The Magus Mansion Guide: Tarot, Familiars, Potions and Wagers

What is the Magus Mansion?

The Magus Mansion is where The Magus Circle actually lives. Runs end here — after death (“…I died.”) or after a clean Leviathan extraction — and everything you earned flows into the manor’s systems. The official store page groups them as “progression”: unlock familiars, wager your winnings, concoct potions, grow a garden, and more, all wrapped in a story layer that asks you to “explore the manor, get to know your fellow mages and uncover the secrets of The Circle.”

Structurally it is a walkable hub: official screenshots show the six mages gathered around a great orrery, twin cauldrons downstairs for potion crafting, and a full bar where the bartender has opinions about who is allowed downstairs.

Vampire Survivors… But You Draw Your Spells?! — Matzel — YouTube

Vampire Survivors… But You Draw Your Spells?! — Matzel

How does tarot work?

Tarot is the mansion’s run-modifier system, and its signature mechanic is the two-sided card: every card has an upright and a reversed orientation with different effects, and you flip between them. The official screenshots confirm five cards and their effects:

The launch achievement “The Hand We Are Dealt” (unlock all tarot, 0.1%) tells you the full deck is bigger than what a fresh save shows. Patch notes add texture: the Day 1 patch fixed “Wheel & Hermit visuals” — confirming at least two more cards — and a launch-week player noticed tarot buffs interacting with the Riptide spell’s misbehavior, so card effects are real build-affecting power, not cosmetics.

What happens at the cauldrons and the bar?

• Potions. Twin cauldrons brew the mansion’s consumables, and Coffee is the tutorial teacher — the Day 1 patch note “Coffee got tired of teaching players about potions (Potion tutorial is no longer stuck in a loop)” made her the face of the system. Recipes use mansion ingredients; the patch notes even link a “Dark Chicha recipe” to a radish.
• The bar. Odds tends it, and the gatekeeping line — “Can’t be down here. Grown ups only. You get it.” — is a story scene players screenshot. Meeting Odds is the “Odd Indeed” achievement (25.7%).
• The shop. Curio runs it; unlocking Curio’s shop is the single most common achievement (86.7%), so expect it in your first sitting. The devs promise “more sass from Curio” in future updates.

What about familiars, fishing, wagers and the garden?

All four are confirmed systems, with different amounts of detail public so far:

The achievement table is doing a lot of honest work here: the rare mansion achievements (“Graffiti Artist” at 2.6% for some drawing feat, “The House Always Wins” at 0.1%) are the endgame of systems still being mapped.

In what order should you spend your first earnings?

1. Curio’s shop first — 86.7% of players did, and the shop’s stock feeds everything else.
2. Potion tutorial with Coffee — a free lesson that unlocks the cauldron loop.
3. One tarot card — The Empress (+10% Speed upright) is a visible, safe first buy from the confirmed list.
4. Then taste everything — fishing, wagers, familiars — because achievements hint each system has depth worth reaching before you sink everything into one.

The mansion is also where run planning happens: which mage you send out determines whose kit you are feeding, and the beginner guide covers how a run’s earnings actually become mansion currency.

Sources: Steam store page, official screenshots and hotfix notes, and launch-week reports from the Steam community forums. Screenshots © By Witchlight.