Whenever I see a new format proposal, my first questions are:
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What does this add that another format does not?
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Are the rules clear and sensible?
I will evaluate based on those two principles below:
To start with the first question, I don't really see this as adding too much to the game. Archenemy already has rules for X vs 1 cooperative gameplay, bonus utilities in the form of schemes, etc. Yes, there are mechanical differences from Archenemy, but I don't see those differences as filling a niche Archenemy doesn't already fill better.
However, while I don't see this as adding very much to the game, you and your friends are, of course, welcome to play however you wish. In the interests of improving your game experience, I have a number of rules issues I wanted to raise before you give this a shot.
I think your land rule is going to have a number of issues. Off the top of my head, you're going to run into a definition problem. Without further clarification, debates over whether Karakas and the like are "colored" or "effect" lands will abound.
Some other issues you need to be aware of, though I don't see them as problems per se:
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Strip Mine. Especially with Crucible of Worlds. Free land destruction every single turn.
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Fetch lands would unquestionably count as "effect" lands as they do not produce mana. So, you'd be able to play a colored land, and fetch another colored land in the same turn. I don't think that's what you intended for this rule.
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Ancient Tomb would give you access to 3 mana on turn 1.
Personally, I'd just simplify the rule to "play two lands per turn." It will make things challenging for the raid party, while keeping the rules clear and concise.
Not having set utility abilities before the game starts is just going to result in long debates about what is too powerful, delaying the game itself. There will be adjustments after each game to that particular creature's rule. It will be a nightmare, and would probably kill the format outright.
Perhaps you could use the abilities from planechase's planar cards as the ability. Those are generally balanced, though you'd probably need a banlist for Gavony, Tazeem, and a couple others.
Why would each player only get 1 main phase? Second main is a very important part of the game, as it allows you to play mind games in combat with your opponent, is necessary for many, many cards, such as Neheb, the Eternal, and gives you time to adjust your strategy if something unexpected occurred during the combat phase.
The communal pool means players who go first are generally going to have fewer resources than those who go last. You could probably fix this by having a shifting first player (round 1 player order: A-B-C-D; round 2: B-C-D-A; etc.).
This also allows players to focus on ramp, and just have one player who Banefires each turn.
On the subject of Banefire, you'll probably need a banlist. Necropotence and Channel are immediate problems.
SynergyBuild says... #2
Why change the draw to the upkeep, we dropping untap and draw step for no reason? also, with no untap, this will be a hard format.
November 26, 2018 8:43 a.m.