non-incumbents.

Crusaders are in reality what most politicians only claim to be in press releases: people on a mission to make America better. Though often mocked for their “naive idealism,” crusaders are also rightly feared for their zealousness on the attack. If an attacking crusader deals more damage to a blocking citizen than is required to destroy it, the excess damage is applied to the blocking citizen’s controller instead.

Faction heroes enjoy semi-divine status within a particular faction. This allows them to slip past the defenses of other players who draw support from that same faction. If a defending player controls at least one voting district of the faction honoring the hero, the hero is unblockable. So, for example, a citizen who is a Republican hero cannot be blocked by the citizens of a player who controls at least one Republican Voting District.

Faction provincials, not to be confused with heroes, hail from far outside the Beltway—from “the provinces.” With no Washington connections to speak of, a provincial’s influence is pretty much limited to his or her faction’s home territory. Provincials cannot attack unless the defending player controls as least one voting district of their native faction, and they are destroyed immediately if their controller does not control such a district. Thus a Libertarian provincial can only attack a player who controls a Libertarian voting district, and goes to the graveyard if at any time its own controller does not control at least one such district.

Socialists believe in the power of collective action. They also believe in blaming other people for the failures of collective action. In practice, this works just like Magic’s banding ability: Any number of socialists, and up to one non-socialist, may join together and attack as a group. Furthermore, the presence of even one socialist in an attacking or blocking group allows the socialist’s controller to decide how combat damage against that group will be distributed. [Note: also like Magic’s banding ability, socialism is being phased out, and will probably not be included in future Congressional expansion sets.]

Hiring a Lawyer: Instead of regenerating, citizens in Congress who are destroyed or take lethal damage—damage that is typically legal or political rather than physical—may be able to Hire a Lawyer to keep themselves out of the graveyard. Of course, all American citizens have a right to counsel, but we’re talking Lawyer with a capital ‘L’ here—the $500-an-hour kind, with contacts in the Attorney General’s office—so this ability is typically restricted to Republican citizens and Greens with rich parents.

Protection works just like the protection ability in Magic, but in keeping with the political flavor of the game, “protection from color” is listed as “protection from faction.” For example, the white citizen Union Advocate has protection from Populists. This means that:

● It may not be blocked by red citizens.

● It may not be the target of red legislation, amendments, or effects, except for effects generated by a Constitutional amendment.

● Any damage dealt to it by red sources is reduced to zero, unless the source of the damage is a Constitutional amendment.

Congressional Privilege is a special protection ability that reflects the tendency of Legislators to exempt themselves from their own laws. Whenever a citizen with Congressional Privilege is targeted by a piece of legislation, that citizen’s controller may cancel the legislation by spending 1 vote of any color. Play this ability as a point of order. Note that Congressional Privilege may not be used to cancel non-targeted legislation, or effects of any kind (targeted or not).

Political Appointees must have their recruitment confirmed by Congress. See The Congress, below, for details.

The Congress

The U.S. Congress is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and the members of Congress are collectively referred to as Legislators. In addition to any other abilities they possess, citizens designated as Legislators may participate in Congressional Ballots. These Ballots are triggered automatically by the passage of certain forms of legislation:

● The recruitment of a political appointee must be confirmed by a simple majority Ballot.

● The passage of a Constitutional amendment must be ratified by a two-thirds majority Ballot. (Note: in real life, amendments are ratified by the states, not by Congress, but by the time of the Gathering, the states have been taken out of the loop.)

The Balloting process works as follows:

1. The Ballot Round is triggered when the political appointee/Constitutional amendment legislation resolves. This means, of course, that the legislation must first be successfully passed; if it is canceled, no Ballot Round takes place. Example: Player A wishes to ratify The Second Amendment, Part Two, a Populist Constitutional amendment (“Whenever any citizen receives combat damage, that citizen is destroyed, and may not Hire a Lawyer”). Player A taps four Populist Voting Districts to pay the passage cost and announces the legislation. Player B responds by passing the point of order Veto, cancelling the Second Amendment legislation. The Amendment goes to the graveyard and no Ballot Round is triggered.

2. The Ballot Round is a special subphase that interrupts the normal sequence of play; no new effects or legislation may be declared during this subphase. During the Round, each player gets one legislative ballot for each Legislator he or she controls; the player whose legislation triggered the Round gets an additional ballot as the legislation’s offical sponsor. Beginning with the sponsor, and proceeding clockwise, players register their ballots, voing yea or nay on each of them. There are no abstentions or delays; players must vote yea or nay, and they must register each of their ballots before the Round proceeds to the next player. Players with more than one ballot may choose to vote yea on some and nay on others. Player A has drawn another Second Amendment, Part Two. This time Player B has no counters, and the legislation passes. It resolves, triggering a Ballot Round. Player A currently controls two Senators; Player B controls a Senator and a Representative; Player C, who has been trying to keep a low profile, controls a single Representative. Player A gets three ballots, two for his two Legislators and one for being the Amendment’s sponsor; Player B gets two ballots, and Player C just one. Player A begins the voting...

3. After the last player registers the last of his or her ballots, add up the yeas and nays. Confirmation of a political appointee requires a simple majority: if the yeas outnumber the nays by at least one ballot, the appointee is confirmed and enters play successfully; otherwise, the confirmation fails and the appointee is discarded without ever entering play. Ratification of a Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority: if the yeas equal or exceed two-thirds of the total number of ballots cast (rounding up), the amendment is ratified and immediately takes effect; otherwise, the amendment is discarded with no effect. Example: Player A votes yea on all three of his ballots; Player B registers two nays; Player C registers one yea; with four out of six votes in favor, the Amendment passes and enters play.

Sample Cards

Unpublished works / Home

Relations Between the Factions

Just as in Magic, certain colors—certain factions—are particularly antagonistic towards one another. For example, although the Libertarians (blue) consider their political ideology to be superior to all others, they can manage at least a passing tolerance towards Democrats (white) and Republicans (black), both of whose beliefs they consider to be “half right.” But they have no patience to spare when it comes to Populists (red), whose mindless violence they deplore, or the Green Party (green), whose environmentalism they regard as an anti-capitalist plot. Likewise, the Greens share a certain amount of common ground with the Democrats, and have a grudging respect for the “direct action tactics” of the Populists, but view both the Republicans and the Libertarians as evil pawns of industry.

Card Types

The two basic card types in Congress: the Gathering are districts and legislation.

Districts are the Congressional equivalent of Magic’s lands. They come in two varieties: voting districts, which can be tapped to produce votes, and non-voting districts, which produce other useful effects. Putting a district into play is known as canvassing that district—your underlings are literally going door-to-door, handing out leaflets and doing whatever else is necessary to bring a majority of the district’s citizens into your political camp. Because you only have a limited number of underlings to waste on scut work, you may generally only canvass one new district on each of your turns.

Legislation cards represent laws and other acts of Congress that can be passed with votes. There are seven different kinds of legislation, each corresponding to one of the seven kinds of spell in Magic. Except where noted, all forms of legislation are played following the same rules and restrictions as their Magic counterparts; for example, you may only respond to your opponent’s legislation with motions, points of order, and other fast effects.

Vote sources, like mana sources, are quick and dirty infusions of power—the classic example being the Republicans’ Wall Street Ritual, a $1,000-a-plate fundraising dinner that turns one black vote into three black votes.

Points of order, played as interrupts, represent manipulations of House and Senate procedure to radically alter the effect of other legislation or cancel (counter) it outright. Libertarians, all of whom know Robert’s Rules of Order by heart, are the champs at this.

Motions are simple acts of Congress that, like instants, can be played at any time effects are legal.

Demagogueries are more complex political maneuvers that, like sorceries, can only be played during the would-be demagogue’s main phase.

Amendments represent changes to existing law that, like enchantments, have a lasting effect on the game. Local amendments affect a specific permanent; Federal amendments have a more global effect. Constitutional amendments are a special, extra-powerful kind of amendment following unique rules. See The Congress, below, for details.

Citizen legislation, much like a creature spell, enlists a powerful individual or organization to fight for your cause. For more information about the care and feeding of citizens, see We the People, below.

Icons are potent symbolic artifacts (books, landmarks, even historical events) that can be exploited for political gain. Icons are nonpartisan—not aligned with any specific faction—which may suggest neutrality, but in reality means that anyone can abuse them. One special type of icon is the icon-citizen, an “apolitical” figure or group which has all the characteristics of an ordinary citizen in addition to being an icon.

Voter Unrest

In the year of the Gathering, voter apathy is at a historic high—so when you ask your constituents for a show of support, you’d better make sure you’re not wasting their time. At the end of each phase, all vote pools are emptied, and any player with unspent votes in his or her pool loses 1 popularity for each of those unspent votes. This loss of popularity, known as voter unrest, cannot be prevented.