Ali from Cairo has always been one of my favorite cards. My first tournament winning deck in the nineties featured Ali from Cairo, Diplomatic Immunity a bunch of Counter magic, Disintegrates and Fireballs. I’ve had the idea for these alterations for a few years now, and have been talking to Mark Poole about it at various Magicfests. At Magicfest Reno I came up a bit at the Black Jack tables, so I quickly invested my winnings in what you see here, before I could give it all back to the house. May it be a reminder that there are few things that are permanent in this world, Death, Taxes, and Ali from Cairo. Everyone stay safe out there.
What if one card per pack is not the best way to draft? What would the world be like?
So, a normal Magic draft has 8 players opening packs of 15 cards, picking one, and passing the rest along. Rinse and repeat for 3 packs.
45 cards per player.
24 packs at the table.
Each player sees 18 packs 2 times with choices to make and 6 packs only once or with no second choice.
This is the way it has always been… but is it the way it should be?
Question norms, probe what is widely accepted.
One day when trying to figure out if we could draft commander decks from our cube with only 4 players, we set up a draft with packs of 15 cards and had each player pick two. This “pick two” had three very interesting effects. First, as expected, it allowed us to draft 90 cards per player twice as fast as some variant that would have players select one card at a time (a huge boon when the goal is to get to playing Magic quickly before people have to leave for the night).
A Cube-Builder’s Work is Never Done: A history of one cube and considerations for making your own.
Let me tell you a story…
Welcome friends, young and old! Please gather round. I wanted to tell you about the first cube.
“The first Cube ever?”
Well, no. Not exactly. But a very early cube. One that grew on it’s own, before MTGO was making and sharing such a variety of fantastic cubes with all of us. It’s interesting to me to look back and see how a cube grows organically – like watching microbes evolve over generations into a complex organism.
Put on your lab coat, get your sample jars, and let’s examine this organism’s history.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the expression, a “cube” is a general term for a curated card pool used for playing Magic drafts or other limited formats. You see, people have been playing Magic in creative ways since, well, since there were Magic players. Back in the late 90’s and early 00’s magic players began collecting their favorite cards together to create a fun or interesting pool of cards to use in booster drafts. That way they could draft over and over without opening (and purchasing) new packs each time.
Long ago a younger wizard who looked a lot like me but with less grey hair, began lamenting that out of the thousands of spells he knew, he was only casting a small number of them. And he lamented that if friends came over to play Magic, not everyone had decks and, even if they did, there was such a wide disparity of power in everyone’s personal card pools that it led to some very lopsided and un-fun games.
Hmmm… what to do? What to do?
Sorting cards. Peaceful therapy for Magic players.
One peaceful afternoon I began sorting my collection which spanned Legends, The Dark, and Ice Age through Apocalypse (‘94-’01). As I sorted I collected one single copy of each card that I owned. This included top notch cards like Birds of Paradise, Tundra, Sol Ring, and Pernicious Deed along with everything else.. And I mean EVERYTHING else…
These all went into a shoe box. A Mephisto shoe box. And we would draft and make sealed decks from this card pool.
Whenever we drafted from this random interesting pile of cards we called it a Mephisto draft and the name stuck. As the years went by I’d do the annual Mephisto Box update where I’d look at all the cards from the last year’s sets and take one of each to add to Mephisto’s open arms. As you might expect, the Mephisto box soon became a +5,000 card monstrosity but we still played it often and with joy because it offered a unique challenge each time we drafted and we discovered it was fun to remember old cards that we had not seen in years.
We had plenty of matches where an Obsianus Golem with Dragon Wings was really a solid game plan because of how low power the pool of commons and uncommons was back in the day. There were often drafts where you’d see only 3 creatures in a pack of 15 cards!
Lo and behold, the smarter minds of better magic players had also been doing things like this and had made the obvious and sensible leap to include only a certain select group of cards in this ‘draft box’ and they called their format Cube. (I still think Mephisto Draft has a nice ring to it.) Many great insights into various Cube formats have been written by folks and I recommend you go read some of them. (Two I recommend are here and here.)
As fans of this format have said before, building a cube is a labor of love. You, the creator, are trying to collate a collection of cards that will deliver on a goal for your players – maybe you love long drawn out games that go 15+ turns, maybe you love surprising and random dice rolling cards, maybe you love only playing green spells – whatever your desired experience happens to be, you can craft a cube to meet that end result.
I currently have 3 cubes , and you can see from these three what kinds of games I’m trying to create for my players:
THE Cube– This is what I think of as our default cube. It has one of each of my favorite cards from Beta to the newest set. It is a singleton 600-700 card monstrosity. This cube gets the most play and is updated about 3 times per year. It is the default way to play Magic at our house.
The Multiplayer Cube – this cube is focused on multiplayer interaction. It has a ton of cards from the Conspiracy sets (and includes conspiracy cards too) as well as many cards that I think make for fun and interesting multiplayer games. It has singleton rares & mythics, but has multiples of select commons and uncommons that I felt made for interesting draft choices.
Zelnoc’s Unhinged Cube – This cube is basically a pared-down pile of Unstable commons and uncommons based on how awesome I think it is to graft a Shark-Zombie or a Ninja-Kitten! Because the themes of this set tend to play well together the only non-silverboardered things I’ve added are 1x of each bounceland for some color fixing. Though I think there is room to take the augment mechanic and pair it with other themes so this cube may be ripe for modification.
Considerations when Cube Crafting
Firstly, as mentioned above, consider your goals. The gameplay you are hoping to achieve, the feeling the players will get when drafting and playing these cards should be your guiding light. Once you’ve gotten a feel for the mood or tone you want to create, it will help you with all the upcoming card choices. (Because maybe you forgot – but Magic has more than 18,000 cards and counting!)
Second, do some math. You’ll want to decide on the size of your cube – if you want to support a full 8 player draft you’ll need 45 cards x 8 players = a 360 card minimum. The consensus is that 540 cards allows a consistent draft environment with enough variation to keep it fresh. Those who prefer an experience with more variety may want to push that number higher. I keep my main cube around 700 cards and use the following starting ratios: 80 cards of each of the 5 colors, 80 multicolored cards, 80 artifacts, and 80 lands lets you come in at 640.
Third, pay attention to themes. This is like applying rule number one to each color or color pair. Think about linear strategies that require a critical mass of cards and make sure you support them properly or consider removing linear strategies all together (affinity, energy, allies, slivers, etc). And it applies to single cards too. There are so many red 5 drops you are going to have to choose from among many fantastic cards and the choice should be driven by what themes and subthemes your cube is supporting. If your cube has a lot of +1/+1 counter and token interactions then perhaps you consider Falkenrath Marauders or Skarrgan Hellkite over some of the other options.
Rough mana curve example
Fourth, watch the mana curve. Usually you’ll want your mana curve to match a draft deck in that there are more 1, 2 and 3 casting cost cards then 5 and 6. And that applies to each color on its own as well as the cube as a whole. My penchant for splashy powerful effects means I struggle to keep the +6CC cards down to a reasonable number.
Pondering the converted mana cost layout of the multicolor cards… what to cut?
Finally, consider function. Think of what you want to do to make the physical experience interesting and enjoyable as well as considerations for cube transport and management.
An example of a sleek, ready-to-travel cube
Sleeve up lands and keep them with the cube. (find a style of sleeve you like and stock up!)
Have most of the relevant tokens available.
Make sure you have a safe and easy way to transport your cube.
Keep a list of your cube cards so you can quickly reference what’s in or out and plan new trades/purchases.
One of the most memorable physical experiences with a cube I can recall was 5 players around a folding table in the woods. The sun had set long ago, fingers were chilled, lanterns and flashlights were illuminating players hunched over Platinum Angels and very large Forgotten Ancients. It ended the way many multiplayer games tend to where the player with the last haymaker in their hand wins it. I think a large Overrun effect eventually ended the epic battle and people moved back around the campfire.
This game was not memorable for the cards themselves, but it was because 5 players of varied skill level, in the middle of the woods, were able to draft some sweet multiplayer decks and have a great time playing magic! It was possible because I can carry playmats, dice, counters, and a 600 card double sleeved multiplayer cube all in a nice little camping package.
The cube before shuffling.
My old Mephisto cube of ancient commons and uncommons now sits gathering dust under a dresser as, long ago, I harvested my favorite cube cards from it and forgot about it. It has evolved into new and more satisfying ways to play and that’s ok.
… but I may shake off the dust some day – just to remember what it feels like to cast Psychic Venom on a land and use a Floodbringer to venom my opponent to death! … ah… those were the days…
I encourage you to look at your collection of Magic cards with new eyes. Think about maximizing the fun you can have with your cards and, for me, Cube drafting is my favorite way to do that!
Thanks for reading, please share any amazing cube moments you will never forget, and until next time, may your cube keep evolving!
This being my first
article on the site let me introduce myself for those of you who haven’t met
me. My name is Isaac Sears I’m a 2 time grand prix Top8er, 2014 World Magic Cup
United States Member and World Magic Cup Semi Finalist, and am a huge fan of
modern, legacy, cube, and especially battlebox.
What is battlebox? You may ask. Don’t worry
Battlebox was originally named Danger Room named that after the X-men’s training room. The format, as far as I can tell at a cursory glance, was made by Brian De Mars around June 2014 and popularized by Ben Stark. Each player starts the game with 1 of each basic and 5 comes into play tapped dual lands. After you count all the mana sources each color should be represented exactly 3 times (easiest to use all the ally or enemy guildgates). These lands start in a command zone of sorts from which you may play 1 land each turn. My group likes to have a shared library but separate graveyards, this makes scry decisions more interesting but may not be for everyone. Each player starts with 20 life and 4 cards in hand. 4 cards sounds like too few until you realize there are no lands in the box and a good amount of cards have the text “draw 2” on them. Guess what? your hand size is still 7 mothersmurfer.
One of the things you will realize after playing the format for a while or looking at my list below is that there are no planeswalkers. In fact, oddly enough, in this great format there aren’t too many “great cards” (at least not ones that you’d classically refer to as such). Sure, there’s lightning bolt and fatal push but there’s no Snapcaster, no Tarmogoyf, no Jace, not even a Kolaghans’ Command. “But how can this be Isaac? you said this was a great format.” Well, you know how sometimes you’re playing a game of magic and you’ve out-thought your opponent and jedi mind-tricked them into 3 for 1-ing themselves, or its just a favorable matchup when somehow you draw 16 lands in a row and they rip all 5 of their fireblasts? Well this can’t happen in battlebox.
For one, in battlebox you can never get land screwed or flooded as both players start with the same lands in a zone that doesn’t conflict with either of their draws. And two, the cards (in my battlebox at least) are balanced so that you don’t have these busted unbeatable cards or card advantage machines that then you smush your opponent because:
This is very different design philosophy from other common battlebox choices, as the goal is to reward tight play and remove excessively high variance in top-decks. In short, my box is closer to the more evenly powered Ben Stark interpretation as opposed to the more powerful and swingy Brian DeMars version.
This is also why battlebox was initially called The Danger Room. Like the X-men’s training area, the battlebox is a place for people to sharpen their skills and improve. My cards are more like 5 or 6s on the overall play-ability level in magic, more like a decent 2nd pick in a draft rather than what you’d put in your PTQ deck.
So you’re at an event with some friends, and the rounds are taking forever. Maybe it’s a limited GP and everyone is going to time. Maybe you all showed up with aggro today. Bad beat stories can only cover so much time in a day before your brain melts out of your head and you flop mindlessly on the floor. For this reason I provide my favorite games that are available, and quite good, without requiring forethought or any special equipment (just a land box and some people).
The Land Game
This is an old one with several variations. Some of the oldest variations were a bit on the odd side. Jeremy Dezani recently did an updated version that is very similar to the version I will be describing, which is in turn very similar to an old Reddit thread describing the same game. My version has several variations that probably come as a result of mis-remembered information among people in our play group as the game gets passed along. The best part about the land game is that you only need one extra person and it is very fast. We spent a surprising amount of time in GP Vegas 2019 while waiting for our cohorts to finish their respective MCQs playing this.
Both players start with a randomized deck with 6 copies of each basic land type. Each player draws one card per turn and plays one card per turn (first player doesn’t draw on first turn, per normal magics). Lands you play go face up in front of you until game end, or until your opponent interacts with them. The first player to have 1 of each basic land type in front of them or 5 of a single basic land type is the winner. Each basic land type does something different:
Forest lets you bring target land from your graveyard back to your hand when it enters play. It’s a regrowth.
Island does nothing when it comes into play. But, island can cancel an opponent’s play when discarded from hand. Whenever an opponent tries to play a card, you may discard an island and another basic land card of the type the opponent is playing to cancel the effect of their land and put it into the graveyard. For example if my opponent plays a mountain to destroy one of my lands, I can discard an isand plus a mountain to cancel the effect and have them put their mountain in their discard. Yes, you can counter their islands with your islands by discarding a second island. It’s a Disrupting Shoal.
Strategically you want to start with a swamp or plains early. Islands are interesting in that they provide negative card advantage, but can be a huge tempo swing; I tend to hold onto them for protection late in the game. Using mountains to blow up your opponent’s lands can be interesting strategically, because you often want to keep from making their forests live for good cards.
In general this game is great. There’s more strategy involved than you’d think at first glance, and can be constructed from any sufficiently stocked land-box. Having specifically sized decks for each player gives better knowledge of how many outs a player has at any given time and provides more interesting tension than some of the older versions, and alternate win conditions allow for more tension in games and protection from variance.
This is a direct ripoff from a favorite board-game of mine. If you like the game I recommend getting the official version, it’s pretty great. If I do an insufficient job of explaining the rules, check here for more explanation. If you’ve ever played liar’s dice or watched too much Pirates of the Caribbean this might seem familiar. If you enjoy lying to your friends this may be the game for you.
Each player starts with 3 plains and 1 swamp. Each player looks at the cards in their hand and places one face down in front of them.
The first player may play a card face down on top of their previous card, or may make a bet. If they play a card the next player in clockwise order is given the same decision. If they choose not to place a card (or are unable to), they make a bet.
The betting player announces the size of their bet, which is the number of cards they can flip among faceup cards without flipping a swamp. Each player, going clockwise, must then either raise the bet or pass. Continue until all players have passed except the remaining highest bidder.
The high bidder must then reveal a number of cards, one at a time, equal to their bet. They start by revealing cards from the their own pile first. Cards are flipped from the top (most recent) down. After finishing with their pile the high bidder must then move on to cards in other player’s piles. They can do this in any order they see fit.
If the high bidder reveals a swamp, they stop immediately and everyone picks their cards back up. The owner of the revealed swamp chooses a card which is removed from the game face down. The owner of the card gets to know what type of card it is, but no other player gets to know. The new first player is the owner of the swamp that was revealed (if you revealed your own swamp, you choose someone else to be first player).
If the high bidder matches his bid without revealing any swamps, they get a point (I recommend using Islands as points, best card in magic). Everyone picks up their non-removed cards, the high bidder is the new first player.
Continue with a new round and a new first player until a player gets two points, they are the winner.
This one is incredibly deep and while simple to play, will take a long time to master. Should be played with 3 or more players, 5-6 is probably best but not required.
Both of these games are fast and perfect for downtime. Both also help with basic magic skills. Tempo, bluffing, aggro, and the fun of land destruction are all important elements. Go forth, and never be bored during down-time again!
I have stories from Vegas trips of long ago that might make a few of you blush but I will not be divulging those dark secrets at this time… Here are some thoughts on our most recent Magical adventures in Sin City.
The cursed Monday morning alarm urged me to wake up… cried at me to make lunches, drive kids to school, to get to work! My bloodshot eyes struggled to open as the 3 hours of sleep after arriving home from GP Vegas 2019 rattled around in my head telling me they needed about 7 more before they would allow me to function properly… but I struggled onward. I had successfully navigated the 4 days of GP Vegas and lived to tell the tale.
This is not a champions tournament report – you wont get high level top 8 draft strategies from this mage today… Nor is this a drunken debauchery report – I have many a tale from my younger years, but this trip was focused on gaming … But I did have some thoughts I wanted to share with all of you on our Magical adventures in Sin City.
Vegas was Silenced for 12 years until a record breaking horde of over 4,492 people converged in 2013 and Neal Oliver came out on top. That throng was topped only by Vegas again in May of 2015 when 7,551 players came out to do battle with the spells and creatures of Modern Masters. There were two full tournaments with two champions.
I had never been able to get away from work/kids/life to make one of these newer, bigger Vegas GPs and so when I got the chance this year I jumped at it and I was not disappointed.
Was Vegas Big?
Of course. This tournament, while smaller than some previous Vegas bashes had a respectable 1800+ players in the Constructed Modern event and 1400+ playing Modern Horizons Limited.
How do you prepare for a MagicFest in Vegas?
1. Plan your Expenses
1 loaf of bread, 1 lb of meat, 1 head of lettuce, 1 lb of cheese = delicious AND thrifty
Flights, hotels, and food are very costly and can triple the cost of your event if you plan them poorly. I recommend bringing some healthy food with you, a refillable water bottle, make sure you know where you’re staying, and plan how you are getting to and from the tournament site. Vegas is a damn desert and you don’t want to walk anywhere that isn’t air conditioned for very long.
2. Plan your tournaments
I knew I wanted to play the limited Modern Horizons format so I practiced as much online and in person as I was able. I went in knowing I wasn’t as prepared as a serious tester, but I knew the format, it’s synergies and where I wanted to be in each color pair.
I would have loved to practice more but there were two limiting factors: (1) life responsibilities were such that I spent a lot of time doing dad things and ‘work guy’ things instead of gaming and (2) Modern Horizons is freakin EXPENSIVE!
Once you get to the site – hopefully you can go a day early – plan to play in some of the other tournaments at the event. If you are like me – not a hardcore tournament grinder – but someone who goes to an occasional FNM or pre-release and plays lots of kitchen table Magic – I have the following suggestions:
Do not play single elimination events the first day. Dash the enticing dreams of going 4-0 and having 2 precious byes in the main event. You will get so much more value out of playing a normal 3 or 5 round event because you need your reps! Those rounds of high level competitive play will get your brain locked back into its rhythm and you can hopefully get a few mistakes/jitters out of your system before the main event. I was very unsatisfied with going 1-1 and 0-1 in my two single elim events. I ‘wasted’ those entry fees and did not get in enough useful practice games for my liking.
Play to win. You are at a competitive tournament with cash prizes on the line and you should play to win. I’m not suggesting you act like an asshole or cheat – that’s not it at all – but admit to yourself that this is a high stakes event and you will treat it as such. I have a hard time keeping my ‘helping dad’ gear disengaged. When an opponent asks “you have three blockers?” I immediately knee-jerk and say “no, Changeling Outcast cant block” instead of just saying nothing or “these three are untapped.” You can feel bad for other folks who are making obvious mistakes but you should not coach your opponent into beating you.
3. plan your fun
Tutoring for a Cube booster pack
Think about what you’ll be doing each day and make sure to prepare to have fun regardless of your tournament success. Bring cards to get signed by the artists. Bring commander decks to play casually. Make some new friends – don’t be afraid to talk to other people who love the same game you do! Play some Pai Gow magic with your packs that you get with your prize tickets. Just make sure you are getting enjoyment out of your time – its the most precious commodity.
At every GP we attend I bring my cube because inevitably it brings out some of the best memories of each trip. I may talk more in depth about it in another article, but our tradition for a while has been to sign a significant cube card after each big event. This trip Jay Trojan did some very busted things with Booster Tutor so it got the treatment this year.
How did the Main Event go?
Great. Modern did it’s Mondern-y stuff and Hogaak wiped up the competition and had its last hurrah in the Modern format before narrowing its eyes and blowing some kisses to Legacy.
Two of our Mana Tutors crew cashed the Modern Horizons tournament and there were some great matches to enjoy. Congrats to Simon Nielsen and Allan Wu on their respective victories.
Oh, how did MY tournament go you ask?… Well, I opened a very reasonable B/W pool and built a deck that I think should have made day 2 – possibly needed a more stable pilot. The removal was good, the creatures were small but worked together well, and there was a Rotwidow Pack waiting to help end long board stalls.
Cordial Vampire and Carrion Feeder were so much fun with all the Changelings!
I had some fantastic matches of Magic and wonderful opponents. I ended up losing out in Round 7. Many of my game losses came from not utilizing that sweet sweet London Mulligan enough. Just Mulligan, ok? Make sure your hand is doing something and has a plan. If that plan is play four lands and a creature that doesn’t block, that’s a bad plan! The other losses came from green and red decks making big dudes and rolling over me in short order. All in all, I love Modern Horizons and doff my hat to the Wizards team on what may very well be my favorite design ever for a limited set.
4. make good memories
We celebrated Tony and Brandon making day 2 by doing some late night feasting and Cube Drafting. Vegas is very good at providing you food, alcohol, and tables for gaming at all hours and we took full advantage.
Yawgmoth’s Will was definitely cast so that Booster Tutor could be re-cast…
Each GP I attend I always try to make time for the artists. Because I have a soft spot for a lot of the early cards I grew up with, I was thrilled to see Anson Maddox, Dan Frazier, and a lot of the early generations of MTG artists along with some amazing new talent.
I handed my Juggernaut to Dan Frazier and waited. After a few minutes of quick inking and hunching over the card, he hands it back to me, gives me a slightly wild eyed look and mutters, “You better bloody well like it”. Which I did.
The bloody juggernaut
Thanks for reading my ramblings. If this sparked any great tournament memories or plans to make some, please let me know. I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Game variants and tips to help new and experienced players enjoy some epic battles together.
Do you have friends at school or people at your local game store who are just learning Magic? Maybe they don’t know all the rules. Maybe they do but tend to show up looking for a fun showdown where creatures get to wear big +7/+7 enchantments and ALL those 9 mana creatures are gonna get to come out and play. Are you looking to teach your mom how to play because she likes the art on these cards but doesnt understand why you think this game is so fun?
***
One of the things I’m interested in is how to create fun and satisfying play experiences when people of significantly different understandings of a game and different expectations sit down at the same gaming table.
I want to explore a few of the game variants that Wizards has provided us that are great tools when newer and more experienced players come together. The variants below help create enjoyable play experiences for all gamers and can be used as teaching tools for newer players.
***
Imagine this scenario:
You have two younger cousins and one of their friends who have picked up some Magic cards because kids at school have been playing and they want to play with you. You have a couple of options at this point:
OPTION 1: Just say “No”. I’m too old/cool/busy to waste time playing with some annoying kids who dont even know how to hold their instant card draw until EOT. Then you go look at your phone for 30 minutes and ignore them. [SPOILER ALERT!: THIS IS THE WRONG AND WORST ANSWER! If this is you, I recommend a deep amount of soul searching, some community service, and a reassessment of your life choices.]
OPTION 2: Say “Yes” while evilly tapping your fingers together. Then proceed to put on a Scapeshift clinic that shows everyone how much they do not understand the game and sends them away crying to go study for years to come back and be trounced again while you slowly grind them to dust – laughing a maniacal laugh, sitting alone in your magical castle, friendless and feared by all.
This is also not a great option.
Even if the goal of a newer player is to try and learn more of the nuances of tight play, get better at the game, and improve their decisions – the first parts of that journey are going to be from having fun experiences with other better players, not from being continually smashed.
Option 3:Say, “Yes” and “Let’s try this fun way to battle! Let me show you how it works.”
Hooray! You’ve made the right choice! And here are a few tips, tricks and tools to help make sure new gamers and veterans can both enjoy something together.
Spellslinger Starter Kits
Magic has created an excellent ‘out of the box’ experience for new players where (for a very reasonable price) you can get two well balanced decks, two d20 life counters, and an easy rules primer.
These decks tend to be medium powered and have an interesting amount of tension. They also tend to be built to allow each player to do some very cool things with some relative consistency. There are not as many 4x cards so players get to see different cards mix together, and there are enough complex cards or interactions to keep it interesting.
More seasoned players may not see a need for this product since they have their favorite decks or like to brew up new unique inventions, but I love having something like this with me at the right moments. (I even used to build my own versions of these before Wizards put their money and brains behind doing it better.)
This allows both players to have decks with similar power levels and similar goals which generally leads to more fun!
Challenge Decks
Challenge Decks are a Wizards product that came out during Theros block to evoke the flavor of heroes undertaking heroic mythic challenges. They were a way of setting up a multiplayer where it was all players vs. a Challenge Deck.
These were meant to be a multiplayer (or even solo) experience where the players are fighting together to beat some structure set up by the Challenge Deck. In the first version, Face The Hydra, for example, the players are battling a many-headed Hydra represented by a deck of cards and there are modified rules about what the hydra deck does and how your creatures and
As advertised, this head is savage
spells work to defeat it. If you kill one of the hydra head cards, the deck flips two more cards off the top to see if any new heads grow from the stump! Very dramatic flavor and a great way to get players working together instead of opposing each other.
As a game designer I was happy to see Wizards develop and polish something that was very similar to what we had been doing to accomplish the same goals around our own gaming table. We called our version The Dragon and I present it, not because it’s better than the highly developed Wizards version (it’s not), but because it may give you some ideas on how you can make up your own variations using whatever you have available.
The Great Fire-breathing Dragon
Well, we started this variant when my kids were young and wanted to play Magic but seemed to get frustrated when losing to each other. I also had lots and lots of creature tokens around that weren’t being used for anything.
The dragon was a ‘player’ with 20 life just like us but represented by a little dragon statue we had lying around. We shuffled up a deck of about 30-40 creature tokens. These were the dragons minions and their power and toughness ranged from 1/1 up to 4/4 creatures at a rate that was skewed to the smaller creatures.
Turns one and two the dragon revealed a token off the top and put its creatures into play.
Turn three onward the dragon rolled 1d4 and flipped over that many creatures from its token deck.
Then starting on turn 4 the dragon began breathing fire and rolled 1d6 for damage to a random player. Then on turn 7 the dragon began breathing 1d10 worth of fire damage.
Our combat rules were not well polished but the Dragon only damaged players with its fire and made its blocking decisions to kill the most number of attacking creatures with its token army.
We enjoyed it because it gave us a way to all unite around defeating a common enemy and made for some very exciting dice rolls when everyone’s life totals were withing roasting range of the dragon’s fiery breath.
Lets Play!
My goal with anyone interested in Magic or any other fantastic game is to find ways to introduce them to my favorite thing in ways that dont overwhelm them and that keep them interested and (hopefully) coming back for more of those experiences.
So, when I think about playing Magic and how I want to introduce it to new players I think about three things:
Keep it simple. The bare bones of the information on a card, the turn structure, and combat are enough to get you started.
Let people play with the cards and see what they do. This game has some fantastic complexity and getting to discover that on your own is very rewarding.
Make sure people have positive play experiences. This does not mean they always have to win, but it means being aware of how the games are feeling to all the players, making sure players treat each other respectfully, and that the format is going to give those players some memorable moments.
If you’d care to share any of your own favorite variants for introducing Magic to new players we’d love to hear about them. Thanks for reading and keep on gaming!
Primer on an ancient and fantastic multiplayer format.
A Rainbow Game – The Quintessential Multiplayer Experience
I want to start by assuring you that while I love the tight play and serious competition of a GP level event, I ALSO love the wild, chaotic, and memorable events that unfold around a multiplayer table.
I have heard it called by many names: Star Magic, 5-Player, Color Wheel, 5-Point Magic, Pentagram… but for the last 25 years we’ve called it a Rainbow Game – and for my money it is by far the best multiplayer variant for Magic, full stop. It is the measure that I compare all other multiplayer experiences against and I will explain why you and 4 of your closest friends (or enemies) should definitely have this format in your rotation.
Revised Rulebook
My history with this variant starts waaaaay back in 1994. Back in those days, when the internet screeched to life through a modem and most of our news came in the form of pieces of woodpulp thrown on our doorstep, I had read about this fantasy-based collectible card game called Magic: The Gathering and knew this was something new and groundbreaking. I wanted to know all I could but, frustratingly, all we had access to was the card-sized revised rulebook. (…and even you, Bilbo, won’t need me to tell you tales of that black sorcerer.)
Inside I found an interview with Richard Garfield, as well as one with my favorite artist, Anson Maddox, but the real treasure was an article by Mose Wingert titled “Five Player Magic”. I recently unearthed my original Duelist #1 and re-read Wingert’s article (though it appears to not exist online) and I can confirm that all the variants you can find online these days are missing some key components of the original format as Mose described it.
Here are things that all 5 color / Star/ Rainbow game versions seem to have in common:
You need 5 magic players – one for each color.
Each player’s deck contains only spells of their chosen color. All lands and cards in that deck only produce mana of that type or colorless. (This concept has also become a staple of the commander format)
Players sit in color order (WUBRG) so you have a White, Blue, Black, Red, and Green mage sitting in that order around a table.
You are allied with your allied colors (the two players on either side of you) and your enemies are the enemy colors (the two players across from you).
You win when both of your two enemy colors are eliminated from the game.
And here are the two things that I think are required and that help make this version great:
Turns go in a star pattern.
After each player’s turn, their enemy to their left takes a turn. White plays first, then black, then green, then blue, and poor red goes last.
This tension and balance is critical. Two allies are not able to take their turns simultaneously and gang up on an enemy. It also means you have to consider Enemy, Ally, Ally, Enemy as the turn sequence you must survive before you can untap again.
You can share mana with your Allies, and steal mana from dead allies.
You can request mana from your allies and if they agree, that mana is moved from their mana pool to yours. This allows big things to happen sooner than normal. I’ve seen 7 mana spells hard cast on turn 4 or even turn 3.
It requires you to make interesting decisions. Do I spend this extra three mana making another blocker that I dont really need or do I save it for my ally who can then have access to 9 mana on their turn?
Also, if a player is eliminated, their untapped lands stay in play and can be used by either ally. Since the removed player never gets an untap step this only happens once, but can lead to some interesting betrayals.
As a game designer and student of good gaming, I think this set up allows for some great dynamics to develop naturally.
Distinct Roles
Each player has two allies and two enemies. Everyone has their color identity and that tends to put them in fairly distinct roles and create interesting imbalances. Certain players will have access to different tools. You can see which players have larger creatures, which players have easier access to sweepers, and which players will be using their annoying instants to draw sweet sweet cards and counter spells. When you are playing red, you may have to rely on your green ally to remove enchantments that are hurting you, but you may be the best at taking out problem artifacts.
Of course the larger your card pool, the less restrictive this color limitation can be. If your group can play with just a core set, or just a pauper cardpool, you experience some very interesting deckbuilding restrictions that showcase the color pie and the strengths and weaknesses of each color in lovely and challenging ways.
Clear Heuristics
Your victory condition is clear and creates objectives that drive the game forward. All you have to do is just eliminate those two pesky enemy color players. In a lot of free-for-all multiplayer games players can get bogged down by indecision or information overload. Or worse, there is often a strong incentive to do nothing. Avoid conflict at all costs – if you can just outlast everyone and fly under the radar that is sometimes a solid route to victory but it is also a solid route to a lackluster play experience.
This is why many multiplayer games add “attack left” or the Monarch which encourage interaction and give clear direction on who you should be attacking.
Furious Politics
There is an elegance to the Ally / Enemy structure in a 5 player game. You are enemies with each of your allies’ allies. As the white player you lean over to blue and whisper sweet battle plans in blue’s ear for defeating the chaotic red mage, but your other stalwart ally, the green player is now worried that you are paying too much attention to defeating her Red ally and not enough time focusing on that Black mage.
Now imagine that enemy-ally tension with the ability to share mana. The red mage convinces the green mage to lend her 2 mana that Green probably doesn’t need and she assures Green that this will spell doom for the blue mage. Once the green mana is in her pool though, it allows her to power out a magmaquake for 6 which wipes the board of creatures except for Red’s Skarrgan Hellkite
Side note: I’m not sure if your playgroup has ever played a “share mana” format, but it can create some very over the top begging and horse trading. As youngsters it was serious petitioning and pleading every turn for mana from both sides of you. As we matured as gamers, it became clear that the Catan rule was in effect. Do not share unless you were not going to use that mana and are getting a clear benefit and everyone became very efficient about it. We have a lot more interactions like “Can I have 2?” “No.” “ok.”
Season to Taste
“Variety is also the spice of death.”
Cevraya, Golgari shaman
As with any game variant, you should definitely adjust the parameters to fit the goals of your playgroup. The point of gaming is to enjoy the experience and that means different things for different folks.
Color Hosing: Some groups like to ban or limit the amount of effects like “Protection from [Color]”, “landwalk”, “Destroy all [Land type]” that are allowed. You can accomplish this by limiting the format (use Standard Legal cards only) or by specifically banning a list of cards. Other groups like to play with all the punching and kicking allowed by the original Dr. Garfield and Pals.
Victory Conditions: Some groups enjoy the threat of ally betrayal or watching it dissolve into a free-for-all. If that’s your style you can award 1 victory point for killing an ally, 3 victory points for killing an enemy and 5 points if both of your enemies are eliminated from the game while you are still in (no matter who kills them). This keeps the big reward on removing your two enemy colors yourself but adds a betrayal element. If you see an opportunity to take out an ally you have to weight the victory point vs. the help you are giving to an opponent to achieve their aims.
Additional Layers: While we usually feel the game is just right as described, you can always add in other MTG flavors like Planechase cards, type 4 rules, etc. to enhance or change up the experience.
As always, I’d love to hear your favorite tweaks to this format or if you have an awesome story to share.
Thanks for reading and please remember to follow Mike’s rules of multiplayer:
Loudly point out how powerful that other player at the table looks compared to your meager position
Always send your creatures into the redzone with vigor and purpose
Always game responsibly.
Be a good friend – bring new people to the table and show them the joy of casting spells and attacking for two.
If players are new to multiplayer magic, I definitely encourage folks to read some of Abe Sargent’s excellent Casual Nation articles. They do a great job establishing concepts that help create a language to discuss and analyze multiplayer formats.
