The most effective magic is Ritual Magic. Each nation can only cast one ritual spell during the magic phase per turn and a wizard must be freed up to lead this ritual. You cannot be involved in delicate diplomacy and coordinate a magic ritual that may have over a 100 participants at the same time. Ritual magic is either tactical turn ritual magic or strategic turn ritual magic. There is also minor Personal Magic to give wizards a bit of private fun during the roleplaying parts of a turn.

These are massive magical rituals that require dozens of participants, multiple hours and tons of incense. A team/nation can cast only 1 ritual spell per turn. There are separate Tactical and Strategic ritual spells. Some spells exist that can be cast in both types of turns.

5 cards are drawn from a deck of cards (the spell deck). A wizard who adds nice touches or theatrics in the description of the magic ritual may draw an extra card. If enough cards of he right colour are collected the spell works. Each card is 1 point. A Joker is usually an automatic point and sometimes signifies that the spell has gone haywire. Effects can be made to appear anywhere on the map. If there are no cards available, nothing happens. The order in which spells are resolved is based on a first come, first served basis. At the start of every turn the discard pile is added back the spell deck. The deck is not reshuffled. This does not apply to cards stored in of the 2 Spell Batteries (the Ziggurat of Urr and the Grand Imperial Spell Throne of the Gnomes). Multiple teams can link up to cast one ritual spell together. Each team adds 5 cards to the spell. Only one team needs to know the spell.

Some spells need the presence of special ingredients that are in limited supply, to be cast.