Spice up your EDH playgroup Afro Samurai style

Commander (EDH) forum

Posted on Aug. 30, 2018, 5:13 a.m. by BajungaDustin

This is a little thing we invented to keep our playgroup motivated. This promotes people showing up and more competition for those that desire it. (These rules can be changed to meet your specific playgroup needs.)

It works like this.

Official Matches

• Official matches are 4 player matches and only in the Free-For-All format.

• 3 player matches, 2 headed giant, kingdoms matches, planeschace, and any other format are by default considered not official.

• Winning an official match will award that player with a single "Win Point"

• Draws: At any point where there is a draw or stalemate resulting from an uninterruptible combo or when everyone dies at the same time leaving no one left alive... No point will be awarded during these matches.

• Players gaining points from official matches will go to the leader-board.

Leader-Board Placement.

• Leader-Boards are for Commander Names... Not player names. This encourages people to play multiple decks so they are not always working on the same deck gaining wins to distance themselves from the rest of the group by gaining a large amount of wins with one deck while others are using multiple decks. (This is only encouraged but not a rule)

• If multiple players run the same commanders then you will need to designate which Commander belongs to which player. (Mayael-Brad... Mayael-Dustin or whatever way you choose to keep track.)

• When the Leader-Board is empty the first player with a Win will be at first place with 1 Win point and so on.

• Seniority Rule: In an effort to eliminate Draws any player achieving the same number of wins as other players will move into the position directly under anyone else who has achieved that rank first. (No ties... is a player reaches 6 wins and the player who is in 1st place has 6 wins they will not be tied for first. The newest 6th place will be in second place assuming that the second place person is lower than 5. If 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, All have 6 wins for example and the 4th place moves from 5 wins to 6 wins he will remain in 4th place.)

• The Leader-Board will remain persistent for the season. Seasons reset every 3 months.

The Elite Leader-Board (Afro Samurai style)

• The first person to get to 7 wins become the "Number 1 headband" or (N1)

• The second player to reach 7 wins becomes the "Number 2 headband" or (N2)

• These decks are removed from the leader board and placed in a separate bracket. When a player moves from the Leader-Board to the Headband Bracket all other players on the leader-board move up a slot.

Headband Challenges

• Challenges are 1v1 best out of 3 matches.

• Challenges are done by wagering one of your win points against the other player. The winner of the match gains a point and the loser loses a point. If this causes the losing deck to move under 7 wins then the losing deck needs to gain wins again in the leader-board before challenging the N2 again.

• Any deck achieving 7 win points may challenge the N2 (Even the 4th place person if he has 7 wins)

• A challenge may only be proposed once a day per player who meets the appropriate requirements.

• If the N2 Loses the challenge they move back into the leader-board following the seniority rule'.

Challenging for the Number 1 Headband

• The only person allowed to challenge the N1 is the N2. Win points don't matter here for placement but they are still on the 1 point wager system.

• If in the event the same Player holds the N1 and the N2 positions at the same time with different Decks they may NOT challenge them-self to a match. The N1 slot becomes unreachable until someone beast the N2 and challenges the N1.

• The number 1 and 2 can still play in official matches and gain points as normal. But just because the number 2 might end up with more points than the number 1 this will not cause a change. The number 2 must still challenge the number 1 to gain that position.

Example Show

- Number 1 @ 7 wins. Deck A - Number 2 @ 9 wins. Deck B - 1st place @ 7 wins. Deck C - 2nd place @ 6 wins. Deck D - 3rd place @ 6 wins. Deck E - 4th place @ 5 wins. Deck F

Deck B challenges Deck A and wins. Deck B is now the N1 @ 10 wins and Deck A is now the N2 @ 6 wins.

Now let's assume the 1st place challenges for N2 and wins.

The leaderboard will now look like this.

• Number 1 @ 10 wins. Deck B
• Number 2 @ 8 wins. Deck C
• 1st place @ 6 wins. Deck D
• 2nd place @ 6 wins. Deck E
• 3rd place @ 5 wins. Deck F
• 4th place @ 5 wins. Deck A

Maintaining Availability.

• The N1 and N2 decks need to be maintained and available on days your playgroup meets. If you have made it to those spots it's fair to say you show up often. But if this should change due to work or real life problems. Ect. Then it's ultimately at the discretion of the playgroup but here are some guidelines.

• If a player on the leader-board reaches 7 wins and wants to challenge the number 2 slot.. Or the number 2 slot wants to challenge the number 1 slot and those decks are unavailable... Those decks will be charged 1 point per deck that declares they want to challenge assuming the challenge is not met that day.

Example Show

So if N2 deck is at 7 wins.. And 2 people on the leader-board go from 6 wins to 7 wins then the N2 deck can be deducted 2 wins that day and moves down to 5.

When the number 2 hits 0 wins they are removed from the leaderboard entirely and start back at 0.

Same thing for N1.

Say the N2 wants to challenge the N1 but the N1 isn't available. The N1 is deducted 1 point. Then that same night a player on the leader-board wants to challenge the N2 and wins.. He then has the right to challenge the number 1 and may exercise this right if he chooses. If he does the N1 deck may be deducted an additional point. This gives players in the Headband bracket time to maintain their status and while probably never cause them to completely lose their position over 1 or even 2 missed sessions. And once they are getting low on points other players can notify them. (Assuming you are not using a shared google sheet for tracking)

Conclusion

We think this leader-board style promotes a lot of fun for the playgroup and competitiveness. It keeps decks growing and brings back decks that may be otherwise 'retired' and not see much play. It promotes playing multiple decks and when matches are not official then there is no risk playing your new untested decks.

It's a lot of fun. Looking for input and suggestions. Once it's completely hammered out I will write an official guide for it in Pdf that can be printed out.