1. Superbajt
Arcane Savant1/ Maze of Ith / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hold Garza's Assasisn to kill your savant in response to your first rite of replication. I rebuy my Arcane Savant with flashback and win.
6-0
2. Personman
Approach of the Second Sun / Lake of the Dead / Thunderscape Battlemage So when you're on the play...
1 Swamp, Lake of the Dead
2 Plains
3 Swamp (possible 5 mana)
4 Swamp (possible 6 mana)
5 Swamp, cast second sun for the first time, I tap out for a billion arcane savants
6 swamp, you win.
But when I'm on the play, this is flipped around and I attack with a billion arcane savants while you're at 27.
3-3, unless I messed up the lake of the dead math.
0-6. I messed up the lake of the dead math.
3. WhammeWhamme
Creeping Tar Pit / Memory's Journey / Pirate Charm
Billions of wizards kill you on turn 6.
6-0
5. Convoy_Avenger
Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle
cool combo. I can't attack you at the right time.
0-6
6. ManyCookies
Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse
As you said above, I can flashback memory's journey on your end step, then draw and cast Arcane Savant for the win.
6-0
7. CalvinSchwa
Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime
You make me discard 2 cards, but Arcane Savant is enough to get the job done.
6-0
8. Anachronity
Arcane Savant1/ Azorius Chancery / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication I hang on to Garza's Assasin to ride out your discard and disrupt the Savant Combo, and I flashback memory's journey to go off myself.
6-0
When you're on the play, you go turbo Arcan Savant on turn 3 which is faster than I can deal with.
3-3
9. Magus of the Aesthetic
Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle
Memory's journey beats two counters and Arcane Savant Races Pinnacle
6-0
4 | 6 0 6 X 0 6 6 2 6 | 32
Pool analysis: Once I realized that there was a way to make a billion 3/3's for 5 mana I just decided I needed the best tools to protect that. Memory's journey gets it through countermagic, discard, and destroy effects, and Garza's Assassin is mainly there to kill my own Arcane Savant if somebody tries to cast Path to Exile on it while the first Rite of Replication is on the stack. The Assassin also does good work disrupting other Arcane Savant decks, which I expected to see. I felt very very good about this deck and I'm glad to see that I was right!
Before I do out my line I want to make sure the interaction I built my deck around really works. Turn 5 Arcane Savant with Rite of Replication, if undisrupted, creates an arbitrary number of Arcane Savant tokens, right? The card enters the battlefield, I cast a copy of Rite targeting arcane savant (no kicker) and when that resolves I get another Arcane Savant, which comes with another copy of Rite, and so on until I have a billion Arcane Savants and I choose not to cast the Rite, breaking the loop. Correct?
3) Feyd_Ruin :: That's the Spirit!
Exhume / Putrid Imp / Spirit of the Night
On the play I counter exhume.
On the draw Pro black spirit kills me before I get to enough mana to flash back the edict.
0-6
6) MyNameIsFourteen :: UB 1B Kenobi, But BB8 Is 3 More Than I Need
Bitterblossom / Chainer's Edict / Countersquall
1) Anachronity
Call the Bloodline / Maelstrom Pulse / Veilborn Ghoul
0-6 as you said above.
2) CalvinSchwa :: No Coherent Theme
Bitterblossom / Mogis, God of Slaughter / Stillmoon Cavalier
When I'm on the play, I counter Bitterblossom, edict cavalier, and race Mogis with bitterblossom.
When you're on the play, Cavallier uses faires as cover and races even though I counter mogis.
3-3
3) Feyd_Ruin :: That's the Spirit!
Exhume / Putrid Imp / Spirit of the Night
On the play I counter exhume.
On the draw Pro black spirit kills me before I get to enough mana to flash back the edict.
3-3
4) Magus of the Aesthetic :: Shirley Temple
Anguished Unmaking / Countersquall / Dreadwing
You proposed that this is 6-0 for me. I disagree.
You can't beat chainers edict, but when you're on the play I can't beat Countersquall AND Anguished Unmaking.
4-1*
5) ManyCookies :: Sunshine and Lollipops
Black Sun's Zenith /Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath / Vessel of Malignity
I agree. 2-2
7) Personman
Dromar's Charm / Fevered Convulsions / Silumgar, the Drifting Death
I agree. 2-2
8) Superbajt :: Do You Have A One-Drop?
Braids, Cabal Minion / Dark Ritual / Dark Ritual
I do not. 0-6
9) WhammeWhamme :: Ixalan's Story
Black Sun's Zenith / Liliana's Defeat / Vraska the Unseen
Turn 3 I get my first token (19)
you defeat it.
Turn 4 I get my first token again (18)
you go for the zenith and I counter. <18>
Turn 5 I get a second token and attack (17)<17>
If you vraska and kill blossom, I kill vraska and then you with 2 tokens racing my bitterblossom.
So you vraska and +1 [6]
I get a third token and attack you (16)<15>[6]
You +vraska (16)<15>[7]
I get a 4th token and attack you for 3 (15)<12>[7]
-If you do anything other than +vraska, I have enough tokens to kill her and then you while leaving blockers for the assasins if you make them. My tokens attacking you race bitterblossom damaging me.
But when you're on the play I have to hold the counter for vraska and we draw.
4-1
Contested Results: Magus of the Aesthetic (4) says I 6-0 them, I think I 4-1 them.
6 | 0 2 2 4* 2 X 2 0 4 | 16
Not a great week for me, but I'll confess my heart wasn't in it. I just picked a pet card from when I played constructed, a favorite card from pauper, and a 2 mana counter and sent it in. Next weeks format is making my brain hurt, so I predict similar failure.
I second 'Scrabbleverse' or something similar; that sounds pretty fun.
Although if we do that, we'll also probably want to specify which dictionary we're using. I think there's like an official Scrabble dictionary out there?
Something this week's format made me think about: It's often the case that Land Rule means multicolored cards are Just Better than monocolored cards, since a large part of their designed cost is thrown out the window. This probably isn't interesting enough to be a whole format, but it made me think about something along the lines of "Costs are increased by 1 (or maybe 4 life, or something?) for each color of mana they require beyond the first." (note that this hits activation costs etc. as well). In the current meta, this format would probably just lead to even greater polarization around Dark Depths than usual, so maybe add "Only colored cards may be submitted."
How about a land rule round where non-wastes basics enter the battlefield tapped?
One more, inspired by two things - the section of the rules that says there may be bonus points awarded for deck construction things and a round we played many years ago where the first letters of the cards of your deck had to spell out LOVE.
Scrabbleverse: 3 cards, land rule. The first letters of the English names of the cards in your deck must spell out a legal Scrabble word. In each match, regardless of the outcome, the player who's word has a higher scrabble score value gets a bonus N match points. (N should probably be 1 or 2, but I leave that to the moderator)
To clarify, the "Cards can't leave hand until turn 3" rule is still in effect despite the Leng restriction?
Since the deadline is getting close and PHM hasn't responded, I'll chime in that I'm fairly confident that the answer to your question is "yes". But maybe a second reply to the thread will draw some more official attention.
While I'm thniking of wierd formats, another couple that were inspired by the un subgame cards:
The Countdown is At One - plyaers start with 1 life. (someone else may have suggested this already)
We Have To Go Deeper: Players submit 3 cards in order. At the start of the game, players play a magic subgame starting at 10 life, using only their first two cards. All players who do not win the subgame loose 10 life in the main game. At the start of the subgame, players play a magic sub-subgame starting at 5 life, using only their first card. All players who do not win the sub-subgame lose 5 life in the subgame. All these games are played with the Land Rule. (This may actually be a terrible format but I like the idea of battling with one card, letting that battle have a consequence for a battle where you add one more card, and so on. Maybe the idea could be tweaked to make the consequence more interesting)
My only thought on a team format is that I worry that there aren't enough of us to do it well. Seems like we get 10 or fewer players a week and with teams of two that bring things down to very few submissions.
It did bring to mind a 'team' format - Have you done a round of XCB2HGLR - players submit two decks of two cards each. Games are played using the 2 headed giant rules. Land rule.
Since we're having this great discussion can I take this opportunity to say the one thing I don't like about xcb is that I always want to have more discussion of the format as I'm prepping for it, but obviously that doesn't make sense if we're all trying to compete. This discussion after the fact is almost as good and I hope we can have more like it.
Arcane Savant1/ Garza's Assassin / Memory's Journey || 1Rite of Replication
Arcane Savant1/ Maze of Ith / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hold Garza's Assasisn to kill your savant in response to your first rite of replication. I rebuy my Arcane Savant with flashback and win.
6-0
2. Personman
Approach of the Second Sun / Lake of the Dead / Thunderscape Battlemage
So when you're on the play...
1 Swamp, Lake of the Dead
2 Plains
3 Swamp (possible 5 mana)
4 Swamp (possible 6 mana)
5 Swamp, cast second sun for the first time, I tap out for a billion arcane savants
6 swamp, you win.
But when I'm on the play, this is flipped around and I attack with a billion arcane savants while you're at 27.
3-3, unless I messed up the lake of the dead math.
0-6. I messed up the lake of the dead math.
3. WhammeWhamme
Creeping Tar Pit / Memory's Journey / Pirate Charm
Billions of wizards kill you on turn 6.
6-0
5. Convoy_Avenger
Arboria / Gideon of the Trails / Helix Pinnacle
cool combo. I can't attack you at the right time.
0-6
6. ManyCookies
Ancient Tomb / Dream Stealer / Riding the Dilu Horse
As you said above, I can flashback memory's journey on your end step, then draw and cast Arcane Savant for the win.
6-0
7. CalvinSchwa
Azorius Chancery / Gideon of the Trials / Raven's Crime
You make me discard 2 cards, but Arcane Savant is enough to get the job done.
6-0
8. Anachronity
Arcane Savant1/ Azorius Chancery / Raven's Crime || 1Rite of Replication
I hang on to Garza's Assasin to ride out your discard and disrupt the Savant Combo, and I flashback memory's journey to go off myself.6-0
When you're on the play, you go turbo Arcan Savant on turn 3 which is faster than I can deal with.
3-3
9. Magus of the Aesthetic
Evasive Action / Force of Will / Helix Pinnacle
Memory's journey beats two counters and Arcane Savant Races Pinnacle
6-0
Pool analysis: Once I realized that there was a way to make a billion 3/3's for 5 mana I just decided I needed the best tools to protect that. Memory's journey gets it through countermagic, discard, and destroy effects, and Garza's Assassin is mainly there to kill my own Arcane Savant if somebody tries to cast Path to Exile on it while the first Rite of Replication is on the stack. The Assassin also does good work disrupting other Arcane Savant decks, which I expected to see. I felt very very good about this deck and I'm glad to see that I was right!
Bitterblossom / Chainer's Edict / Countersquall
Call the Bloodline / Maelstrom Pulse / Veilborn Ghoul
0-6 as you said above.
2) CalvinSchwa :: No Coherent Theme
Bitterblossom / Mogis, God of Slaughter / Stillmoon Cavalier
When I'm on the play, I counter Bitterblossom, edict cavalier, and race Mogis with bitterblossom.
When you're on the play, Cavallier uses faires as cover and races even though I counter mogis.
3-3
3) Feyd_Ruin :: That's the Spirit!
Exhume / Putrid Imp / Spirit of the Night
On the play I counter exhume.
On the draw Pro black spirit kills me before I get to enough mana to flash back the edict.
3-3
4) Magus of the Aesthetic :: Shirley Temple
Anguished Unmaking / Countersquall / Dreadwing
You proposed that this is 6-0 for me. I disagree.
You can't beat chainers edict, but when you're on the play I can't beat Countersquall AND Anguished Unmaking.
4-1*
5) ManyCookies :: Sunshine and Lollipops
Black Sun's Zenith /Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath / Vessel of Malignity
I agree. 2-2
7) Personman
Dromar's Charm / Fevered Convulsions / Silumgar, the Drifting Death
I agree. 2-2
8) Superbajt :: Do You Have A One-Drop?
Braids, Cabal Minion / Dark Ritual / Dark Ritual
I do not. 0-6
9) WhammeWhamme :: Ixalan's Story
Black Sun's Zenith / Liliana's Defeat / Vraska the Unseen
Turn 3 I get my first token (19)
you defeat it.
Turn 4 I get my first token again (18)
you go for the zenith and I counter. <18>
Turn 5 I get a second token and attack (17)<17>
If you vraska and kill blossom, I kill vraska and then you with 2 tokens racing my bitterblossom.
So you vraska and +1 [6]
I get a third token and attack you (16)<15>[6]
You +vraska (16)<15>[7]
I get a 4th token and attack you for 3 (15)<12>[7]
-If you do anything other than +vraska, I have enough tokens to kill her and then you while leaving blockers for the assasins if you make them. My tokens attacking you race bitterblossom damaging me.
But when you're on the play I have to hold the counter for vraska and we draw.
4-1
6 | 0 2 2 4* 2 X 2 0 4 | 16
Not a great week for me, but I'll confess my heart wasn't in it. I just picked a pet card from when I played constructed, a favorite card from pauper, and a 2 mana counter and sent it in. Next weeks format is making my brain hurt, so I predict similar failure.
https://scrabble.hasbro.com/en-us/tools
Scrabbleverse: 3 cards, land rule. The first letters of the English names of the cards in your deck must spell out a legal Scrabble word. In each match, regardless of the outcome, the player who's word has a higher scrabble score value gets a bonus N match points. (N should probably be 1 or 2, but I leave that to the moderator)
The Countdown is At One - plyaers start with 1 life. (someone else may have suggested this already)
We Have To Go Deeper: Players submit 3 cards in order. At the start of the game, players play a magic subgame starting at 10 life, using only their first two cards. All players who do not win the subgame loose 10 life in the main game. At the start of the subgame, players play a magic sub-subgame starting at 5 life, using only their first card. All players who do not win the sub-subgame lose 5 life in the subgame. All these games are played with the Land Rule. (This may actually be a terrible format but I like the idea of battling with one card, letting that battle have a consequence for a battle where you add one more card, and so on. Maybe the idea could be tweaked to make the consequence more interesting)
It did bring to mind a 'team' format - Have you done a round of XCB2HGLR - players submit two decks of two cards each. Games are played using the 2 headed giant rules. Land rule.