Single Player MTG Format (Lucky Lavarunner)
The Kitchen Table forum
Posted on May 13, 2025, 4:51 a.m. by Lemmingen95
Introduction
Lucky Lavarunner is a single player Magic the Gathering format I have created, which is played using the preconstructed deck from this post to defeat an opposing planeswalker in 1-3 turns. The player must find the right card sequencing, think tactically, and gamble a little, to come out on top.
The deck is constructed with the goal of no card being able to win on its own. All cards have different synergies with eachother which can be utilized to defeat the opposing planeswalker. Powerful cards were intentionally not put in the deck to make the games more challenging and to create interesting game situations.
Format Rules
A game of Lucky Lavarunner is set up by placing 2 plains, 2 mountains, & 3 islands on the battlefield untapped. A dice representing the opposing planeswalker’s loyalty counters is placed above your battlefield. The preconstructed deck is shuffled and a hand of 3 cards is drawn. The player has a staring life of 1, and the opposing planeswalker starts at 1 loyalty counter. The player takes the first turn and does not draw a card.
The opposing planeswalker is both a card and a player in the game rules. It has one static ability and one +1 ability. The static ability is “All damage and life gain is reduced to 1”. So cards like Lucky Offering will only gain you 1 life, and Ghitu Lavarunner can only deal 1 combat damage. The +1 ability is “Deal 1 damage to each opponent”, and it’s activated once during the opposing planeswalker’s turn as their only action.
All of this means that during the player’s first turn, to win they must deal damage to the opposing planeswalker from one source. If that is not possible, the player can still live to their next turn by finding a way to gain life. If the player does live to their next turn, they must then find a way to deal damage to the opposing planeswalker from two sources. This can continue for as many turns as needed until either the player reaches 0 life or the opposing planeswalker reaches 0 loyalty counters.
Decklist
1x Against All Odds 1x Ancestral Anger 1x Bottle Gnomes 1x Brainstone 1x Cathartic Reunion 1x Chrome Courier 1x Consider 1x Crystal Slipper 1x Defiant Strike 1x Devilthorn Fox 1x Divination 1x Dragon's Claw 1x Elsewhere Flask 1x Energy Refractor 1x First Day of Glass 1x Flame Rift 1x Ghitu Lavarunner 1x Goblin Tomb Raider 1x Golden Egg 1x Healing Grace 1x High Tide 1x Kindlespark Duo 1x Lucky Offering 1x League Guildmage 1x Omenspeaker 1x Royal Pegasus 1x Potion of Healing 1x Preordain 1x Relic’s Roar 1x Repository Skaab 1x Sea Gate Oracle 1x Silent Submersible 1x Sky Terror 1x Spectral Sailor 1x Splitskin Doll 1x Suit Up 1x Sunfire Torch 1x Thud 1x Unruly Catapult 1x Unsummon
This looks interesting, but I do have a couple of questions.
You mention it takes skill with card sequencing and tactical thinking, plus some luck, to win. How much skill vs. luck is in the game? How much would I be able to overcome bad luck with strong play, or recover from a misplay through luck or skill?
How rigid is the precon deck? It looks like if it was loaded with burn spells and hasty creatures, every game would be a turn 1 win, so you clearly put effort into balancing it and making it variable. But how much would you allow someone else to change it? For example, with damage caps, singleton cards, and no blockers, could Ancestral Anger be exchanged for any other card that lets you draw a card, for example Bandage?
May 13, 2025 3:54 p.m.
Lemmingen95 says... #5
When it comes to the skill to luck ratio, I would say it’s 50/50 in the sense that you can draw a completely useless hand and loose on that, but if you do draw a “lucky hand” you often do need to find the line and play those cards in the exact right sequence to win.
The observation about not filling the deck with burn spells and haste creatures is correct. I want player to work for their win.
It’s allowed for people to make their own version of Lucky Lavarunner, I just wanted to share a funny side project I’m often working on in the background. The cards chosen for the deck was mainly based on cards I already owned and knew would work well, so I know there are other cards out there which also would fit perfectly onto this format.
Here is a fun fact. Cards like Priest of Ancient Lore turned out to be too strong from this format since it both gave you an extra turn, a body on the board and an additional card, so it very often guaranteed a win.
seshiro_of_the_orochi says... #2
That sounds pretty cool, actually. Maybe enter the deck list into the deck editor and link it here. That way, it's easier to see what's in the deck.
May 13, 2025 9:54 a.m.