New Casual Format Idea: Arena
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on May 30, 2016, 12:46 a.m. by Minizem0
I have started getting into some of the fun casual formats like Emporer and Two-Headed Giant with my friends, and while we were playing I came up with this.
For Arena, each player has some sort of unique symbol assosciated with them (in this example, lets just use cards from a standard 52-card deck). So one person is an Ace, another a King, then Queen, and so on. Those cards get shuffled and dealt one to each player. You may look at the card, but do not reveal it to anyone else. The player this card belongs to is your "target"
Now just play a normal game of multiplayer magic, but keep these things in mind:
1.) You will get 2 points for each player you kill. Killing a player means you or something you controlled was the last source of damage, poison counter, or you milled the last card out of their library or forced them to draw a card with no cards in their library. Note: If you removed the last card out of someones library, but another player forces them to draw a card afterwards, they are the killer, not you.
2.) If the person you killed was your target, reveal your card and you get an additional 3 points.
3.) If your target dies while you are still alive and you did not kill them, reveal your card and you lose 2 points.
4.) If you die, you lose 1 point for each other player still alive.
5.) If your target is you (meaning you were dealt your own card), then you goal is to lose the game as quickly as possible. When you die, reveal your card, and instead of losing points, you gain 3 points for each person still alive.
6.) If a spell or ability says you have won the game, this does not cause any other players to lose the game. Once you have won the game, you can no longer lose the game. You will no longer participate in the game. Then reveal your target card. If your target was yourself, you lose 5 points. Otherwise, you gain 5 points.
7.) Once you have won or lost the game, and you have lost or received points as a result of that, you can no longer gain or lose points.
Whoever has the most points and the end of the game wins.
Feel free to leave any thoughts for improvements or changes in the comments below!
The point system does not really scale well. Having yourself possibly be the target is not a good idea. It does not promote teamwork or politics, by shifting focus on Last Striking an enemy and going out against everybody.
The best strategy is exactly one - play the fastest combo deck possible. If your target is another player, you easily win the most points. If your target is yourself, you get to durdle around and do nothing and wait for someone to kill you.
May 30, 2016 9:06 a.m.
Sounds like you're looking for a more complicated version of five-point star.
Honestly this format has too much potential to be broken or just have unfun things happen. For example - any deck that mostly plays creatures or just playes at sorcery speed will be at a disadvantage because of the emphasis on last hitting (not a good idea in Magic).
I would recommend trying to refine the rule set down to the essentials of how you want this format to play out and get rid of any fluff. I would also strongly recommend dropping the "last hit" rule for the reason above.
ifired says... #2
Truth be told, the killing yourself and 'winning by ability' part is a bit too strong. This reminds me of 'Bang' a boardgame that uses the 'target' mechanic. maybe try that
May 30, 2016 3:58 a.m.