Well, the only thing about links in the rules I can find is to not post links to external commercial items, unless in direct response to a question. A rule which most people here violate all the time.
I guess abandonware could fall under the "do not promote illegal acts" rule.

http://www.gog.com/support/website_help/forums_feedback

Keep within the law - submitting any materials intended to commit or promote illegal acts will get you a ban. Also, don't post any content that's not your work or to which you don't have a license.

Finding those rules is not that easy, I know ;)

EDIT: ninja'd by you!

yeah, reading how you described the gameplay, the first thing I thought was that it was a perfect fit for Chaos... as far as I know there was no DOS port, though, not even for the sequel. And it was way too early. Sounds like someone got some inspiration from here :)

No.
Nope. Not that one either. I don't believe the game I'm thinking of had campaigns. I'm not even entirely sure it had a single player mode (though I imagine it must have). But I certainly don't recall a story of any real sort or any progression. It was pure duels as far as I recall.

This would be a nice, but unlikely release here.

One of my brothers, while attempting to explain what I meant by "top-down sprite" graphics to my other brother, commented that the graphics were vaguely Champions of Krynn like; in case that helps explain things to anyone or give anyone any further insights.

The graphics in the game I'm thinking of were more detailed than the graphics in Krynn though.

I may have to go dig through the boxes at my parents house and see if I can find some of the old collection CDs and try to figure out if I can find the game that way (though I should probably check if the Internet Archive has any of them up as that might be easier).

Went to my parents house last night. Dug through some closets and found a couple of the game collection CDs I recall from when I was a kid. I've been slowly looking through them (though that is a tedious and often frustrating process) but haven't found anything yet.

was it Chaos: The Battle of Wizards
it was on spectrum though. god i loved that game
or lords of chaos which came out on pc

No, not either of those. Though from what I've read about Chaos since amok mentioned it earlier I believe the game I'm thinking of must be a clone/remake or at least inspired by Chaos but I can't find it on any of the remake/clone lists I've seen so far.
No. Not that either.

I know its not this, but might be the sort of game youre interested in: https://arena-6.appspot.com/

I havent actually played this one, but i know its more or less evolved version of Areena 4, which is old top-down 2d turnbased team gladiator managing game. Areena 4 is still freeware, but i believe that one is in finnish only.

No, that's not it but from the screenshots Areena 4 is the closest to the graphics I recall of the various games I've seen.

As I recall once in the arena there was comparatively little by way of UI other than the arena itself (though I'm nowhere near as certain of this fact as I am of the others I've mentioned).

I have just successfully solved a question from Sickboy in this thread and was reminded of this thread so I figured I would give it a bump in hopes of fresh eyes having an answer.

Was it anything from this list?

http://chaosremakes.wikia.com/wiki/Chaos_Remakes_Wiki

Maybe Creators?

[url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070807182338/http://koti.mbnet.fi/~hese7/creators/creators.htm]http://web.archive.org/web/20070807182338/http://koti.mbnet.fi/~hese7/creators/creators.htm[/url]

I believe I've checked everything that has a functioning link from that wikia page (but I'll check again).

No, not Creators though that seems to be roughly the right graphical style/feel.