Mind Over Magic: Beginner’s Guide – Essential Tips for New Players

by Fernando Diaz / Game Guides, Tips & Tricks / 12 Mar 2025

Mind Over Magic. This game is deep; you’re not so much playing wizard school as building a freakin’ magical empire. You’re raising mages, discovering dark secrets, and basically trying to be magic boss. This guide is going to lay it all out there, plain and simple, so you can conquer.

Food, Glorious Food (and How Not to Starve)

Food is your first boss fight. Seriously. Hungry mages are useless mages. Here’s how to win the culinary war:

Early Bird Gets the Worm (and the Fish)

Build gardens and fishing stations immediately. Don’t wait. This is your foundation for survival. Place them close to the kitchen to be efficient: think of the reduced walking time!

Become a Magical Prepper

Stockpile! Dried mushrooms, cured meats – anything that won’t spoil faster than you can say “abracadabra.” Aim for a week’s worth of food, maybe two. This is your buffer against unexpected calamities (and trust me, they will happen).

Know Your Audience (and Their Stomachs)

Mages have eating habits! Some are vegetarians, some are pescatarians, some probably just wish for pizza (sadly, not an option). Check the management tab (journal icon) to see what each mage favors. Happy mage = productive mage. It’s a small detail, but it goes a long way.

Automation is Your Best Friend

Don’t spend your days cutting vegetables. Place at least two workers in every kitchen. Later, you can bless your kitchen with productivity runes (check the Alchemy research tree) to get things really cooking (intended pun). This will free you up to focus on the more…explosive…aspects of running a school of magic.

Bonus Tip: Kitchen Design! Use several smaller kitchens nearer your resource acquisition points (gardens, fishing piers) rather than a single large central kitchen. This will occasionally be more effective, especially in bigger schools.

Learn From My Mistakes

I thought I was being clever by hunting alone. Nope. Wild animals are unpredictable. Diversify your sources of food, or suffer a mutiny (of the hungry variety).

Relic Revolution: The Key to Power (and Not Blowing Up Your School)

Relics are your lifeblood. They power your research, improve your facilities, and generally make your school less…primitive.

Focus, Focus, Focus

Focus on “Basic Production Runes” and “Arcane Focusing Lenses” first. These are your workhorses – they boost production speed & unlock valuable upgrades. Don’t worry about the shiny/flashy artifacts yet – get a foundation.

Build Your Crafting A-Team

Find the mages with decent crafting stats (check their profiles!). Put them on relic crafting duty only. House them near the workshop to minimize commuting times. Get “Master Craftsman” training later (researched after “Advanced Apprenticeship Techniques” research).

Workshop Wonderland

Upgrade your workshop at the earliest opportunity! The “Arcane Forge” (mid-game upgrade) is a must; it drastically increases production speed & enables you to forge higher tier relics. Also, make sure you’ve got ample storage for raw materials. Nothing’s worse than falling short of flux capacitors (or whatever mystical equivalent you’re utilizing) halfway through a project.

Become a Master Trader

Don’t hoard unwanted relics! Sell them on the in-game market. You can trade them for rare materials or even other relics that you require. Monitor the market prices; they fluctuate so you can sometimes snag a good deal.

Extra Tip: Resource Management

Relics require special, sometimes difficult-to-obtain, resources. keep a close eye on your resource stacks and think ahead – don’t start building a mega-powerful relic if you’re going to run out of the essential ingredient!

Another Hard-Won Lesson

Splitting relic construction across multiple, poorly-equipped workshops was a terrible strategy. Concentrate your resources into one strong, centralized workshop. You’re welcome.

Apprentice Academy: From Zero to Hero (Hopefully)

They’re your future, so teach them wisely and they will become great mages. Teach them badly and…well, you might just have to get a new broom closet.

Mentorship Counts

This is not a free-for-all… pair apprentices with mentors who are skilled in the abilities they want to learn. Alchemist with an alchemist, combat mage with a combat mage. It’s like magical osmosis: they learn faster and find special abilities.

Don’t Burn Them Out

Two lessons a day, tops. Give them time to practice and read. Apprentices who are overworked learn slowly, become sullen, and even run away (taking their nascent magical skills with them).

Foundations First

Start with basics: Alchemy, Combat Fundamentals, and Basic Crafting. Once they’re around level 5 in those, then let them specialize. That way, they’ll be well-rounded before they’re concocting exploding potions (one hopes under supervision).

R&R is Required

Even wizards need time off. Schedule breaks, provide a shared room for leisure activities and ensure they have cozy beds… A well-rested apprentice is a happy, productive apprentice.

Extra Tip: Observe and Adapt

Notice how your apprentices are learning. Some will have natural aptitudes for certain skills. Adapt their training accordingly to get the most out of them.
4.

Mage Management: Happy Wizards, Happy School

Your mages are your school’s heartbeat. Keep them happy and productive.

Play to Their Strengths

Look at each mage’s stats (on their character sheet). Assign them tasks they’re suited for: Combat mages protecting, researchers in the lab, crafters in the workshop. Do not try to get a research mage to defend the school – it will end badly.

Rest and Relaxation

Magic is tiring! Build meditation chambers (unlocked by “Mystical Architecture” research) to help them recover faster. Tired mages make mistakes, and magical mistakes can be messy.

Equip Them

Regularly upgrade their equipment. Fine wands, robes, and items directly increase their spellcasting abilities. Enchanting equipment with runes (advanced Alchemy) makes it even better. A well-equipped mage is a happy mage (and a less likely to accidentally blow things up mage).

Morale is Everything

Happy mages do more work and are less likely to defect to your rival magic school (yep, that’s a thing). Invest in social events, build nice dorms and make the atmosphere nice by providing comfortable amenities. A library with advanced magical books is a great morale booster, especially for your bookworm mages.

Extra Tip: Mage Needs

Sometimes mages have special requests, fulfill these and greatly improve relations.

My Early Mistake

I once treated my mages like machinery. Great mistake. Each mage is unique; nurture their talents, cater to their needs and your school will flourish.

Fernando Diaz

Fernando is doing what he always did, sharing his honest opinions about games whenever he can. The difference is now he is writing and not talking about it.
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