Exploding Emrakul
Hello and welcome to Exploding Emmy, an extremely simple, surprisingly deep, and hilariously fun game using only normal Magic cards and a single custom card. This game takes around 20-40 minutes, and can support 2-6 players (4-6 recommended, though I have tested with 2 players and it's perfectly fine). Disclaimer: This game does require a greater than average knowledge of the stack, priority, and the general intricacies of triggers to derive maximum enjoyment (aka you should be somewhat experienced with Magic before attempting this).
This custom game spawned after a session of playing Exploding Kittens. After playing a couple of rounds, I thought to myself...you know, Exploding Kittens would be much better if we could play Brainstorm. And then I thought, "Well, why NOT play Exploding Kittens with Brainstorm?"
So here are the rules of Exploding Emrakul. The rules of the game are exactly the same as the rules of a normal game of Magic, except:
1) Each player has infinite life, and will not lose the game if they would draw from an empty library.
2) Each player has infinite mana.
3) The library is a single deck of cards in the middle of the table (similar to Judge Stack).
4) Each player starts with a Last Word in their hand.
5) A 'Last Word' in a player's hand has hexproof, cannot be named, and cannot be chosen.
6) 6-8 Copies of Emrakul, the Exploding Spaghetti Monster are shuffled into the deck (depends on how fast you want the game to go).
Here's the link to Emrakul if the above picture doesn't work: http://imgur.com/Unv16il
As you can see from Emrakul itself, the players can only lose the game when they resolve their own Emrakuls. And that's it! The game is devilishly simple and immensely fun, and there are a lot of really fun interactions that you can discover in the course of playing the game.
F.A.Q.s
Can I cast a spell before I play an Emrakul?
You must cast Emrakul the moment the stack is empty, and you have priority in your main phase.
What does it mean to 'put Emrakul anywhere in the library'?
This means the player who controlled the spell that countered, exiled (usually with Time Stop), or discarded Emrakul gets to secretly place it any number of cards down the library. He/she isn't allowed to look at the library, they only get to physically put Emrakul somewhere in the library. Everyone else should be looking away when that player does this.
Can Last Word be targeted by Vendilion Clique or Brain Pry while it is in a player's hand?
No, Last Word cannot be chosen or named while it is in a player's hand.
Can Last Word be targeted by Call to Mind, Memory's Journey, Noxious Revival, etc.?
Yes, Last Word only has hexproof, yadda yadda while it is in your hand. If Last Word is on the stack, in a graveyard, or in the library, then it's free game. Note, Last Word CAN be discarded to Burning Inquiry.
Discombobulate and Memory Lapse vs Emrakul?
You have to finish resolving your counterspell first, so for Discombobulate you'll look at the top four cards first, then choose where to put the Emrakul. For Memory Lapse, you don't get to place Emrakul at all - it goes to the top of the deck as part of Memory Lapse's effect.
Can I cast Ancestral Vision?
You can't cast Ancestral Vision even with infinite mana, see Ancestral Vision's rules. You can only suspend it.
Burning Inquiry FAQ:
Burning Inquiry is the one of the most fun and/or most devastating cards in this format. When resolving Burning Inquiry, the active player draws first, followed by the other players in turn order. After that, the players discard cards starting with the active player, followed by the other players in turn order.
If there are no cards left in the deck, then you won't draw any cards off the Burning Inquiry and you won't lose the game, but you'll still have to discard 3 cards randomly. Most importantly, you are able to discard Last Word, which usually results in a lot of chaos. If multiple Emrakuls are discarded via Burning Inquiry, you resolve the same way you would with other triggers - whoever last discarded the Emrakul gets to place it first.
What happens to Emrakuls left over in a dead player's hand?
They are shuffled back into the library. Any Emrakul that causes a player to die is removed from the game.
Does Power and Toughness on creatures matter? Why does Emrakul have a Power/Toughness if you're just going to lose the game to it? Also Emrakul doesn't have a mana cost, how do we cast it?
Power and Toughness on creatures does not matter at all. Emrakul's P/T is a Dota meme, please ignore it. Also I couldn't fit a mana cost on Emrakul without space issues, so just assume it can be cast for 0 (sorry).
Some tips to get you started:
The primary offensive play is to Vampiric Tutor in an opponent's upkeep to put an Emrakul on top. You can counterplay this by using instant-speed deck manipulation or shuffling the library.
This game will teach you how much better a card is when it is an instant. Quicken is one of the strongest cards in this format.
There is a LOT of depth to Vendilion Clique. You can use it offensively or defensively, and is useful in a ton of different situations. I'll leave you to fully explore this.
