5CH Slow Fork
Hand Size: 5 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Instant and sorcery spells have rebound.
Whenever a nontoken permanent enters the battlefield, its controller creates a token that's a copy of that permanent at the beginning of his or her next upkeep. (You'll get a token even if that permanent leaves the battlefield.)
Bans: Eon Hub
X| 1 2 3 |
1| X 6 6 | 12 | 600
2| 0 X 6 | 06 | 300
3| 0 0 X | 00 | 000
Anachronity 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!
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.
Hands for 5CH Slow Fork are due in about two days.
Tentatively, next week's format will be 6CH Overwhelming Splendor:
Hand Size: 6 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
Players can't activate abilities that aren't mana abilities or loyalty abilities.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on the proposed format or suggestions for changes.
I also have a list going of format suggestions. CalvinSchwa suggested a format last week, and Feyd_Ruin suggested three formats, one of which was Slow Fork. If you have any suggestions for other formats, let me know!
I quite enjoyed this round. I might have hoped for more opponents to really put my hand to the test, but I had already run it through my own gauntlet, which gave me ample opportunity to explore. The format was very powerful, and I almost gave up on finding a solution to the Voidstone Gargoyle-Foil hand. It's not clear that my selection was actually better in the abstract (and demonstrably worse for the actual metagame), but it was an interesting challenge.
I'll score my row in a bit, but first - for those interested - here are the primary hands that I considered for the format:
X| 1 2 3 4 |
1| X 3 0 0 | 02
2| 3 X 3 0 | 04
3| 6 3 X 0 | 08
4| 6 6 6 X | 18
As usual, I started my analysis by seeking out the most degenerate strategy - in this case, a hand that, using only three cards, could generate an arbitrarily large number of turns and mana before the opponent's first turn. Of course, the hand has no disruption of its own and is extremely vulnerable to many common forms of disruption, so I quickly abandoned it.
My per project for the format was various forms of Stax. Smokestack / Conjurer's Bauble (or Myr Retriever) / is one way to generate an arbitrarily large number of lands, and bauble plays nicely against Foil, but I preferred the more proactive approach with Tel-Jilad Stylus. Phyrexian Revoker would have been a valid win condition; I opted for Golem in anticipation of other shops hands that could play a larger game.
My favorite aspect of this hand is the ability to generate any number of Spheres of Resistance (albeit slowly) to make hands very expensive. Bomb plays nicely against Loti in a format where some number may be expected to sit in play for a turn.
The Foil hand was inspired by Error1's excellent hand from the first round (of two) of the Duplicity format. This hand is clearly not as powerful, but it can generate turn 1 Gargoyle with Foil on turn 2 or turn 1 Foil with Gargoyle on turn 2, noting that Gargoyle is copied shortly thereafter and names yet another card. Turn one lotus-babule-lotus also generates an impressive amount of mana on subsequent turns, and two 3/3 fliers is relatively quick clock for a non-combo hand.
My last hand came out of a frustration with the "obvious hand" (it won an earlier version of this format) being so good. I wanted to see if I could find a reasonable solution to 6-0 that hand and play decently against the rest of the field. I believe this is the first time I've ever submitted Leyline of the Void and it will likely be a long time before I ever do again. It's a narrow card, but it definitely served a purpose in such a fast format.
Perhaps my favorite interaction with this hand was when I realized that I could beat the Gargoyle hand without playing Maze of Ith. The Tabernacle is useless here due to the basic Islands, but recurring Inkmoth Nexus is just fast enough to slowly block and reduce the size of the Gargoyles until they're no more; this is not really an interaction I ever expected to see, and that's precisely one of the reasons I really enjoy PHM sometimes.
1: 0: My hand lacks any interaction for Anachronity's threata and certainly isn't as fast.
2: 0: If I set up for Dust Bowl, Emrakul controls my turn and makes me sacrfice Dust Bowl to destroy the original Dust Bowl. If I don't set up for Dust Bowl, then CalvinSchwa deploys enough lands such that a post-Emrakul Dust Bowl plus Tabernacle won't be enough to destroy the eldrazi.
Mini-analysis of CalvinSchwa's hand / play sequence:
1: karakas, amulet (karakas on the battlefield)
2: karakas copy (legendary, only one survives), turf (bounce karakas) (turf)
3: turf copy bounces the original turf, karakas (turf, karakas)
4: turf (2 turf)
5: karakas (2 turf, karakas)
6: turf (3 turf)
7: summer bloom, turf, turf, turf, turf, emrakul
later in the game, CalvinSchwa will have enough mana to bounce Emrakul and replay it every turn, but I believe this is the earliest point at which Emrakul can be cast
Huh. I was thinking more like:
T1: Karakas, Amulet
T2: K copy fails, Amulet copy. Play Turf -> 2 amulets makes 4 mana, Turf bounces itself. Spend 2 on Summer Bloom. Play Turf 3 times, making 12 mana +2 +1 (Karakas) equals 15 mana, enough for Emrakul.
I'll finish this analysis tomorrow, I gotta sleep. I might've missed something here.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Huh. I was thinking more like:
T1: Karakas, Amulet
T2: K copy fails, Amulet copy. Play Turf -> 2 amulets makes 4 mana, Turf bounces itself. Spend 2 on Summer Bloom. Play Turf 3 times, making 12 mana +2 +1 (Karakas) equals 15 mana, enough for Emrakul.
I'll finish this analysis tomorrow, I gotta sleep. I might've missed something here.
That makes sense. I was pretty sure I'd missed something, which was why I posted the line. I got stuck in bounce-land only mode, because that's the way my four-land hand plays. I'm not really sure why I forgot about copying Amulet, though.
The real line makes so much more sense, because it's actually a good strategy.
unless I'm missing something that lets Calvin cast Emrakul on his 2nd turn?
EDIT EDIT: ah, I forgot about the second amulet trigger. I think I lose to CalvinSchwa OTD since he can Emrakul me and then mess with the target on my rebounded searing wind, at which point I lose to Glorious End.
EDITEDITEDIT: As pointed out by CalvinSchwa, I can stop the amulet copy trigger with Glorious End. 6-0 it is, then.
This seemed like a pretty high-power round, and I figured it was a clash between leyline of the void, chalice of the void, T1 lockout, and manlands to bypass said lockout.
I went for a middle-ground that had speed and some lockout, and hoped no one tried Silence or Chalice. My alternate hand was a 'sore loser' T0 lockout that can force a draw T0 if it would lose otherwise, consisting of...
-Gemstone Caverns
-Plains
-Silence
-Conjuror's Bauble
-Leyline of Lightning
But it loses to LotV and manlands, so I went with this instead.
EDIT: After reading Mogg's analysis, I did indeed consider a Mishra's Workshop hand which aimed for a T2 Blightsteel.
-Mishra's Workshop
-Mana Vault
-Blightsteel
-Chalice otV
-Leyline otV
I also considered running some sort of hand with Leyline of Vitality, Dryad Arbor, and Quirion Ranger since the leyline doubles up nicely, but I doubted there would be enough counterspells to justify dodging them like this.
I felt like Leyline otV was near-necessary this round for how easy it was to create a recursion-based T1 lockout combo, so first I tried to find a recursion-based hand that could run Patrician's Scorn, then decided to avoid the graveyard altogether, even with Conjuror's Bauble as good as it was this round.
In the end, I really liked how Glorious End 'cancelled' its own drawback for a turn due to rebound, and opted for a strategy that involved playing instants during my upkeep before my turn ended due to it. I couldn't find any good Glorious End lockout combos, so I went for an even 20 with Searing Wind and hoped that nobody had any life gain or non-graveyard-based T1 lockouts.
I think mine's along the lines of
| 0 X 6 | 6
vs Anachronicity: OTD I lose, but I think I also lose OTP. I play Amulet T1, then on T2 you Glorious End + Searing Wind in response to my copy triggers. With only 1 Amulet, I can't go off that turn.
vs Mogg: Agreed. (Is there a way for you to keep Dust Bowl by killing your own lands or something, so that I can't kill it? Regardless, probably not useful.)
I started thinking about an effective T0 Torpor Orb, with a hand of Simian Spirit Guide / a red Dark Ritual / Manamorphose / Hushwing Gryff / something. This didn't seem worth it, since I realized Gryff only stops creatures anyway and it took 4 cards. (In hindsight, I also realize that 'red Dark Ritual' might be hard to find.)
I spent a bunch of time thinking about Dark Depths, because for some reason my silly brain thought I just needed to destroy it to find Marit Lage, as opposed the whole no counters thing. While in the depths of this delusion, my working hand was along the lines of Petrified Field / Dark Depths / Mutavault / Riptide Laboratory / Dust Bowl. I liked the Riptide Mutavault thing, but figured something like Dream Stalker might do it better. (Also, I forgot about the blue mana I'd need. I was not on the top of my game this week.)
Eventually, I realized my decks didn't function, and I was low on time. I decided just to play the biggest thing, and I was hooked on Amulet Bloom when I realized its sheer mana production ability. It came down to Emmy vs Red Sun's Zenith; I picked Emmy since the cast trigger might mitigate the damage from counterspells. I picked Karakas at random; in hindsight I probably would've made it a backup win condition instead.
In short: I blundered into a working hand. I still liked this week, though!
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
vs Anachronicity: OTD I lose, but I think I also lose OTP. I play Amulet T1, then on T2 you Glorious End + Searing Wind in response to my copy triggers. With only 1 Amulet, I can't go off that turn.
Ah, right, end'ing in response to the amulet copy trigger makes sense. Thanks for pointing that out, for some reason I was only thinking about T1 Glorious End.
Yeah, I'm not sure what happened, but PHM does ebb and flow. I believe two players already have submitted for this week, and last week I actually was concerned that the PHM account might not be receiving messages for some reason. I think I now have the dubious distinction of having moderated the round with the fewest players (3) and the most players (59).
I liked reading both yours and CalvinSchwa's analyses. My impression is that sometimes the conciseness of the decklists hides the significant thought that can go into developing them.
5CH Slow Fork
Hand Size: 5 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Instant and sorcery spells have rebound.
Whenever a nontoken permanent enters the battlefield, its controller creates a token that's a copy of that permanent at the beginning of his or her next upkeep. (You'll get a token even if that permanent leaves the battlefield.)
Bans: Eon Hub
Hands:
1) Anachronity
Black Lotus / Black Lotus / Glorious End / Leyline of the Void / Searing Wind
2) CalvinSchwa
Amulet of Vigor / Emrakul, the Promised End / Gruul Turf / Karakas / Summer Bloom
3) Mogg
Dust Bowl / Dimir Aqueduct / Inkmoth Nexus / Leyline of the Void / The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Results:
X| 1 2 3 |
1| X 6 6 | 12 | 600
2| 0 X 6 | 06 | 300
3| 0 0 X | 00 | 000
Anachronity 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
Follow me to be notified when weekly Perfect Hand Magic results are posted
Hands for 5CH Slow Fork are due in about two days.
Tentatively, next week's format will be 6CH Overwhelming Splendor:
Hand Size: 6 cards.
Land Rule: None.
Format Rule: Creatures lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
Players can't activate abilities that aren't mana abilities or loyalty abilities.
Let me know if you have any thoughts on the proposed format or suggestions for changes.
I also have a list going of format suggestions. CalvinSchwa suggested a format last week, and Feyd_Ruin suggested three formats, one of which was Slow Fork. If you have any suggestions for other formats, let me know!
Follow me to be notified when weekly Perfect Hand Magic results are posted
Have a look and score your row.
Follow me to be notified when weekly Perfect Hand Magic results are posted
I'll score my row in a bit, but first - for those interested - here are the primary hands that I considered for the format:
2) Mishra's Workshop / Precursor Golem / Ratchet Bomb / Sphere of Resistance / Tel-Jilad Stylus
3) Black Lotus / Conjurer's Bauble / Island / Tundra / Voidstone Gargoyle
4) Dust Bowl / Dimir Aqueduct / Inkmoth Nexus / Leyline of the Void / The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
X| 1 2 3 4 |
1| X 3 0 0 | 02
2| 3 X 3 0 | 04
3| 6 3 X 0 | 08
4| 6 6 6 X | 18
As usual, I started my analysis by seeking out the most degenerate strategy - in this case, a hand that, using only three cards, could generate an arbitrarily large number of turns and mana before the opponent's first turn. Of course, the hand has no disruption of its own and is extremely vulnerable to many common forms of disruption, so I quickly abandoned it.
My per project for the format was various forms of Stax. Smokestack / Conjurer's Bauble (or Myr Retriever) / is one way to generate an arbitrarily large number of lands, and bauble plays nicely against Foil, but I preferred the more proactive approach with Tel-Jilad Stylus.
Phyrexian Revoker would have been a valid win condition; I opted for Golem in anticipation of other shops hands that could play a larger game.
My favorite aspect of this hand is the ability to generate any number of Spheres of Resistance (albeit slowly) to make hands very expensive. Bomb plays nicely against Loti in a format where some number may be expected to sit in play for a turn.
The Foil hand was inspired by Error1's excellent hand from the first round (of two) of the Duplicity format. This hand is clearly not as powerful, but it can generate turn 1 Gargoyle with Foil on turn 2 or turn 1 Foil with Gargoyle on turn 2, noting that Gargoyle is copied shortly thereafter and names yet another card. Turn one lotus-babule-lotus also generates an impressive amount of mana on subsequent turns, and two 3/3 fliers is relatively quick clock for a non-combo hand.
My last hand came out of a frustration with the "obvious hand" (it won an earlier version of this format) being so good. I wanted to see if I could find a reasonable solution to 6-0 that hand and play decently against the rest of the field. I believe this is the first time I've ever submitted Leyline of the Void and it will likely be a long time before I ever do again. It's a narrow card, but it definitely served a purpose in such a fast format.
Perhaps my favorite interaction with this hand was when I realized that I could beat the Gargoyle hand without playing Maze of Ith. The Tabernacle is useless here due to the basic Islands, but recurring Inkmoth Nexus is just fast enough to slowly block and reduce the size of the Gargoyles until they're no more; this is not really an interaction I ever expected to see, and that's precisely one of the reasons I really enjoy PHM sometimes.
EDIT - here's my row:
Hand: Dust Bowl / Dimir Aqueduct / Inkmoth Nexus / Leyline of the Void / The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
X| 1 2 3
3| 0 0 X | 000
1: 0: My hand lacks any interaction for Anachronity's threata and certainly isn't as fast.
2: 0: If I set up for Dust Bowl, Emrakul controls my turn and makes me sacrfice Dust Bowl to destroy the original Dust Bowl. If I don't set up for Dust Bowl, then CalvinSchwa deploys enough lands such that a post-Emrakul Dust Bowl plus Tabernacle won't be enough to destroy the eldrazi.
Mini-analysis of CalvinSchwa's hand / play sequence:1: karakas, amulet (karakas on the battlefield)
2: karakas copy (legendary, only one survives), turf (bounce karakas) (turf)
3: turf copy bounces the original turf, karakas (turf, karakas)
4: turf (2 turf)
5: karakas (2 turf, karakas)
6: turf (3 turf)
7: summer bloom, turf, turf, turf, turf, emrakul
later in the game, CalvinSchwa will have enough mana to bounce Emrakul and replay it every turn, but I believe this is the earliest point at which Emrakul can be cast
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
T1: Karakas, Amulet
T2: K copy fails, Amulet copy. Play Turf -> 2 amulets makes 4 mana, Turf bounces itself. Spend 2 on Summer Bloom. Play Turf 3 times, making 12 mana +2 +1 (Karakas) equals 15 mana, enough for Emrakul.
I'll finish this analysis tomorrow, I gotta sleep. I might've missed something here.
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
That makes sense. I was pretty sure I'd missed something, which was why I posted the line. I got stuck in bounce-land only mode, because that's the way my four-land hand plays. I'm not really sure why I forgot about copying Amulet, though.
The real line makes so much more sense, because it's actually a good strategy.
BWTeysa, Orzhov Scion
GWRhys the Redeemed
GUKruphix, God of Horizons
GRXenagos, God of Revels
GThrun, the Last Troll
GStompy
Anyways, I think I go...
X| 1 2 3
3| X 6 6 | 600
unless I'm missing something that lets Calvin cast Emrakul on his 2nd turn?
EDIT EDIT: ah, I forgot about the second amulet trigger. I think I lose to CalvinSchwa OTD since he can Emrakul me and then mess with the target on my rebounded searing wind, at which point I lose to Glorious End.
EDITEDITEDIT: As pointed out by CalvinSchwa, I can stop the amulet copy trigger with Glorious End. 6-0 it is, then.
This seemed like a pretty high-power round, and I figured it was a clash between leyline of the void, chalice of the void, T1 lockout, and manlands to bypass said lockout.
I went for a middle-ground that had speed and some lockout, and hoped no one tried Silence or Chalice. My alternate hand was a 'sore loser' T0 lockout that can force a draw T0 if it would lose otherwise, consisting of...
-Gemstone Caverns
-Plains
-Silence
-Conjuror's Bauble
-Leyline of Lightning
But it loses to LotV and manlands, so I went with this instead.
EDIT: After reading Mogg's analysis, I did indeed consider a Mishra's Workshop hand which aimed for a T2 Blightsteel.
-Mishra's Workshop
-Mana Vault
-Blightsteel
-Chalice otV
-Leyline otV
I also considered running some sort of hand with Leyline of Vitality, Dryad Arbor, and Quirion Ranger since the leyline doubles up nicely, but I doubted there would be enough counterspells to justify dodging them like this.
I felt like Leyline otV was near-necessary this round for how easy it was to create a recursion-based T1 lockout combo, so first I tried to find a recursion-based hand that could run Patrician's Scorn, then decided to avoid the graveyard altogether, even with Conjuror's Bauble as good as it was this round.
In the end, I really liked how Glorious End 'cancelled' its own drawback for a turn due to rebound, and opted for a strategy that involved playing instants during my upkeep before my turn ended due to it. I couldn't find any good Glorious End lockout combos, so I went for an even 20 with Searing Wind and hoped that nobody had any life gain or non-graveyard-based T1 lockouts.
- Rabid Wombat
| 0 X 6 | 6
vs Anachronicity: OTD I lose, but I think I also lose OTP. I play Amulet T1, then on T2 you Glorious End + Searing Wind in response to my copy triggers. With only 1 Amulet, I can't go off that turn.
vs Mogg: Agreed. (Is there a way for you to keep Dust Bowl by killing your own lands or something, so that I can't kill it? Regardless, probably not useful.)
I started thinking about an effective T0 Torpor Orb, with a hand of Simian Spirit Guide / a red Dark Ritual / Manamorphose / Hushwing Gryff / something. This didn't seem worth it, since I realized Gryff only stops creatures anyway and it took 4 cards. (In hindsight, I also realize that 'red Dark Ritual' might be hard to find.)
I spent a bunch of time thinking about Dark Depths, because for some reason my silly brain thought I just needed to destroy it to find Marit Lage, as opposed the whole no counters thing. While in the depths of this delusion, my working hand was along the lines of Petrified Field / Dark Depths / Mutavault / Riptide Laboratory / Dust Bowl. I liked the Riptide Mutavault thing, but figured something like Dream Stalker might do it better. (Also, I forgot about the blue mana I'd need. I was not on the top of my game this week.)
Eventually, I realized my decks didn't function, and I was low on time. I decided just to play the biggest thing, and I was hooked on Amulet Bloom when I realized its sheer mana production ability. It came down to Emmy vs Red Sun's Zenith; I picked Emmy since the cast trigger might mitigate the damage from counterspells. I picked Karakas at random; in hindsight I probably would've made it a backup win condition instead.
In short: I blundered into a working hand. I still liked this week, though!
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Ah, right, end'ing in response to the amulet copy trigger makes sense. Thanks for pointing that out, for some reason I was only thinking about T1 Glorious End.
- Rabid Wombat
so much fail.
FWIW, I had every intention of playing Commandeer.dec with Epochrasite.
Sorry guys ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
No longer staff here.
Yeah, I'm not sure what happened, but PHM does ebb and flow. I believe two players already have submitted for this week, and last week I actually was concerned that the PHM account might not be receiving messages for some reason. I think I now have the dubious distinction of having moderated the round with the fewest players (3) and the most players (59).
I liked reading both yours and CalvinSchwa's analyses. My impression is that sometimes the conciseness of the decklists hides the significant thought that can go into developing them.
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