Updated Innistrad League Rules: Feedback Needed Still

Hey guys!

I have a new version of the Innistrad League rules up on Google Docs. Go here to view it:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US


If you have any feedback on any aspect of the League or feel some rules could be clarified better, whatever the feedback is, feel free to leave it here or contact me directly (CardGameNut@gmail.com).

We will start on December 31. That's one week from this upcoming Saturday. Whatever I get no feedback on, I'm going to keep, so I encourage you to let me know if you disagree with any aspect of these rules.

Thank you for your time and effort to help ensure a fun League for everyone! :)

Innistrad Initial Rules Posted

Hey guys!
  Follow the link below for the initial Innistrad League details. Feel free to post any feedback here.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BTJZZCZbTDOq2FkqvlnH81TjqbzZp9KHFao7Gikny8I/edit?hl=en_US

Any and all feedback is welcome! :)

Some Updates on Double-Faced Cards and Checklist Cards

Hey guys!
  I don't know if you've quite absorbed the Double-Faced Card (DFC) stuff from last night yet. If you haven't, be sure to read the post right below this one.

  Now, since last night a few clarifications have come up as to how often Checklist Cards will come out of packs and how Double-Faced Cards will be treated in gameplay and tournaments. I have no links for this stuff, unfortunately, but I'm sure once the set is released more of it will be officially posted.

1) (At least?) One Double-Faced Card will be in each Innistrad pack.
  One of the questions that came up overnight was due to the fact that Double-Faced Cards are in a way open information and that a player is not required to hide any facet of it.

  So the question came up, "Then how do you overcome some of the inherent disadvantages in drafting?" One of those disadvantages came as this: "If I and 2 others open a pack and have a Double-Faced Card, while 5 others at my Pod don't, that gives those 5 a HUGE advantage, doesn't it?"

  Some of that disadvantage was offset by the (extended) ruling that you CAN hide your Double-Faced Card using reasonable methods. But the fact that you're going to extra lengths just to hide a card shows you're looking at a Double-Faced Card.

  Well, now everyone at the table will be hiding cards. For Innistrad (and I presume the rest of the block), everyone who opens packs will have at least one Double-Faced Card. That way everyone will be scurrying to find a way to hide their card, so just doing that doesn't tip off anyone.



2) Converted Mana Costs of Night Side Up Cards
  Someone gets a Mayor of Avabruck (casting cost 1G) out and it has transformed into Howlpack Alpha. You get an Engineered Explosives sitting with 2 charge counters on it.

  Question: Can you use the Engineered Explosives to destroy the Howlpack Alpha?

  Answer: NO!!!

  Matt Tabak, head of the rulings side of Magic, posted on Twitter that the Converted Mana Cost of a Double-Faced Card showing the Dark part is 0.

  So by extension, this means if you wanna get rid of Howlpack Alpha by way of Engineered Explosives, you'll have to force it to transform back into Mayor of Avabruck and then use the Explosives.

3) Face-Down Double-Faced Cards?
  A question came up about how Ixidron would work with Double-Faced Cards.

  The answer: It doesn't. Double-Faced Cards have no "face-down" side. Both parts of the card are considered to be face-up at all times, thus they can never be turned face-down.


  This also means you can't use Illusionary Mask with Double-Faced Cards either.

  "What about using Checklist Cards?" Checklist Cards are effectively legal proxies. They behave exactly the same as any Double-Faced Card. So, while that idea is clever, it won't work.



4) Checklist Card Frequency
  Another issue that came up was this: "So we can use Checklist Cards if we're not using opaque sleeves or just prefer all our cards to have the regular card backing. But how often will I come across these in packs?"

  The answer came from Mark Rosewater on Twitter. Roughly 3/4ths (75%) of Innistrad packs will have a Checklist Card in place of the land for the pack.


Does this mean the Checklist Card is a draftable card? I don't know. What I'd assume is we'd start putting Checklist Cards and land cards in with the Tokens/Tips & Tricks when we draft. We'd have to ditch the Checklist Cards because they have no value unless you're using them in place of a Double-Faced Card. At that point, they're not additional cards for your decks but rather more like proxies. Then, to even out the pack count for everyone, since Checklist Cards take the place of Innistrad basic land cards we'd probably just also ditch the basic land for Innistrad block only.

Of course, more official details will come as to how to deal with drafting and what to do with the Checklist Cards. I'm just speculating on how I'd expect things to go.


What do you think? Do you like Double-Faced Cards from a casual perspective? Tournament perspective? In general? How about these new rules about them?

Clarification to Modern Format Policy: Time Spiral Block "Shifted" Cards

Hello again! As I was looking back over the Commander deck lists, I realized something that I omitted in my "new border" policy for the Modern Format.

What happens to all the "Timeshifted", "Colorshifted", and "Futureshifted" cards, since they don't use the exact modern-framed design (again, think anything from Mirrodin through the present day)?

Here's the clarification: "Timeshifted' (Time Spiral), "Colorshifted" (Planar Chaos), and "Futureshifted" (Future Sight) cards are also legal in Modern along with any older-framed (pre-Mirrodin) versions of them.

(images from MagicCards.info)

Time Spiral's "Timeshifted" Example

Planar Chaos' "Colorshifted" Example

Future Sight's "Futureshifted" Example

For those who may have joined the game after Time Spiral block, a bit of a Magic history lesson:

When WotC put together Time Sprial block, they wanted a mix of nostalgia (Time Spiral), shake-ups (Planar Chaos), and future "sneak peaks" (Future Sight). They came up with 3 ways to help identify their special cards:

Time Spiral: Along with the purple-looking expansion symbol on each card, all these cards are direct reprints of pre-Mirrodin classic cards. The card frames are done in the pre-Mirrodin style, thus making it easier to identify them as reprints when you pulled them from packs of Time Spiral.

Planar Chaos: To mix things up a bit compared to how they normally design cards color-wise, they moved some effects into different colors just for Planar Chaos (for example, even though Wrath of God was the normal white mass removal card, to mix things up they gave black a "Wrath" effect in Damnation). These cards had normal rarity denotations (Gold = Rare, Silver = Uncommon, Black = Common) but moved some pre-Mirrodin cards into different colors and changed nothing else but the name and casting cost (example: Pestilence, a black card, was changed to Pyrohemia, a red card that does the exact same thing but is Red instead of Black). The card frame is a bit different from normal post-Mirrodin borders but it's the same basic frame design.

Future Sight: The final set kept the running theme of "cards from different pieces of Magic's history" by introducing cards and mechanics and card types that could be used in future sets. However, some were gags (see Steamflogger Boss). All cards that were like this used a brand-new card frame that may or may not see future use. The card frame has the mana symbols on the left side of the illustration along with a symbol on the top-left corner denoting what kind of card it is (a claw means "Creature", for example). Some examples of cards and/or mechanics that have seen actual use since Future Sight are Phosphorescent Feast (printed 1 year later), Bloodshot Trainee (printed in Scars of Mirrodin), Planeswalkers (previewed on Tarmogoyf and printed in the very next set, Lorwyn), and Shadowmoor/Eventide's cycle of "filter lands" similar to Graven Cairns.

I hope you found this as a moment of clarity for Modern and as an interesting historical piece if you are fairly new to the game. Let me know what you think below. Thanks for reading, and enjoy building for Modern! :)

Commander Format for 1/15

We've got our first format for the new year!

On January 15th, if enough players want to, we'll do a Commander free-for-all. If we get agreement, we'll run it almost like a tournament. Entry fee would be $2, and I'd provide as many packs as $2 can provide. As usual, we'd then open all the packs and, starting with the winner, each person can pick one card out of the packs, rotating around the finishing order until all the cards are gone. (A system for doing this will be posted later in the week).

We'll follow the majority of the rules found on MTGCommander.net.

We are making a few changes, though:

1) Auto-Win and Auto-Loss cards not already on the banned list are banned. This includes, but is not limited to, cards like Door to Nothingness, Felidar Sovereign, and Mortal Combat. The key to this ban is if it lets a player win or makes a player lose by its own effect, it's banned.
  CLARIFICATION: Cards that give players Poison Counters and milling effects are still legal. Losing for having 10 Poison Counters is specifically written into the Comprehensive Rules as a win condition, as is losing because you can't draw a card.

2) Platinum Angel is banned.

3) We will follow normal Multiplayer mulligain and first-turn draw rules instead of the method described on MTGCommander.net. That is, everyone gets one free mulligain, and the player going first in the game gets to draw a card instead of skipping their first draw.



Why did we decide to go this route?

1) Auto-Win and Auto-Lose cards are no fun. EDH/Commander games are meant to go long. When someone can pull off an auto-win against everyone all at once, especially after just a few turns, it detracts from the fun of the format.

2) We've had problems with Platinum Angel in the past. You can't lose, and your opponents can't win, and usually when you pull her out you'll have some kind of backup. It's a local nuisance.

3) Normal multiplayer mulligain rules are just easier than what's in the EDH/Commander rules. That and it keeps things consistent no matter which multiplayer format we play.


NOTE: This is experimental. If more cards give us cause for concern, or if we want to try auto-win/auto-loss cards for example, we can amend our "house rules" to follow suit.


If you have any thoughts, suggestions, questions, etc., feel free to comment or E-mail me.

We hope you have enjoyed your New Year so far!

Our Normal Draft Rules: SMM's M11 Draft Primer

Hey everyone!

Next week we have our M11 "Release" Draft! But I'm hoping for new people to show up, and those people aren't up to speed on our Draft rules.

Don't worry! It's mostly the same as normal drafts, just a few exceptions to how we draft Rares and foils.

So without further ado...Saturday Morning Magic's Draft Rules!

1. We start as normal, with 3 sealed booster packs ready to be drafted.
2. Open the first pack, but note the Rare (and any foils) you open on a separate sheet of paper.
3. Draft as your normally would draft, passing cards to the left after each pick.
4. Repeat for Pack 2, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the right.
5. Repeat for Pack 3, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the left.

Now you ask, "Why did I write down those Rares and foils?"

Easy. They're mostly our prizes.

When we started drafting here, we didn't have the luxury of $2.50 packs. We had to spend ~$4.40 per pack, making our drafts over $13! I couldn't add any more to that fee, so we wouldn't have prizes if we did a normal draft.

So I got this idea: "Let's use the Rares and foils as our prizes! That way we'll have something to give out and people won't draft money cards just to get money cards."

But there was a problem with that: What if the person who came in last opened a $15-$20 card in their booster? If they finish last, chances are they won't get a comparably-valued card to pick in the prize pool.

Thus, our draft prize tradition started.

Draft Prize Pool Rules
1. When you are out of the tournament, put all Rares and Foils you drafted into the Prize Pool.
2. After the tournament ends, starting with the winner and going in finishing order, each player may reserve 1 (one) Rare or Foil card they had opened from their 3 booster packs and take that as their first pick. (For example, if you opened a Baneslayer Angel, Dark Tutelage, foil Llanowar Elves, and Birds of Paradise in the 3 packs you opened, you may take one of those 4 and only among those 4 as your first pick.)
3. Anyone who did not reserve a Rare or Foil will then pick from the remaining cards in tournament finish order for their first pick.
4. After everyone has picked up one Rare or Foil card, starting with the winner and moving down the finishing order, each player gets to select one remaining Rare or Foil card in the pile.

The hope in these rules was to protect the players' investment: If the person who ends up dead last opened a $10 Rare, I want them to be able to keep that Rare and make back their money (and keep playing, but shh! You didn't hear that from me. ;)  ). If they didn't open something that nice but someone else opened a $5 Mythic Rare they didn't want (maybe they reserved the $10 Rare they opened instead), that gives the last place player a chance to recoup a vast majority of their $8 entry fee.


But overall, it's about the fun and excitement of playing with new cards no more than a week after their release...and on the cheap, too! Just sit down and enjoy some new cards with a great group of players.

And remember, we'll have Sun Titan and Ancient Hellkite promos to give out (you can see the promo images in the post below this) courtesy of Organized Play in Knoxville. If you win, you're guaranteed one copy of each, whereas everyone else will be at the mercy of the "While Supplies Last" fine print: If I don't have enough to go around, I'll randomly award promos so that everyone has a chance at getting at least one of the promos.

I hope to see some first-timers next weekend! If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment here or E-mail me at CardGameNut@gmail.com .

M11 Official Rules Change: Deathtouch

You remember how Deathtouch changed so dramatically last year? The big thing was it got to ignore the "creature queue", the order in which you'll do damage to your opponent's creatures. The nice thing about that was if you made a mistake in the blocking order you didn't have to worry about it as deathtouch would let you pick at whichever creature(s) you wanted in any order.

Here was the revised text for Deathtouch, circa M10:
Deathtouch (Creatures dealt damage by this creature are destroyed. You can divide this creature's combat damage among any of the creatures blocking or blocked by it.)

That changes for M11.

Here's the revised Deathtouch text for M11:
Deathtouch (Any amount of damage this deals to a creature is enough to destroy it.)

That's much simpler, isn't it? It gets across what deathtouch does very succinctly (2 lines compared to over 4).

But it also has some major rules implications.

First of all, Deathtouch now constitutes "Lethal Damage." Why is that important? Read the new Trample wording (which apparently took effect with Archenemy):
Trample (If this creature would assign enough damage to its blockers to destroy them, you may have it assign the rest of its damage to defending player or planeswalker.)

Let's say Avatar of Might (an 8/8 with Trample and nothing else equipped or affecting it) goes up against Bestial Menace's tokens (a 1/1, a 2/2, and a 3/3). You put the creatures in that order when they block it. Avatar of Might has to assign 1 point to the 1/1, 2 to the 2/2, and 3 to the 3/3 before it could hit the opponent for 2 damage.

Now let's say instead you equipped Avatar of Might with Quietus Spike (which grants Deathtouch). Even under the old Deathtouch rulings, even though 1 damage would be enough to destroy each creature, you still had to assign an amount of damage at least equal to each creature's toughness before "trampling over." On the flip side, though, you could have assigned any of that 8 damage to any 1, 2, or 3 creatures if you wanted to make absolutely sure you destroyed one of the tokens.

Under the new Deathtouch rules, you don't get to ignore the "creature queue". You must deal with the 1/1 before moving on to the 2/2, and you have to deal with the 3/3 before you can trample over. However, now 1 damage is considered lethal damage. How does this change the damage calculations?

Under the old Deathtouch rules, you had to assign 1 damage to the 1/1, 2 damage to the 2/2, and 3 damage to the 3/3 in any order before you could trample over for the remaining 2 damage.

Under the new Deathtouch rules, you must assign at least 1 damage to the 1/1, then must assign at least 1 damage to the 2/2 (since any amount of damage from a Deathtouch source is now considered "lethal damage"), and then must assign at least 1 damage to the 3/3 before trampling over. If all goes according to plan, you get to Trample for 5 damage!


So to summarize, what changes with Deathtouch?
1) Deathtouch still counts 1 point of damage as enough to destroy a creature.
2) Deathouch now counts as "lethal damage."
3) Deathtouch does not let you skip around in the creature queue order.
4) Deathtouch now lets you "creature trample" by allowing you to only have to assign 1 damage to a creature before proceeding to the next one in line in the "creature queue."


Aaron Forsythe explained the reason for the change was because they felt the version from last year was a cobbled together piece that attempted to make Deathtouch work the way it did before the big M10 rules changes (the internal timeline from idea to print was a matter of weeks, not months). In the last year, they've come up with a better way to not only shorten the reminder text but also allow players to logically understand how Deathtouch works without too many extra rules.

So what do you think? Do you still have questions about how Deathtouch works? Leave a comment and let me know!

Until later, take care!

A Preview of "Wayne's CRAZY WORLD Tournament" (June 26th)

I got an E-mail today about Wayne's format rules and stuff for June 26th, and he wanted to preview what (craziness) he had in mind for it...

that will include , among other things  -  use of unhinged/unglued cards . . . planechase . . . weird "house" rules . . . DOUGHNUTS ! . . . (probably) singleton . . . (probably) vintage or legacy . . . (maybe) multi-player . . . (probably)with funny hats again . . . all-in-all a VERY serious somber affair !!!    ( & still looking for help finding some kind of random time setter like we talked about )      -      so will fill in more details as i get them figured out . . .

Ya see? I told ya we're a very casual crowd! Wanna see just how crazy things can get? Join us on that Saturday, June 26th!

Preston

PS: Does anyone have a random alarm/countdown generator, or could program one somehow? Just respond as a comment. Thanks!!!

The Magic School RETURNS! TMS #3: Damage Basics

Welcome back!
  I know I've slacked on The Magic School, so here I am with what I hope is an interesting read for you this time around.

  From time to time, we need to be reminded of the basic rules of the game. Sometimes we make things so complex (and in this game, rightfully so!) that even the simplest rules start to get questions because "it can't be that simple!"

  Today's topic isn't exactly simple, but it's not the most difficult either (Hello Stack! Good to see ya Layer rules!). If you understand the examples, you'll get the basics of how damage works.

So now that class is back in session...let's begin!

Vintage Proxy Tournament Rules REPOST: Tournament 5/15

Hello again!

  This is a repost of the Vintage Proxy Tournament Rules from last month. We had a weekend where no one was able to make the tournament date, so we rescheduled for May 15th.



Our next tournament, coming up a week from tomorrow, is Vintage format with Proxies!!!

We've never done a Vintage tournament where the Power 9 have been available, so here are the rules we're using:

1) Follow the Vintage Restricted List found here: Wizards of the Coast Official Vintage Restricted List

2) You are allowed up to 9 (Nine) proxy cards. For those unfamiliar with the term, it's one card used to stand in for another. For example, if you're using a Plains and you write "Black Lotus" on it, you're signifying you're using that card as a Black Lotus.
    * Proxies can take most any form. They can be as simple as Basic Lands with the intended card's name written on it (along with most all information, abbreviated of course for room), or they can go as high as full-color printouts used in a sleeve over another card.
    *What you cannot use as Proxies: non-Magic cards (you can't say a Hitmonchan from the Pokemon card game is really a Goblin Lackey), singleton cards whose only purpose is a proxy for another card but with no identifiable information for the card really being used (for example, a lone Mountain being used as a Mox Ruby with no writing signifying it's a Mox Ruby).

3) As a courtesy, we ask that you not build any FTK (First-Turn Kill)/FAST Kill decks. FTK decks will just get you hated and make you feel unwelcome in our crowd. We do like to play the game, but not a whole match inside of 10 minutes due to your wicked 1- or 2-turn combo. However, since there's no way to enforce a "no FTK decks" rule, I can't make this a hard-and-fast rule.

4) Contrary to the original rules post, Rise of the Eldrazi will be legal for this tournament. My issue then was the availability of Rise of the Eldrazi cards for our decks, but since it'll be out for a few weeks at the time of the tournament I think we're good to go with using them.

5) Entry Fee and Prize: $2 entry fee, prize split of as many Rise of the Eldrazi packs as we can get for the total entry fee.




To see some recommendations on what to proxy, see the bottom half of the original post here: http://cglhixson.blogspot.com/2010/04/next-weeks-tournament-424-vintage-with.html


This upcoming weekend is a Casual Weekend, so if there's something fun you've been wanting to try feel free to bring it!

Until then, everyone take care, and we hope to see you soon!  :)