So me and my friends quite often play limited formats (draft and sealed) but we also randomly buy boosters just to crack them open and see what we get. The issue we often run into is we all have boxes and boxes full of commons and uncommons (to a lesser extent rares) that we don't really do anything with and they aren't worth any real money. So we have been trying to come up with a fun casual format that uses all these "junk" cards. We came up with a format that we have talked about but we have yet to actually play at all. But i figured I would throw it up here and see what everyone thinks and if anybody has any fun ideas for us to add or something that you think would make the format less fun to play. I remind you, we still haven't played this at all this is just the rules we talked about over the last month or so.
1. Each player builds a deck consisting of 100 cards. And must have a marker of some kind (Sharpie, felt pen, etc.)
2. Singleton deck construction rules (not counting basic lands)
3. Each deck must contain at least 5 of each basic land type (or snow land equivalent)
4. Each deck must contain at least one card from every color, each card can only count 1 of it's colors for this rule (for example a RG card counts as either a red card or as a green card not both)
5. Card sleeves are never allowed to be used on your cards
6. At any time during the game any player may make a motion to alter a card that is important to the currant game state (for instance making check marks every time cancel successfully counters a spell or marking a creature with an updated power/toughness instead of merely placing +1/+1 counters on the card as is normally done.)
7. The other players in the game have to agree to these changes before they can actually be made, even if the player is trying to mark their own card.
8. During a one-on-one the winner of the game is allowed to make one alteration to one card in their opponent's deck. (For instance writing the CMC of a card on the back of that card, changing the artwork to something else, etc.)
9. During a multiplayer match whenever a player eliminates another player they get to alter a card in the player's deck whom they eliminated.
10. After the game is over all cards are shuffled back into their owner's deck in preparation for the next game.
The whole point of this format is simply to have a fun thing to do with the thousands of cards that we all have that have no real value to be sold online or anything, and everyone else has the same number of these junk cards so they will never ever be traded for so they just sit in boxes gathering dust. We are of the thinking that when playing this format, someone will notice something on a card and there will be a story behind it that can be told for the pure enjoyment of it. It just seems like a real fun way to use cards that i don't really have any other use for and me being the type of person who isn't the kind of guy who is going to throw away cards I payed money for, even if they are pretty much worthless.
So let me know what you guys think of this way to play, any ideas are greatly appreciated. I think it will be pretty fun but we are still just kinda spitballing it at this point, so if someone suggests something we didn't think of we will gladly think about it before we actually get around to building these decks and giving it a whirl.
At the start of each game a each player reveals cards from the top of their deck until they hit a card other than a basic land. Set that aside. The winner may choose to augment or sabotage one (both?) of those cards, with an ability from the augmentation and sabotage lists. Then you just write that on the card.
Sample lists.
Augment:
Card gains 'Kicker 1U - Draw a card.'
Creature's power is permanently raised by 1.
Card gains 'For an additional 2, you may cast this as though it had flash.
...other cool stuff.
Sabotage:
Increase mana cost of card by 1.
Any player may pay 3 to counter this spell while it is on the stack.
Card gains 'Lose 2 life when cardname enters the battlefield.'
...other lame stuff.
Didn't try to hard to balance those abilities, but it could work as a customizing format as long as you don't go too hogwild with the power level on augmentations (That's why I suggested card draw as a kicker rather than a free bonus).
We had not even considered changing the actual card texts and interactions they have, we were just basically looking for stories to attach to junk cards that without the graffiti were just boring old cards that nobody cared about, that it a really interesting idea though I will have to bring it up and see how everyone else feels about that, I personally would not have had that train of thought but I really dig that idea
In a similar spirit, the winner of each of our cube drafts gets to alter a basic land of their choice. People often just sign their name/date, but some other interesting changes have been made.
As far as altering actual rules text, I feel like a virtual environment would be much better suited to those kinds of changes.
1. Each player builds a deck consisting of 100 cards. And must have a marker of some kind (Sharpie, felt pen, etc.)
2. Singleton deck construction rules (not counting basic lands)
3. Each deck must contain at least 5 of each basic land type (or snow land equivalent)
4. Each deck must contain at least one card from every color, each card can only count 1 of it's colors for this rule (for example a RG card counts as either a red card or as a green card not both)
5. Card sleeves are never allowed to be used on your cards
6. At any time during the game any player may make a motion to alter a card that is important to the currant game state (for instance making check marks every time cancel successfully counters a spell or marking a creature with an updated power/toughness instead of merely placing +1/+1 counters on the card as is normally done.)
7. The other players in the game have to agree to these changes before they can actually be made, even if the player is trying to mark their own card.
8. During a one-on-one the winner of the game is allowed to make one alteration to one card in their opponent's deck. (For instance writing the CMC of a card on the back of that card, changing the artwork to something else, etc.)
9. During a multiplayer match whenever a player eliminates another player they get to alter a card in the player's deck whom they eliminated.
10. After the game is over all cards are shuffled back into their owner's deck in preparation for the next game.
The whole point of this format is simply to have a fun thing to do with the thousands of cards that we all have that have no real value to be sold online or anything, and everyone else has the same number of these junk cards so they will never ever be traded for so they just sit in boxes gathering dust. We are of the thinking that when playing this format, someone will notice something on a card and there will be a story behind it that can be told for the pure enjoyment of it. It just seems like a real fun way to use cards that i don't really have any other use for and me being the type of person who isn't the kind of guy who is going to throw away cards I payed money for, even if they are pretty much worthless.
So let me know what you guys think of this way to play, any ideas are greatly appreciated. I think it will be pretty fun but we are still just kinda spitballing it at this point, so if someone suggests something we didn't think of we will gladly think about it before we actually get around to building these decks and giving it a whirl.
At the start of each game a each player reveals cards from the top of their deck until they hit a card other than a basic land. Set that aside. The winner may choose to augment or sabotage one (both?) of those cards, with an ability from the augmentation and sabotage lists. Then you just write that on the card.
Sample lists.
Augment:
Card gains 'Kicker 1U - Draw a card.'
Creature's power is permanently raised by 1.
Card gains 'For an additional 2, you may cast this as though it had flash.
...other cool stuff.
Sabotage:
Increase mana cost of card by 1.
Any player may pay 3 to counter this spell while it is on the stack.
Card gains 'Lose 2 life when cardname enters the battlefield.'
...other lame stuff.
Didn't try to hard to balance those abilities, but it could work as a customizing format as long as you don't go too hogwild with the power level on augmentations (That's why I suggested card draw as a kicker rather than a free bonus).
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As far as altering actual rules text, I feel like a virtual environment would be much better suited to those kinds of changes.