Round 3 will be a Sealed Draft
You will get an entire 6-pack / 90 card draft pool. From this, you will decide your 3-card deck. There will be no draft rounds; you get the entire pool at once and only need to decide your deck. Enter as normal: Create a thread in the draft area, and I will post the sealed pool for you. ENTER NOW!
Perfect Hand Draft is a method of playing Perfect Hand Magic as we do in our forums, but it uses a drafting method for users to build their decks from. The format is Three-Hand Extra Land Rule. In this round, players will get a 90 card sealed pool all at once, and then choose three of those cards to be their deck submission. After everyone has drafted, those decks are played and scored exactly like a normal PHM round.
How to Enter
Entering the draft is easy, although different from the normal PHM submission process. All you have to do is make a thread in the PHM Draft forum. This area is private: other players can't see your thread in there, so you will conduct your draft in the thread therein, without anyone seeing.
Overview (Game Mod Note: Much of this won't apply to the sealed pool this round)
When the draft is started, each player will be presented with a single fifteen card pack to pick a card from. This pack is the same for all players, and what other players pick has no effect on your draft. After you choose your first card, you are presented with another 15-card pack - "Pack 2" - to choose from. You continue until you have drafted a card from all five packs. All five packs are the same for all players - what you see and choose from is exactly what everyone else chooses from.
After you have drafted a card from each of these five packs, you will then choose three of those cards to build your deck submission from. Again, the format is Three-Hand Extra Land Rule. After all players have finished drafting and made their submission selection, the decks will be posted. The format will always have the Extra Land Rule - each player may play basic land cards from outside of the game and players may play an additional land each turn if they play that land from their hand. Note that with the extra land rule, drafting lands is mana acceleration. Even if Karakas doesn't seem great for its ability in a round - it's still as good as a Mox Pearl.
In the end, you will see the entire card pool that everyone drafted from. All of the options and ideas that you saw were options and paths other players may have taken. The draft is the main challenge of the format. How well can you determine all the avenues other players will take, and adapt to defeat them?
You Draft it: You can Play it
If a card is in the draft pool, you can draft it, put it in your deck, and play it accordingly. There are no rules against what your deck can do, such as forcing discard early or winning quickly. The deck and card balancing is built into the cardpool already, so there are no additional rules about what you can play.
Pack Generation
Packs are generated, semi-randomly. They are not constructed, but they are often tweaked slightly and always adhere to a central card pool with design rules and mapping. Each player has the same options in the draft, so everything is always perfectly fair, but care has been taken to allow multiple competitive options. The cardpool and methodology is very balanced, although the randomness can cause certain avenues to be more successful in a draft. Pack sets with obvious issues are simply discarded - I will ensure the packs are balanced by re-generating for the round.
Guaranteed Wincons
Every pack is guaranteed to contain multiple win conditions. If you you've only been picking removal and disruption, you can rest assured there will be a playable wincon in pack five. There is, of course, no guarantee that you will like any of the wincons therein, but you will absolutely have something you can use.
Dependencies
There aren't any truly dead cards. As part of the pack generation design, if a card is dependent on some other card being in the draft, it will be there. If there is an Isochron Scepter, for instance, there will always be an instant with converted mana cost 2 or less to imprint on it. It will always be in another pack (to ensure you can draft both), and it will be something worth imprinting. The ordering is random, however, so Isochron Scepter could come in pack five and require you to have already chosen that card. Likewise for the Instant coming in pack 2 and Isochron coming in pack 3. Alternatively, cards that aren't dependent on something might not have a go-to card that gets played with it. Karakas does not guarantee a Leyline of Singularity, and Progenitus does not guarantee any way to "cheat" him in; these cards are all fully functional on their own. The pack generator does give a chance that a combo of cards do appear together, however.
Draft and Play Rules
The following are the official rules of the Perfect Hand Draft. They cover the drafting procedures, as well as the game playing procedures. Much of this has been adapted from Mogg's official PHM rules, and credit for their beauty goes to him.
In the event the rules do not cover a specific happenstance or are ambiguous, the moderator of the Draft will have the final declaration of the rules.
1. Drafting
1.1. An entrant enters the draft be creating a thread in the PHM Draft forum.
1.1a. Packs will be displayed and picks will be chosen within this thread.
1.1b. Each entrant's thread is private and can only be seen by that entrant and the PHM Draft Mod.
1.2. The PHM Draft Mod will post the first pack of the round to start the draft.
1.2. Entrants will choose a single card from the pack to add to his or her draft pool.
1.2a. Entrants may only choose a single card from the current draft pack, unless overriden by round rules.
1.2b. Entrants may change their choice only until the next pack has been posted.
1.2c. Entrants are free to get clarifications or rules questions for any card or aspect of the draft before choosing their pick.
1.3. The PHM Draft Mod will then note the chosen card and post the next pack.
1.4. Rules 1.2 and 1.3 will repeat for the draft, until all five packs of the draft have been drafted.
1.4a. Entrants may never change any previously chosen draft picks.
1.4b. The pick for the last pack of the draft may be chaged only up until the PHM Draft Mod responds and notes it in his or her draft pool.
2. Deck Submission
2.1. Upon completing the draft, an entrant determines his or her deck submission.
2.2. An entrant may only submit a deck composed of cards from within his or her draft pool.
2.3. An entrant may not submit the same draft pick multiple times for his or her deck submission.
2.4. An entrant may change his or her submission up until the round's posting.
2.4a. Entrants should make a new reply in his or her thread to change the deck.
2.4b. The last legal deck sumbission will be used for the round's posting.
2.5. An entrant must make all pre-game choices as part of his or her submission.
2.5a. Any round-rule choices must be submitted at the time of the deck building submission and cannot be changed once the round has posted.
2.5b. Any draft-ability choices must also be chosen as part of the deck building submission and cannot be changed between games.
Contents
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Entry Rules
4. Scoring
5. Extra Land Rule
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 in PHM Draft is limited to the cards drafted. Unlike most PHM setups, there is no ban list, legality list, or extra deck restrictions beyond the draft and building from those cards. All restrictions and legality are already built into the draft pool.
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 that have been drafted but not included in a player's deck can be referenced or brought into the game by card effects.
2.9a. Effects, such as Burning Wish, that can bring cards in from outside of the game may only find a card that was drafted and not included in the player's deck.
2.9b. Effects, such as Volatile Chimera, which require drafted cards that are not within the deck function as normal.
3. Entry Rules
3.1. A player's deck is chosen only from the cards that player has drafted, as noted in draft rules above.
3.2. A player's deck submission is always three cards, unless overridden by specific round rules.
3.3. All pre-game choices, such as from round rules and draft effects, must be chosen and locked in as part of the deck's submission.
4. Scoring
4.1. 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.
4.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
4.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
4.3a. Players are encouraged to determine or verify additional match results.
4.3b. An undetermined match result is counted as a loss for both players in that match.
4.3c. A player may challenge any result until the moderator announces that the result is final.
5. Extra Land Rule
5.1 Unless specifically noted in the round's special rules, all games in the Perfect Hand Magic Draft will be played with the "extra land rules" as listed below.
5.1A. 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.
5.1b. Any player may play an additional land on each of his or her turns from his or her hand.
Each card must be part of your 3-Card Deck Submission in order for that card to be used. Additionally, both require a choice as part of the deck submission (rule 2.5 : You have to make this choice as part of the submission and it can't be changed between rounds). Arcane Savant lets you choose an instant or sorcery from the draft pool which is NOT in your 3 card deck submission. That card would begin the game in exile and be "attached" to your Arcane Savant. Muzzio's Preparations lets you name any creature card and begins the game in the Command Zone.
If you submitted Arcane Savant, you would want to submit:
Card1 / Card2 / Arcane Savant (Name: Instant/Sorcery Card That isn't Card1 or Card2)
Likewise, Muzzio's Preparations would be:
Card1 / Card2 / Muzzio's Preparations (Name: Creature Card that probably is Card1 or Card2)
It's come to my attention that Muzzio's Preparation doesn't quite work the way i want it to with Sealed. At least, not normally. In a normal draft it will work - you can get it in addition to your three cards but you still have to spend a pick on it. With sealed.. it's basically free, which is very much not ideal.
This was tweaked, etc, but started off generated from the normal five card pack.
I will stick to the above for this round, and apologize for the confusion.
In the future, I will just have to make sure no conspiracies appear in a Sealed round.
So apologies if it confuses you, and is technically wrong, but for this round you'll only get Muzzio's Preparations if you pick it.
I will adjust things so that it works the way it should in the future: adjust and clarify the rules, keep them from appearing in sealed, etc.
Round 4 will most likely be a normal draft with a special round rule.
I'm considering "Extra Pick"
Extra Pick
Five packs of 15 cards as normal.
On any one pack, a player may choose to draft an additional card.
The player will then have 6 drafted cards, but will still submit a 3 card deck as normal.
Note: The player must use this extra pick as he drafts his normal pick for that pick; he cannot go back to a later pack. If you have not chosen to use your extra draft pick by pack 5, you would then have to use it for pack 5.
As for Extra Pick, I think it would be better to make it only 4 boosters, one with extra pick, so the total number of picked cards stays the same. In this scenario, the extra pick is even more important, as it is one of five cards, not six; there are less "wasted" cards; and maybe the round goes faster, as people need to make less choices.
That's definitely something that could be very interesting. It's kind of the opposite, adding pressure instead of adding a bonus.
In Extra Pick, you're explicitly getting an extra pick that can be tossed away. I've noticed people are very hesitant to "Gamble" on cards - that is, to pick a card that might be really good but is highly dependent on later packs. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to diverge into two paths, and see which one you prefer. On pack 5, you could already have cards A&B and X&Y. This then lets you look back and decide if A&B or X&Y would be better for the round, and let you pick up either card C or Z to fill out your options.
"4 Pack Draft" with Extra Pick adds pressure. The card pool is smaller and tighter, which makes the meta smaller and tighter. This then means you have to be more focused and adapted, since being "great in general" will be far less important than being tuned to handle the repeated cards you're sure to see. The extra pick further adds pressure, because it's not a bonus anymore. It's part of your normal draft, and timing its use is critical. As your deck has to handle a narrower field, drafting the extra pick early is risky because you don't know what's coming, and holding it for a later pack is risky because there might not be a 2nd card you need and it's wasted.
We could definitely try the 4 pack version, but that would take me a bit to adjust what's generated. The more limited we go, the more important it is that I ensure there are multiple "paths" to take, and that it isn't "Choose X, Meta Against X, or Go Home". I'll definitely be thinking on it.
I'd like most of our special rounds to be about the draft, since that's the main difference from normal PHM.
Ideas I've had:
* Extra Pick (as above)
* Early Pick (On any one pack you can double pick. If you do, you lose a future pick)
* Back Pick (Once in the game, you can change a single pick from a previous pack)
* Random Blind (Your pick for pack 1 will be randomly chosen for you. Pack 1 is a godly pack.)
* Legions (Every card in the cardpool is a creature card)
* "Format" (Every card in the cardpool is [Modern, Standard, Frontier]
* Halloween (Every card in the cardpool is black [plus black lands, etc].)
Always open to suggestions
Aside: I'm going to give it one more day before I post the round. Knoboddi is the only drafter who hasn't submitted.
Instead of "Early Pick", you could throw a Cogwork Librarian into the draftable pool. Give some players individually more options? (Or call the format Cogwork)
Cogwork Librarian is elegant, but is pretty much a worse version of extra pick.
If this goes on for a while, I think a backdraft round would be pretty fun. Take out all the situational/comboy cards, see how bad we can make decks with a super powerful card pool.
(And absolutely no rush, but when is the round firing?)
When I make a round, I try to see if from your all's perspective and figure out what I'd choose. Since this was a sealed round where I had no "i know what's coming" advantage, I briefly considered entering - but as this took a good bit of hand tweaking, it would still be unfair. That said, the deck I would have gone with was exactly ManyCookies's entry (Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse), so it's really nice to see it on the field.
Before I do out my line I want to make sure the interaction I built my deck around really works. Turn 5 Arcane Savant with Rite of Replication, if undisrupted, creates an arbitrary number of Arcane Savant tokens, right? The card enters the battlefield, I cast a copy of Rite targeting arcane savant (no kicker) and when that resolves I get another Arcane Savant, which comes with another copy of Rite, and so on until I have a billion Arcane Savants and I choose not to cast the Rite, breaking the loop. Correct?
There are a bunch of typos in the posted hand - Dreamstealer, Piracy Charm, Gideon of the Trials. Not a huge deal but makes it a little annoying to check card texts. It would also be super helpful if you edited the grid into the OP, so it's right next to the hands.
Anyway, I definitely overestimated the value of Lake. I think I didn't quite think through that I can't even win before turn 5 without disruption, and there's plenty of disruption.
That said, I think I do a little better than listed.
vs. 5 Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle, turn 2 Battlemage means it's going to be just Gideon no matter what – if Pinnacle is played, Gideon and Arboria are discarded, and I race Pinnacle easily. And if Gideon tries to win, I just kill it. So instead Gideon +1s forever and we draw.
vs. 7 Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime it's similar on my play. Either I discard Approach to t1 Crime, get the other two, and win, or Crime and Chancery are discarded and it's a draw as above. On the draw, I have to discard Lake, but just playing a Gray Ogre turn 3 is still enough to draw, since Chancery doesn't do anything. Gideon +1 beats a 2/2.
vs 9 Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle, I'm not sure how I can lose. I can force kicked Battlemage through Evasive Action on turn 2 on the play and turn 6 on the draw. The only thing that can stop Approach is Force, and if Battlemage resolves it takes out Force, and if it gets Forced it also takes out Force.
Exactly.
It does not go "infinite" it goes "arbitrarily large number"
You get a loop you can repeat any number of times, and after say a billion you end the loop.
You are then stuck at one billion Savants.
It is important to note that you get "stuck" for the Mirror match. If Player-A first drops a billion Savants, Player-B can then drop two billion Savants and thus win. Visa versa as well. The mirrors tie unless disruption/speed/etc otherwise break the tie.
1. Superbajt
Arcane Savant1/ Maze of Ith / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hold Garza's Assasisn to kill your savant in response to your first rite of replication. I rebuy my Arcane Savant with flashback and win.
6-0
2. Personman
Approach of the Second Sun / Lake of the Dead / Thunderscape Battlemage So when you're on the play...
1 Swamp, Lake of the Dead
2 Plains
3 Swamp (possible 5 mana)
4 Swamp (possible 6 mana)
5 Swamp, cast second sun for the first time, I tap out for a billion arcane savants
6 swamp, you win.
But when I'm on the play, this is flipped around and I attack with a billion arcane savants while you're at 27.
3-3, unless I messed up the lake of the dead math.
0-6. I messed up the lake of the dead math.
3. WhammeWhamme
Creeping Tar Pit / Memory's Journey / Pirate Charm
Billions of wizards kill you on turn 6.
6-0
5. Convoy_Avenger
Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle
cool combo. I can't attack you at the right time.
0-6
6. ManyCookies
Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse
As you said above, I can flashback memory's journey on your end step, then draw and cast Arcane Savant for the win.
6-0
7. CalvinSchwa
Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime
You make me discard 2 cards, but Arcane Savant is enough to get the job done.
6-0
8. Anachronity
Arcane Savant1/ Azorius Chancery / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication I hang on to Garza's Assasin to ride out your discard and disrupt the Savant Combo, and I flashback memory's journey to go off myself.
6-0
When you're on the play, you go turbo Arcan Savant on turn 3 which is faster than I can deal with.
3-3
9. Magus of the Aesthetic
Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle
Memory's journey beats two counters and Arcane Savant Races Pinnacle
6-0
4 | 6 0 6 X 0 6 6 2 6 | 32
Pool analysis: Once I realized that there was a way to make a billion 3/3's for 5 mana I just decided I needed the best tools to protect that. Memory's journey gets it through countermagic, discard, and destroy effects, and Garza's Assassin is mainly there to kill my own Arcane Savant if somebody tries to cast Path to Exile on it while the first Rite of Replication is on the stack. The Assassin also does good work disrupting other Arcane Savant decks, which I expected to see. I felt very very good about this deck and I'm glad to see that I was right!
3-3, unless I messed up the lake of the dead math.
I think you did. I can cast it the first time on t3 and the second time on t5:
1. Swamp
2. Plains
3. Swamp, tap all for BBW, Lake sacrificing one, activate lake sacrificing the other for BBBBBBW, cast Approach
4. Swamp (BBBBBW possible)
5. Swamp, now I have 2 Swamps, a Plains, and Lake as on turn 3 and can cast it again.
vs. 01 Superbajt: Mutual discard annihilation, maze v. manland. 2-2
vs. 02 Personman: Discard Approach, race Battlemage. 6-0
vs. 04 MyNameIsFourteen: Journey off favours bigger threats. 0-6
vs. 05 Convoy_Avenger: OTP discard hits all, OTD Gids wins. 3-3
vs. 06 ManyCookies: Discard Riding the Dilu Horse, win race. 6-0
vs. 07 CalvinSchwa: Turn Two Gids wins. 0-6
vs. 08 Anachronity: ...stupid Savant. 0-6
vs. 09 Magus of the Aesthetic: Manland beats counters. 6-0
vs. 5 Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle, turn 2 Battlemage means it's going to be just Gideon no matter what – if Pinnacle is played, Gideon and Arboria are discarded, and I race Pinnacle easily. And if Gideon tries to win, I just kill it. So instead Gideon +1s forever and we draw.
I don't need to +1 for literally forever, I need to +1 long enough till I have enough Loyalty counters(15ish) to attack you to death without losing Gideon.
vs. 05 Convoy_Avenger: OTP discard hits all, OTD Gids wins. 3-3
You OTP:
T1: Land, Tar Pit, Piracy Charm (Arboria)
T2: Land, Journey
T3: Land, Piracy Charm (Pinnacle)
I play Gideon, same shenanigans as Personman, I just need to go up to higher loyalty.
disagree with posted results on my matchups vs. MyNameIsFourteen and vs. Magus of the Aesthetic
1) OTD the first one to play Savant names the smaller arbitrary number and loses. OTP I win with better ramp. ~ 4-1
2) ramp + Savant wins past discard. ~ 6-0
3) I end up discarding everything before I can cast Savant. ~ 0-6
4) OTP I can ramp and cast Savant before you cast Assassin. OTD you cast Assassin first and murder my Savant in response to his trigger. ~ 3-3
5) I win before Arboria can trigger. ~ 6-0
6) even OTP, Dreamstealer eats my hand before I can win. ~ 0-6
7) neither of us can hit the other's win con. Savant beats Gideon. ~ 6-0
9) Raven's Crime forces you to abandon your win con and Evasive Action. the Chancery lets me cast Savant before you can hardcast Will, even OTD. ~ 6-0
Round 3
Round 3 will be a Sealed Draft
You will get an entire 6-pack / 90 card draft pool. From this, you will decide your 3-card deck. There will be no draft rounds; you get the entire pool at once and only need to decide your deck. Enter as normal: Create a thread in the draft area, and I will post the sealed pool for you.
ENTER NOW!
Entries
1. Superbajt
Arcane Savant1/ Maze of Ith / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
2. Personman
Approach of the Second Sun / Lake of the Dead / Thunderscape Battlemage
3. WhammeWhamme
Creeping Tar Pit / Memory's Journey / Pirate Charm
4. MyNameIsFourteen
Arcane Savant1/ Garza's Assassin / Memory's Journey || 1Rite of Replication
5. Convoy_Avenger
Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle
6. ManyCookies
Ancient Tomb / Dreamstealer / Riding the Dilu Horse
7. CalvinSchwa
Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime
8. Anachronity
Arcane Savant1/ Azorius Chancery / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
9. Magus of the Aesthetic
Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle
Introduction & Overview
Welcome to the Perfect Hand Draft!
Perfect Hand Draft is a method of playing Perfect Hand Magic as we do in our forums, but it uses a drafting method for users to build their decks from. The format is Three-Hand Extra Land Rule. In this round, players will get a 90 card sealed pool all at once, and then choose three of those cards to be their deck submission. After everyone has drafted, those decks are played and scored exactly like a normal PHM round.
How to Enter
Entering the draft is easy, although different from the normal PHM submission process. All you have to do is make a thread in the PHM Draft forum. This area is private: other players can't see your thread in there, so you will conduct your draft in the thread therein, without anyone seeing.
Overview
(Game Mod Note: Much of this won't apply to the sealed pool this round)
When the draft is started, each player will be presented with a single fifteen card pack to pick a card from. This pack is the same for all players, and what other players pick has no effect on your draft. After you choose your first card, you are presented with another 15-card pack - "Pack 2" - to choose from. You continue until you have drafted a card from all five packs. All five packs are the same for all players - what you see and choose from is exactly what everyone else chooses from.
After you have drafted a card from each of these five packs, you will then choose three of those cards to build your deck submission from. Again, the format is Three-Hand Extra Land Rule. After all players have finished drafting and made their submission selection, the decks will be posted. The format will always have the Extra Land Rule - each player may play basic land cards from outside of the game and players may play an additional land each turn if they play that land from their hand. Note that with the extra land rule, drafting lands is mana acceleration. Even if Karakas doesn't seem great for its ability in a round - it's still as good as a Mox Pearl.
In the end, you will see the entire card pool that everyone drafted from. All of the options and ideas that you saw were options and paths other players may have taken. The draft is the main challenge of the format. How well can you determine all the avenues other players will take, and adapt to defeat them?
You Draft it: You can Play it
If a card is in the draft pool, you can draft it, put it in your deck, and play it accordingly. There are no rules against what your deck can do, such as forcing discard early or winning quickly. The deck and card balancing is built into the cardpool already, so there are no additional rules about what you can play.
Pack Generation
Packs are generated, semi-randomly. They are not constructed, but they are often tweaked slightly and always adhere to a central card pool with design rules and mapping. Each player has the same options in the draft, so everything is always perfectly fair, but care has been taken to allow multiple competitive options. The cardpool and methodology is very balanced, although the randomness can cause certain avenues to be more successful in a draft. Pack sets with obvious issues are simply discarded - I will ensure the packs are balanced by re-generating for the round.
Guaranteed Wincons
Every pack is guaranteed to contain multiple win conditions. If you you've only been picking removal and disruption, you can rest assured there will be a playable wincon in pack five. There is, of course, no guarantee that you will like any of the wincons therein, but you will absolutely have something you can use.
Dependencies
There aren't any truly dead cards. As part of the pack generation design, if a card is dependent on some other card being in the draft, it will be there. If there is an Isochron Scepter, for instance, there will always be an instant with converted mana cost 2 or less to imprint on it. It will always be in another pack (to ensure you can draft both), and it will be something worth imprinting. The ordering is random, however, so Isochron Scepter could come in pack five and require you to have already chosen that card. Likewise for the Instant coming in pack 2 and Isochron coming in pack 3. Alternatively, cards that aren't dependent on something might not have a go-to card that gets played with it. Karakas does not guarantee a Leyline of Singularity, and Progenitus does not guarantee any way to "cheat" him in; these cards are all fully functional on their own. The pack generator does give a chance that a combo of cards do appear together, however.
Draft and Play Rules
The following are the official rules of the Perfect Hand Draft. They cover the drafting procedures, as well as the game playing procedures. Much of this has been adapted from Mogg's official PHM rules, and credit for their beauty goes to him.
In the event the rules do not cover a specific happenstance or are ambiguous, the moderator of the Draft will have the final declaration of the rules.
1. Drafting
1.1. An entrant enters the draft be creating a thread in the PHM Draft forum.
1.1b. Each entrant's thread is private and can only be seen by that entrant and the PHM Draft Mod.
1.2. The PHM Draft Mod will post the first pack of the round to start the draft.
1.2. Entrants will choose a single card from the pack to add to his or her draft pool.
1.2b. Entrants may change their choice only until the next pack has been posted.
1.2c. Entrants are free to get clarifications or rules questions for any card or aspect of the draft before choosing their pick.
1.3. The PHM Draft Mod will then note the chosen card and post the next pack.
1.4. Rules 1.2 and 1.3 will repeat for the draft, until all five packs of the draft have been drafted.
1.4b. The pick for the last pack of the draft may be chaged only up until the PHM Draft Mod responds and notes it in his or her draft pool.
2. Deck Submission
2.1. Upon completing the draft, an entrant determines his or her deck submission.
2.2. An entrant may only submit a deck composed of cards from within his or her draft pool.
2.3. An entrant may not submit the same draft pick multiple times for his or her deck submission.
2.4. An entrant may change his or her submission up until the round's posting.
2.4b. The last legal deck sumbission will be used for the round's posting.
2.5. An entrant must make all pre-game choices as part of his or her submission.
2.5b. Any draft-ability choices must also be chosen as part of the deck building submission and cannot be changed between games.
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Entry Rules
4. Scoring
5. Extra Land Rule
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 in PHM Draft is limited to the cards drafted. Unlike most PHM setups, there is no ban list, legality list, or extra deck restrictions beyond the draft and building from those cards. All restrictions and legality are already built into the draft pool.
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 that have been drafted but not included in a player's deck can be referenced or brought into the game by card effects.
2.9b. Effects, such as Volatile Chimera, which require drafted cards that are not within the deck function as normal.
3. Entry Rules
3.1. A player's deck is chosen only from the cards that player has drafted, as noted in draft rules above.
3.2. A player's deck submission is always three cards, unless overridden by specific round rules.
3.3. All pre-game choices, such as from round rules and draft effects, must be chosen and locked in as part of the deck's submission.
4. Scoring
4.1. 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.
4.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
4.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
4.3b. An undetermined match result is counted as a loss for both players in that match.
4.3c. A player may challenge any result until the moderator announces that the result is final.
5. Extra Land Rule
5.1 Unless specifically noted in the round's special rules, all games in the Perfect Hand Magic Draft will be played with the "extra land rules" as listed below.
5.1b. Any player may play an additional land on each of his or her turns from his or her hand.
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This round contains Arcane Savant and Muzzio's Preparations.
Each card must be part of your 3-Card Deck Submission in order for that card to be used. Additionally, both require a choice as part of the deck submission (rule 2.5 : You have to make this choice as part of the submission and it can't be changed between rounds). Arcane Savant lets you choose an instant or sorcery from the draft pool which is NOT in your 3 card deck submission. That card would begin the game in exile and be "attached" to your Arcane Savant. Muzzio's Preparations lets you name any creature card and begins the game in the Command Zone.
If you submitted Arcane Savant, you would want to submit:
Card1 / Card2 / Arcane Savant (Name: Instant/Sorcery Card That isn't Card1 or Card2)
Likewise, Muzzio's Preparations would be:
Card1 / Card2 / Muzzio's Preparations (Name: Creature Card that probably is Card1 or Card2)
No longer staff here.
This was tweaked, etc, but started off generated from the normal five card pack.
I will stick to the above for this round, and apologize for the confusion.
In the future, I will just have to make sure no conspiracies appear in a Sealed round.
So apologies if it confuses you, and is technically wrong, but for this round you'll only get Muzzio's Preparations if you pick it.
I will adjust things so that it works the way it should in the future: adjust and clarify the rules, keep them from appearing in sealed, etc.
No longer staff here.
Round 4 will most likely be a normal draft with a special round rule.
I'm considering "Extra Pick"
Extra Pick
Five packs of 15 cards as normal.
On any one pack, a player may choose to draft an additional card.
The player will then have 6 drafted cards, but will still submit a 3 card deck as normal.
Note: The player must use this extra pick as he drafts his normal pick for that pick; he cannot go back to a later pack. If you have not chosen to use your extra draft pick by pack 5, you would then have to use it for pack 5.
No longer staff here.
In Extra Pick, you're explicitly getting an extra pick that can be tossed away. I've noticed people are very hesitant to "Gamble" on cards - that is, to pick a card that might be really good but is highly dependent on later packs. Additionally, it gives you the opportunity to diverge into two paths, and see which one you prefer. On pack 5, you could already have cards A&B and X&Y. This then lets you look back and decide if A&B or X&Y would be better for the round, and let you pick up either card C or Z to fill out your options.
"4 Pack Draft" with Extra Pick adds pressure. The card pool is smaller and tighter, which makes the meta smaller and tighter. This then means you have to be more focused and adapted, since being "great in general" will be far less important than being tuned to handle the repeated cards you're sure to see. The extra pick further adds pressure, because it's not a bonus anymore. It's part of your normal draft, and timing its use is critical. As your deck has to handle a narrower field, drafting the extra pick early is risky because you don't know what's coming, and holding it for a later pack is risky because there might not be a 2nd card you need and it's wasted.
We could definitely try the 4 pack version, but that would take me a bit to adjust what's generated. The more limited we go, the more important it is that I ensure there are multiple "paths" to take, and that it isn't "Choose X, Meta Against X, or Go Home". I'll definitely be thinking on it.
I'd like most of our special rounds to be about the draft, since that's the main difference from normal PHM.
Ideas I've had:
* Extra Pick (as above)
* Early Pick (On any one pack you can double pick. If you do, you lose a future pick)
* Back Pick (Once in the game, you can change a single pick from a previous pack)
* Random Blind (Your pick for pack 1 will be randomly chosen for you. Pack 1 is a godly pack.)
* Legions (Every card in the cardpool is a creature card)
* "Format" (Every card in the cardpool is [Modern, Standard, Frontier]
* Halloween (Every card in the cardpool is black [plus black lands, etc].)
Always open to suggestions
Aside: I'm going to give it one more day before I post the round. Knoboddi is the only drafter who hasn't submitted.
No longer staff here.
If this goes on for a while, I think a backdraft round would be pretty fun. Take out all the situational/comboy cards, see how bad we can make decks with a super powerful card pool.
(And absolutely no rush, but when is the round firing?)
I was trying to hold out for knoboddi to submit
HANDS POSTED
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XX | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 | PT : AVG
01 | X 3 2 0 2 6 6 1 4 | 23 : 288
02 | 3 X 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 | 08 : 100
03 | 2 6 X 0 0 6 0 6 6 | 26 : 325
04 | 6 0 6 X 0 6 6 6 6 | 36 : 450
05 | 2 6 6 6 X 0 4 0 3 | 26 : 325
06 | 0 6 0 0 6 X 0 6 0 | 18 : 225
07 | 0 6 6 0 1 6 X 0 6 | 25 : 313
08 | 4 6 0 0 6 0 6 X 3 | 24 : 300
09 | 1 6 0 0 3 6 0 3 X | 17 : 213
No longer staff here.
I disagree on 6 <-> 4, should be 0-6. 4 can flashback memory's journey at end step to put savant on top of his deck, then outrace with 6 3/3s.
No longer staff here.
Anyway, I definitely overestimated the value of Lake. I think I didn't quite think through that I can't even win before turn 5 without disruption, and there's plenty of disruption.
That said, I think I do a little better than listed.
vs. 5 Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle, turn 2 Battlemage means it's going to be just Gideon no matter what – if Pinnacle is played, Gideon and Arboria are discarded, and I race Pinnacle easily. And if Gideon tries to win, I just kill it. So instead Gideon +1s forever and we draw.
Gideon +1 beats a 2/2.vs. 7 Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime it's similar on my play. Either I discard Approach to t1 Crime, get the other two, and win, or Crime and Chancery are discarded and it's a draw as above. On the draw, I have to discard Lake, but just playing a Gray Ogre turn 3 is still enough to draw, since Chancery doesn't do anything.
vs 9 Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle, I'm not sure how I can lose. I can force kicked Battlemage through Evasive Action on turn 2 on the play and turn 6 on the draw. The only thing that can stop Approach is Force, and if Battlemage resolves it takes out Force, and if it gets Forced it also takes out Force.
So I think my row is
02 | 3 X 0 6 0 0 0 0 6 | 14
It does not go "infinite" it goes "arbitrarily large number"
You get a loop you can repeat any number of times, and after say a billion you end the loop.
You are then stuck at one billion Savants.
It is important to note that you get "stuck" for the Mirror match. If Player-A first drops a billion Savants, Player-B can then drop two billion Savants and thus win. Visa versa as well. The mirrors tie unless disruption/speed/etc otherwise break the tie.
You are correct.
No longer staff here.
Arcane Savant1/ Garza's Assassin / Memory's Journey || 1Rite of Replication
Arcane Savant1/ Maze of Ith / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hold Garza's Assasisn to kill your savant in response to your first rite of replication. I rebuy my Arcane Savant with flashback and win.
6-0
2. Personman
Approach of the Second Sun / Lake of the Dead / Thunderscape Battlemage
So when you're on the play...
1 Swamp, Lake of the Dead
2 Plains
3 Swamp (possible 5 mana)
4 Swamp (possible 6 mana)
5 Swamp, cast second sun for the first time, I tap out for a billion arcane savants
6 swamp, you win.
But when I'm on the play, this is flipped around and I attack with a billion arcane savants while you're at 27.
3-3, unless I messed up the lake of the dead math.
0-6. I messed up the lake of the dead math.
3. WhammeWhamme
Creeping Tar Pit / Memory's Journey / Pirate Charm
Billions of wizards kill you on turn 6.
6-0
5. Convoy_Avenger
Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle
cool combo. I can't attack you at the right time.
0-6
6. ManyCookies
Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse
As you said above, I can flashback memory's journey on your end step, then draw and cast Arcane Savant for the win.
6-0
7. CalvinSchwa
Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime
You make me discard 2 cards, but Arcane Savant is enough to get the job done.
6-0
8. Anachronity
Arcane Savant1/ Azorius Chancery / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hang on to Garza's Assasin to ride out your discard and disrupt the Savant Combo, and I flashback memory's journey to go off myself.6-0
When you're on the play, you go turbo Arcan Savant on turn 3 which is faster than I can deal with.
3-3
9. Magus of the Aesthetic
Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle
Memory's journey beats two counters and Arcane Savant Races Pinnacle
6-0
Pool analysis: Once I realized that there was a way to make a billion 3/3's for 5 mana I just decided I needed the best tools to protect that. Memory's journey gets it through countermagic, discard, and destroy effects, and Garza's Assassin is mainly there to kill my own Arcane Savant if somebody tries to cast Path to Exile on it while the first Rite of Replication is on the stack. The Assassin also does good work disrupting other Arcane Savant decks, which I expected to see. I felt very very good about this deck and I'm glad to see that I was right!
I think you did. I can cast it the first time on t3 and the second time on t5:
1. Swamp
2. Plains
3. Swamp, tap all for BBW, Lake sacrificing one, activate lake sacrificing the other for BBBBBBW, cast Approach
4. Swamp (BBBBBW possible)
5. Swamp, now I have 2 Swamps, a Plains, and Lake as on turn 3 and can cast it again.
vs. 02 Personman: Discard Approach, race Battlemage. 6-0
vs. 04 MyNameIsFourteen: Journey off favours bigger threats. 0-6
vs. 05 Convoy_Avenger: OTP discard hits all, OTD Gids wins. 3-3
vs. 06 ManyCookies: Discard Riding the Dilu Horse, win race. 6-0
vs. 07 CalvinSchwa: Turn Two Gids wins. 0-6
vs. 08 Anachronity: ...stupid Savant. 0-6
vs. 09 Magus of the Aesthetic: Manland beats counters. 6-0
Did not realize Savant looped with Rite. Dang.
I don't need to +1 for literally forever, I need to +1 long enough till I have enough Loyalty counters(15ish) to attack you to death without losing Gideon.
You OTP:
T1: Land, Tar Pit, Piracy Charm (Arboria)
T2: Land, Journey
T3: Land, Piracy Charm (Pinnacle)
I play Gideon, same shenanigans as Personman, I just need to go up to higher loyalty.
How do you hit all 3 things?
2) ramp + Savant wins past discard. ~ 6-0
3) I end up discarding everything before I can cast Savant. ~ 0-6
4) OTP I can ramp and cast Savant before you cast Assassin. OTD you cast Assassin first and murder my Savant in response to his trigger. ~ 3-3
5) I win before Arboria can trigger. ~ 6-0
6) even OTP, Dreamstealer eats my hand before I can win. ~ 0-6
7) neither of us can hit the other's win con. Savant beats Gideon. ~ 6-0
9) Raven's Crime forces you to abandon your win con and Evasive Action. the Chancery lets me cast Savant before you can hardcast Will, even OTD. ~ 6-0
8 | 4 6 0 3 6 0 6 X 6 | 30 | 375
- Rabid Wombat