Be sure to review the rules and banned list(s) by clicking below.
Cards on the PHM Banned List are always banned, and cards on the Land Rule Banned List are banned as well when the round uses a Land Rule.
Contents
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Hand Construction Rules
4. Entry
5. Perfect Hand Magic League (PHML)
6. Scoring
7. Variant Format Rules
1. Overview
Perfect Hand Magic (PHM) is a competitive strategy game for two or more players. It can be played using pencil and paper; however, it's most commonly played via an online forum. To play the game, each player secretly chooses a specified number of Magic cards which form his or her hand. Once all players have chosen hands, the hands are revealed and scored.
The object of the game is to choose the hand that will score the most points. The score for each hand is determined by the result that it would achieve if it were used to play two games of Magic – one match – against each competing hand; the rules for these theoretical games are covered in Section 2 – Game Rules. During each theoretical game, the player of each hand employs the strategy that maximizes the score for his or her hand, taking into account the strategy of his or her opponent.
A hand scores 3 points for each game that it would win, 0 points for each game that it would lose, and 1 point for each game that would end in a draw. However, a hand scores only 2 points for any match that would have a symmetrical result, regardless of whether the result would be two drawn games or a win for each hand.
The composition of a hand is limited only by a short banned list and a few restrictions on the game states that it can enable; these restrictions are covered in Section 3 – Hand Construction Rules.
2. Game Rules
2.1. Except for the changes described in these rules, games follow the rules for a normal game of Magic.
2.1a. Changes to the Comprehensive Rules or the Oracle text of a card take effect at the following times:
i. Changes that would take effect during the prerelease for a set take effect during the first round for which cards from that set may be submitted instead.
ii. Changes that would take effect at any other time take effect during the first round for which those rules have been in effect since the start of the round instead.
2.1b. Ignore any part of an instruction that isn't covered by these rules or by the rules of Magic.
2.2. A player's opening hand contains that player's chosen cards.
2.3. Players' libraries begin the game empty.
2.3a. A player doesn't lose the game as a result of being unable to draw a card.
2.4. An effect that would produce a random result produces the result that least benefits the owner of the source of that effect instead.
2.5. Each player is the starting player for one game in each match.
2.6. Players know the identities of all face-down cards and all cards in hidden zones, and players know which decisions have been made by other players.
2.7. If a game would continue indefinitely, then the game is a draw.
2.8. If a loop containing at least one optional action would be repeated indefinitely during a turn, then any player may propose a number of times for that loop to repeat instead. If a player does, then each other player may propose a different number and the loop is repeated for the greatest number of times proposed instead. No player is required to make a choice that would end a loop that crosses multiple turns.
2.9. Cards can't be brought into the game from outside the game.
3. Hand Construction Rules
3.1. A player may not choose an opening hand that would enable him or her to achieve any of the following results before an opponent's second turn would begin, such that that opponent could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in at least one of these results:
i. Win the game.
ii. Take an infinite number of turns.
iii. Cause a card to leave an opponent's hand.
Ignore this rule in the following cases:
3.1a. That player's hand would be legal if that player's opponents' cards had no rules text.
3.1b. That player's hand would be legal if that player's opponents had no maximum hand size.
3.1c. That player could achieve one of these results only during a game that was restarted after an opponent's second turn had begun.
3.1d. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be put onto the battlefield by that effect.
3.1e. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be in that opponent's hand once that effect resolved.
3.2. A hand may contain any number of copies of any card legal in Vintage.
3.2a. An unreleased card is treated as though it's legal in Vintage if it will become legal in Vintage upon release and if the release notes for the set that contains that card were published prior to the start of the round (See rule 4.1).
3.3. A hand may not contain any cards on the PHM Banned List.
4. Entry
4.1. A player plays a round of PHM by submitting a list of his or her chosen cards to the PHM moderator.
4.2. A player may change his or her hand until the posted deadline.
4.2a. If a player submits an illegal hand, then the moderator will try to notify that player to change his or her hand prior to the deadline. If the hand is discovered to be illegal after the deadline has passed – or if the player does not submit a new hand – then the moderator may either disqualify that hand or replace it with a similar hand, in which any cards causing that hand to be illegal have been removed or replaced.
4.2b. The moderator also will try to notify a player if that player's hand doesn't enable that player to win the game against any possible hand.
4.3. A player may name his or her hand. If he or she doesn't, then the moderator may name it. The moderator may also rename a player's hand at his or her discretion.
5. Perfect Hand Magic League (PHML)
5.1. PHM League play consists of four rounds of PHM.
5.2. Each round, a player earns League points according to the following formula:
League Points = Points Scored / Number of Opponents x 100 (rounded to the nearest integer)
5.3. The player with the most League points at the end of League play is the PHM League winner.
5.3a. If multiple players have the most League points at the end of the League, then the PHM moderator may allow those players to play additional rounds until only one of those players has the most League points or until a specified number of additional rounds has been played.
6. Scoring
6.1. A table of match results is posted at the end of each round. Each row lists one player's result against each other player. A player's points and League points are tallied at the end of his or her row.
6.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
6.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
6.3a. Players are encouraged to determine or verify additional match results.
6.3b. An undetermined match result is counted as a loss for both players in that match.
6.3c. A player may challenge any result until the moderator announces that the result is final.
7. Variant Format Rules
7.1. Perfect Hand Magic has been played with hands typically containing between one and seven cards. Additionally, the Game Rules and Hand Construction Rules have been adapted to create hundreds of variant formats. Five commonly-played variants are described in Sections 7.3-7.7.
7.2. The rules of a variant format overwrite any other applicable rules.
7.2a. Some variant formats generate continuous effects. A continuous effect generated by a variant format is treated as having the earliest timestamp within a layer or sublayer. If continuous effects generated by multiple variant formats would apply in the same layer or sublayer, assign timestamps to those effects in the order that the variant formats are listed in the rules or name of the round.
7.2b. Some variant formats require a player to make some number of decisions in addition to or instead of submitting a hand. A player's submission must comply with the Hand Construction Rules, taking into account any decisions made at this time.
7.2c. Some variant formats require players to make decisions "before the start of each game". For these decisions, follow the "Active Player, Nonactive Player order" rule, replacing "active player" with "starting player".
7.3. Land Rule Variant.
7.3a. This is the basic land rule (LR). Any player may play a basic land of his or her choice from outside the game any time he or she could normally play a land. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.3b. This is the extra land rule (ELR). Any player may play a basic land of his or her choice from outside the game any time he or she could normally play a land. Any player may play an additional land on each of his or her turns from his or her hand. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.3c. This is the draw land rule (DLR). If a player would draw a card from an empty library, that player puts a basic land of his or her choice from outside the game into his or her hand instead. The starting player doesn't skip the draw step of his or her first turn. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.4a. Only cards contained in sets legal in the named format may be submitted.
7.5. Life Rule (LF).
7.5a. If neither player would win otherwise, then the player who maintains the higher life total wins the game.
7.5b. Irrespective of rule 7.5a, a player must choose an opening hand that enables him or her to win both games of a match against at least one hand, such that the player of the losing hand could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in that player losing the game. The losing hand must conform with the Hand Construction Rules but need not consider this rule.
7.6. Backbuild.
7.6a. Players exchange hands before the start of each match. Each player must choose an opening hand that enables him or her to win both games of a match against a specified hand or specified hands, such that the player of any specified hand could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in the player of that specified hand losing the game. Ignore rule 3.1.
7.7. (Bonus).
7.7a. A player earns bonus points if his or her hand meets specified requirements.
PHM Banned List_________________Land Rule Banned List
Muraganda's Judgment
Hand Size: 4
Land Rule: None
Round Rule: Additional copies of each card in a player's submitted hand begin the game in that player's hand. The number of such copies is determined by looking up the number of words in each card's rules text(s) in the chart below. The words in a cards rules text(s) are the groups matched by the regex [^\s]+.
0: 3
1-2: 2
3-5: 1
6+: 0
Edited to clarify that words are any whitespace-delimited string, including symbols and numbers. Split cards were already handled by "text(s)"; just sum them. Probably this doesn't handle flip cards and DFCs, but it's fine because those all have at least 6 words on their front faces anyway.
Library Land Rule
Hand Size: 3
Land Rule: None
Round Rule: Players submit an ordered list of 6 Basic Lands along with their hands. The cards in a player's list begin the game in that player's library in the given order.
Bad Day
Hand Size: 4
Land Rule: LR
Round Rule: Only cards that were printed in Homelands, Fallen Empires, or Prophecy may be submitted.
I vote "Bad Day" or "Murganda's Judgement", in order of preference. The latter would need clarification on symbols and numbers, though (also how do split cards work?).
Rule 2.6 covers those cards, because they don't actually involve simultaneous decisions. Such decisions are made in APNAP order, per CR 101.4. Normally, those choices are made in secret and then revealed simultaneously, but 2.6 overrides this.
1) 6-0 Game of Chaos is confusing, But megaliths kills memnite.
2) 0-6 Keeper is a fat beast this round, but I stop lotus petal.
3) 6-0 Hearth Charm kills memnite
4) 0-6 I counter hypergenesis
5) 6-0 Megaliths kills memnite in time.
6) 0-6 I counter your memnite
7) 6-0 Molten Frame hits.
8) xxx
Actually, is Anachronity's deck legal? Isn't playing Game of Chaos an instant loss?
Phyrexian Unlife won't convert life loss to poison counters, only actual damage. Game is life loss. So, they'll go to an arbitrarily enormous amount of life, you'll be at an equally enormous negative life total, but you won't die because Unlife. Then you whittle 'em down a turn at a time with Megaliths.
Honestly, I'm a little concerned about format diversity -- even in LR, this completely blows all the Battle of Wits and so on decks out of the water, in that it takes as 'infinite' a number of turns as is possible in Magic, compared to the 400 turns or so of the old decks. Congrats to Anachronicity for perfecting the art of truly awful wincons.
0-6 Anachronity -- So it turns out giving infinite life to the Reservoir deck is a bad idea. Phyrexia's got nothing on multiple blasts of concentrated aether.
0-6 WhammeWhamme -- Molten Frame.
0-6 DoubleFried -- I take around 90 turns, plus a dozen or so for setup. You take about 200. Very nice. (Also, I totally should've used a depletion land instead of tri-land, dangit!)
2-2 Choptimist -- Yup, I can't play my lands and I need them to do anything, but playing 1 land and reservoir off Hypergenesis means you can't win. The decks sit and stare at each other.
6-0 Personman -- by the time you have the mana needed to play all of your cards in 1 turn... I'm still just getting set up, maybe gained a couple life. From there, Megaliths easily races Farmstead.
0-6 knobbodi -- I like Molder.
xxx
0-6 Feyd_Ruin -- That was it! I thought of Nix and Mental Misstep, but couldn't think of the free 0-mana counterspell.
| 0 0 2 6 0 X 0 | 8 |
Hey, I got a low score! That's good for backbuild, right? Right?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Honestly, I'm a little concerned about format diversity -- even in LR, this completely blows all the Battle of Wits and so on decks out of the water, in that it takes as 'infinite' a number of turns as is possible in Magic, compared to the 400 turns or so of the old decks. Congrats to Anachronicity for perfecting the art of truly awful wincons.
Aw shucks, I try!
2) Keeper manages to kill you with poison well before the heat death of the universe ~ 6-0
3) We trade hands, and it doesn't even take a full century to squeak out a brisk 200-turn win. ~ 6-0
4) As Choptimist found, neither of us can win. ~ 2-2
5) a forced Lich speeds up your win condition by several epochs. ~ 0-6
6) Molder can't kill anything of yours, so you blast my Myr and then, over the ensuing aeons, grind away at my life total as entropy snuffs out the stars one by one. ~ 0-6
7) Hilarious matchup. ~ 6-0
8) As mentioned, Shoal can't counter anything of yours, and you blow up my memnite. The cyclic nature of the universe begins to manifest, and human civilization develops anew as the lifespan of one universe proves insufficient. ~ 0-6
9) Memnites are my strength, and thus, my weakness. With my memnite destroyed you lurch towards victory as the yottaseconds tick onward. We have long ago forgotten anything but the game, the infinite grind, but for one brief moment after a screaming eternity you finally experience the bliss of victory. ~ 0-6
As far as CalvinSchwa's concern about the backbuild meta, this hand loses pretty hard to other hands that focus on fragile win conditions as opposed to taking a really long time. Looking at previous rounds, I submitted it even though I knew both Wirecat and Dovescape/Mana Clash beat it, mostly because I thought it was pretty funny for someone to win against an arbitrarily large life advantage.
I would like to request that future backbuild rounds include among their baseline hands: a hand with at least one enchantment, a hand with at least one spell of CMC 1 or greater which they must cast as part of their win condition, and a hand with a 1/1 creature.
Otherwise I honestly can't figure out any way to beat both Wirecat and Dovescape. Plus, I feel like the format would be a lot more interesting with stronger baseline hands which seems never to have been the case.
If there hadn't been moderator confusion, I think tomsloger would've been notified about his illegal deck in time, so I'm in favor of the Mountain substitution. I'm adding his deck to my results as deck 9.
It will - don't worry!
Your regular moderator has been out for a few weeks.
I'm back now and will be closing off the remaining open rounds within the next week.
5 Card Backbuild
Hand Size: 5 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule:
Players exchange hands before the start of each match. See rule 7.6
Entries must be able to beat (6-0) each of the following decks:
1. Plains / Island / Swamp / Mountain / Forest
2. Providence / Ancestral Vision / Ancestral Vision / Ancestral Vision / Ancestral Vision
3. Memnite / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind
Additional Bans: Blood Oath / Desecration Elemental
Hands:
1) Anachronity
Keldon Megaliths / Mercadian Bazaar / Fountain of Cho / Phyrexian Unlife / Game of Chaos
2) WhammeWhamme
Keeper of the Lens / Lotus Petal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind
3) DoubleFried
Timberline Ridge / Helix Pinnacle / Hearth Charm / Blessed Wine / Touch of Brilliance
4) Choptimist
Hollow Trees / Hypergenesis / Rivalry / Fevered Visions / Summoner's Pact
5) Personman
Keldon Megaliths / Sand Silos / Eureka / Mycosynth Lattice / Nefarious Lich
6) knobbodi
Crosis's Catacombs / Memnite / Paradise Mantle / Molder / Evermind
7) CalvinSchwa
Aetherflux Reservoir / Saltcrusted Steppe / An-Havva Township / Farmstead / Molten Frame
8) Feyd_Ruin
Disrupting Shoal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / Memnite
9) tomsloger :: M&M's (and M & M & M)
Memnite / Molten Frame / Mountain / Mountain / Mountain
Results:
X| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1| X 6 6 2 0 0 6 0 0 | 20 | 250
2| 0 X 6 0 0 0 6 6 6 | 24 | 300
3| 0 0 X 0 6 0 6 0 0 | 12 | 150
4| 2 6 6 X 2 6 2 6 6 | 36 | 250
5| 6 6 0 2 X 2 0 0 0 | 16 | 200
6| 6 6 6 0 2 X 6 6 6 | 38 | 475
7| 0 0 0 2 6 0 X 0 0 | 08 | 100
8| 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 X 2 | 26 | 320
9| 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 2 X | 26 | 320
knobbodi wins!
Rules and Banned List
Cards on the PHM Banned List are always banned, and cards on the Land Rule Banned List are banned as well when the round uses a Land Rule.
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Hand Construction Rules
4. Entry
5. Perfect Hand Magic League (PHML)
6. Scoring
7. Variant Format Rules
1. Overview
Perfect Hand Magic (PHM) is a competitive strategy game for two or more players. It can be played using pencil and paper; however, it's most commonly played via an online forum. To play the game, each player secretly chooses a specified number of Magic cards which form his or her hand. Once all players have chosen hands, the hands are revealed and scored.
The object of the game is to choose the hand that will score the most points. The score for each hand is determined by the result that it would achieve if it were used to play two games of Magic – one match – against each competing hand; the rules for these theoretical games are covered in Section 2 – Game Rules. During each theoretical game, the player of each hand employs the strategy that maximizes the score for his or her hand, taking into account the strategy of his or her opponent.
A hand scores 3 points for each game that it would win, 0 points for each game that it would lose, and 1 point for each game that would end in a draw. However, a hand scores only 2 points for any match that would have a symmetrical result, regardless of whether the result would be two drawn games or a win for each hand.
The composition of a hand is limited only by a short banned list and a few restrictions on the game states that it can enable; these restrictions are covered in Section 3 – Hand Construction Rules.
2. Game Rules
2.1. Except for the changes described in these rules, games follow the rules for a normal game of Magic.
ii. Changes that would take effect at any other time take effect during the first round for which those rules have been in effect since the start of the round instead.
2.1b. Ignore any part of an instruction that isn't covered by these rules or by the rules of Magic.
2.2. A player's opening hand contains that player's chosen cards.
2.3. Players' libraries begin the game empty.
2.4. An effect that would produce a random result produces the result that least benefits the owner of the source of that effect instead.
2.5. Each player is the starting player for one game in each match.
2.6. Players know the identities of all face-down cards and all cards in hidden zones, and players know which decisions have been made by other players.
2.7. If a game would continue indefinitely, then the game is a draw.
2.8. If a loop containing at least one optional action would be repeated indefinitely during a turn, then any player may propose a number of times for that loop to repeat instead. If a player does, then each other player may propose a different number and the loop is repeated for the greatest number of times proposed instead. No player is required to make a choice that would end a loop that crosses multiple turns.
2.9. Cards can't be brought into the game from outside the game.
3. Hand Construction Rules
3.1. A player may not choose an opening hand that would enable him or her to achieve any of the following results before an opponent's second turn would begin, such that that opponent could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in at least one of these results:
ii. Take an infinite number of turns.
iii. Cause a card to leave an opponent's hand.
Ignore this rule in the following cases:
3.1b. That player's hand would be legal if that player's opponents had no maximum hand size.
3.1c. That player could achieve one of these results only during a game that was restarted after an opponent's second turn had begun.
3.1d. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be put onto the battlefield by that effect.
3.1e. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be in that opponent's hand once that effect resolved.
3.2. A hand may contain any number of copies of any card legal in Vintage.
3.3. A hand may not contain any cards on the PHM Banned List.
4. Entry
4.1. A player plays a round of PHM by submitting a list of his or her chosen cards to the PHM moderator.
4.2. A player may change his or her hand until the posted deadline.
4.2b. The moderator also will try to notify a player if that player's hand doesn't enable that player to win the game against any possible hand.
4.3. A player may name his or her hand. If he or she doesn't, then the moderator may name it. The moderator may also rename a player's hand at his or her discretion.
5. Perfect Hand Magic League (PHML)
5.1. PHM League play consists of four rounds of PHM.
5.2. Each round, a player earns League points according to the following formula:
5.3. The player with the most League points at the end of League play is the PHM League winner.
6. Scoring
6.1. A table of match results is posted at the end of each round. Each row lists one player's result against each other player. A player's points and League points are tallied at the end of his or her row.
6.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
6.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
6.3b. An undetermined match result is counted as a loss for both players in that match.
6.3c. A player may challenge any result until the moderator announces that the result is final.
7. Variant Format Rules
7.1. Perfect Hand Magic has been played with hands typically containing between one and seven cards. Additionally, the Game Rules and Hand Construction Rules have been adapted to create hundreds of variant formats. Five commonly-played variants are described in Sections 7.3-7.7.
7.2. The rules of a variant format overwrite any other applicable rules.
7.2b. Some variant formats require a player to make some number of decisions in addition to or instead of submitting a hand. A player's submission must comply with the Hand Construction Rules, taking into account any decisions made at this time.
7.2c. Some variant formats require players to make decisions "before the start of each game". For these decisions, follow the "Active Player, Nonactive Player order" rule, replacing "active player" with "starting player".
7.3. Land Rule Variant.
7.3b. This is the extra land rule (ELR). Any player may play a basic land of his or her choice from outside the game any time he or she could normally play a land. Any player may play an additional land on each of his or her turns from his or her hand. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.3c. This is the draw land rule (DLR). If a player would draw a card from an empty library, that player puts a basic land of his or her choice from outside the game into his or her hand instead. The starting player doesn't skip the draw step of his or her first turn. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.4. Sanctioned Magic Format Variant.
7.5. Life Rule (LF).
7.5b. Irrespective of rule 7.5a, a player must choose an opening hand that enables him or her to win both games of a match against at least one hand, such that the player of the losing hand could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in that player losing the game. The losing hand must conform with the Hand Construction Rules but need not consider this rule.
7.6. Backbuild.
7.7. (Bonus).
Beast Within________________________Beacon of Creation
Chancellor of the Annex_____________Black Lotus
Channel_____________________________Energy Field
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn_____________Maralen of the Mornsong
Fastbond____________________________Nezumi Shortfang
Flash_______________________________Red Sun's Zenith
Force of Will_______________________White Sun's Zenith
Ghost Quarter
Laboratory Maniac
Leyline of Anticipation
Leyline of Singularity
Leyline of the Meek
Magus of the Moon
Meddling Mage
Pact of Negation
Show and Tell
Strip Mine
The Rack
Trinisphere
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vampire Hexmage
Wasteland
Channel_____________________________Black Lotus
Fastbond
Flash
Show and Tell
Disruption
Beast Within________________________Balancing Act
Chancellor of the Annex_____________Energy Field
Force of Will
Leyline of Anticipation
Leyline of Singularity
Pact of Negation
Trinisphere
Lands
Ghost Quarter
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Win Conditions
Barren Glory________________________Beacon of Creation
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn_____________Maralen of the Mornsong
Laboratory Maniac___________________Nezumi Shortfang
Leyline of the Meek_________________Red Sun's Zenith
Magus of the Moon___________________White Sun's Zenith
Meddling Mage
The Rack
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vampire Hexmage
Format Ideas?
Additional Resources
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Muraganda's Judgment
Hand Size: 4
Land Rule: None
Round Rule: Additional copies of each card in a player's submitted hand begin the game in that player's hand. The number of such copies is determined by looking up the number of words in each card's rules text(s) in the chart below. The words in a cards rules text(s) are the groups matched by the regex [^\s]+.
0: 3
1-2: 2
3-5: 1
6+: 0
Edited to clarify that words are any whitespace-delimited string, including symbols and numbers. Split cards were already handled by "text(s)"; just sum them. Probably this doesn't handle flip cards and DFCs, but it's fine because those all have at least 6 words on their front faces anyway.
Library Land Rule
Hand Size: 3
Land Rule: None
Round Rule: Players submit an ordered list of 6 Basic Lands along with their hands. The cards in a player's list begin the game in that player's library in the given order.
Bad Day
Hand Size: 4
Land Rule: LR
Round Rule: Only cards that were printed in Homelands, Fallen Empires, or Prophecy may be submitted.
Or maybe other ideas if people have them.
- Rabid Wombat
1) Anachronity
Keldon Megaliths / Mercadian Bazaar / Fountain of Cho / Phyrexian Unlife / Game of Chaos
2) WhammeWhamme
Keeper of the Lens / Lotus Petal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind
3) DoubleFried
Timberline Ridge / Helix Pinnacle / Hearth Charm / Blessed Wine / Touch of Brilliance
4) Choptimist
Hollow Trees / Hypergenesis / Rivalry / Fevered Visions / Summoner's Pact
5) Personman
Keldon Megaliths / Sand Silos / Eureka / Mycosynth Lattice / Nefarious Lich
6) knobbodi
Crosis's Catacombs / Memnite / Paradise Mantle / Molder / Evermind
7) CalvinSchwa
Aetherflux Reservoir / Saltcrusted Steppe / An-Havva Township / Farmstead / Molten Frame
8) Feyd_Ruin
Disrupting Shoal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / Memnite
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Memnite / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / molten frame
This isn't legal. I'm guessing he thought it was a land rule round?
Would replacing Everminds with Mountains suffice as an adequate change to keep the deck in tact, or would that be too significant?
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1) 6-0 Game of Chaos is confusing, But megaliths kills memnite.
2) 0-6 Keeper is a fat beast this round, but I stop lotus petal.
3) 6-0 Hearth Charm kills memnite
4) 0-6 I counter hypergenesis
5) 6-0 Megaliths kills memnite in time.
6) 0-6 I counter your memnite
7) 6-0 Molten Frame hits.
8) xxx
8 | 6 0 6 0 6 0 6 | 343
No longer staff here.
Phyrexian Unlife won't convert life loss to poison counters, only actual damage. Game is life loss. So, they'll go to an arbitrarily enormous amount of life, you'll be at an equally enormous negative life total, but you won't die because Unlife. Then you whittle 'em down a turn at a time with Megaliths.
Honestly, I'm a little concerned about format diversity -- even in LR, this completely blows all the Battle of Wits and so on decks out of the water, in that it takes as 'infinite' a number of turns as is possible in Magic, compared to the 400 turns or so of the old decks. Congrats to Anachronicity for perfecting the art of truly awful wincons.
0-6 Anachronity -- So it turns out giving infinite life to the Reservoir deck is a bad idea. Phyrexia's got nothing on multiple blasts of concentrated aether.
0-6 WhammeWhamme -- Molten Frame.
0-6 DoubleFried -- I take around 90 turns, plus a dozen or so for setup. You take about 200. Very nice. (Also, I totally should've used a depletion land instead of tri-land, dangit!)
2-2 Choptimist -- Yup, I can't play my lands and I need them to do anything, but playing 1 land and reservoir off Hypergenesis means you can't win. The decks sit and stare at each other.
6-0 Personman -- by the time you have the mana needed to play all of your cards in 1 turn... I'm still just getting set up, maybe gained a couple life. From there, Megaliths easily races Farmstead.
0-6 knobbodi -- I like Molder.
xxx
0-6 Feyd_Ruin -- That was it! I thought of Nix and Mental Misstep, but couldn't think of the free 0-mana counterspell.
| 0 0 2 6 0 X 0 | 8 |
Hey, I got a low score! That's good for backbuild, right? Right?
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
3) We trade hands, and it doesn't even take a full century to squeak out a brisk 200-turn win. ~ 6-0
4) As Choptimist found, neither of us can win. ~ 2-2
5) a forced Lich speeds up your win condition by several epochs. ~ 0-6
6) Molder can't kill anything of yours, so you blast my Myr and then, over the ensuing aeons, grind away at my life total as entropy snuffs out the stars one by one. ~ 0-6
7) Hilarious matchup. ~ 6-0
8) As mentioned, Shoal can't counter anything of yours, and you blow up my memnite. The cyclic nature of the universe begins to manifest, and human civilization develops anew as the lifespan of one universe proves insufficient. ~ 0-6
9) Memnites are my strength, and thus, my weakness. With my memnite destroyed you lurch towards victory as the yottaseconds tick onward. We have long ago forgotten anything but the game, the infinite grind, but for one brief moment after a screaming eternity you finally experience the bliss of victory. ~ 0-6
X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
2 | X 6 6 2 0 0 6 0 0 | 20 | 250
As far as CalvinSchwa's concern about the backbuild meta, this hand loses pretty hard to other hands that focus on fragile win conditions as opposed to taking a really long time. Looking at previous rounds, I submitted it even though I knew both Wirecat and Dovescape/Mana Clash beat it, mostly because I thought it was pretty funny for someone to win against an arbitrarily large life advantage.
I would like to request that future backbuild rounds include among their baseline hands: a hand with at least one enchantment, a hand with at least one spell of CMC 1 or greater which they must cast as part of their win condition, and a hand with a 1/1 creature.
Otherwise I honestly can't figure out any way to beat both Wirecat and Dovescape. Plus, I feel like the format would be a lot more interesting with stronger baseline hands which seems never to have been the case.
EDIT: updated for tomsloger's round.
- Rabid Wombat
5 | 6 6 0 2 X 2 0 0 [0] | 16
5) Personman
Keldon Megaliths / Sand Silos / Eureka / Mycosynth Lattice / Nefarious Lich
vs
1) Anachronity
Keldon Megaliths / Mercadian Bazaar / Fountain of Cho / Phyrexian Unlife / Game of Chaos
Amazing innovation from Anachronity as usual! Luckily, this time I beat it, because Lich doesn't care about anyone's life total. 6-0
2) WhammeWhamme
Keeper of the Lens / Lotus Petal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind
a 1/2 is simply too enormous. 6-0.
3) DoubleFried
Timberline Ridge / Helix Pinnacle / Hearth Charm / Blessed Wine / Touch of Brilliance
Welcome to PHM! I'm not nearly this slow, and Lattice doesn't make things into creatures. 0-6.
4) Choptimist
Hollow Trees / Hypergenesis / Rivalry / Fevered Visions / Summoner's Pact
2-2 as you say.
6) knobbodi
Crosis's Catacombs / Memnite / Paradise Mantle / Molder / Evermind
Yay, Lattice did something! You can destroy Megaliths with Molder. Sadly, you do so in response to me shooting Memnite. 2-2.
7) CalvinSchwa
Aetherflux Reservoir / Saltcrusted Steppe / An-Havva Township / Farmstead / Molten Frame
I probably should've thought about Molten Frame/Hearth Charm before deciding that making things into artifacts was a cool way to be fragile. 0-6
8) Feyd_Ruin
Disrupting Shoal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / Memnite
I, too, thought long and hard about making Nix work, but didn't think of Shoal. Dang. 0-6
9) tomsloger
Memnite / Molten Frame / Mountain / Mountain / Mountain
See comment on #7. 0-6.
Crosis's Catacombs / Memnite / Paradise Mantle / Molder / Evermind
VS:
1) Anachronity
Keldon Megaliths / Mercadian Bazaar / Fountain of Cho / Phyrexian Unlife / Game of Chaos
--Megaliths kills Memnite 6-0
2) WhammeWhamme
Keeper of the Lens / Lotus Petal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind
--Molder can't kill a 1 drop and Keeper always gets to attack first by virtue of being a 1/2 6-0
3) DoubleFried
Timberline Ridge / Helix Pinnacle / Hearth Charm / Blessed Wine / Touch of Brilliance
--Hearth Charm kills Memnite 6-0
4) Choptimist
Hollow Trees / Hypergenesis / Rivalry / Fevered Visions / Summoner's Pact
--Paradise Mantle and Memnite come into play and then you can't win 0-6
5) Personman
Keldon Megaliths / Sand Silos / Eureka / Mycosynth Lattice / Nefarious Lich
--Megaliths kills Memnite but Molder kills Megaliths 2-2
7) CalvinSchwa
Aetherflux Reservoir / Saltcrusted Steppe / An-Havva Township / Farmstead / Molten Frame
--Molten Frame kills Memnite 6-0
8) Feyd_Ruin
Disrupting Shoal / Evermind / Evermind / Evermind / Memnite
--Disrupting Shoal counters Memnite 6-0
X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
6 | 6 6 6 0 2 X 6 6 | 32 | 457
And if we include tomsloger:
X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 |
6 | 6 6 6 0 2 X 6 6 6 | 38 | 475
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