I play magic at my LGS, and I mostly play EDH. I play with all kinds of players of varying levels of experience. Recently I've noticed that often there will be a small group at the store wanting to play magic, but there arent enough people to cube, people dont have edh decks or their decks vary wildly in power level, etc. So I had an idea for a multiplayer format where everyone could be on roughly equal footing, and they didnt even need to bring any cards. So I cam up with this idea, which I am tentatively calling "big stack." Here are the rules:
3+ players
Each player shares a communal library, in the middle of the table, with 200 cards in it.
Each player begins the game with one basic land of each type in play (each player starts the game with a swamp, forest, mountain, plains, and island on the battlefield).
In turn order, each player draws their initial hand of seven cards. No mulligans allowed.
During each player's draw step, they look at the top three cards of the library, draw one, and put the other two back on top in any order.
So what I need help with is curating/selecting the cards that will go into this big communal deck. Given the rules of the format, they need to meet the following criteria:
1. No cards that cause a player to search a library
2. Mana costs should be fairly splashable
3. No cards that will break the game open on the first turn (remember that everyone starts with 5 mana open)
I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this idea. Its a work in progress of course so any suggestions for rules changes are welcome. What I really need help with is selecting cards that will be a lot of fun in a multiplayer setting. Thanks!
Based on that article (and lots of free time), I finally built such a beast, and it clocks in at 451 cards, not counting lands. At some point I intend to list them out, but not today!
So far, the biggest observation is that while there is no library search, there is plenty of graveyard-based shenanigans. At least the graveyard is of a more manageable size, but it typically gets checked every turn. Given the amount of discard and milling effects I built into the deck (I should add dredge!), this is to be expected, especially with the recursion in the stack.
Include ample 1- and 2-drops in all colors; critters, equipment, and enchantments, mostly. With a shared graveyard, the assorted cards that count graveyard size are hilarious and often fought over by people wanting to reanimate/recast them. So stuff with threshold works nicely. The Anger cycle is a hoot, although Filth ends games fast as there are no blockers when everyone runs swamps!
Being unable to seek out new lands leaves green the color of critters and buffs. Hunter's Prowess does great work.
Being a multiplayer-oriented with a shared graveyard variant makes Spoils of Evil, Songs of the Damned, and Mana Geyser potential game enders, provided a big enough spell to dump that mana into. My solution is a number of X-spells and larger artifacts, at 200 cards, yours might be activation costs.
My group enjoys this format so far, if only to see so many heretofore unknown and older cards appear (I used what is onhand from a deep collection).
In regards to your rule about draws, I approached that with specific cards, rather than let everyone do it for free, making setting up the next an additional layer of scheming (scry is great, here).
I feel your mana restrictions of one per color, but potentially a five-drop on turn one, to really hamper your card choice. The nonbasics from the article allow for eventual casting of some very interesting and very color-intensive cards. I bring this up because I feel you are missing out (unless you heavy on the gold and hybrid cards) on some fun stuff.
Cheers!
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If in the area, check out Gamers N Geeks and Mini War Games in Mobile, Alabama and Underhill's Games in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio.
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.
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I play magic at my LGS, and I mostly play EDH. I play with all kinds of players of varying levels of experience. Recently I've noticed that often there will be a small group at the store wanting to play magic, but there arent enough people to cube, people dont have edh decks or their decks vary wildly in power level, etc. So I had an idea for a multiplayer format where everyone could be on roughly equal footing, and they didnt even need to bring any cards. So I cam up with this idea, which I am tentatively calling "big stack." Here are the rules:
Each player shares a communal library, in the middle of the table, with 200 cards in it.
Each player begins the game with one basic land of each type in play (each player starts the game with a swamp, forest, mountain, plains, and island on the battlefield).
In turn order, each player draws their initial hand of seven cards. No mulligans allowed.
During each player's draw step, they look at the top three cards of the library, draw one, and put the other two back on top in any order.
So what I need help with is curating/selecting the cards that will go into this big communal deck. Given the rules of the format, they need to meet the following criteria:
1. No cards that cause a player to search a library
2. Mana costs should be fairly splashable
3. No cards that will break the game open on the first turn (remember that everyone starts with 5 mana open)
I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this idea. Its a work in progress of course so any suggestions for rules changes are welcome. What I really need help with is selecting cards that will be a lot of fun in a multiplayer setting. Thanks!
UBRThe MindrazerRBU
UUUSpymaster of TrestGGG
GGGThe South TreeGGG
RRRHuman AscendantRRR
Based on that article (and lots of free time), I finally built such a beast, and it clocks in at 451 cards, not counting lands. At some point I intend to list them out, but not today!
So far, the biggest observation is that while there is no library search, there is plenty of graveyard-based shenanigans. At least the graveyard is of a more manageable size, but it typically gets checked every turn. Given the amount of discard and milling effects I built into the deck (I should add dredge!), this is to be expected, especially with the recursion in the stack.
Include ample 1- and 2-drops in all colors; critters, equipment, and enchantments, mostly. With a shared graveyard, the assorted cards that count graveyard size are hilarious and often fought over by people wanting to reanimate/recast them. So stuff with threshold works nicely. The Anger cycle is a hoot, although Filth ends games fast as there are no blockers when everyone runs swamps!
Being unable to seek out new lands leaves green the color of critters and buffs. Hunter's Prowess does great work.
Being a multiplayer-oriented with a shared graveyard variant makes Spoils of Evil, Songs of the Damned, and Mana Geyser potential game enders, provided a big enough spell to dump that mana into. My solution is a number of X-spells and larger artifacts, at 200 cards, yours might be activation costs.
My group enjoys this format so far, if only to see so many heretofore unknown and older cards appear (I used what is onhand from a deep collection).
In regards to your rule about draws, I approached that with specific cards, rather than let everyone do it for free, making setting up the next an additional layer of scheming (scry is great, here).
I feel your mana restrictions of one per color, but potentially a five-drop on turn one, to really hamper your card choice. The nonbasics from the article allow for eventual casting of some very interesting and very color-intensive cards. I bring this up because I feel you are missing out (unless you heavy on the gold and hybrid cards) on some fun stuff.
Cheers!
Krichaiushii on PucaTrade.