Editing Spellfire (section)

==Reception==
Joel Halfwassen reviewed ''Spellfire'' in ''[[White Wolf (magazine)|White Wolf]]'' #47 (Sept., 1994), rating it a 2 out of 5 and stated that "Overall, TSR has flopped with this one. ''Spellfire'' is a game that's good for 30 minutes to an hour, longer if played by followers of ''D&D''. After that the game loses its appeal."<ref name="WW47">{{Cite magazine |last=Halfwassen |first=Joel |date=September 1994|title=Capsule Reviews |magazine= [[White Wolf Magazine]] |number=47 |page=69-70 |url=https://imgur.com/a/nMVrKME}}</ref>

[[Scott Haring]] reviewed ''Spellfire'' for ''[[Pyramid (magazine)|Pyramid]]'' #9, published in October 1994.<ref name="Pyramid9">{{cite web | url=http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/sample.html?id=930 | title=Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: Spellfire }}</ref> Haring felt that the game was going to be "just the first of what is sure to be a long line of games trying to take advantage of the market that ''Magic'' opened", but found that he was "pleasantly surprised by ''Spellfire''".<ref name="Pyramid9"/> He called the game "quite good", and said that the lack of original art was tempered by TSR's twenty years of art archives.<ref name="Pyramid9"/>

In 1995, ''Tomart's'' remarked that ''Spellfire'' was released with card backs that weren't identical between editions. For instance, "First Edition" and "Second Edition" had their names on their own respective card backs, noting these markings indicated the first ''appearance'' of the card rather than the set it was sold with. According to the authors, the cards looked "innocent" but made it "easier to cheat" because they were essentially "marked cards".<ref name="TOMARTS">{{Citation
  | last1 =Tumbusch
  | first1 =T. M.
  | last2 =Zwilling
  | first2 =Nathan
  | title =Tomart's Photo Checklist & Price Guide to Collectible Card Games, Volume One
  | year =1995
  | pages =88
  | postscript =.
}}</ref>

Chris Baylis reviewed some of the game's expansion sets for ''Arcane'' magazine, beginning with the ''Underdark'' booster pack, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane4">{{cite magazine|last= Baylis|first=Chris|date=March 1996|title=Games Reviews|magazine=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=4|pages=82}}</ref> He found that virtually half of the 100-card set was accounted for by its main deck-building features, namely the high-level clerics, the surplus of clerical spells, a heavy influence of powerful monsters, and the underground Realms. He felt that these cards "go a long way towards redressing the balance upset by ''Powers'' (set six), which made Psionicists almost insurmountable".<ref name="Arcane4"/> Baylis reviewed the ''Runes & Ruins'' expansion set, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane7">{{cite magazine|last=Baylis|first=Chris|date=June 1996|title=Games Reviews|magazine=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=7|pages=69–70}}</ref> Baylis comments that "The most interesting cards of the set are the unarmed combat holds, kicks and punches, presented in a very unusual oil painting form and carrying a clenched fist symbol not yet in the rulebook."<ref name="Arcane7"/> Baylis reviewed the ''Birthright'' booster pack, rating it a 5 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane8">{{cite magazine|last=Baylis|first=Chris|date=July 1996|title=Games Reviews|magazine=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=8|pages=70}}</ref> Baylis concluded his review by saying: "Overall the ''Birthright'' expansion is of very little interest to anyone other than card collectors, with only one of the 100 cards immediately springing to mind for possible consideration as an addition to my personal gaming deck."<ref name="Arcane8"/> Baylis reviewed the ''Draconomicon'' booster pack, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane10">{{cite magazine|last=Baylis|first=Chris|date=September 1996|title=Games Reviews|magazine=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=10|pages=74}}</ref> He noted that this expansion was mostly researched from the ''[[Draconomicon]]'' handbook from TSR: "As you would expect with spellcasting Wyrms, it is accented towards magic, though the set is also bolstered by events and allies that are associated with Dragons and dragonkind."<ref name="Arcane10"/>

Chris Baylis reviewed the fourth edition of ''Spellfire'' for the British magazine ''Arcane'', rating it a 6 out of 10 overall.<ref name="Arcane11">{{cite magazine|last= Baylis|first=Chris|date=October 1996|title=Games Reviews|magazine=Arcane|publisher=[[Future plc|Future Publishing]]|issue=11|pages=70}}</ref> He found the pack "striking", considering the fourth edition to have "the instant eye appeal that none of its predecessors could muster."<ref name="Arcane11"/> He concluded by saying: ''Spellfire'' will never seriously rival ''Magic'', but it does provide light, sometimes intense entertainment at a reasonable price, and when you come down to it, that is surely the essence of games playing."<ref name="Arcane11"/>