Hello folks. Beware geeks bearing gifts, as they say, but I have something fun for you. An Archenemy variant for commander that has found a great deal of success at my local game shop.
Archenemy is great in EDH because it allows for even very large multiplayer games (6+ people) to go quickly. There are some problems that require a tweak to the rules to really make this work, however. Because EDH is such a powerful format, the Archenemy is still at a very significant disadvantage even with the scheme deck, and seeing them beaten down by so many opposing heroes doesn't make for a very fun game. This format was adapted specifically to fix these issues, and it provides for very fun, balanced games that still wrap up (usually) in an hour or less. With that, here is the rules breakdown:
1: The Minion variant scheme deck consists of 25 scheme cards, chosen by the Archenemy before the game begins. No more than 4 of any one card may be in the deck and they may not use the scheme card "Introductions Are In Order."
2: The Archenemy starts with 40 life, multiplied by the number of opponents. Two opponents means 80 life, and 6 means 240 life.
3: The Archenemy is immune to infect and commander damage kills, and instead takes only normal damage and life loss from these effects.
4: If the Archenemy has no cards left in their library, they may shuffle their hand, graveyard, and exile piles back into their library and draw three cards. This is a split-second action.
5: If a source controlled by an opponent would force the Archenemy to sacrifice more than one noncreature, nonartifact permanent, the number of permanents sacrificed is reduced to one. This prevents the Archenemy from being locked out of the game by Annihilator effects coming from multiple players.
Those are the basic rules for Archenemy Commander. Now I'll talk about the Minion variant.
"Minion" adds, as the name implies, a minion to help the Archenemy. Note that this variant is best used for very large games of 8-12 players.
The rules for minion are:
1: Before the game begins, any player other than the Archenemy may volunteer to be the Minion. The Archenemy then chooses one of the volunteering players to be the Minion.
2: The Minion sits to either the immediate left or immediate right of the Archenemy.
3: The Minion begins the game with the standard 40 life and is immune to game loss by commander damage.
4: The Archenemy and the Minion are on a team and take their turns at the same time. Scheme effects that affect the Archenemy affect the Archenemy player ONLY, and do not grant bonuses or abilities of any kind to the Minion.
5: The Minion's creatures may block for the Archenemy. However the Archenemy can not block for the Minion.
6: The Archenemy may choose to take any amount of life from the Minion and add it to his or her own life total. Or the Archenemy may pay any amount of life to add that much life to the Minion's life total. This is a sorcery-speed action, and can not be used to reduce the Minion's life total below 1.
7: If at any time the Minion would draw a card, the Archenemy may force them to skip that draw to draw a card themselves. If at any time the Archenemy would draw a card, the Archenemy may skip drawing that card to force the Minion to draw a card instead. This action does not use the stack.
8: If the Minion dies, the game continues as normal until the Archenemy or his opponents are defeated. If the Archenemy wins the game, the Minion is the winner as well.
9: If the Archenemy dies while the Minion is still alive, the current turn immediately ends and the Minion then becomes the new Archenemy. They gain control of the scheme deck and inherit all other bonuses of the Archenemy, except their life total begins at whatever value it was at the time the Archenemy died. The new Archenemy shuffles the scheme deck and then takes their turn immediately.
Archenemy is great in EDH because it allows for even very large multiplayer games (6+ people) to go quickly. There are some problems that require a tweak to the rules to really make this work, however. Because EDH is such a powerful format, the Archenemy is still at a very significant disadvantage even with the scheme deck, and seeing them beaten down by so many opposing heroes doesn't make for a very fun game. This format was adapted specifically to fix these issues, and it provides for very fun, balanced games that still wrap up (usually) in an hour or less. With that, here is the rules breakdown:
1: The Minion variant scheme deck consists of 25 scheme cards, chosen by the Archenemy before the game begins. No more than 4 of any one card may be in the deck and they may not use the scheme card "Introductions Are In Order."
2: The Archenemy starts with 40 life, multiplied by the number of opponents. Two opponents means 80 life, and 6 means 240 life.
3: The Archenemy is immune to infect and commander damage kills, and instead takes only normal damage and life loss from these effects.
4: If the Archenemy has no cards left in their library, they may shuffle their hand, graveyard, and exile piles back into their library and draw three cards. This is a split-second action.
5: If a source controlled by an opponent would force the Archenemy to sacrifice more than one noncreature, nonartifact permanent, the number of permanents sacrificed is reduced to one. This prevents the Archenemy from being locked out of the game by Annihilator effects coming from multiple players.
6: The Archenemy can not be affected by effects that set or multiply life to a value, either positive or negative. Sorin Markov, Magister Sphinx, Eternity Vessel, Beacon of Immortality, etc.
Those are the basic rules for Archenemy Commander. Now I'll talk about the Minion variant.
"Minion" adds, as the name implies, a minion to help the Archenemy. Note that this variant is best used for very large games of 8-12 players.
The rules for minion are:
1: Before the game begins, any player other than the Archenemy may volunteer to be the Minion. The Archenemy then chooses one of the volunteering players to be the Minion.
2: The Minion sits to either the immediate left or immediate right of the Archenemy.
3: The Minion begins the game with the standard 40 life and is immune to game loss by commander damage.
4: The Archenemy and the Minion are on a team and take their turns at the same time. Scheme effects that affect the Archenemy affect the Archenemy player ONLY, and do not grant bonuses or abilities of any kind to the Minion.
5: The Minion's creatures may block for the Archenemy. However the Archenemy can not block for the Minion.
6: The Archenemy may choose to take any amount of life from the Minion and add it to his or her own life total. Or the Archenemy may pay any amount of life to add that much life to the Minion's life total. This is a sorcery-speed action, and can not be used to reduce the Minion's life total below 1.
7: If at any time the Minion would draw a card, the Archenemy may force them to skip that draw to draw a card themselves. If at any time the Archenemy would draw a card, the Archenemy may skip drawing that card to force the Minion to draw a card instead. This action does not use the stack.
8: If the Minion dies, the game continues as normal until the Archenemy or his opponents are defeated. If the Archenemy wins the game, the Minion is the winner as well.
9: If the Archenemy dies while the Minion is still alive, the current turn immediately ends and the Minion then becomes the new Archenemy. They gain control of the scheme deck and inherit all other bonuses of the Archenemy, except their life total begins at whatever value it was at the time the Archenemy died. The new Archenemy shuffles the scheme deck and then takes their turn immediately.
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