New EDH format idea
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on Nov. 18, 2015, 5:14 a.m. by bennybubbles
Okay mtg fellas, I've got 2 format ideas that I wanna shoot your way. Both are EDH adaptations and I want to know how they work and whether they are both playable as formats. These will be casual formats between my playgroup, unless anyone is keen on making either into large scale format, which I am completely down for. So without further ado, the formats!
- Colour-shifted EDH
So this one works the same way as regular EDH with one crucial twist: Your General/Commander can be colour-shifted eg. Zurgo Helmsmasher as a Green White creature meaning that you can use green and white cards in the deck, but not red and black like the normal Zurgo. I am undecided as to whether it would be a perfect change (without adding or removing colours) or whether the number of colours would need to hold true to the original.
- Double Dragon Highlander (DDH)
Once again, very similar to regular EDH except instead of 1 general you have 2; One primary and one secondary. The primary general would function identically to the normal general in EDH but the secondary one would be slightly different. For starters its casting tax is 1 mana instead of 2 and it would have some casting limitations relative to the primary general. I am currently tossing up between making it only castable when you control your primary general or making it only castable equal to the number of times that the primary general has been cast (If your primary has been cast 3 times, then you can only cast your secondary 3 times, until you cast your primary again.). Primary and secondary generals need not be the same colour (I think) and so you could have a primary RB and secondary GU and use RBGU cards in the deck.
So what do you guys think? Feel free to quickbuild your own decks for either or just look over my rules to see whether it would work from a gameplay perspective. Thank you and happy decking!
I like the Double Dragon Highlander idea but it should be limited to colors. People already play Scion or Child of Alara just to have all the colors and make incredibly boring hyper competitive decks.
Consider this:
-If Primary General is 1 color then Secondary can only be 1 other color.
- If Primary General is 2 colors then secondary must share a color and can be 1 other color.
- If Primary General is 3 Colors then Secondary general must share two of those colors.
- If Primary Gneral is 5 Colors then you get no secondary general.
This allows somebody playing Daretti, Scrap Savant to have a 
artificer like Muzzio, Visionary Architect as their secondary general. This is great because there are no good 
artifact commanders.
The 2 color limitation allows somebody playing Daxos the Returned to play Ephara, God of the Polis as their secondary commander. The alternative is for them to just play Oloro, Ageless Ascetic which is very boring.
The 3 color limitation allows one to run Mishra, Artificer Prodigy along with Sydri, Galvanic Genius.
The 5 color limitation is fair because 5 colors is way strong even if you don't have original duals and if you do then it's just OP as hell.
Other sample 2 color combinations:
Karlov of the Ghost Council + Dromoka, the Eternal (Removal and Beef)
Karlov of the Ghost Council + Savra, Queen of the Golgari (Golgari paying off the Orzhov)
Other sample 3 color combinations:
Zedruu the Greathearted + Zur the Enchanter (Super Oblivion Ring Team)
Ghave, Guru of Spores + Marath, Will of the Wild (Super +1/+1)
Rafiq of the Many + Surrak Dragonclaw (1-2 punch, 14 damage in 1 hit!)
November 18, 2015 6 a.m.
There are a few problems I can see with the second idea. The primary general would have to set the color identity or you would have no reason not to call your primary general the secondary and run a cheaper primary. Second, making 2 cards available at all times like that is probably a bad idea.
I propose the following change. Neither general is primary or secondary, they are equal. Whichever general you cast first will act like you commander in a normal game. Only after your first general returns to the command zone will you be able to cast the other general, which would cost an additional mana. You would then keep swapping back and forth between your generals adding one more mana to the tax each time. (in other words each time you cast any given general, it will cast 2 more the next time you can cast it)
For the color identity, kengiczar's suggestion is definitely good.
November 18, 2015 6:20 a.m.
bennybubbles says... #5
Dorotheus, in the first one any of the colours can be changed, including hybrid and ability colours, unless you think that it won't work from a design or gameplay standpoint.
kengiczar and 1empyrean, I like your ideas and will take them into account and I understand 1empyrean's point about having 2 cards available at anytime, however that was sort of the idea, being able to cast one creature that was super important and one that was lesser (think Meren of Clan Nel Toth and Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. But in saying that, I do understand that my original idea probably wouldn't work all that well, and the colour matching is a good idea, although it makes me sad to admit it (my first idea was to have Alesha, Who Smiles at Death + Ezuri, Claw of Progress as my generals.
Overall, thank you for taking the time to comment and I will definitely consider your ideas moving forward with these formats.
I think that I should also mention; I am looking to get into designing this kind of thing, hence my creation of these formats as well as my ongoing custom set creation, so all your comments are really great.
November 18, 2015 7:04 a.m.
zorsmobile says... #6
I think the color shifting breaks far too many cards. For instance, if you could play Edric, Spymaster of Trest as blue/black it would be utterly unstoppable. Although I guess there's the idea that when everything is broken, nothing is. I also think that very few decks wouldn't decide to run blue, like you wouldn't want an already powerful Saffi Eriksdotter combo deck getting counters and draw, or Uril, the Miststalker saving a counter for the inevitable Wrath of God. This does make me want to create the nastiest tempo deck ever with Sygg, River Cutthroat and Edric, Spymaster of Trest and be able to draw a thousand cards per turn while killing, bouncing, and countering anything anyone plays. But then I wouldn't have friends.
November 18, 2015 11:24 a.m.
I kind of like the Double-Headed EDH idea, but I have one change I think works better. The idea that you can have two Generals that only need to share a color while being able to branch off seems pointless to me. I say you start off with a main general that your deck's color must still identify with and the second general or lieutenant must contain all of the same colors except one. For example your main general is Gisela, Blade of Goldnight and your secondary is Avacyn, Angel of Hope. Like your secondary is sort of under your main general.
And I just thought of something else.Say for every time you summon the secondary out of the command zone it adds to the cost of summoning your general.
Dorotheus says... #2
I mean, 2-headed Giant EDH does exist and I believe that adding more rules to a format combination that is already in a need of individual severe clean-up might pose some problems.
The color-shifted one is interesting but the problem comes about with strange Commanders like Bosh, Iron Golem, and Alesha, Who Smiles at Death, what would you decide is a good idea there?
Locally we have what we call Detroit or Ghetto EDH, which is like Pauper but not exactly. Your General can be ANY non-legend in the game (rarity doesn't matter), and the deck can have whatever commons and uncommons.
November 18, 2015 5:44 a.m.