Shortly after the Emperor's rules were introduced, my friends and I decided that the format was too booooorinnnnnng...at least for the Emperors. Our biggest criticism is that the two people in the center really had very little to do until one of their wings died, which was just not fun for all involved. To solve that, we made some very simple rule changes. Doing so not only sparked a lot of fun (and remains our favorite MP game to this day) because half of the people win every game, but everyone is active through the whole game.
Rule changes:
1. All wing spells, global effects, and creature abilities have a range of 2, instead of 1. This matches what an Emperor has range on. If a wing plays Damnation, it will hit all five players within range, but not the wing on the far side, so globals like sweepers are best used by the Emperor to take out both enemy wing's creatures. Sometimes, that means that a wing burns out the opposing Emperor with a fast red deck, but at least you get to the next game quicker. Most of the time, it's still wings that do the killing of the opposing Emperor by taking out the other wing first.
2. All marching creatures stay under the control of the player that cast them. This means that the Emperor retains control of his own creatures, or also a wing that marches his creatures over to other team mates's territories. Because really, would anyone think that an Emperor would ever give up control of his personal troops? That's just silly. This ensures the Emperor has an active stake in the game with his creatures. The marching is done during combat. A marching creature remains untapped and so can block, but a march takes the place of any attack during that turn, even if that creature has haste. So a creature can't march and attack in the same turn, even if there are multiple attacks in the same turn. Think of it as being tired after a forced march. A creature with haste, however, can march the same turn it is cast. Example: Nether Shadow is cast. It can immediately (during combat) march one position into another player's territory.
3. Any creature in another player's territory attacks during the controller's turn, not the player's territory that it is in. Example: The Neither Shadow that marched the previous turn can now attack when the Emperor next has a combat phase, not when the wing attacks. The Emperor, or any wing that has creatures marched over to another player's territory can attack from multiple zones at the same time. Example: if an Emperor that has creatures in both of his wing's territories attacks, he can attack with his creatures from one or both territories at the same time.
4. When a player dies, all permanents in his territory disappear, even permanents from another player that were positioned in the space via marching or other reasons. This just adds some intrigue to when/if the Emperor pulls out his support to a dying wing. If the wing dies before the Emperor marches his creatures back, the Emperor risks losing a lot of board position and resources when that wing dies. Example: That same Nether Shadow is still in the wing's territory when the wing dies. The Nether Shadow is placed into the owner's graveyard. Also, the Grafted Wargear on the Nether Shadow also goes to the owner's graveyard. Additionally, the creature stolen with a Control Magic also dies and goes to that owner's graveyard, as well as the Control Magic aura.
5. Equipment and auras that attach to creatures that have been marched to another player's territory are also in the territory with that creature. Don't want your Umezawa's Jitte brought into range of the opposing Emperor's removal spells? Don't attach it to a creature in your wing's territory. If the creature dies, the equipment "falls" into that player's territory. To remove it back to your home territory requires attaching it to another creature in your home territory.
6. If an Emperor takes control of an enemy's creature (say with Control Magic), it only goes into the nearest allied territory (your wing), but it still has summoning sickness as normal unless it has haste. In the case of a creature stolen that has haste, that creature could turn around and immediately attack the enemy adjacent. Example: An Emperor uses Sarkhan Vol to steal a wing's creature. It goes into the Emperor's wing's territory and can attack the opposing wing because Sarkhan gives that stolen creature haste.
7. If a player uses an ability like Desertion or Villainous Wealth, any card brought into play goes to that player's home territory as if it was cast.
8. If a player blinks a creature, it reappears in the space it left, even if in another allied player's territory. It doesn't immediately travel back to the home territory. Marching still has to occur for that to happen. (sorry, no teleportation allowed.)
9. There can be some weird interactions like Fog from time to time. Example: I cast Fog as the left wing while the enemy wing on the far side of the table is attacking my allied right wing. It doesn't affect that enemy wing, but it does reach my allied right wing with the range of 2. That wing's creatures neither deal nor receive combat damage, so even though the Fog doesn't directly affect the enemy creatures, the effect is still the same. Another example we've run into is if I (as a wing) cast Lightning Bolt at the opposing Emperor and his wing on the extreme other side of the table gives the Emperor hexproof with an effect. Even though he could not normally affect my bolt, he can affect his Emperor and the bolt will fizzle. If that is not acceptable, the group should just agree to a mod to this house rule.
There will inevitably be some discussion and disagreement from your group on particular cards, as these guidelines can't possibly handle all the cases. We still argue over exact interpretations all the time. But, this should give you a good start on making Emperor's games fun for everyone, even the Emperors.
Let me know what you think...we love this variant, and I hope you like it, too.
Shortly after the Emperor's rules were introduced, my friends and I decided that the format was too booooorinnnnnng...at least for the Emperors. Our biggest criticism is that the two people in the center really had very little to do until one of their wings died, which was just not fun for all involved. To solve that, we made some very simple rule changes. Doing so not only sparked a lot of fun (and remains our favorite MP game to this day) because half of the people win every game, but everyone is active through the whole game.
Rule changes:
1. All wing spells, global effects, and creature abilities have a range of 2, instead of 1. This matches what an Emperor has range on. If a wing plays Damnation, it will hit all five players within range, but not the wing on the far side, so globals like sweepers are best used by the Emperor to take out both enemy wing's creatures. Sometimes, that means that a wing burns out the opposing Emperor with a fast red deck, but at least you get to the next game quicker. Most of the time, it's still wings that do the killing of the opposing Emperor by taking out the other wing first.
2. All marching creatures stay under the control of the player that cast them. This means that the Emperor retains control of his own creatures, or also a wing that marches his creatures over to other team mates's territories. Because really, would anyone think that an Emperor would ever give up control of his personal troops? That's just silly. This ensures the Emperor has an active stake in the game with his creatures. The marching is done during combat. A marching creature remains untapped and so can block, but a march takes the place of any attack during that turn, even if that creature has haste. So a creature can't march and attack in the same turn, even if there are multiple attacks in the same turn. Think of it as being tired after a forced march. A creature with haste, however, can march the same turn it is cast. Example: Nether Shadow is cast. It can immediately (during combat) march one position into another player's territory.
3. Any creature in another player's territory attacks during the controller's turn, not the player's territory that it is in. Example: The Neither Shadow that marched the previous turn can now attack when the Emperor next has a combat phase, not when the wing attacks. The Emperor, or any wing that has creatures marched over to another player's territory can attack from multiple zones at the same time. Example: if an Emperor that has creatures in both of his wing's territories attacks, he can attack with his creatures from one or both territories at the same time.
4. When a player dies, all permanents in his territory disappear, even permanents from another player that were positioned in the space via marching or other reasons. This just adds some intrigue to when/if the Emperor pulls out his support to a dying wing. If the wing dies before the Emperor marches his creatures back, the Emperor risks losing a lot of board position and resources when that wing dies. Example: That same Nether Shadow is still in the wing's territory when the wing dies. The Nether Shadow is placed into the owner's graveyard. Also, the Grafted Wargear on the Nether Shadow also goes to the owner's graveyard. Additionally, the creature stolen with a Control Magic also dies and goes to that owner's graveyard, as well as the Control Magic aura.
5. Equipment and auras that attach to creatures that have been marched to another player's territory are also in the territory with that creature. Don't want your Umezawa's Jitte brought into range of the opposing Emperor's removal spells? Don't attach it to a creature in your wing's territory. If the creature dies, the equipment "falls" into that player's territory. To remove it back to your home territory requires attaching it to another creature in your home territory.
6. If an Emperor takes control of an enemy's creature (say with Control Magic), it only goes into the nearest allied territory (your wing), but it still has summoning sickness as normal unless it has haste. In the case of a creature stolen that has haste, that creature could turn around and immediately attack the enemy adjacent. Example: An Emperor uses Sarkhan Vol to steal a wing's creature. It goes into the Emperor's wing's territory and can attack the opposing wing because Sarkhan gives that stolen creature haste.
7. If a player uses an ability like Desertion or Villainous Wealth, any card brought into play goes to that player's home territory as if it was cast.
8. If a player blinks a creature, it reappears in the space it left, even if in another allied player's territory. It doesn't immediately travel back to the home territory. Marching still has to occur for that to happen. (sorry, no teleportation allowed.)
9. There can be some weird interactions like Fog from time to time. Example: I cast Fog as the left wing while the enemy wing on the far side of the table is attacking my allied right wing. It doesn't affect that enemy wing, but it does reach my allied right wing with the range of 2. That wing's creatures neither deal nor receive combat damage, so even though the Fog doesn't directly affect the enemy creatures, the effect is still the same. Another example we've run into is if I (as a wing) cast Lightning Bolt at the opposing Emperor and his wing on the extreme other side of the table gives the Emperor hexproof with an effect. Even though he could not normally affect my bolt, he can affect his Emperor and the bolt will fizzle. If that is not acceptable, the group should just agree to a mod to this house rule.
There will inevitably be some discussion and disagreement from your group on particular cards, as these guidelines can't possibly handle all the cases. We still argue over exact interpretations all the time. But, this should give you a good start on making Emperor's games fun for everyone, even the Emperors.
Let me know what you think...we love this variant, and I hope you like it, too.