I'm wondering about two headed giant commander deck
Building, specifically if life totals start at 40 for each team and if you are bound to the one card per team or per deck rule portion of it. I realize it's official and unofficial as a format so that's why I'm asking.
As you pointed out, 2HG Commander is not an official format. As such, there are no official rules for it. It is up to your group to determine how you want to handle the nuances of the format. I have seen some places that don't care about the 1 card per team rule and some that do. 60 life per team seems fairly common. Commander Damage is another that is sometimes tweaked. The more recent changes to the 2HG rules in terms of how attacking works may make this less relevant but I have seen some places do 31 Commander Damage instead of 21.
At my LGS, house rules include 20 for poison. So if we did 60 life and 31 Commander should the number of poison counters go to 25 or 30? This is a bit more serious because eventually as that number rises it feels like poison counters are nerded as a strategy. Somebody suggested to me it should be 80 life and 42 Commander damage(combined). Which kinda makes sense too.
C.R. 100.2 says: "To play, each player needs their own deck of traditional Magic cards", among other things. Nothing in the rules for the shared team turns option (under C.R. 805), the Two-Headed Giant variant (under C.R. 810), or the Commander variant (under C.R. 903) changes this. (Recall in particular that under C.R. 903.5b, "[o]ther than basic lands, each card in a Commander deck must have a different English name.")
And as long as players agree to impose modifications to the rules in their casual unsanctioned Magic games (that is, impose "house rules"), just as players can agree to modify the number of poison counters needed for a player to lose the game under C.R. 704.5c in casual unsanctioned Commander games, they can also agree to modify the number of poison counters needed for a team to lose the game in casual unsanctioned Two-Headed Giant games (which is normally greater than ten; see C.R. 810).
Finally, note that Commander is a variant that's independent of the multiplayer variants and options in effect in the game; nothing in the rules for that variant (under C.R. 903) explicitly precludes applying those rules to two-player games or to Two-Headed Giant games (C.R. 903.2).
So both players can have copies of the same spells and essentially play the exact same deck if they wanted... which could get wonky, like think rats lol. No tagging cards here I can't give give away strategy for 2HG Edh
The 2HG rules (not Commander 2HG) state 15 poison is needed instead of 10. 20 is already high. Raising it any further than that creates a situation where poison is no longer viable. I would suggest using 15 or just making a rules not allowing poison as a strategy at all. This becomes especially relevant if you choose to us the "1 card per team" rule as there are not enough poison and infect cards to split between two players so only one head on the opposing team is going to be trying to win via poison.
Also 42 Commander damage is way too high. I personally never really liked 31 commander damage. Again, the recent rules changes to 2HG make it less important that Commander Damage be raised with life totals. Yes, 21 is "low" for a starting life of 60 (or 80) but both players can block no matter who on the team is being attacked (this fact is also why having a high poison counter requirement is not going to work well). I have a hard time believing that anyone is going to die at 42 Commander damage (and 31 is unlikely too) so if you want to put it at 42, you are really just saying Commander Damage is not a viable strategy and you can just remove it at that point.
I am personally going to pull for the 30 life per team, 15 poison, no Commander damage win scenario. It keeps true to 2HG and Commander at the same time and allows to not get blown out by voltron strategies as much that way. If my playgroup insists Commander damage and the life totals be higher then we might opt for the one card per team thing. I can see how all these rules conflict in this particular format.
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Building, specifically if life totals start at 40 for each team and if you are bound to the one card per team or per deck rule portion of it. I realize it's official and unofficial as a format so that's why I'm asking.
And as long as players agree to impose modifications to the rules in their casual unsanctioned Magic games (that is, impose "house rules"), just as players can agree to modify the number of poison counters needed for a player to lose the game under C.R. 704.5c in casual unsanctioned Commander games, they can also agree to modify the number of poison counters needed for a team to lose the game in casual unsanctioned Two-Headed Giant games (which is normally greater than ten; see C.R. 810).
Finally, note that Commander is a variant that's independent of the multiplayer variants and options in effect in the game; nothing in the rules for that variant (under C.R. 903) explicitly precludes applying those rules to two-player games or to Two-Headed Giant games (C.R. 903.2).
EDIT (May 1, 2019): Edited.
EDIT (Jun. 19, 2022): Correctness edit.
Also 42 Commander damage is way too high. I personally never really liked 31 commander damage. Again, the recent rules changes to 2HG make it less important that Commander Damage be raised with life totals. Yes, 21 is "low" for a starting life of 60 (or 80) but both players can block no matter who on the team is being attacked (this fact is also why having a high poison counter requirement is not going to work well). I have a hard time believing that anyone is going to die at 42 Commander damage (and 31 is unlikely too) so if you want to put it at 42, you are really just saying Commander Damage is not a viable strategy and you can just remove it at that point.