Custom EDH formats and house rules
Commander (EDH) forum
Posted on Aug. 4, 2013, 2:42 a.m. by BroadScholar
Has anybody else come up with their own way of playing Magic? This can range from simple house rules like two free mulligans or 20 poison counters instead of 10, to radically changing the way the game is played. Let me explain.
So myself and some of the guys I play with regularly decided to invent our own personalized way to play. And this is what we came up with:
We call it shotgun. It's a modified version of a two-headed giant game. For the first ten turns of the game, it's a 1 v 1 v 1 v 1. Four players. Every man for themselves. Then, after the last player takes their tenth turn, we roll for teams. The two teammates average their life totals and we roll again to see which team goes first.
For the first 10 turns, everybody is hesitant about attacking the other players. You don't want to risk dicking over your potential ally. This doesn't guarantee that you'll be safe, but it allows for more of a chance to set up your board without immediately getting shut down by counters and removals. And when everybody is finally paired up and controls a nice little army, the game gets really chaotic >:) I've seen some shit. Monster creatures going up against hoards of 1/1 tokens. Virtually impenetrable defenses. Life totals well over 100. The games at that point can either end within the next couple turns or last for another 45 minutes.
So has anybody else come up with their own formats? I've even heard of players playing for life point bonuses if they hit certain objectives within the game (countering a counter spell, dealing 20 damage in one turn, controlling a permanent of each type, etc) I love hearing about other peoples' house rules.
The only thing different my group has done with commander is introduce "achievements" for the fun of it. Each person gets 3 random challenges that are drawn from a cup, and if you are the first to do all your challenges, you don't have to pitch in for food that night!
August 4, 2013 3:15 a.m.
Heres a link to a forum post i made abt a format idea:
http://tappedout.net/mtg-forum/general/possible-new-format/#c841442
August 4, 2013 3:50 a.m.
killroy726 says... #5
I dont know if this is a recognized format but sometimes I play a format called emporer here is a link to it on the wizards site: click me!
August 4, 2013 10:44 a.m.
It's really fun, and the matches are usually a 6 man free for all that lasts about 6-7 hours because we talk for a huge amount of the time!
BroadScholar says... #2
While I'm on the topic, one of my friends came up with a modified version of EDH where you're allowed one duplicate of any 5 cards in the deck. So for instance, if you have a proliferate deck, you can run a second Contagion Engine , Contagion Clasp , Inexorable Tide , Throne of Geth , and Viral Drake . This format allows combo and card-specific decks to run a little more smoothly. So if you build an EDH mill deck, your odds of pulling Traumatize, go from 1/100 to 1/50. You still can't ensure 3rd turn wins like 60-card formats allow, but it opens up a lot of possibilities for decks that would otherwise be unplayable. It also gives those Future Sight generals (Baru, Fist of Krosa ) a chance to use their Grandeur ability.
To quote Highlander - "There can be only one... Well, two... But not of everything..."
August 4, 2013 2:47 a.m.