Well, the current banlist thread is a dumpster fire of arguments, and one of the most contentious arguments stems from the RC's defense forces argument: House Rules can be used to placate groups that don't agree with the ban list.
Well, I personally rarely play with a set group. I travel a lot between Tualatin, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, playing at four different shops during the week based on where my job was that day. Needless to say, house rules are not going to work for me since I rarely play with the same people, only doing so on Saturdays at tournaments where the RC fears to tread anyway.
So I wanted to get an idea of how many people play with set groups, how many play with randoms, and how the whole House Rules thing is going.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
I play with a set group. We adhere to the official rules except for one house rule: I can use Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded as my commander as long as I announce everything in my Him (from power puff girls) impression.
I play with the same group of people every week and have for the better part of the last decade.
While we technically allow specific house rules (we're ok with individual on theme Un-cards, Nephilim generals, Genju of the realm as general) they tend to never get used.
Most people I find outside my group when I go to other stores play really broken stuff, so I often have to pull out the big guns.
I am a person who plays in a set group with house rules who still thinks the ban list needs a bit of work. Nothing too big, just enough to reduce the number of well... non-games.
I play with a rotating group of people at my LGS. We do somewhat have a serious group, but due to things like distance from the store, schedule, etc. I usually end up playing with a mix of regulars and random people.
We do allow some house rules, for example we're pretty relaxed when it comes to general selection (ranging from Genju of the Realm, to Kamigawa flip legends, to some planeswalkers), as long as you get a general okay from the people you play with the most, and you keep a separate, legal general with you just in case. We also house ruled a "may" clause on Sylvan Primordial when it was legal (didn't come up much, but it was nice to have the option if someone was in a really bad spot), but otherwise we follow the standard rules.
We have a mostly-set group of 7-8 people that we play with when we can (I barely ever venture outside that personally to play). A handful of variations on the banlist and slightly different mulligans, rather lax play in general.
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X Hope of Ghirapur Swordpile W Ghosty Blinky Anafenza U Nezahal- Big, Blue and HERE! B Gonti Can Afford It R Etali, Primal 'Whatjusthappened?' G Polukranos Wants More Mana WU The Exalted Vizier Temmet WB Home, Athreos WR Basandra, Recursive Aggression WG Karametra, Momma of Lands UB Wrexial Eats Your Brains UR Arjun, the Mad Flame UG The Fable of Prime Speaker BR Hellbent, Malfegor Style BG Jarad, Death is Served RG Running Thromok WUB Varina and ALL the Zombies WUBYennett, the Odd Pain-Train WUR Zedruu the Furyhearted WUG Arcades' Strategy, Shmategy, Sausage and Spam WBR A Case of Mathas' Persistent F*ckery WBRLicia's League of Legendary Lifegain Layabouts WBG The Karador Advantage PackageWRG Gahiji Rattlesnake Collection UBR Jeleva... does... things UBG Damia's Just Deserts URG Yasova's Has More Power Than Sense BRG Wasitora, Bad Kitty WUBRBreya, Eggs, Breya'd Eggs WUBG Tymna and Kydele, Extended Borrowing WURG Kynaios and Tiro, Landfall Impersonations WBRG Saskia Pet Card EnchantressUBRG Yidris of the Chi-Ting Corporation WUBRG Tazri's Amazing Allies
Exact same group of 6 people each week. Occasionally an additional person will make an appearance. We have house ruled the Mulligan rule back to Partial Paris because no one was abusing it to begin with. We don't really discuss cards too often but I know that no one in my group thought PoK needed to be banned and they think Iona does. We still play with the official ban list despite those opinions.
I voted "Never" and "No", but long for the days when I had a solid group of 4-5 and we had house rules. It has nothing to do with rules being changed or whatever, we all had a similar style and games were long and interesting. Now I sit way too often at the LGS and wait for a group.
If people are sick of reading about stuff just stop taking part. You have 100% control over what you read. Simic Ascendancy isn't going to get banned just because you didn't tell someone to shut up on the internet.
I have a large pool of regulars at my cafe from whom pods can be formed and matches had, but I don't have the same group each time. I don't use any house rules. I don't care much if others honor the banned list, but I won't count wins if the deck isn't legit.
We have a core group of 5 guys with about 4-5 floaters and we get together 2 or 3 times a month. While I think everyone would be fine if we had some house rules we don't actually have any.
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EDH playing competitive Magic cast away
Current Decks GTitania midrange RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
I play at an LGS with a fair number of attendees, so I don't always play with the same people but I see the same faces and I'll generally find a way to play with the folks that I prefer to play with.
We don't use any house rules except when we play variant formats of Commander, like Emperor or 2HG. In those situations, we prefer if people don't use extra turn effects or infinites, but it's not enforced in any way.
When I play edh, it's usually either
A) just me and a buddy throwing down 1v1, usually because our edh decks are pretty close in power level relative to his kitchen table deck vs my modern deck
-or-
B) me and a couple of other players at my LGS, having a friendly game before or after a competitive event. These other players aren't a regular group, but they aren't strangers either. I know them by name and have played against them competitively, and edh is a chill way to socialize. These groups are always different, just whoever in the shop is up for a game.
So no house rules, no regular group. I've very rarely had a bad time, though.
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Currently Playing...
Modern: Kiki ChordWBRG
TokensWB
EDH: Kuon, Ogre AscendantBBB
We don't play with house rules, though, we have some 'soft bans'. All of us had stopped playing Prophet of Kruphix before it was banned, and likewise with Trade Secrets, and Sylvan Primordial.
I play with the same 2 guys, with 1 floater, every week. We each have multiple decks so it's never exactly the same. We're all very familiar with each others decks so it can be a bit boring, but we build pretty powerful decks which leads to some gnarly board states.
We do not use house rules, and try to adhere to the "social contract" of EDH where if it is deemed unfun, it's not usually allowed (i.e. Iona, Jin-G, the green Praetor, and LD is frowned upon.)
As a personal rule, I go for complete table kills so as not to leave a guy out for hours.
I play with the same three guys for the last 15- years or something.
We started playing with casual decks, we all took a break after kamigawa appeared (duh) and started again during GTC and more heavily during Theros. We then discovered the EDH format and we never looked back. I think that if we discovered it earlier we would never stop since it is easier for us to make decks (too many singletons).
Life caught us up and we all live in different cities now but we try to sync our schedules towards weekends and holidays so we can meet in our hometown to play, drink and catch up. We mostly play 2HG EDH with fixed teams so we can be extra salty to each other If one of us is missing then we play 1vs1vs1.
Regarding home rules,we are very forgiving to mulligans (4-5 times is free) and we are not too sticky when someone realizes that he forgot to play a land or to untap a permamnent. We can build decks with PWs as commanders, as long as everyone agrees. Our games usually last long (although now we are able to make more tuned and competitive decks)and are really fun with complex board states and many permanents
I would like to play more but I am really hesitant to play with people I don't know, or to a LGS, because I am very relaxed and forgiving when it comes to misplays and I'd expect from my opponent to be as well. I'd be super annoyed if they weren't I've never tried FNM or Drafting, although the latter seems very tempting to me lately. I might try EMA if I can find a hosting LGS.
EDH is an incredible format, reinvigorated my interest for MtG and my desire to brew as many decks as possible and it helps me keep in touch with my old buddies. I firmly believe that EDH's social aspect is what it makes it stand out from the rest. Don't forget that people when you argue about banning cards, linear decks or sanctioned formats. Peace out
I play in a set group every Wednesday. We don't exactly have 'house rules,' but I answered yes to the question as we have implied gentleman's agreements - infinite combo, land d, etc, are not banned, but they are frowned upon typically, if taken to an extreme. We've also attempted a league previously, as well as allowing Kokusho pre-unban as part of the unbanning test, so we're fairly open. We've also had a few unconventional Commanders at times, though they haven't typically lasted long.
House rules we have established is when you make a blatantly obvious idiotic move, you can take it back. Also for mulligam, we us the vancouver mulligan but change up one aspect of it. After your free mull if you have no lands in hand, you may reveal it and take another free mull.
I used to play EDH every Saturday back in late 2014 then that group kinda fell apart and then I started grinding PPTQs and more competitive events so now I don't play as much commander
we never really had house rules since it was just the 3 of us and hadn't played enough to really establish what we were/weren't fine with
I play at an LCS and at a Friends House, and at a school, generally the people are consistent but fluctuate. Everyone plays the game with the intent on winning and we tend to follow the official rules but all the stuff in this thread about weird soft bans and discouragement sounds CRAZY to me.
I've played with my very good friends Ken and Nick for 15+ years. We used to play 5-Color then went to straight Highlander then EDH. We gathered some other friends along the way and every Saturday between 1 p.m. Eastern and 10 p.m. Eastern we just sit down and play. (If you're in Ottawa and want to scream at me/throw stuff at me, feel free :p) and we play pretty cutthroat at times but we do have some house rules:
1)"People need to play the game"
This doesn't mean no control or whatever, but it does mean that each person should get to play their stuff, engage in the game and have their own fun. For some that fun is Momir Vig doing crazy stuff, for me it's Radha burning people and for my friend Ken it's taxing us with Pope.
2)"Un-is-AOK"
We allow some UN cards, though really it's just our friend Jia who occasionally (always?) sticks Strategy Schmategy in his deck, and recently a few other cards. We just look at him and move on. We won't allow Chaos Confetti or "take off your shoes" cards or anything though.
3)"Annoy me"
With "me" being me. There has to be at least one incident each game where I get completely sideswiped for no reason than my head will explode. Example: I was about to untap into an active O-Stone and it got exiled by a good player whom it wouldn't have affected. I just about had an aneurysm, but eventually got back into the game. I didn't expect the Carrier Pigeon in the dollar pack pack war though, that was fun.
4)House Bans
We typically don't use the Annihilator 4 Eldrazi or Mindslaver. The former tended to come out too early and just lock a player out while the latter isn't too fun.
That's it. We make sure everyone has fun, that I tilt and then go on with our weeks.
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The "Crazy One", playing casual magic and occasionally dipping his toes into regular play since 1994.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.
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Well, I personally rarely play with a set group. I travel a lot between Tualatin, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington, playing at four different shops during the week based on where my job was that day. Needless to say, house rules are not going to work for me since I rarely play with the same people, only doing so on Saturdays at tournaments where the RC fears to tread anyway.
So I wanted to get an idea of how many people play with set groups, how many play with randoms, and how the whole House Rules thing is going.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
While we technically allow specific house rules (we're ok with individual on theme Un-cards, Nephilim generals, Genju of the realm as general) they tend to never get used.
I am a person who plays in a set group with house rules who still thinks the ban list needs a bit of work. Nothing too big, just enough to reduce the number of well... non-games.
The Unidentified Fantastic Flying Girl.
EDH
Xenagos, the God of Stompy
The Gitrog Monster: Oppressive Value.
Marchesa, Marionette Master - Undying Robots
Yuriko, the Hydra Omnivore
I make dolls as a hobby.
We do allow some house rules, for example we're pretty relaxed when it comes to general selection (ranging from Genju of the Realm, to Kamigawa flip legends, to some planeswalkers), as long as you get a general okay from the people you play with the most, and you keep a separate, legal general with you just in case. We also house ruled a "may" clause on Sylvan Primordial when it was legal (didn't come up much, but it was nice to have the option if someone was in a really bad spot), but otherwise we follow the standard rules.
My Helpdesk
[Pr] Marath | [Pr] Lovisa | Jodah | Saskia | Najeela | Yisan | Lord Windgrace | Atraxa | Meren | Gisa and Geralf
Current Decks
GTitania midrange
RGThromok tokens/goodstuff | UB Grimgrin zombie tribal
GW Sigarda enchantress | R Godo voltron
U Braids aggro | WR Kalemne punisher
RU Mizzix storm | BUG Mimeoplasm competitive reanimator | UG Ezuri infect
We don't use any house rules except when we play variant formats of Commander, like Emperor or 2HG. In those situations, we prefer if people don't use extra turn effects or infinites, but it's not enforced in any way.
Draft my Peasant Cube.
A) just me and a buddy throwing down 1v1, usually because our edh decks are pretty close in power level relative to his kitchen table deck vs my modern deck
-or-
B) me and a couple of other players at my LGS, having a friendly game before or after a competitive event. These other players aren't a regular group, but they aren't strangers either. I know them by name and have played against them competitively, and edh is a chill way to socialize. These groups are always different, just whoever in the shop is up for a game.
So no house rules, no regular group. I've very rarely had a bad time, though.
Modern: Kiki ChordWBRG
TokensWB
EDH: Kuon, Ogre AscendantBBB
#FreeContractfromBelow
We don't play with house rules, though, we have some 'soft bans'. All of us had stopped playing Prophet of Kruphix before it was banned, and likewise with Trade Secrets, and Sylvan Primordial.
We aim to have fun, and it usually works out.
http://www.commandercast.com/category/articles/generally-speaking
Follow me on Twitter: @generalspeak
We do not use house rules, and try to adhere to the "social contract" of EDH where if it is deemed unfun, it's not usually allowed (i.e. Iona, Jin-G, the green Praetor, and LD is frowned upon.)
As a personal rule, I go for complete table kills so as not to leave a guy out for hours.
We started playing with casual decks, we all took a break after kamigawa appeared (duh) and started again during GTC and more heavily during Theros. We then discovered the EDH format and we never looked back. I think that if we discovered it earlier we would never stop since it is easier for us to make decks (too many singletons).
Life caught us up and we all live in different cities now but we try to sync our schedules towards weekends and holidays so we can meet in our hometown to play, drink and catch up. We mostly play 2HG EDH with fixed teams so we can be extra salty to each other If one of us is missing then we play 1vs1vs1.
Regarding home rules,we are very forgiving to mulligans (4-5 times is free) and we are not too sticky when someone realizes that he forgot to play a land or to untap a permamnent. We can build decks with PWs as commanders, as long as everyone agrees. Our games usually last long (although now we are able to make more tuned and competitive decks)and are really fun with complex board states and many permanents
I would like to play more but I am really hesitant to play with people I don't know, or to a LGS, because I am very relaxed and forgiving when it comes to misplays and I'd expect from my opponent to be as well. I'd be super annoyed if they weren't I've never tried FNM or Drafting, although the latter seems very tempting to me lately. I might try EMA if I can find a hosting LGS.
EDH is an incredible format, reinvigorated my interest for MtG and my desire to brew as many decks as possible and it helps me keep in touch with my old buddies. I firmly believe that EDH's social aspect is what it makes it stand out from the rest. Don't forget that people when you argue about banning cards, linear decks or sanctioned formats. Peace out
Marath, Will of the Wild
Friendly Kess Twin Combo
Tatyova - Sir Bounce A Lot
Gonti's Luxury Pie
Prime (Eldrazi) Speaker Zegana (Retired)
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
UB Vela the Night-Clad BUDecklist
WBG Ghave, Guru of Spores GBW
WUBRGThe Ur-DragonWUBRGDecklist
we never really had house rules since it was just the 3 of us and hadn't played enough to really establish what we were/weren't fine with
1)"People need to play the game"
This doesn't mean no control or whatever, but it does mean that each person should get to play their stuff, engage in the game and have their own fun. For some that fun is Momir Vig doing crazy stuff, for me it's Radha burning people and for my friend Ken it's taxing us with Pope.
2)"Un-is-AOK"
We allow some UN cards, though really it's just our friend Jia who occasionally (always?) sticks Strategy Schmategy in his deck, and recently a few other cards. We just look at him and move on. We won't allow Chaos Confetti or "take off your shoes" cards or anything though.
3)"Annoy me"
With "me" being me. There has to be at least one incident each game where I get completely sideswiped for no reason than my head will explode. Example: I was about to untap into an active O-Stone and it got exiled by a good player whom it wouldn't have affected. I just about had an aneurysm, but eventually got back into the game. I didn't expect the Carrier Pigeon in the dollar pack pack war though, that was fun.
4)House Bans
We typically don't use the Annihilator 4 Eldrazi or Mindslaver. The former tended to come out too early and just lock a player out while the latter isn't too fun.
That's it. We make sure everyone has fun, that I tilt and then go on with our weeks.
Currently focusing on Pre-Modern (Mono-Black Discard Control) and Modern (Azorious Control, Temur Rhinos).
Find me at the Wizard's Tower in Ottawa every second Saturday afternoons.