3CH LR Mana Burn
Hand Size: 3 cards.
Land Rule: Basic Land Rule.
Format Rule: If a player would add mana to his or her mana pool, instead each player adds that much mana in any combination of types to his or her mana pool.
Each player loses 1 life for each unused mana that empties from his or her mana pool.
Rules and banned list
Be sure to review the rules and regular banned list by clicking below. In addition, be sure to review the "Land Rule" banned list as well.
Format ideas?
If you have a format you'd like to try, send me a message, mention it along with the cards in your hand, or post it here!
Contents
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Deck Construction Rules
4. Entry
5. Perfect Hand Magic League
6. Scoring
7. Variant Format Rules
1. Overview
Perfect Hand Magic (PHM) is a competitive strategy game for two or more players. It can be played using pencil and paper; however, it's most commonly played via online forum. To play the game, each player secretly chooses a specified number of Magic cards which form that player's hand. Once all players have chosen hands, the hands are revealed and scored.
The object of the game is to choose the hand that will score the most points. The score for each hand is determined by the result that it would achieve if it were used to play two games of Magic – one match – against each competing hand; the rules for these theoretical games are covered in Section 2 – Game Rules. During each theoretical game, the theoretical player of each hand employs the strategy that will maximize the score for his or her hand, taking into account the strategy of his or her opponent.
A hand scores 3 points for each game that it would win, 0 points for each game it would lose, and 1 point for each game that would end in a draw. However, a hand scores only 2 points for any match that would have a symmetrical result, regardless of whether the result would be two drawn games or a win for each hand.
The composition of a hand is limited only by a short banned list and a few restrictions on the game states that it can enable; these restrictions are covered in Section 3 – Deck Composition.
2. Game Rules
2.1. Except for the changes described in these rules, games follow the rules for a normal game of Magic.
2.1a. Changes to the Comprehensive Rules or the Oracle text of a card take effect at the following times:
i. Changes that would take effect during the prerelease for a set take effect during the first round for which cards from that set may be submitted instead.
ii. Changes that would take effect at any other time take effect during the first round for which those rules have been in effect since the start of the round instead.
2.1b. Ignore any part of an instruction that isn't covered by these rules or the rules of Magic.
2.2. A player's opening hand contains that player's chosen cards.
2.3. Players' libraries begin the game empty.
2.3a. A player doesn't lose the game as a result of being unable to draw a card.
2.4. A cost or effect that would produce a random result produces the result that least benefits the player who paid that cost or the owner of the source of that effect instead.
2.5. Each player is the starting player for one game in each match.
2.6. Players know the identities of all face-down cards and cards in hidden zones, and players know which decisions have been made by other players.
2.7. If a game would continue indefinitely, then the game is a draw.
2.8. If a loop containing at least one optional action would be repeated indefinitely during a turn, then any player may propose a number of times for that loop to repeat instead. If a player does, then each other player may propose a different number and the loop is repeated for the greatest number of times proposed instead. No player is required to make a choice that would end a loop that crosses multiple turns.
2.9. Cards can't be brought into the game from outside the game.
3. Hand Construction Rules
3.1. A player may not choose an opening hand that could enable that player to achieve any of the following results before an opponent's second turn would begin, such that that opponent could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in at least one of these results:
i. win the game
ii. take an infinite number of turns
iii. cause a card to leave an opponent's hand.
Ignore this rule in the following cases:
3.1a. That player's hand would be legal if that player's opponents' cards had no rules text.
3.1b. That player's hand would be legal if that player's opponents had no maximum hand size.
3.1c. That player could achieve one of these results only during a game that was restarted after an opponent's second turn had begun.
3.1d. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be put onto the battlefield by that effect.
3.1e. All cards that would leave an opponent's hand during the resolution of an effect would be in that opponent's hand once that effect resolved.
3.2. A hand may contain any number of copies of any card legal in Vintage.
3.2a. An unreleased card is treated as though it's legal in Vintage if it will become legal in Vintage upon release and if the release notes for the set that contains that card were published prior to the start of the round (See rule 4.1).
3.3. A hand may not contain any cards on the PHM Banned List.
4. Entry
4.1. A player plays a round of PHM by submitting a list of his or her chosen cards to the PHM moderator.
4.2. A player may change his or her hand until the posted deadline.
4.2a. If a player submits an illegal hand, then the moderator will try to notify that player to change his or her hand prior to the deadline. If the hand is discovered to be illegal after the deadline – or if the player does not submit a new hand – then the moderator may either disqualify that hand or replace it with a similar hand, in which any cards causing that hand to be illegal have been removed or replaced.
4.2b. The moderator also will try to notify a player if that player's hand doesn't enable that player to win the game against any possible hand.
4.3. A player may name his or her hand. If that player doesn't, then the PHM moderator may name it. The PHM moderator may also rename a player's hand at his or her discretion.
5. Perfect Hand Magic League
5.1. PHM League play consists of four rounds of PHM.
5.2. Each round, a player earns League points according to the following formula:
League Points = Points Scored / Number of Opponents x 100 (rounded to the nearest integer)
5.3. The player with the most League points at the end of League play is the PHM League winner.
5.3a. If multiple players have the most League points at the end of the League, then the PHM moderator may allow those players to play additional rounds until only one of those players has the most League points or until a specified number of additional rounds have been played.
6. Scoring
6.1. A table of match results is posted at the end of each round. Each row lists one player's result against each other player. A player's points and League points are tallied at the end of his or her row.
6.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
6.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
6.3a. Players are encouraged to determine or verify additional match results.
6.3b. An undetermined match result is counted as a loss for both players in that match.
6.3c. A player may challenge any result until the moderator announces that the result is final.
7. Variant Format Rules
7.1. Perfect Hand Magic has been played with hands typically containing between one and seven cards. Additionally, the Game Rules and Deck Construction Rules have been adapted to create hundreds of variant formats. Five commonly-played variants are described in Sections 7.3-7.7.
7.2. The rules of a variant format overwrite any other applicable rules.
7.2a. Some variant formats generate continuous effects. A continuous effect generated by a variant format is treated as having the earliest timestamp within a layer or sublayer. If continuous effects generated by multiple variant formats would apply in the same layer or sublayer, assign timestamps to those effects in the order that the variant formats are listed in the rules or name of the round.
7.2b. Some variant formats require a player to make some number of decisions in addition to or instead of submitting a hand. A player's submission must comply with the Hand Construction Rules, taking into account any decisions made at this time.
7.2c. Some variant formats require players to make decisions "before the start of each game". For these decisions, follow the "Active Player, Nonactive Player order" rule, replacing "active player" with "starting player".
7.3. Land Rule Variant.
7.3a. This is the basic land rule (LR). Any player may play a basic land or basic snow land of the subtype of his or her choice from outside the game any time he or she could normally play a land. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.3b. This is the extra land rule (ELR). Any player may play a basic land or basic snow land of the subtype of his or her choice from outside the game any time he or she could normally play a land. Any player may play an additional land on each of his or her turns from his or her hand. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.3c. This is the draw land rule (DLR). If a player would draw a card from an empty library, that player puts a basic land or basic snow land card of the subtype of his or her choice from outside the game into his or her hand instead. The starting player doesn't skip the draw step of his or her first turn. A hand may not contain any cards on the Land Rule Banned List.
7.4a. Only cards contained in sets legal in the named format may be submitted.
7.5. Life Rule (LF).
7.5a. If neither player would win otherwise, then the player who maintains the higher life total wins the game.
7.5b. A player must choose an opening hand that enables that player to win both games of a match against at least one legal hand, irrespective of rule 7.5a.
7.6. Backbuild.
7.6a. Players exchanges hands before the start of each match. A hand must enable the player of that hand to win both games of a match against a specified hand or specified hands. Ignore rule 3.1.
7.7. Bonus Points.
7.7a. A player earns bonus points if his or her hand meets specified requirements.
PHM Banned List
The following cards are automatically banned in all Perfect Hand Magic League rounds unless otherwise specified by the round rules. Each round may have an additional banned list that extends beyond, but always includes, these cards.
Land Rule Banned List
"Land Rule" is the most common variant for PHM, and thus a separate ban list has been developed to allow for easier moderation. The following cards are banned in Perfect Hand Magic League rounds when a Land Rule is used. There will be a reminder of this on the round rules.
Please note – the banned list has been updated as follows:
Beast Within is banned.
With or without recursion, it's efficient and versatile and is the go-to threat and answer too often.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is banned.
So many of hand-building decisions revolve around some variant of the question "This hand is pretty robust, but it loses to turn two Emrakul. How much should I skew my hand toward dealing with this threat, or should I just play another Emrakul hand?" I think the big creature archetype is good for the format, and threats like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Progenitus are meaningful but not overwhelming in the way of Emrakul.
Leyline of Singularity is banned.
This Leyline has walked a fine line between a useful safety net and making many creature strategies simply unplayable.
If the most problematic theats, such as Emrakul, are removed from the format, maybe the Leyline-Karakas safety net isn't required and the hands that were collateral damage can begin to be explored; it's worth a shot.
Leyline of the Meek is banned.
It's likely fair to say that this Leyline is never overpowered, but it's equally fair to say that it only shows up in one very specific hand that constrains formats more than it provides room for innovation.
Time Walk is unbanned (land rule rounds).
I understand that Time Walk was originally banend to its use in combination with Anurid Scavenger in 2CH LR rounds for an effective turn three combo kill. If Time Walk proves problematic, it can be banned again, but I'm skeptical that it still warrants any great concern.
Apologies to anyone who tried to read the opening post within the first ten minutes of posting. There were some formatting problems that now have been resolved.
Reminder: Submissions are due in about a day and a half.
Tentatively, next weeks format will be the following (name tbd):
Hand Size: 4 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Each player gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool, where X is the greatest number of turns an opponent has taken."
Please share any ideas you have for improvements to the format or ideas for other formats. Thanks!
2) CalvinSchwa
Eladamri's Vineyard / Words of War / Words of Wilding
--You can't cast vineyard or I make you discard both Words, and if you don't cast Vineyard then I counter one Word and Charm the other 6-0
3) Feyd_Ruin :: When in doubt, play something random
Liliana of the Veil / Progenitus / Stronghold Gambit
--Save Denial for Gambit, using Charm to make you discard if you cast Lili so you can't make me discard Denial. I don't care about her ult, and Inkmoth races hardcast Progenitus 6-0
4) InfiniteNutshell
Death's Shadow / Death's Shadow / Mana Drain
--If I don't do anything until turn 3, you can't mana burn yourself enough to cast a Shadow, so Charm to make you discard + Denial gets me there 6-0
5) Mogg
Mana Drain / Pulse of the Forge / Vexing Shusher
--Shusher + your own counterspell + burn means you win the race even on the draw and my disruption is meaningless 0-6
7) tidalslimshady
Commandeer / Darting Merfolk / Time Stop
--Darting Merfolk is way too slow so I just kill you with Inkmoth 6-0
8) WhammeWhamme
Anurid Scavenger / Daze / Time Walk
--Arcane Denial costing 2 means I can always counter Scavenger through Daze, and if you Time Walk then I use the extra mana to Charm you, and even if you Daze I'll still have Denial for Scavenger 6-0
I was sure we were gonna see more monoliths than in a Kubrick film, it's a 1-card win on T3.
That'll teach me to try to predict the meta...
2) I can counter whichever Words you play first, at which point it's a race that whoever is OTP wins. Words of War targets at the time when you activate the ability, so you can manaburn me for all of your lands on your upkeep as long as you also take 1. If you don't take 1, I can sink it all into mutavault and you never get a chance to target it. You have no way to draw during my turn, so my manlands are safe to attack. ~ 3-3
3) OTD I lose to Stronghold Gambit; OTP you're forced to play Lilliana first to get rid of Command. In the case of Lilliana first, you don't win until your T6, and I can manaburn you out on my T6 so you're a turn too late. ~ 3-3
4) See Below: ~ 6-0
5) See Below: ~ 6-0
6) We both have a mana sink; my two Manlands out-race your one and none of our spells matter. ~ 6-0
7) We both have a mana sink; Manlands beat down the merfolk and I won't cast anything for you to counter. ~ 6-0
8) OTP I'll have 5 mana and can muscle past Daze to counter the Scavenger. OTD I'll never get enough mana to pay for Daze and so can't counter Scavenger or Time Walk. ~ 3-3
man, I think Monolith/Counterspell/Pithing Needle would have swept too, other than knobbodi and myself
vs. InfiniteNutshell
This is an interesting scenario thanks to the masochistic playstyle of Death's Shadows. Since you have no mana sink, I have no problem burning you down to 13, but I want as many lands as possible in order to take you from 13 to 0 as quickly as possible (i.e. stall and mass lands). Thus, I'll just sit there building up lands and force you to burn yourself down to 12 in order to play the shadows. From there you then need to burn yourself down to 9 or less in order to beat my creatures or I can just stall with the threat of blocking (since you can't lower your life total mid-combat), and you can't be at less than 7 life with your first attack on your T5 unless I help you there.
with you OTP, you play the shadows on your T4 at 12 life, then go down to 9 (or less, same result) on your T5 and swing for 8. I was at 19, while mutavault absorbed the rest of the manaburn past t1, so I go down to 11. EoT I burn you for 4, then on my turn I play a land and burn you for 5.
If you stay at 10 life and swing with two 3/3s, I can animate the tarpit to block one (burning you for 3). Then on your next turn I burn you for 3 and chump block with mutavault, then burn for 4 next turn. I'm still at 16 life by the end of that scenario, so staying at 11 and swinging with two 2/2s wouldn't be different.
vs. Mogg
Shusher can't mana sink without a spell to target. You aren't going to cast Pulse unless I have at least 5 more life than you (or if it will kill me), and Mana Drain also needs a spell to target. So if I just don't play Command at all then even OTD I can get the life totals to be 19-15 or 15-11 (depending on if you attack at all with the Shusher before I can activate my Tar Pit). From there we stall since I can block your Shusher with the Pit and Pulse won't come back if you cast it; if you try to burn yourself at all then I can just take the same amount of burn and you'll always be 4 lower on life than me.
Eventually I'll have more lands than your remaining life total, and then I can tap all of them to force you to cast Pulse so that Shusher can sink away the mana. Then I win on creatures.
Tentatively, next weeks format will be the following (name tbd):
Hand Size: 4 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Each player gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool, where X is the greatest number of turns an opponent has taken."
Please share any ideas you have for improvements to the format or ideas for other formats. Thanks!
Should the Land Rule Banlist be used (to stop Energy Field and the Suns' *Zeniths)? I feel like excluding it might be intentional, but it's worth mentioning.
I think you might have misread the round rules?
You can't cast Cryptic until turn 4.
I can always Prog turn 2 (and swing a kill turn 4).
The round rules say that each player gets the mana so when you tap 2 for Gambit, Anachronity gets 2 mana of any color added to their mana pool, that they can then use to Cryptic your Gambit on the play.
And since you lose 1 life per unspent mana, if Anachronity taps out at the end of each turn that's 1+2+3+4+5+6=21 life lost by turn 6
The round rules say that each player gets the mana so when you tap 2 for Gambit, Anachronity gets 2 mana of any color added to their mana pool, that they can then use to Cryptic your Gambit on the play.
Oh ****anutter. *I* misread the round rules.
I read them a couple times, and even re-read them when I read anachronity's post, and still completely missed that the mana was added to each player's pool. I read it as that player's pool. (Autofill the card text from reading a million cards in my life maybe? lol)
I'll have to completely redo my results, naturally.
I think for the most part I can only win if Gambit hits.
I read them a couple times, and even re-read them when I read anachronity's post, and still completely missed that the mana was added to each player's pool. I read it as that player's pool. (Autofill the card text from reading a million cards in my life maybe? lol)
Great, so I can't even 6-0 a guy who doesn't know what game he's playing!
Or maybe I rewrote reality Berenstain-Bears-style because you've been doing too well in the past few rounds.
But yeah, you can see why Basalt Monolith concerned me.
Tentatively, next weeks format will be the following (name tbd):
Hand Size: 4 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Each player gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool, where X is the greatest number of turns an opponent has taken."
Please share any ideas you have for improvements to the format or ideas for other formats. Thanks!
Should the Land Rule Banlist be used (to stop Energy Field and the Suns' *Zeniths)? I feel like excluding it might be intentional, but it's worth mentioning.
Thanks for the comment. It's a reasonable concern, considering this round shares many similarities with a land rule format. That said, I'm comfortable playing the format as it stands, and the new round has already been posted.
Even in cases where a format definitively could be improved, I reserve changing the rules after the round has been posted for cases where:
1) The rules are actually unclear/ambiguous (this happened for the mana burn round with the question of what type of mana could be added) or;
2) The format is actually unplayable. I have a high tolerance for weird formats, but I probably would have killed the cascade format from last year as it was implemented, because it was - to my knowledge - literally impossible to score anything other than 2-2 against a competent opponent.
Okay, so Daze is mostly worthless worthless. DANG IT. I read it as 'that player'. =(
Probably because I was primed by expectations inherent in the name of the round.
vs. 01 Anachronicity: OTP, can't Cryptic with the spare mana, so still win. Daze not completely worthless! 3-3
vs. 02 CalvinSchwa: Vinyard speeds me up a turn so somehow win? 6-0
vs. 03 Feyd_Ruin: Nothing Feyd_Ruin does actually beats the combo! 6-0
vs. 04 Infinite Nutshell: ...I lose to counters under these round rules, darn it. 0-6
vs. 05 Mogg: ...I lose to counters, darn it. 0-6
vs. 06 knobbodi: ...daze is useless, Arcane Denial beats me, GAH. 0-6
vs. 07 tidalslimshady: Commandeer on Time Walk does nothing relevant, Time Stop too slow. 6-0
If Daze had been Mana Drain, Arcane Denial or - and this is the one it really should have been - THWART - things would've gone better. Ah well.
It looks like Mogg should 0-6 to CalvinSchwa and Knobbodi?
CalvinSchwa gets either Words of Wilding or Words of War, while the other gets countered. Either one can stop the Shusher from attacking (words of war kills it, words of wilding blocks it with bears)
From that point on, having a mana sink through the Words means that CalvinSchwa has control of the relative life totals, and can ensure that his life total remains exactly 4 higher. Then CalvinSchwa eventually wins by either manaburning Mogg out all at once or swarming with lethal bears.
Mogg can never cast Shusher without losing Pulse to Esper Charm; even when Mogg gets 3 lands, Knobbodi will have 2 and be able to Charm in response to Shusher with symmetrical mana and one land. Mogg can Drain the Charm by tapping his third land, but then Knobbodi can Denial the Drain. If Mogg ever casts Pulse without Shusher in play then Knobbodi can just Charm in response to that instead and then hover at 4 life more than Mogg.
It looks like Mogg should 0-6 to CalvinSchwa and Knobbodi?
CalvinSchwa gets either Words of Wilding or Words of War, while the other gets countered. Either one can stop the Shusher from attacking (words of war kills it, words of wilding blocks it with bears)
From that point on, having a mana sink through the Words means that CalvinSchwa has control of the relative life totals, and can ensure that his life total remains exactly 4 higher. Then CalvinSchwa eventually wins by either manaburning Mogg out all at once or swarming with lethal bears.
Mogg can never cast Shusher without losing Pulse to Esper Charm; even when Mogg gets 3 lands, Knobbodi will have 2 and be able to Charm in response to Shusher with symmetrical mana and one land. Mogg can Drain the Charm by tapping his third land, but then Knobbodi can Denial the Drain. If Mogg ever casts Pulse without Shusher in play then Knobbodi can just Charm in response to that instead and then hover at 4 life more than Mogg.
EDIT: corrected/clarified
I think I did miscalculate the extent to which CalvinSchwa can control his life total on the play; specifically, by getting himself down to 5 while negating my Shusher such that I can't return Pulse for lethal. On the play, I still think I win; one scenario below with Vineyard, one without.
m: 19, burn
c: 19, vineyard
m: 17, shusher, burn
c: 15, words of wilding (mana drain)
m: 8, attack, burn
c: 5, words of war
m: attack, pulse
m: 19, burn
c: 19
m: 19, shusher
c: 17
m: 16, attack, burn
c: 12, words of wilding (mana drain)
m: 8, burn (1 burn on c's turn + 3 from drain + 4 burn on my turn), attack
c: 3 (7 burn + 2 from attack), words of war
m: attack / pulse
3-3
Where there's no dispute in the scores, I generally haven't been checking the results when I complete the grid, so this is the first time I'm analyzing this match.
I agree with your analysis, and the results have been updated
3CH LR Mana Burn
Hand Size: 3 cards.
Land Rule: Basic Land Rule.
Format Rule: If a player would add mana to his or her mana pool, instead each player adds that much mana in any combination of types to his or her mana pool.
Each player loses 1 life for each unused mana that empties from his or her mana pool.
Hands:
1) Anachronity :: Landhandling
Creeping Tarpit / Cryptic Command / Mutavault
2) CalvinSchwa
Eladamri's Vineyard / Words of War / Words of Wilding
3) Feyd_Ruin :: When in doubt, play something random
Liliana of the Veil / Progenitus / Stronghold Gambit
4) InfiniteNutshell
Death's Shadow / Death's Shadow / Mana Drain
5) Mogg
Mana Drain / Pulse of the Forge / Vexing Shusher
6) knobbodi
Arcane Denial / Esper Charm / Inkmoth Nexus
7) tidalslimshady
Commandeer / Darting Merfolk / Time Stop
8) WhammeWhamme
Anurid Scavenger / Daze / Time Walk
Results:
X| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
1| X 3 3 6 6 6 6 3 | 30 | 429
2| 3 X 0 0 3 0 0 0 | 04 | 057
3| 3 6 X 0 0 0 0 0 | 08 | 114
4| 0 6 6 X 0 0 6 6 | 24 | 343
5| 0 3 6 6 X 0 6 6 | 26 | 371
6| 0 6 6 6 6 X 6 6 | 36 | 514
7| 0 6 6 0 0 0 X 0 | 12 | 171
8| 3 6 6 0 0 0 6 X | 20 | 286
knobbodi wins!
Rules and banned list
Be sure to review the rules and regular banned list by clicking below. In addition, be sure to review the "Land Rule" banned list as well.
Format ideas?
If you have a format you'd like to try, send me a message, mention it along with the cards in your hand, or post it here!
1. Overview
2. Game Rules
3. Deck Construction Rules
4. Entry
5. Perfect Hand Magic League
6. Scoring
7. Variant Format Rules
1. Overview
Perfect Hand Magic (PHM) is a competitive strategy game for two or more players. It can be played using pencil and paper; however, it's most commonly played via online forum. To play the game, each player secretly chooses a specified number of Magic cards which form that player's hand. Once all players have chosen hands, the hands are revealed and scored.
The object of the game is to choose the hand that will score the most points. The score for each hand is determined by the result that it would achieve if it were used to play two games of Magic – one match – against each competing hand; the rules for these theoretical games are covered in Section 2 – Game Rules. During each theoretical game, the theoretical player of each hand employs the strategy that will maximize the score for his or her hand, taking into account the strategy of his or her opponent.
A hand scores 3 points for each game that it would win, 0 points for each game it would lose, and 1 point for each game that would end in a draw. However, a hand scores only 2 points for any match that would have a symmetrical result, regardless of whether the result would be two drawn games or a win for each hand.
The composition of a hand is limited only by a short banned list and a few restrictions on the game states that it can enable; these restrictions are covered in Section 3 – Deck Composition.
2. Game Rules
2.1. Except for the changes described in these rules, games follow the rules for a normal game of Magic.
2.2. A player's opening hand contains that player's chosen cards.
2.3. Players' libraries begin the game empty.
2.4. A cost or effect that would produce a random result produces the result that least benefits the player who paid that cost or the owner of the source of that effect instead.
2.5. Each player is the starting player for one game in each match.
2.6. Players know the identities of all face-down cards and cards in hidden zones, and players know which decisions have been made by other players.
2.7. If a game would continue indefinitely, then the game is a draw.
2.8. If a loop containing at least one optional action would be repeated indefinitely during a turn, then any player may propose a number of times for that loop to repeat instead. If a player does, then each other player may propose a different number and the loop is repeated for the greatest number of times proposed instead. No player is required to make a choice that would end a loop that crosses multiple turns.
2.9. Cards can't be brought into the game from outside the game.
3. Hand Construction Rules
3.1. A player may not choose an opening hand that could enable that player to achieve any of the following results before an opponent's second turn would begin, such that that opponent could make no sequence of decisions that would not result in at least one of these results:
Ignore this rule in the following cases:
3.2. A hand may contain any number of copies of any card legal in Vintage.
3.3. A hand may not contain any cards on the PHM Banned List.
4. Entry
4.1. A player plays a round of PHM by submitting a list of his or her chosen cards to the PHM moderator.
4.2. A player may change his or her hand until the posted deadline.
4.3. A player may name his or her hand. If that player doesn't, then the PHM moderator may name it. The PHM moderator may also rename a player's hand at his or her discretion.
5. Perfect Hand Magic League
5.1. PHM League play consists of four rounds of PHM.
5.2. Each round, a player earns League points according to the following formula:
5.3. The player with the most League points at the end of League play is the PHM League winner.
6. Scoring
6.1. A table of match results is posted at the end of each round. Each row lists one player's result against each other player. A player's points and League points are tallied at the end of his or her row.
6.2. A player may earn bonus League points as specified by the PHM moderator.
6.3. Each player is responsible for determining the match results for his or her hand.
7. Variant Format Rules
7.1. Perfect Hand Magic has been played with hands typically containing between one and seven cards. Additionally, the Game Rules and Deck Construction Rules have been adapted to create hundreds of variant formats. Five commonly-played variants are described in Sections 7.3-7.7.
7.2. The rules of a variant format overwrite any other applicable rules.
7.3. Land Rule Variant.
7.4. Sanctioned Magic Format Variant.
7.5. Life Rule (LF).
7.6. Backbuild.
7.7. Bonus Points.
PHM Banned List
The following cards are automatically banned in all Perfect Hand Magic League rounds unless otherwise specified by the round rules. Each round may have an additional banned list that extends beyond, but always includes, these cards.
Acceleration
Channel
Fastbond
Flash
Show and Tell
Disruption
Beast Within
Chancellor of the Annex
Force of Will
Leyline of Anticipation
Leyline of Singularity
Pact of Negation
Trinisphere
Lands
Ghost Quarter
Strip Mine
Wasteland
Win Conditions
Barren Glory
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
Laboratory Maniac
Leyline of the Meek
Magus of the Moon
Meddling Mage
The Rack
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
Vampire Hexmage
Land Rule Banned List
"Land Rule" is the most common variant for PHM, and thus a separate ban list has been developed to allow for easier moderation. The following cards are banned in Perfect Hand Magic League rounds when a Land Rule is used. There will be a reminder of this on the round rules.
Acceleration
Black Lotus
Disruption
Balancing Act
Energy Field
Win Conditions
Beacon of Creation
Maralen of the Mornsong
Nezumi Shortfang
Red Sun's Zenith
White Sun's Zenith
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Beast Within is banned.
With or without recursion, it's efficient and versatile and is the go-to threat and answer too often.
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is banned.
So many of hand-building decisions revolve around some variant of the question "This hand is pretty robust, but it loses to turn two Emrakul. How much should I skew my hand toward dealing with this threat, or should I just play another Emrakul hand?" I think the big creature archetype is good for the format, and threats like Kozilek, Butcher of Truth and Progenitus are meaningful but not overwhelming in the way of Emrakul.
Leyline of Singularity is banned.
This Leyline has walked a fine line between a useful safety net and making many creature strategies simply unplayable.
If the most problematic theats, such as Emrakul, are removed from the format, maybe the Leyline-Karakas safety net isn't required and the hands that were collateral damage can begin to be explored; it's worth a shot.
Leyline of the Meek is banned.
It's likely fair to say that this Leyline is never overpowered, but it's equally fair to say that it only shows up in one very specific hand that constrains formats more than it provides room for innovation.
Time Walk is unbanned (land rule rounds).
I understand that Time Walk was originally banend to its use in combination with Anurid Scavenger in 2CH LR rounds for an effective turn three combo kill. If Time Walk proves problematic, it can be banned again, but I'm skeptical that it still warrants any great concern.
Discussion surrounding bans can be found here.
While I'm not confident that it's correct to ban four cards at once, I do think that we've had ample opportunity to observe the cards in practice.
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Question since you didn't specify: does "of any type" mean "of any combination of types" or "of any one type"?
- Rabid Wombat
Since the original wording was ambiguous, I've updated it to read "that much mana in any combination of types".
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Tentatively, next weeks format will be the following (name tbd):
Hand Size: 4 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Each player gets an emblem with "At the beginning of your precombat main phase, add X mana in any combination of colors to your mana pool, where X is the greatest number of turns an opponent has taken."
Please share any ideas you have for improvements to the format or ideas for other formats. Thanks!
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Arcane Denial / Esper Charm / Inkmoth Nexus
VS:
1) Anachronity :: Landhandling
Creeping Tarpit / Cryptic Command / Mutavault
--Pretty sure I lose this race no matter what 0-6
2) CalvinSchwa
Eladamri's Vineyard / Words of War / Words of Wilding
--You can't cast vineyard or I make you discard both Words, and if you don't cast Vineyard then I counter one Word and Charm the other 6-0
3) Feyd_Ruin :: When in doubt, play something random
Liliana of the Veil / Progenitus / Stronghold Gambit
--Save Denial for Gambit, using Charm to make you discard if you cast Lili so you can't make me discard Denial. I don't care about her ult, and Inkmoth races hardcast Progenitus 6-0
4) InfiniteNutshell
Death's Shadow / Death's Shadow / Mana Drain
--If I don't do anything until turn 3, you can't mana burn yourself enough to cast a Shadow, so Charm to make you discard + Denial gets me there 6-0
5) Mogg
Mana Drain / Pulse of the Forge / Vexing Shusher
--Shusher + your own counterspell + burn means you win the race even on the draw and my disruption is meaningless 0-6
7) tidalslimshady
Commandeer / Darting Merfolk / Time Stop
--Darting Merfolk is way too slow so I just kill you with Inkmoth 6-0
8) WhammeWhamme
Anurid Scavenger / Daze / Time Walk
--Arcane Denial costing 2 means I can always counter Scavenger through Daze, and if you Time Walk then I use the extra mana to Charm you, and even if you Daze I'll still have Denial for Scavenger 6-0
X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
6 | 0 6 6 6 0 X 6 6 | 30 | 429
I was sure we were gonna see more monoliths than in a Kubrick film, it's a 1-card win on T3.
That'll teach me to try to predict the meta...
2) I can counter whichever Words you play first, at which point it's a race that whoever is OTP wins. Words of War targets at the time when you activate the ability, so you can manaburn me for all of your lands on your upkeep as long as you also take 1. If you don't take 1, I can sink it all into mutavault and you never get a chance to target it. You have no way to draw during my turn, so my manlands are safe to attack. ~ 3-3
3) OTD I lose to Stronghold Gambit; OTP you're forced to play Lilliana first to get rid of Command. In the case of Lilliana first, you don't win until your T6, and I can manaburn you out on my T6 so you're a turn too late. ~ 3-3
4) See Below: ~ 6-0
5) See Below: ~ 6-0
6) We both have a mana sink; my two Manlands out-race your one and none of our spells matter. ~ 6-0
7) We both have a mana sink; Manlands beat down the merfolk and I won't cast anything for you to counter. ~ 6-0
8) OTP I'll have 5 mana and can muscle past Daze to counter the Scavenger. OTD I'll never get enough mana to pay for Daze and so can't counter Scavenger or Time Walk. ~ 3-3
X | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |
1 | X 3 3 6 6 6 6 3 | 30 | 429
man, I think Monolith/Counterspell/Pithing Needle would have swept too, other than knobbodi and myself
vs. InfiniteNutshell
This is an interesting scenario thanks to the masochistic playstyle of Death's Shadows. Since you have no mana sink, I have no problem burning you down to 13, but I want as many lands as possible in order to take you from 13 to 0 as quickly as possible (i.e. stall and mass lands). Thus, I'll just sit there building up lands and force you to burn yourself down to 12 in order to play the shadows. From there you then need to burn yourself down to 9 or less in order to beat my creatures or I can just stall with the threat of blocking (since you can't lower your life total mid-combat), and you can't be at less than 7 life with your first attack on your T5 unless I help you there.
with you OTP, you play the shadows on your T4 at 12 life, then go down to 9 (or less, same result) on your T5 and swing for 8. I was at 19, while mutavault absorbed the rest of the manaburn past t1, so I go down to 11. EoT I burn you for 4, then on my turn I play a land and burn you for 5.
If you stay at 10 life and swing with two 3/3s, I can animate the tarpit to block one (burning you for 3). Then on your next turn I burn you for 3 and chump block with mutavault, then burn for 4 next turn. I'm still at 16 life by the end of that scenario, so staying at 11 and swinging with two 2/2s wouldn't be different.
vs. Mogg
Shusher can't mana sink without a spell to target. You aren't going to cast Pulse unless I have at least 5 more life than you (or if it will kill me), and Mana Drain also needs a spell to target. So if I just don't play Command at all then even OTD I can get the life totals to be 19-15 or 15-11 (depending on if you attack at all with the Shusher before I can activate my Tar Pit). From there we stall since I can block your Shusher with the Pit and Pulse won't come back if you cast it; if you try to burn yourself at all then I can just take the same amount of burn and you'll always be 4 lower on life than me.
Eventually I'll have more lands than your remaining life total, and then I can tap all of them to force you to cast Pulse so that Shusher can sink away the mana. Then I win on creatures.
- Rabid Wombat
Should the Land Rule Banlist be used (to stop Energy Field and the Suns' *Zeniths)? I feel like excluding it might be intentional, but it's worth mentioning.
- Rabid Wombat
results removedI completely misread the round rules.
No longer staff here.
The round rules say that each player gets the mana so when you tap 2 for Gambit, Anachronity gets 2 mana of any color added to their mana pool, that they can then use to Cryptic your Gambit on the play.
And since you lose 1 life per unspent mana, if Anachronity taps out at the end of each turn that's 1+2+3+4+5+6=21 life lost by turn 6
*I* misread the round rules.
I read them a couple times, and even re-read them when I read anachronity's post, and still completely missed that the mana was added to each player's pool. I read it as that player's pool. (Autofill the card text from reading a million cards in my life maybe? lol)
I'll have to completely redo my results, naturally.
I think for the most part I can only win if Gambit hits.
No longer staff here.
Great, so I can't even 6-0 a guy who doesn't know what game he's playing!
Or maybe I rewrote reality Berenstain-Bears-style because you've been doing too well in the past few rounds.
But yeah, you can see why Basalt Monolith concerned me.
- Rabid Wombat
Thanks for the comment. It's a reasonable concern, considering this round shares many similarities with a land rule format. That said, I'm comfortable playing the format as it stands, and the new round has already been posted.
Even in cases where a format definitively could be improved, I reserve changing the rules after the round has been posted for cases where:
1) The rules are actually unclear/ambiguous (this happened for the mana burn round with the question of what type of mana could be added) or;
2) The format is actually unplayable. I have a high tolerance for weird formats, but I probably would have killed the cascade format from last year as it was implemented, because it was - to my knowledge - literally impossible to score anything other than 2-2 against a competent opponent.
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Shouldn't that be 3-3 due to Split Second?Ah, right, Split Second...Fair enough, though. I think having to worry about Energy Field for just one round isn't so unfair.
- Rabid Wombat
Probably because I was primed by expectations inherent in the name of the round.
vs. 01 Anachronicity: OTP, can't Cryptic with the spare mana, so still win. Daze not completely worthless! 3-3
vs. 02 CalvinSchwa: Vinyard speeds me up a turn so somehow win? 6-0
vs. 03 Feyd_Ruin: Nothing Feyd_Ruin does actually beats the combo! 6-0
vs. 04 Infinite Nutshell: ...I lose to counters under these round rules, darn it. 0-6
vs. 05 Mogg: ...I lose to counters, darn it. 0-6
vs. 06 knobbodi: ...daze is useless, Arcane Denial beats me, GAH. 0-6
vs. 07 tidalslimshady: Commandeer on Time Walk does nothing relevant, Time Stop too slow. 6-0
If Daze had been Mana Drain, Arcane Denial or - and this is the one it really should have been - THWART - things would've gone better. Ah well.
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CalvinSchwa gets either Words of Wilding or Words of War, while the other gets countered. Either one can stop the Shusher from attacking (words of war kills it, words of wilding blocks it with bears)
From that point on, having a mana sink through the Words means that CalvinSchwa has control of the relative life totals, and can ensure that his life total remains exactly 4 higher. Then CalvinSchwa eventually wins by either manaburning Mogg out all at once or swarming with lethal bears.
Mogg can never cast Shusher without losing Pulse to Esper Charm; even when Mogg gets 3 lands, Knobbodi will have 2 and be able to Charm in response to Shusher with symmetrical mana and one land. Mogg can Drain the Charm by tapping his third land, but then Knobbodi can Denial the Drain. If Mogg ever casts Pulse without Shusher in play then Knobbodi can just Charm in response to that instead and then hover at 4 life more than Mogg.
EDIT: corrected/clarified
- Rabid Wombat
m: 19, burn
c: 19, vineyard
m: 17, shusher, burn
c: 15, words of wilding (mana drain)
m: 8, attack, burn
c: 5, words of war
m: attack, pulse
m: 19, burn
c: 19
m: 19, shusher
c: 17
m: 16, attack, burn
c: 12, words of wilding (mana drain)
m: 8, burn (1 burn on c's turn + 3 from drain + 4 burn on my turn), attack
c: 3 (7 burn + 2 from attack), words of war
m: attack / pulse
3-3
I agree with your analysis, and the results have been updated
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