This variant was restored from the archives of reddit. I thought it had great potential, but was underrated. I would like to repost it here to attract more attention and discussion.
Basically, this is a variant for 5-6 players. You will need, in addition to a deck for each person, 1 Plains, 1 Forest, 2 Mountains, 1 Swamp, and if playing with a 6th player, 1 Island.
Randomly pass out one land to each player, face down. No one (except the King, or if the Usurper kills the King) can reveal who he is until the game is over. You can claim to be a particular role, but you cannot reveal your card.
Plains = King. The King starts at 50 life, and goes first. The goal of the king is to be the last man standing.
Forest = Knight. The goal of the Knight is to protect the King. If the King and the Knight are the last two standing, they both win.
Mountain = Bandit. The goal of the Bandit is to kill the King. If the King dies, the Bandits win, regardless of who is still in the game (Remember, two mountains means two bandits).
Swamp = Assassin. The goal of the Assassin is to kill everyone.
Island = Usurper. The goal of the Usurper is to deliver the killing blow to the King. If this happens, the King and Usurper switch places. The Usurper's life total goes to 50, and the previous King remains in the game as the new Usurper at 1 life. It is now the job of the Knight to protect the new King.
The game begins with the king revealing himself. Everyone is allowed to claim they are a certain role, but no one may reveal their actual role.
Notes:
The alliances/enemies typically go...
King and Knight stick together.
Bandit and Usurper typically clash. The bandit will often try to kill the Usurper (because having a new king at 50 life isn't fun), and the Usurper wants to weaken the bandits but only kill them when the king is low on health.
The assassin has the most political game. The longer they are unsuspected of being the assassin, the better. The assassin typically checks and balances everyone else, but usually he wants the Usurper to do well so as to drag the game on, while also keeping the bandits alive but not doing well enough to kill the king.
It's a crazy social game. No one knows who anyone is, and it can lead to a lot of chaos, much like secret alliances. The knight is the only one who has the most linear play-through. Not even the king can be sure who the true enemy is. The knight, however, knows his only friend is the king, and anyone else is an enemy.
*If both bandits are dead, killing the king does not grant them victory. The game continues as normal. This is to ensure the assassin doesn't have to kill the king last, which can be tricky and cause him a loss. When both bandits are dead, and the king is dead, the knight becomes "defender of the Realm" (just a title, no perks) and can still win the game for himself if he becomes the last one standing.
*When the usurper kills the king, he does not become the king until he ends his turn.
*if the king dies, the usurper must kill the defender of the Realm to become king.
Optional Rules:
*You may only tap a permanent with the same name 5 times on your turn, and only twice on each opponents turn. (This is to protect against infinite combos).
Ex. Charlie uses blasting station with some other cards to allow him to continuously tap and untap blasting station. He may only tap it 5 times on his turn, and 2 times on each opponents turn, *Even if it was copied or returned to his hand, as long as it has the same name, only 5 times and 2 times (the exception being something that copies the card but retains its own card name)
*when the king is killed by the assassin, the knight becomes defender of the Realm and has 40 life if his life was less than 40.
Basically, this is a variant for 5-6 players. You will need, in addition to a deck for each person, 1 Plains, 1 Forest, 2 Mountains, 1 Swamp, and if playing with a 6th player, 1 Island.
Randomly pass out one land to each player, face down. No one (except the King, or if the Usurper kills the King) can reveal who he is until the game is over. You can claim to be a particular role, but you cannot reveal your card.
Plains = King. The King starts at 50 life, and goes first. The goal of the king is to be the last man standing.
Forest = Knight. The goal of the Knight is to protect the King. If the King and the Knight are the last two standing, they both win.
Mountain = Bandit. The goal of the Bandit is to kill the King. If the King dies, the Bandits win, regardless of who is still in the game (Remember, two mountains means two bandits).
Swamp = Assassin. The goal of the Assassin is to kill everyone.
Island = Usurper. The goal of the Usurper is to deliver the killing blow to the King. If this happens, the King and Usurper switch places. The Usurper's life total goes to 50, and the previous King remains in the game as the new Usurper at 1 life. It is now the job of the Knight to protect the new King.
The game begins with the king revealing himself. Everyone is allowed to claim they are a certain role, but no one may reveal their actual role.
Notes:
The alliances/enemies typically go...
King and Knight stick together.
Bandit and Usurper typically clash. The bandit will often try to kill the Usurper (because having a new king at 50 life isn't fun), and the Usurper wants to weaken the bandits but only kill them when the king is low on health.
The assassin has the most political game. The longer they are unsuspected of being the assassin, the better. The assassin typically checks and balances everyone else, but usually he wants the Usurper to do well so as to drag the game on, while also keeping the bandits alive but not doing well enough to kill the king.
It's a crazy social game. No one knows who anyone is, and it can lead to a lot of chaos, much like secret alliances. The knight is the only one who has the most linear play-through. Not even the king can be sure who the true enemy is. The knight, however, knows his only friend is the king, and anyone else is an enemy.
*If both bandits are dead, killing the king does not grant them victory. The game continues as normal. This is to ensure the assassin doesn't have to kill the king last, which can be tricky and cause him a loss. When both bandits are dead, and the king is dead, the knight becomes "defender of the Realm" (just a title, no perks) and can still win the game for himself if he becomes the last one standing.
*When the usurper kills the king, he does not become the king until he ends his turn.
*if the king dies, the usurper must kill the defender of the Realm to become king.
Optional Rules:
*You may only tap a permanent with the same name 5 times on your turn, and only twice on each opponents turn. (This is to protect against infinite combos).
Ex. Charlie uses blasting station with some other cards to allow him to continuously tap and untap blasting station. He may only tap it 5 times on his turn, and 2 times on each opponents turn, *Even if it was copied or returned to his hand, as long as it has the same name, only 5 times and 2 times (the exception being something that copies the card but retains its own card name)
*when the king is killed by the assassin, the knight becomes defender of the Realm and has 40 life if his life was less than 40.