So had an interesting experience this past weekend when I learned I'd been playing a house varient of the ages old Emporer Format... or so I think. I'm writing to see if you'll know another name or spot I'd find rules for this format.
Ok so its structured like emperor in every way except the emperor's can't target opposing generals. Instead their range of influence being 2 it is 1.
We found this to be better in every way. To help prevent the general's from basically being punching bags. A decent white blue control deck could lock out the opposition from being able to play the game. We had experimented with it and found it was super broken even when playing with commander rather than standard decks.
To that end we reduced emperors to a creature factory role. Whomever is emperor should focus on flooding the board with beasts. For example we had found slivers were good, but because their effects didn't spread from one general to another... there are good limitations in place. I prefer playing mono green ramp and just flooding the board with huge creatures when I'm emperor. End of the day it results in the general experience being improved. If you play as a general you feel less like a punching bag and more like a duelist with someone backing you up.
I say all this to ask; #1 is our rules reflected in another outlined format or variant document anywhere? #2 given the plain bad time I've had with every game of emperor following the actual rules, why was it created? I can't see how it would be fun at all? I get a sence that the generals would only function as punching bags. Any decent white, blue or red deck would snipe the crap out of them. White could lock their boards down, red could combo into big damage to wipe them out and blue could counter spell all their meaningful plays. What am I missing here?
The range of influence is normally limited to 2 for the emperor (C.R. 809.3a); however, that is only a default option (C.R. 809.3), which suggests that different ranges of influence can be agreed to by the players (see also C.R. 801.2a, 800.1). However, your question on the merits of the default range of influence is out of scope for this forum.
With the strict rules part answered, I'm moving this to the Casual & Multiplayer forum so the discussion may continue.
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I'm a former judge (lapsed), who keeps up to date on rules and policy. Keep in mind that judges' answers aren't necessarily more valid than those of people who aren't judges; what matters is we can quote the rules to back up our answers. When in doubt, ask for such quotes.
Nope, you pretty much nailed it. Emperor has some serious flaws. Our group kind of went the opposite direction and allowed for MORE, NOT LESS interaction with and by the Emperors. We found Emperors were bored being nothing but creature factories.
That's the url to the rules we settled on. But really, whatever the adaptations your group settles on, Emperor format does lend to some deck archetypes more than others. Combo, white control, blue counter, red hate, they can all wreck the format. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of those, but we have found that they can work if they aren't taken to the nth degree. Our group has played our home-brewed variant for close to twenty years and it works only because we show restraint on what we choose to build (it's just coincidence we happen to like decks that work with the format anyway.)
Nope, you pretty much nailed it. Emperor has some serious flaws. Our group kind of went the opposite direction and allowed for MORE, NOT LESS interaction with and by the Emperors. We found Emperors were bored being nothing but creature factories.
That's the url to the rules we settled on. But really, whatever the adaptations your group settles on, Emperor format does lend to some deck archetypes more than others. Combo, white control, blue counter, red hate, they can all wreck the format. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of those, but we have found that they can work if they aren't taken to the nth degree. Our group has played our home-brewed variant for close to twenty years and it works only because we show restraint on what we choose to build (it's just coincidence we happen to like decks that work with the format anyway.)
The range of influence is normally limited to 2 for the emperor (C.R. 809.3a); however, that is only a default option (C.R. 809.3), which suggests that different ranges of influence can be agreed to by the players (see also C.R. 801.2a, 800.1). However, your question on the merits of the default range of influence is out of scope for this forum.
EDIT: Edited after comment 4 was posted.
I appreciate both your answers. We found that, blue, white, and red decks are best as commanders and the emperor is best served as the creature factory but also as the one coordinating the strategy. Since commanders can tap to transfer a creature, it takes 2 turns to move from one commander to the other... so it takes allot of thought and consideration.
I guess our play group the teams get very tight and synergized. Plus some powerful creature type decks like Slivers are very interesting when played in this format by the emperor this way.
I love the format we created. I'm still confused by the default rules though, seems so prone to not being fun unless you limit the style and types of decks people play.
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So had an interesting experience this past weekend when I learned I'd been playing a house varient of the ages old Emporer Format... or so I think. I'm writing to see if you'll know another name or spot I'd find rules for this format.
Ok so its structured like emperor in every way except the emperor's can't target opposing generals. Instead their range of influence being 2 it is 1.
We found this to be better in every way. To help prevent the general's from basically being punching bags. A decent white blue control deck could lock out the opposition from being able to play the game. We had experimented with it and found it was super broken even when playing with commander rather than standard decks.
To that end we reduced emperors to a creature factory role. Whomever is emperor should focus on flooding the board with beasts. For example we had found slivers were good, but because their effects didn't spread from one general to another... there are good limitations in place. I prefer playing mono green ramp and just flooding the board with huge creatures when I'm emperor. End of the day it results in the general experience being improved. If you play as a general you feel less like a punching bag and more like a duelist with someone backing you up.
I say all this to ask; #1 is our rules reflected in another outlined format or variant document anywhere? #2 given the plain bad time I've had with every game of emperor following the actual rules, why was it created? I can't see how it would be fun at all? I get a sence that the generals would only function as punching bags. Any decent white, blue or red deck would snipe the crap out of them. White could lock their boards down, red could combo into big damage to wipe them out and blue could counter spell all their meaningful plays. What am I missing here?
However, your question on the merits of the default range of influence is out of scope for this forum.EDIT: Edited after comment 4 was posted.
Nope, you pretty much nailed it. Emperor has some serious flaws. Our group kind of went the opposite direction and allowed for MORE, NOT LESS interaction with and by the Emperors. We found Emperors were bored being nothing but creature factories.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/the-game/other-formats/homebrew-and-variant-formats/768590-homebrewed-emperor-variant
That's the url to the rules we settled on. But really, whatever the adaptations your group settles on, Emperor format does lend to some deck archetypes more than others. Combo, white control, blue counter, red hate, they can all wreck the format. There's nothing inherently wrong with any of those, but we have found that they can work if they aren't taken to the nth degree. Our group has played our home-brewed variant for close to twenty years and it works only because we show restraint on what we choose to build (it's just coincidence we happen to like decks that work with the format anyway.)
I appreciate both your answers. We found that, blue, white, and red decks are best as commanders and the emperor is best served as the creature factory but also as the one coordinating the strategy. Since commanders can tap to transfer a creature, it takes 2 turns to move from one commander to the other... so it takes allot of thought and consideration.
I guess our play group the teams get very tight and synergized. Plus some powerful creature type decks like Slivers are very interesting when played in this format by the emperor this way.
I love the format we created. I'm still confused by the default rules though, seems so prone to not being fun unless you limit the style and types of decks people play.