I'm testing a system with my current playgroup to lay out something of a narrative and continuous campaign for our commander games, a system where our multiplayer commander games will have continuations from prior games and where there are other objectives and conditions than being the last man standing. What I've come up with is pretty simple and will probably see changes in the future.
THE RULES
Each player chooses a legal Pauper Commander and builds a legal pauper deck around that commander. Each player starts off with 30 health and an opening and maximum hand size of 7.
During the game, a player earns EXP based on actions done. Some EXP gains are persistent, meaning that the EXP reward can be claimed any number of times during a game. Other EXP rewards are achievements, meaning that they can only be claimed once per game. Whenever a player meets a requirement to gain EXP, they must declare it and record it themselves or else the opportunity is missed. If a new player joins, then that player is given the same amount of EXP as the player with the lowest current EXP total.
EXP can be used to upgrade your deck or to purchase other personal abilities such as increasing your life total. Uncommons and rares which are not banned on the standard multiplayer may be purchased with EXP. Commons are always accessible without EXP. EXP may only be spent in the time in between games. EXP expenditures are non-refundable.
In addition to the normal rules for a multiplayer commander game, the campaign system contains alternate objectives. Each objective has a condition required in order to unlock the objective (sacrifice 4 creatures, pay 10 life, etc). Once an objective is unlocked, it may be attacked like an enemy player by any creatures on the board. The controller of the next creature to deal any combat damage to the objective can claim the objective. Objectives can range to cards made available to add to decks to special player abilities similar to vanguard cards.
Some games will also have global commanders, usually a type of artifact or colorless creature which can be cast by anyone from its own command zone with the same commander tax and state change rules as a normal commander. If there is any interaction which would impede their move to the command zone (such as a tuck effect), the card is lost forever. This creature does not count as a commander for the purposes of commander damage, EXP gain, or objective requirements.
Each player has the option of starting to Planeswalk away. During the end of their upkeep, a player may declare that he is planeswalking away. As long as the player casts no spells and attacks with no creatures until the end of their next upkeep, that player leaves the game as if the player was defeated but keeps any objectives and EXP earned during the game. If a player is defeated, then that player loses 50% of all stored (not spent) EXP as well as losing any objectives to the player which caused the killing blow. If no enemy player caused the killing blow, the objectives are simply lost.
After 350 total exp is gained, the player may upgrade their general to a legendary creature as per normal multiplayer commander banlist and rules. Once a legendary Commander is chose, that creature is locked and cannot be changed. There is no restriction to the color differences between the starting pauper commander and the ending commander, however the only noncommon cards available for deck construction are the ones purchased with EXP. Any player may declare that they are changing their pauper commander at the end of the game.
UPDATED EXP LIST
Persistent EXP gains -
1 exp for each point of life loss caused to another player.
1 exp for each card placed in a player's hand beyond the first card drawn in the player's draw phase.
1 exp for each land other than the normal allotted land drop.
1 exp for each 2 points of life gained.
1 exp for controlling the spell of effect which causes a card the player does not own to be placed in the graveyard, exile zone, hand or command zone.
2 exp for casting your commander + 1 exp for each application of the commander tax.
30 exp for controlling the spell or effect which causes the death of an enemy player.
Persistent EXP gains only trigger off of a single opponent for those which would affect multiple opponents. The maximum amount of Persistent EXP any single spell or effect can grant other than killing a player is 5 exp.
Achievement EXP gains -
5 exp for placing an enemy commander in that owner's library.
5 exp for killing an enemy general with combat damage from your general.
5 exp for being the first player to cause life loss to another player in the game.
5 exp for destroying a Sensei's Divining Top in play.
10 exp for the first player to play the fourth spell on a stack.
10 exp for being the first player to resolve the second version of a creature already in play.
10 exp for being the first player to play their 12th land.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more creatures in play.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more artifacts in play.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more enchantments in play.
EXP costs -
7 exp - Uncommon
21 exp - Rare or Mythic Rare
3 exp - Filter/Tap/Scar/Pain/etc Land
5 exp - Shock land
10exp - Fetch land
15exp - Dual land
50 exp - 5 extra total player health (up to a maximum of +30 extra health)
200 exp - 1 extra card in the starting and maximum hand size. (Up to a a maximum of + 3 cards)
Objectives -
Game 1 Objectives - Aftermath of the Brother's War Themed
Right now I'm mostly looking into different style of planeswalker abilities could be introduced. last game the Remnant of the Golgthian Sylex was obtained by Immerwolf, so we'll see next game if the ability is overpowered or not. Other ideas are being considered, especially ones which will allow a variable type of deck construction much like commanders already do.
Well my current playgroup is pretty steady at the moment, but that is a good point. In RPG systems, normally they just have new players join up and give them enough exp to be just slightly less than the average of the group. I've also considered having a bounty system wherein whenever higher exp players die, the exp they lose is then split among the other players with lower exp.
When you buy a rare for instance, does that card always have to be the same card?
What I mean is, if you buy a necropotence, and then switch your deck to something like Uril, the Miststalker, do you get to switch the necropotence for something new?
Similarly, if you decide adding that necropotence was a mistake, can you switch it for a new rare like phyrexian arena?
It's a cool concept, but I don't think it will work with my group because it's more like just sit down with people and play. Basically anyone from my LGS will play if I ask them to, so it is impossible to have a consistent group. Many players won't be there 1 week, and playing without someone ultimately just puts them way behind.
I feel like the rares should be locked in for what they are once the purchase is made. Neither scenario should allow for a rare to be switched out. The reasoning behind this is that it will force people to plan ahead and stick with their purchases, to plan out what exactly you wish to add to your deck at what time in response to what you feel like you need and what the other players are using. All EXP expenditures are publicly known and so if a theme is starting to show then hosers and other cards can be brought in. In addition, it would be a neat idea to allow players to "trade" cards they have purchased with exp for their deck with each other.
I considered that, however USD is based on the power of cards seen in non EDH formats, with many extremely powerful multiplayer EDH staples (consecrated sphinx, primordials, etc) to be far less in cost as to their actual impact on the game. It doesn't make sense for thoughtseize to cost 70 to 140 times the exp price of sylvan primordial. In addition cost prices value greatly from time to time based on how much a card sees play and so there will be situations where players will want to purchase cards at certain times due to the market flux. Yes the current system is biased towards certain cards but having a general umbrella cost helps keep the system easier and more effecient.
You may simply have to adjust the EXP cost of adding a rare or mythic to the deck based on how things play out. Adding a mythic to a deck could probably have a higher cost associated with it than a rare.
Yeah, I agree that there are vast differences between card power that far overreaches the common-uncommon-rare system, especially after mythic rarity was introduced. However, the actual card power within this format is difficult to grade and within the rarities themselves are huge differences. Demonic tutor is the same EXP cost as diabolic tutor, Malignos is the same EXP cost as Tooth and Nail, so on and so forth. The EXP values will most likely change after seeing just exactly how much EXP is being gained, but I probably won't introduce a difference between Rare and Mythic due to the eternal nature of the format.
That being said, I'm currently preparing for the first "session" to happen on Thursday. The theme for the game will be the post-apocalyptic Dominaria after the Brother's War.
Current generals - Bane Alley Broker, Ana Battlemage, Shardless Agent, Immerwolf, Nightscape Battlemage, and one other RG that I'm not currently sure of.
Deck lists can only be changed in between games. Any cards purchased by EXP will be made available to be added to deck lists for future games. That is why EXP can only be spent in between games. There is no mechanism in place which would allow for a person to change cards in their deck in the middle of the game at current time.
-Update
Objective cards for the first game which is themed around the Brother's War. These are untested but are basically what I had in mind. We'll see how it works on thursday.
I should consider making a locked token to place over objectives to mark them.
In addition I'll be placing in Dragon Engine and Urza's Avenger as setting based global "commanders" that can be cast from their zone by any player, with the same commander tax and state change rules as a normal commander. If there is any interaction which would impede their move to the command zone (such as a tuck effect), the card is lost forever. Since this is pauper, I feel like both of these creatures could make a large impact, but the general power level of the cards themselves are low enough so that I do not feel like it will be a big deal. Neither of these cards will count as actual commanders and I kind of need to come up with what to call them. I'm not sure if this is an idea I'll keep, but I do like the concept of each game having a mild "plane" effect such as these global commanders or some low impact effect.
So far I've made a worksheet of sorts for postgame where you write down the exp you had coming into the game saved up, the exp you had coming out the game and anything you wished to purchase before your next game. Kind of like a requisition form so to speak, that way people don't require "character sheets" (extra life would be marked by heart stickers on the toploaders) and is an effective way to track the purchases and inventories of each player from game to game.
First game finished, it went pretty well overall although overall EXP gain was lower than expected, about 40-50 per game, and although we may have done a few things wrong it seems like a good amount of EXP was actually coming from getting to achievements, which ends up making them kind of pillar milestones that each deck wants to accomplish, which is something I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing. I was the only player defeated actually, so my score is going to be lower and the player who killed me is going to be higher. After the game we ended up tweaking the EXP costs of cards (7exp for uncommon, 20 for rares) due to the actual EXP gain being about half of what I was expecting. In addition, killing a player will probably be reduced to just 30exp with the other changes, but for this one since it was essentially 'first blood' we kept it at this rate.
Immerwolf - 41 exp gained
Artisan of Kozilek - 7
Ulvenweld Mystics - 7
Wolfir Avenger - 7
Full Moon Rise - 7
Afflicted Deserter - 7
Howl of the Nightpack - 7
Overrun -7
woah crap he did his math wrong, I need to call him and figure out what exactly he wants to do.
Objectives - Remnant of the Golgothian Sylex
Sludge Strider - 54 exp gained
Mistmeadow Witch -7
Swords to Plowshares -7
conjurer's Closet -7
Sphinx of the steel wind -7
Ana Battlemage - 89 exp gained
demonic tutor -7
Damnation -20
Rune Scarred Demon -20
Decree of Pain - 20
Liliana of the Veil -20
Ruins from the Brother's War
List of Changes -
2 Exp gained for casting your commander, +1 exp for each instance of the tax applied. (We forgot about the 1exp for cmc and just did 1exp, the prior way would have been to much so something in between is right.0
Spells and affects which affect multiple opponents will reward EXP only for a single opponent chosen by the player. (Mostly due to extort and windfall/wheel affects.)
The maximum EXP any single spell or effect can reward is 5 exp. (same reason as above, also memory jar, etc)
1 exp for each card not owned by you being placed in the graveyard, exile, command zone, library, or hand by a spell or effect you control. (We wanted bounce effects to be included here too)
Some achievements reworded so that they only worked for the first player in the game to meet the requirements. Objectives in general were too difficult to meet and so were not given much actual thought unless they unlocked themselves.
-Konko
I really like the ideas presented in that link you gave me and I'm thinking about incorporating them in as a form of either character advancement or game objective. It would be interesting if some objectives could have the ability to grant abilities which fundamentally change how your deck needs to be build. If they were character advancement abilities, they would require costs and possibly even build trees attached to them and at the moment I am not sure exactly on how to balance them out, however if made as objectives there would be a lot less control for players in going for what they want.
The ones in the Abe Sargent posts I were really interested in were -
Druid - For each point of Druid you take you get a point that can be used to draw a basic land from your deck. Keep track of your points each game. For example if you have two points of Druid begin the game with a die set to 2. Then whenever you go to draw a card you may instead search your library for a basic land reveal it put it into your hand then shuffle. Move your die down one. This is great skill at making sure that you are not mana-hosed because it does work with your opening hand. As you draw cards for your first grip you may use Druid immediately. It also works well with land destruction or to recover from an opponent's sweeping land removal like Obliterate.
(If taken to a specific level, this could allow a player to play a deck with a critically low level of lands and a high level of low CMC spells, and then use this ability to power out the lands needed. I like this idea because the multiplayer nature of the format lends itself exceptionally to one style of global control and value deck and other types of decks could be interesting.)
Prismatic Mage - You may play any card for BUGWR. Just your basic Fist of Suns here.
(This seems like the kind of insane enabler needed for this format)
Prestidigitation - As an instant once a turn you may take a card from your hand and remove it from the game face down. During your upkeep you may return one card removed this way back to your hand. This is one a turn and just one card returned to prevent you from breaking it too much. It still plays well with a lot of cards but prevents you from popping a Magus of the Jar for seven cards tossing all seven in the hole and then getting them back the following upkeep.
(With the current rules how they are, this ends up being an exp powerhouse by itself in addition with all the utility it brings. Not overpowered yet still useful.)
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THE RULES
Each player chooses a legal Pauper Commander and builds a legal pauper deck around that commander. Each player starts off with 30 health and an opening and maximum hand size of 7.
During the game, a player earns EXP based on actions done. Some EXP gains are persistent, meaning that the EXP reward can be claimed any number of times during a game. Other EXP rewards are achievements, meaning that they can only be claimed once per game. Whenever a player meets a requirement to gain EXP, they must declare it and record it themselves or else the opportunity is missed. If a new player joins, then that player is given the same amount of EXP as the player with the lowest current EXP total.
EXP can be used to upgrade your deck or to purchase other personal abilities such as increasing your life total. Uncommons and rares which are not banned on the standard multiplayer may be purchased with EXP. Commons are always accessible without EXP. EXP may only be spent in the time in between games. EXP expenditures are non-refundable.
In addition to the normal rules for a multiplayer commander game, the campaign system contains alternate objectives. Each objective has a condition required in order to unlock the objective (sacrifice 4 creatures, pay 10 life, etc). Once an objective is unlocked, it may be attacked like an enemy player by any creatures on the board. The controller of the next creature to deal any combat damage to the objective can claim the objective. Objectives can range to cards made available to add to decks to special player abilities similar to vanguard cards.
Some games will also have global commanders, usually a type of artifact or colorless creature which can be cast by anyone from its own command zone with the same commander tax and state change rules as a normal commander. If there is any interaction which would impede their move to the command zone (such as a tuck effect), the card is lost forever. This creature does not count as a commander for the purposes of commander damage, EXP gain, or objective requirements.
Each player has the option of starting to Planeswalk away. During the end of their upkeep, a player may declare that he is planeswalking away. As long as the player casts no spells and attacks with no creatures until the end of their next upkeep, that player leaves the game as if the player was defeated but keeps any objectives and EXP earned during the game. If a player is defeated, then that player loses 50% of all stored (not spent) EXP as well as losing any objectives to the player which caused the killing blow. If no enemy player caused the killing blow, the objectives are simply lost.
After 350 total exp is gained, the player may upgrade their general to a legendary creature as per normal multiplayer commander banlist and rules. Once a legendary Commander is chose, that creature is locked and cannot be changed. There is no restriction to the color differences between the starting pauper commander and the ending commander, however the only noncommon cards available for deck construction are the ones purchased with EXP. Any player may declare that they are changing their pauper commander at the end of the game.
UPDATED EXP LIST
Persistent EXP gains -
1 exp for each point of life loss caused to another player.
1 exp for each card placed in a player's hand beyond the first card drawn in the player's draw phase.
1 exp for each land other than the normal allotted land drop.
1 exp for each 2 points of life gained.
1 exp for controlling the spell of effect which causes a card the player does not own to be placed in the graveyard, exile zone, hand or command zone.
2 exp for casting your commander + 1 exp for each application of the commander tax.
30 exp for controlling the spell or effect which causes the death of an enemy player.
Persistent EXP gains only trigger off of a single opponent for those which would affect multiple opponents. The maximum amount of Persistent EXP any single spell or effect can grant other than killing a player is 5 exp.
Achievement EXP gains -
5 exp for placing an enemy commander in that owner's library.
5 exp for killing an enemy general with combat damage from your general.
5 exp for being the first player to cause life loss to another player in the game.
5 exp for destroying a Sensei's Divining Top in play.
10 exp for the first player to play the fourth spell on a stack.
10 exp for being the first player to resolve the second version of a creature already in play.
10 exp for being the first player to play their 12th land.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more creatures in play.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more artifacts in play.
10 exp for being the first player to have 6 or more enchantments in play.
EXP costs -
7 exp - Uncommon
21 exp - Rare or Mythic Rare
3 exp - Filter/Tap/Scar/Pain/etc Land
5 exp - Shock land
10exp - Fetch land
15exp - Dual land
50 exp - 5 extra total player health (up to a maximum of +30 extra health)
200 exp - 1 extra card in the starting and maximum hand size. (Up to a a maximum of + 3 cards)
Objectives -
Game 1 Objectives - Aftermath of the Brother's War Themed
Right now I'm mostly looking into different style of planeswalker abilities could be introduced. last game the Remnant of the Golgthian Sylex was obtained by Immerwolf, so we'll see next game if the ability is overpowered or not. Other ideas are being considered, especially ones which will allow a variable type of deck construction much like commanders already do.
When you buy a rare for instance, does that card always have to be the same card?
What I mean is, if you buy a necropotence, and then switch your deck to something like Uril, the Miststalker, do you get to switch the necropotence for something new?
Similarly, if you decide adding that necropotence was a mistake, can you switch it for a new rare like phyrexian arena?
It's a cool concept, but I don't think it will work with my group because it's more like just sit down with people and play. Basically anyone from my LGS will play if I ask them to, so it is impossible to have a consistent group. Many players won't be there 1 week, and playing without someone ultimately just puts them way behind.
BBB Two Hundred Zombies BBB
Duel Commander
WR Tajic, Wrath of the Manlands RW
BGW Doran Destruction WGB
Commander
GUB Mimeoplasm, Screw Politics BUG
BR Mogis, God of Slaughter RB
RGW Marath, Ramp and Removal WGR
WUBRG Karona, Jank God GRBUW
That being said, I'm currently preparing for the first "session" to happen on Thursday. The theme for the game will be the post-apocalyptic Dominaria after the Brother's War.
Current generals - Bane Alley Broker, Ana Battlemage, Shardless Agent, Immerwolf, Nightscape Battlemage, and one other RG that I'm not currently sure of.
Deck lists can only be changed in between games. Any cards purchased by EXP will be made available to be added to deck lists for future games. That is why EXP can only be spent in between games. There is no mechanism in place which would allow for a person to change cards in their deck in the middle of the game at current time.
-Update
Objective cards for the first game which is themed around the Brother's War. These are untested but are basically what I had in mind. We'll see how it works on thursday.
I should consider making a locked token to place over objectives to mark them.
In addition I'll be placing in Dragon Engine and Urza's Avenger as setting based global "commanders" that can be cast from their zone by any player, with the same commander tax and state change rules as a normal commander. If there is any interaction which would impede their move to the command zone (such as a tuck effect), the card is lost forever. Since this is pauper, I feel like both of these creatures could make a large impact, but the general power level of the cards themselves are low enough so that I do not feel like it will be a big deal. Neither of these cards will count as actual commanders and I kind of need to come up with what to call them. I'm not sure if this is an idea I'll keep, but I do like the concept of each game having a mild "plane" effect such as these global commanders or some low impact effect.
So far I've made a worksheet of sorts for postgame where you write down the exp you had coming into the game saved up, the exp you had coming out the game and anything you wished to purchase before your next game. Kind of like a requisition form so to speak, that way people don't require "character sheets" (extra life would be marked by heart stickers on the toploaders) and is an effective way to track the purchases and inventories of each player from game to game.
Results and buylist-
Bane Allye Broker - 23 exp gained
Demonic Tutor - 7
Propaganda -7
Exanguinate -7
2 remaining
Shardless Agent - 53 exp gained
sensei's diving top -7
Eternal Witness -7
Mystical Tutor -7
Regrowth -7
Oblivion Stone -20
5 remaining
Nightscape Battlemage -31 exp gained
Demonic Tutor - 7
Clone - 20
4 remaining
Immerwolf - 41 exp gained
Artisan of Kozilek - 7
Ulvenweld Mystics - 7
Wolfir Avenger - 7
Full Moon Rise - 7
Afflicted Deserter - 7
Howl of the Nightpack - 7
Overrun -7
woah crap he did his math wrong, I need to call him and figure out what exactly he wants to do.
Objectives - Remnant of the Golgothian Sylex
Sludge Strider - 54 exp gained
Mistmeadow Witch -7
Swords to Plowshares -7
conjurer's Closet -7
Sphinx of the steel wind -7
Ana Battlemage - 89 exp gained
demonic tutor -7
Damnation -20
Rune Scarred Demon -20
Decree of Pain - 20
Liliana of the Veil -20
Ruins from the Brother's War
List of Changes -
2 Exp gained for casting your commander, +1 exp for each instance of the tax applied. (We forgot about the 1exp for cmc and just did 1exp, the prior way would have been to much so something in between is right.0
Spells and affects which affect multiple opponents will reward EXP only for a single opponent chosen by the player. (Mostly due to extort and windfall/wheel affects.)
The maximum EXP any single spell or effect can reward is 5 exp. (same reason as above, also memory jar, etc)
1 exp for each card not owned by you being placed in the graveyard, exile, command zone, library, or hand by a spell or effect you control. (We wanted bounce effects to be included here too)
Some achievements reworded so that they only worked for the first player in the game to meet the requirements. Objectives in general were too difficult to meet and so were not given much actual thought unless they unlocked themselves.
-Konko
I really like the ideas presented in that link you gave me and I'm thinking about incorporating them in as a form of either character advancement or game objective. It would be interesting if some objectives could have the ability to grant abilities which fundamentally change how your deck needs to be build. If they were character advancement abilities, they would require costs and possibly even build trees attached to them and at the moment I am not sure exactly on how to balance them out, however if made as objectives there would be a lot less control for players in going for what they want.
The ones in the Abe Sargent posts I were really interested in were -
Druid - For each point of Druid you take you get a point that can be used to draw a basic land from your deck. Keep track of your points each game. For example if you have two points of Druid begin the game with a die set to 2. Then whenever you go to draw a card you may instead search your library for a basic land reveal it put it into your hand then shuffle. Move your die down one. This is great skill at making sure that you are not mana-hosed because it does work with your opening hand. As you draw cards for your first grip you may use Druid immediately. It also works well with land destruction or to recover from an opponent's sweeping land removal like Obliterate.
(If taken to a specific level, this could allow a player to play a deck with a critically low level of lands and a high level of low CMC spells, and then use this ability to power out the lands needed. I like this idea because the multiplayer nature of the format lends itself exceptionally to one style of global control and value deck and other types of decks could be interesting.)
Prismatic Mage - You may play any card for BUGWR. Just your basic Fist of Suns here.
(This seems like the kind of insane enabler needed for this format)
Prestidigitation - As an instant once a turn you may take a card from your hand and remove it from the game face down. During your upkeep you may return one card removed this way back to your hand. This is one a turn and just one card returned to prevent you from breaking it too much. It still plays well with a lot of cards but prevents you from popping a Magus of the Jar for seven cards tossing all seven in the hole and then getting them back the following upkeep.
(With the current rules how they are, this ends up being an exp powerhouse by itself in addition with all the utility it brings. Not overpowered yet still useful.)