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Tell-Tale: A New Game by Yours Truly

Tell-Tale

A game that aims to combine elements of Magic: the Gathering and D&D, my chief goals are Simplicity, Flexibility and Variety.


Overview

The GM tells a story using cards, and the Players participate in the story using decks of cards they have constructed to represent their characters, animal companions, gear and spells which they'll cast in the course of their adventure.


Character Creation

Each player selects a legendary humanoid creature or planeswalker to role-play, and may choose a non-legendary animalistic creature within the color identity of the player's character as an animal companion. The player's character and companion are not considered "summoned creatures", are not part of the player's deck, and are never "cast"--they begin the game as part of the story and continue unless killed or exiled to another plane. If they are killed or exiled and then resurrected (returned to hand or battlefield), "enters the battlefield" effects will take place.

Animal companions are considered either familiars or mounts, at the GM's discretion. If the companion is a familiar, it cannot be ridden but fights alongside the player on the player's turn. If the companion is a mount, it may be used as a pack animal and/or ridden, and may affect the stats of the player, but will not participate in combat when not mounted. Players should bear in mind that mounts may be too large to follow the players into all areas of the story.

Each player rolls 4xD6 dice 7 times, writing down the totals. The player then distributes these numbers among the following stats (discarding unused numbers):

• Initiative [I]
• PC Vitality [V]
• PC Speed [S]
• Companion Vitality
• Companion Speed

Obviously, having an animal companion will use up more numbers, requiring you to choose lower numbers for some stats.

Stats

PC, Companion, and NPC Stats are defined below.  Players should use player sheets/mats and individual counters to track changes in Stats throughout the game.

• Initiative: turn order.  After players initially assign stats, they should sit around the table in Initiative order, with highest initiative to the left of the GM.  If Initiative changes, players will exchange seats to maintain Initiative order.
• Vitality: life.  If life is gained or lost, Vitality goes up or down accordingly.  Damage reduces Toughness first, then Vitality.  The GM does not have Vitality/Life, but NPCs do.  Vitality of 0 = unconscious, negative Vitality = dead.
• Speed: distance a character can move per combat turn. Distance-to-Speed ratios are set per encounter by the GM.
• Power: maximum damage dealt on a successful attack.  Power listed on a character card is that character's base power and can be modified with +/- counters, equipment, and spells/abilities/effects.  Cannot go negative, minimum is 0.
• Toughness: hit points of damage absorbed before Vitality is affected and permanents are lost.  Like Power, a character's base toughness is listed on the card and can be modified.  Damage dealt to a character and negative effects (e.g. "gets -0/-2") reduce toughness first, and when toughness is at 0 reduce Vitality.  Toughness regenerates at the end of a combat encounter, though Vitality does not automatically regenerate.  Toughness is needed to maintain permanent spells, specifically summoned creatures, creature tokens, and enchantments.  As soon as Toughness is reduced to 0 (via damage or negative effects), all permanent spells are dispelled and go to the graveyard.

Planeswalkers as PCs

A planeswalker PC starts with a base Power and Toughness equal to the starting "Loyalty Counter" number on the card. There are no loyalty counters in Tell-Tale, as players are role-playing the planeswalkers themselves. The PC counts as a "creature" in terms of game/spell effects such as "Target creature you control gains X".

Planeswalker abilities are special activated abilities, one of which can be activated once per combat encounter any time you could cast a sorcery. There are two activation costs: (X) where X is the absolute (positive) value of the printed loyalty counter cost, and an increase or reduction of toughness matching the same until the beginning of your next turn. Effects of an ability will match Tell-Tale rules, with emblems lasting until the end of the combat encounter.

Deck Construction

Lands form a stack separate from the deck along with the Player Character (PC) and optional Animal Companion cards.  All cards including lands correspond with the color identity of the PC (colorless is always allowed).  Players will start a new campaign at Level 3 and lands available will always match player level.

Decks comprise the remaining spells, artifacts, and equipment in the PC's arsenal.  Deck size, apart from lands, PC, and companion, is 40 to 100 cards, with no more than 4 identical cards and no legendary creatures or planeswalkers aside from the PC.  In general, Modern format MTG cards are allowed, though effects of cards may differ from MTG rules and the GM has ultimate authority to ban cards from play.

The GM constructs a deck of spells, a "loot deck" for trades and rewards, and an NPC deck he will always have access to for presenting encounters.

Gameplay

Games or "Campaigns" will function much like a D&D campaign.  The GM will give the setting and present the PCs with encounters.  Players, in Initiative order, will describe their characters' actions to the GM and the GM will resolve those actions.  Cards can be moved around the table to indicate relative positions.

The GM does not have or need life or mana, and doesn't "cast spells" in the traditional MTG sense.  Rather, as the GM tells the story, he reveals creatures, enchantments, and environmental effects that the PCs encounter.  Sentient creature NPCs may cast spells directly, and the GM determines the amount of mana available and spent per spell.  This means spells with an (X) cost cast by an NPC can have whatever amount paid the GM chooses.  The GM's goal is to weave an interesting and fun story, and to challenge the players, (hopefully) without killing them all.

The PCs engage in combat, cast spells, and use equipment and other artifacts to participate in the story.  They aren't trying to "beat" the GM, and players may have ulterior motives given to them by the GM or devised on their own.  Bonus experience may be awarded for exceptional role-playing.  Spells and abilities are cast/activated for their listed costs, and "instant" spells or abilities may be activated out of turn if their costs can be paid.

Players and the GM begin with a 7-card hand, 1 free mulligan, and reduced card mulligans after that.  Outside of a combat encounter, players do not draw or discard unless an effect says otherwise.


Combat

A player or the GM may initiate combat.  The GM may roll for NPC initiative or begin with whichever character initiated the attack, proceeding clockwise.  A combat turn consists of:

1. Untap step - Player untaps tapped mana, but not tapped creatures (see "Tap/Untap").
2. Upkeep step - Effects that reference upkeep happen here.
3. Draw step - GM draws up to a full 7 cards if his hand is less than 7; he has no maximum hand size. Player draws a card and has a maximum hand size of 7 unless an effect says otherwise.
4. Character actions - PCs, Familiars, Summons, and NPCs get 2 actions each. Actions are allowed at the GM's discretion and include:
1. Move at the Speed of the character
2. Attack a specific target
3. Charge in a straight line through multiple targets (see "Trample")
4. Get up if knocked down, prone or kneeling (see "Tap/Untap")
5. Kneel (see "Tap/Untap")
6. Pick up or equip something
7. Cast a sorcery
8. Hide
9. Flee
5. End step - Player discards down to 7 cards as necessary.

Combat in Tell-Tale is very different from MTG.  Characters (creatures) attack specific targets that are within their range.  The GM will rule whether a character has a melee or ranged attack based on the character's depiction (artwork and description) and equipment.  In other words, the literal or implied presence of a ranged weapon such as a bow, a sling, or a magical fireball will press the GM to rule for a ranged attack, while artwork depicting teeth and claws will indicate a melee attack.  Equipping a melee character with a piece of ranged equipment and vice versa will change the means of attack.

An attack ruled to be in range will commence with the attacker rolling a D20 (sometimes 2d20, see "Advantage/Disadvantage") and acting according to the result:

   - 1-5 = Miss

   - 6-14 = Half damage (Power)

   - 15-19 = Full damage (Power)

   - 20 = Critical Hit, Power x 1d4 damage

Fractions are always rounded down, so if the attacking creature has a Power of 1 and does half damage (rolls 6-14), no damage is dealt.

Advantage / Disadvantage

Conditions may cause a character to have Advantage or Disadvantage, for example attacking by surprise, attacking a character which has partial cover, or attacking while prone or knocked down (see "Tap/Untap"). In either case, roll 2d20. Advantage must use the higher number, Disadvantage the lower.

Summoning

Summoning also is unique in Tell-Tale.  When a player casts a creature spell, they are channeling not only their mana but their concentration as well to maintain an ethereal construct of a creature that will do their bidding.  Only one summoned creature (i.e. "summon") can be maintained at a time, the exception being creature tokens, which represent less complex duplicates of creature constructs and can be maintained in numbers by the most powerful summoners.  A new creature can be summoned any time the PC could cast a sorcery (1 of 2 character actions per combat turn), but an existing non-token summon will immediately dispel and disappear, and will not count as a sacrifice.  In addition, all summons including tokens, as well as enchantments, must be maintained by the Toughness of the caster.  If Toughness is reduced to 0, all summons and enchantments immediately dispel.  Artifacts, PCs, and animal companions are permanent and physically present, and do not dispel when Toughness is compromised.

Realism in Gameplay

Some elements of MTG that might be assumed to work the same way are different in Tell-Tale.  The simplest explanation is this: if you can't envision something working in a fantasy-based story, it probably won't work in this game.  Some specific examples:

Artifacts including equipment, and enchantments including auras, can be played liberally, as long as the casting costs can be paid; however, common sense must apply to the number and size of artifacts that can be carried and used at one time, and enchantments other than auras are area-of-effect, they will attach to an area and dispel when that geographic area is left behind.  The GM will make rulings regarding the size and weight of artifacts, and extraordinarily heavy objects, once "manifested into the game world" will remain in the spot where they were "found" for the remainder of the campaign.

Equipment and small artifacts can be dropped to the ground, exchanged between characters, and stashed in packs and sheaths.  Common sense rules apply here: equipping one weapon generally requires sheathing or stashing another; a character can only wear one set of footwear, one headgear, etc.; and activating multiple artifacts may use up available turn actions.


Levels and Mana

PCs begin at Level 3, with 3 lands that produce the mana colors in their color identity--dual- and tri-lands are allowed.  The GM will award rough estimates of experience (XP) to the PCs for slaying enemies, accomplishing feats of grandeur, and sometimes maybe for exceptional role-playing.  At periodic intervals the GM will announce that the players level up--usually all at the same time--at which time a leveling player will place down an additional land, increment one of their PC or animal companion Stats of their choice by 1, and regenerate their PC and animal companion (if they have one; see "Regenerate" below).  New lands come in untapped.

Mechanics

The following glossary of mechanics / keywords defines their functions in Tell-Tale.  If a mechanic is not listed here and appears on a card, it has no effect and does not apply unless explicitly permitted and defined by the GM.

1. Keywords that function identically with MTG: Attach, Aura Swap, Bestow, Bloodrush, Bolster, Counter (as in Cancel), Discard, Draw, Enchant, Ferocious, Fight, Flash, Heroic, Hexproof, Manifest, Morph, Populate, Prowess, Scry, Soulbond, Split Second, Totem Armor, Transform, Undying, Vanishing, Wither
2. Deathtouch - similar to Infect/Wither but worse for the affected character. Damage is dealt in the form of -1/-1 counters and the damaged creature/character is poisoned and continues to get a -1/-1 counter every turn until dead or until the poison is cured. A poisoned character has Disadvantage as well. Life gain, regeneration, returning a PC or companion to hand or the battlefield, or "burning" one's own PC will cure poison. Regeneration and return will remove all -1/-1 counters, while life gain will remove X counters where X is the amount of life gained, and self-damage with burn spells will reduce vitality but halt the poison effect.
3. Defender - character cannot attack, but may defend itself and may fight in defense of another character.  For example, a creature with Defender may place itself in between an aggressor and a PC to block the incoming attack.
4. Detain - see Tap/Untap below.  Detained character is essentially tapped until the detaining character's next combat turn.
5. Double Strike - see First Strike below.  A character with Double Strike has the First Strike opportunist ability and in addition gets 2 attacks per attempt (2 attack rolls per turn; each can succeed and deal the character's power, half-power, or critical  hit damage).
6. Equip - there is no mana cost to equip an equipment, it only takes a combat turn action to pick up or exchange one equipment for another. This generally applies to activating artifacts as well--a turn action is required to retrieve and activate the artifact, and this may require a free hand or even both hands.
7. Exile - to trap a character, creature, or item in a pocket dimension until the end of time, or until freed by some miracle. Auras controlled by the exiled character will go into exile with them and will return with them if they are brought back, but artifacts will drop to the ground when the character is exiled.  Because exile is such a powerful and potentially permanent effect, any spell or ability that would attempt to use this mechanic must be cast as a sorcery, consumes all combat turn actions for the character, and must beat an opposed save throw.
8. Exploit - see Sacrifice below.  Functions basically the same as in MTG, but beware of summoning limitations.
9. Extort - see Lifelink below.  When the cost is paid, all enemy creatures/characters will lose 1 Vitality, and the character using the Extort ability will gain that much Vitality.
10. First Strike - Opportunist.  A character with First Strike is an expert opportunist in combat.  As soon as an enemy moves within attack range, the opportunist may attack before the enemy has a chance to strike.  If 2 characters with First Strike meet, they make opposed attack rolls, and the winner deals damage.  In the event of a tie, both deal damage to the other according to their Power, as in the Fight mechanic.
11. Flying - grants improved mobility on the battlefield.  A character with Flying can fly over and bypass characters/creatures on the ground that do not have Reach, so they may be able to pick their targets in combat.  If a Flying creature lands or attacks something on the ground, they make themselves vulnerable to attack by ground-based forces.
12. Haste - increases the Speed stat by 50% and grants Advantage to attacks and reflex saves throws.
13. Indestructible - cannot be dealt damage or affected by the "Destroy..." effect.  Loss of Life/Vitality, negative Toughness, Deathtouch/Infect/Wither, and Exile effects will all still function as normal and may be ways to bypass the restriction of Indestructible.
14. Infect - Wither.  There are no poison counters, only -1/-1 counters which will reduce the Vitality of an "Infected" character after Toughness is reduced to 0.
15. Lifelink / Life Gain / Loss of Life - Life = character Vitality.  The only difference between Tell Tale and MTG in this is that players and the GM do not have life totals and do not gain or lose life.  Instead, characters gain and lose Vitality.  If a spells says "You gain X life", that is redirected to your PC.  If the card says "Target player gains (or loses) X life", you can target a friendly or opposing character for the change in Vitality.  Lifelink requires that damage be dealt before equivalent Vitality is restored/increased.
16. Protection - basically the same function as in MTG, but "Protection from everything" and "Protection from all colors" are banned, and permanent Protection is frowned upon.  Protection from X until end of turn is allowed, and may cause auras to dispel and artifacts to drop from the protected character's possession.
17. Reach - attack range extends to characters with Flying.  This does not mean the character/creature with Reach has a ranged attack--that is determined by the GM and may change based on equipment.  Reach does mean that nearby creatures with Flying can be attacked, and if a Flyer attempts to fly over a Reach-capable enemy, the character with Reach gets an attack of opportunity.
18. Regenerate - the classic "full health potion", the fairy-in-a-bottle.  Regenerate immediately restores full Vitality and Toughness, removes any negative counters or de-buffs, and dispels any negative auras on the Regenerated character.
19. Return (to Hand or Battlefield) - causes creature tokens to dispel permanently, but causes other summons to return (as a summon scroll to the caster or as a summoned creature to the battlefield). PCs and animal companions are special. Returning them from anywhere puts them onto the battlefield regenerated. Return functions for them like teleportation and resurrection rolled into one: the player decides where on the battlefield the character appears.
20. Sacrifice - if a cost or effect allows for or requires Sacrifice, the effect is the same as in MTG, but remember that only one non-token summon can be maintained by a PC at a time.  A player may Sacrifice his/her animal companion, but not the PC.
21. Tap / Untap - characters do not get summoning sickness and don't tap to attack.  Voluntary tapping as in paying a cost such as to generate mana means sitting or kneeling as in prayer or meditation.  Involuntary tapping as in spell or ability effects means forcing a character to their knees or knocking them down.  Involuntary tapping requires an opposed saving throw in addition to the spell or ability attempting it.  Untapping and voluntary tapping each consume a combat turn action.  Tapping an artifact signifies activating it, and at the GM's discretion may mean holding it in one or both hands.
22. Trample - this ability allows for a special charge attack, running in a straight line through one or more enemies.  Separate attack rolls are thrown for each enemy, with successful throws dealing damage and requiring an opposed saving throw against being knocked down (tapped).
23. Vigilance - immunity to attacks of opportunity and knockdown.  Vigilant characters cannot be attacked by surprise, do not provoke attacks of opportunity (see First Strike), and have the option to jump aside to avoid charge attacks from characters with Trample.  A Vigilant character receives a +5 bonus to saving throws to avoid involuntary tapping (see Tap/Untap).
24. Win or Lose the Game - does not stop the game, but "winning" grants resurrection and regeneration to the character, allies, and all creatures controlled and removes all negative auras & effects, while "losing" takes the character, allies, and all creatures controlled to 1 Vitality.

AOM: Diplomatic Immunity

I'm adding a house rule to Army of Magic to try out.  (Skip to the bottom of the rules post if my reasoning about why/why not is painfully boring.)  The concept has met with criticism from friends based on it being too restrictive, but more on that and why I hope they'll experiment with this in a moment.

The Initial Thought

In my last post I mentioned that I like the Dethrone mechanic introduced in the Conspiracy multiplayer format.  To sum it up quickly, a creature with Dethrone gets a +1/+1 counter whenever it attacks the player with the most life or tied for the most life.  My initial suggestion was that we similarly restrict creature attacks to the player(s) "most ahead".  Probably a bad idea, as it was met with some very sound reasons not to even attempt this.

Cons

First and foremost in aversion to this approach is the observation that in Magic, life is a resource, one of several resources.  Just because a player has the most life does not mean they are "winning" or "ahead" in the game.  Conversely, a player with very low life (even negative life) may be a significant threat.  Second is the argument that multiplayer Magic is a free-for-all simulated brawl to the death, it can be brutal by nature, and only the strongest will survive.  By this logic, if a person builds a consistent deck and uses good battle strategy, they deserve to win games and shouldn't "have their hands tied" by being restricted on whom they may or may not attack.

Pros

AOM is a multiplayer format by design, inspired by EDH/Commander, which has a philosophy "designed to promote social games of magic."  The EDH core philosophy goes on to say "House rules or 'fair play' exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community."  I've been made acutely aware in discussing rule changes that "fun" is subjective, but let's establish some assumptions based on a correlation between "social" and "fun":

• More Casual == More Fun.  In AOM, like in EDH, as players and friends we want to talk.  We want to relax and joke and discuss more than just the details of the game.  Casual play is naturally less competitive than dueling, and we can't take the game too seriously and still enjoy ourselves.  This doesn't require ignoring the rules, but it may mean occasionally sacrificing the most effective battle strategy for allowing another player to keep enjoying the game experience.
• Longer Games == More Fun.  It's not a tournament, and we're not facing off with another player with a goal of winning as quickly as possible and moving on to the next match.  A 1-on-1 duel is like a cage match; a multiplayer game is more like a complex war between several factions.
• Staying In the Game == More Fun.  Good battle strategy often calls for eliminating one threat quickly so one can focus on other threats.  I'm suggesting that AOM isn't designed for perfect battle strategy.  Remember that it simulates a war, not a battle, and wars suffer from the complications of politics, diplomacy, and orders that may be hard to swallow (like "Hold your position and do not engage the enemy.")  If the players are sitting at the table to play the game, it won't be fun for any of them to be quickly eliminated.

As an inverse illustration of the last point above, one of my friends doesn't highly enjoy Magic; he plays out of courtesy to his nerdy friends like me.  I can't speak for his reasons, but I can imagine he doesn't appreciate the level of hostility inherent in the game combined with the element of luck--if you have terrible card draw, you'll probably lose regardless of the strength of the deck you took time to construct.  Given this particular friend's dislike for the game as a whole, he specifically contradicted the assumption that Staying In the Game == More Fun.  From his perspective, the game isn't incredibly enjoyable in the first place, so if I'm not going to win, please kill me quickly and put me out of my misery.

The above perspective and the assumptions before it are a few reasons I invented AOM.  I believe that the universal restrictions to deck building and the Diplomatic Immunity house rule I'm adding will make for longer, more casual, more participatory, more balanced, more fun games that players will want to stay in to play.

So what is the benefit of restricting attacks based on some measure of power/threat in game?  Multiplayer free-for-all games present a challenge to players: who should I attack?  How many blockers should I keep?  It's easy to form both grudges and temporary alliances based on the politics of the game, and if you happen to be targeted or even bullied by multiple opponents it's sometimes difficult not to take it personally when you're quickly dispatched from an otherwise lengthy game.  See above, Staying In the Game == More Fun.  Another difficulty may lie in not wanting to target a specific player to avoid hurt feelings between friends.  Personally, I've found these problems to be most severe in 3-player games.

Some formats already exist that help to address these issues.  Star format pits each active player against a 2-opponent team, but it typically requires 5 players and in its purest form involves 5 mono-colored decks.  Emperor and Two-Headed Giant both establish teams so everyone knows who their friends and enemies are, but again they restrict number of players and have other limitations that complicate the rules.

Enter Diplomatic Immunity.  As the tides of war ebb and flow, power shifts from one player faction to another, and orders descend from above to avoid valuable targets: potential allies and lesser threats who can be dealt with another day.  The key benefit is that nobody feels threatened/targeted for long, unless they make themselves a bigger threat.  Everyone stays in the game longer as equal powers strain to tip the scales in their favor.

The Actual Rule Already...

All opponents to the active player can attain a state of Diplomatic Immunity on each turn by meeting 3 conditions:

• No planeswalker on the battlefield AND
• Less non-land permanents on the battlefield than another opponent AND
• Less life than another opponent

The active player cannot attack or target an opponent with Diplomatic Immunity.  The active player may target the permanents of an opponent with Diplomatic Immunity, and effects that apply to each or all opponents or players still apply.  In essence, a player with Diplomatic Immunity has hexproof until end of turn and cannot be attacked in combat.  All effects that add or remove non-land permanents including permanents with Flash, and all effects that alter life totals, can immediately change the status of Diplomatic Immunity.  Examples:

• If an opponent who has Immunity casts a creature card with Flash and subsequently ties for most non-land permanents, he or she loses Immunity and may be attacked and targeted.
• If each opponent takes 2 damage but one prevents the damage, and an opponent without Immunity then meets all three criteria (no planeswalker, less permanents, less life), he or she gains Immunity.
• If an opponent gains Immunity during a combat phase but was already under attack, the attack proceeds and combat damage will be dealt.
• If an opponent gains Immunity during a turn but a spell targeting that opponent is on the stack, the spell resolves but has an illegal target so the effect will not take place.

I welcome comments!  Let me know if you think this will or won't work, what benefits or challenges you suspect it may cause, and of course your actual experience if you try it out!

Tweaking AOM

We've played a few games and had a few discussions about Army of Magic, my friends and I.  One friend didn't see anything special or any added benefit in the new format, but several stated that there's something there worth exploring.

I won't argue that Magic: the Gathering isn't primarily designed to be balanced.  It was designed by WotC to make money, by encouraging players to buy more and more cards to stay current and make better, stronger decks.  The game follows its purpose very well: buying more MTG cards is addictive.

But as I stated to my friends earlier this evening, the primary goals of the AOM format are as follows:

1. To bring balanced but diverse decks together in multiplayer gameplay.
2. To achieve casual, fun play with competition still being attainable.
3. To blend the best elements of the Constructed and EDH/Commander formats.
4. To avoid rules that require players to buy more cards in order to be competitive.

One of the things noticed in playtests is that mana ramp and inexpensive Generals threw the game off balance.  With multiple Generals or with low-mana-cost Generals, the increased mana cost of {2} per cast was no significant deterrent to avoiding creature removal when it came to casting an effective General repeatedly.  In answer to this, the rules are hereby modified.

From now on, if there is a rule change I will change the consolidated rules post but I will leave my introductory post unchanged for historical reasons.  Let's see how different the rules are a year from now!

One rule change I haven't made but have been discussing with friends is a concept similar to the Dethrone mechanic introduced in the Conspiracy format.  I'd like to introduce a rule that encourages players to attack the strongest players, giving the weaker players a chance to catch their breath and stay in the game longer.  I see the point that life total does not always equal "winning or losing", but like I said--it's a concept I'm exploring.  I see little difference in requiring players to attack the opponent(s) with the most life and the Assassin Format, other than that life totals will typically be fluctuating whereas in Assassin, each player is only targeting one other.

So down to the (current) rules:

These are the rules for a new rarity-restricted format for Magic: the Gathering that I call...

Army of Magic

Philosophy: for everyone to have fun.  AOM is designed as a casual play format, and probably won't take off on the tournament circuit.  I play with my girlfriend, our kids, and our friends, and the idea is for everyone to have a shot at winning every game if they play their hands right.

Deck Construction: remember the numbers: 3 - 6 - 9 - 12.  Remember these numbers and you can most likely remember the limits of deck building.

• There are no color restrictions in AOM.  Include whatever colors/color identities you feel you can play with the lands and deck sizes available.
• Up to 3 Generals.  Generals can be 1 to 3 creatures of your choice.  Rarity, Legendary status, and color don't matter except in keeping up with the totals below.  Just remember that these creatures will be available to play from your Command Zone similar to a Commander in EDH at an increasing cost every time you play one.  You can only cast a General when no other General is in play.  Planeswalkers cannot be Generals, even if the card says "[this] may be your Commander".  These are Generals, not Commanders.
• Generals are singletons, regardless of rarity.  You cannot include more than 1 copy of each General in your deck.
• Up to 3 Mythic Rares, only 1 copy of each.  Any mythic rare spell, including a General, counts toward this total.  Planeswalkers are typically of Mythic rarity, so they can be in your deck, just not as Generals.
• Up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  Other than this cap, see Lands below.
• Up to 9 Rare Spells, with no more than 3 of those Mythic.  So 3 Mythic + 6 Rare = 9 total Rare slots.  If your deck has 1 Mythic Rare, you can have 8 Rares; 2 Mythic, 7 Rare, and so on.  Again, Rares and Mythic Rares are Singletons--you can only have one of each in your deck.
• Up to 12 Uncommons, at most 2 copies of each.  "Two-ofs" can be included of Uncommons, but there is a firm maximum of 12.  So an AOM deck could have 6 distinct Uncommons with 2 copies of each, or it could have 12 Uncommon Singletons, or any mix in between.
• No maximum of Commons, at most 4 copies of each.  So you can add any number of distinct Commons, and you can have 1-ofs, 2-ofs, 3-ofs, and 4-card sets of each specific Common.
• Lands: no maximum on Basic Lands; at most 4 copies of each Uncommon Land; up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  So lands do not count toward spell rarity totals.
• Generals count toward rarity restrictions.  Example: 1 General is Mythic Rare and 2 are Rare: the deck may contain up to 6 additional Rares, with at most 2 of those being Mythic Rares.
• Deck size >= 80 cards.  No maximum deck size as long as you can shuffle it.

Legality / Ban List:

• Modern-legal cards follow the deck construction restrictions above.
• Conspiracy block cards follow the deck construction restrictions above, except that draft-specific cards such as Conspiracies are not allowed/do not apply unless distributed to players as a house rule.
• Commander-legal cards are allowed, but count as Rare regardless of the printed card rarity.
• Land Destruction is Banned.  Land destruction and any card that says "destroy ___ land(s)" is strictly forbidden.  Land control (tapping land, taking control of a land, etc.) is perfectly legal within the deck construction limits.

Gameplay:

• Unless otherwise noted or I missed something, the game is played following Standard Constructed MTG rules or the house rules your playgroup has agreed to follow.
• Players begin the game with 30 Life.
• Mulligans: each player draws 7 cards, and may mulligan by laying down the cards drawn and drawing 7 again, repeating this process until an acceptable hand is drawn.  Players should not abuse this privilege.
• Players roll dice to see who goes first; the starting player draws a card on his/her first turn.
• Generals: each player will have chosen 1 to 3 creatures as Generals.  These champions will begin the game face up in the Command Zone, which functions similarly with the zone of the same name in the Commander/EDH variant.
• A casting counter should be kept in the Command Zone for each General, incremented each time the specific General is cast from the Command Zone.  Each time a General spell is cast from the Command Zone (whether the spell resolves or not), the mana cost is increased by the converted mana cost of the spell for each time the General was previously cast from the Command Zone.
• A General may only be cast when no other General is in play (on the battlefield) under its owner's control.
• Suspend is an exception to the above rule; a General with Suspend may be exiled when another General is in play under its owner's control and is still cast when the last time counter is removed.  The following rule still applies.
• If a situation arises in which a player controls more than 1 General he or she owns, one General must be chosen by the player to be immediately sent to the graveyard or back to the Command Zone.
• If a General would be put into a library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the Command Zone instead.  This is a replacement effect, so triggers such as "dies", "goes to graveyard", etc. do not apply.

Army of Magic (AOM) - an MTG Variant

These are the rules for a new rarity-restricted format for Magic: the Gathering that I call...

Army of Magic

Philosophy: for everyone to have fun.  AOM is designed as a casual play format, and probably won't take off on the tournament circuit.  I play with my girlfriend, our kids, and our friends, and the idea is for everyone to have a shot at winning every game if they play their hands right.

Deck Construction: remember the numbers: 3 - 6 - 9 - 12.  Remember these numbers and you can most likely remember the limits of deck building.

• There are no color restrictions in AOM.  Include whatever colors/color identities you feel you can play with the lands and deck sizes available.
• Up to 3 Generals.  Generals can be 1 to 3 creatures of your choice.  Rarity, Legendary status, and color don't matter except in keeping up with the totals below.  Just remember that these creatures will be available to play from your Command Zone similar to a Commander in EDH at an increasing cost every time you play one.  You can only cast a General when no other General is in play.  Planeswalkers cannot be Generals, even if the card says "[this] may be your Commander".  These are Generals, not Commanders.
• Generals are singletons, regardless of rarity.  You cannot include more than 1 copy of each General in your deck.
• Up to 3 Mythic Rares, only 1 copy of each.  Any mythic rare spell, including a General, counts toward this total.  Planeswalkers are typically of Mythic rarity, so they can be in your deck, just not as Generals.
• Up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  Other than this cap, see Lands below.
• Up to 9 Rare Spells, with no more than 3 of those Mythic.  So 3 Mythic + 6 Rare = 9 total Rare slots.  If your deck has 1 Mythic Rare, you can have 8 Rares; 2 Mythic, 7 Rare, and so on.  Again, Rares and Mythic Rares are Singletons--you can only have one of each in your deck.
• Up to 12 Uncommons, at most 2 copies of each.  "Two-ofs" can be included of Uncommons, but there is a firm maximum of 12.  So an AOM deck could have 6 distinct Uncommons with 2 copies of each, or it could have 12 Uncommon Singletons, or any mix in between.
• No maximum of Commons, at most 4 copies of each.  So you can add any number of distinct Commons, and you can have 1-ofs, 2-ofs, 3-ofs, and 4-card sets of each specific Common.
• Lands: no maximum on Basic Lands; at most 4 copies of each Uncommon Land; up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  So lands do not count toward spell rarity totals.
• Generals count toward rarity restrictions.  Example: 1 General is Mythic Rare and 2 are Rare: the deck may contain up to 6 additional Rares, with at most 2 of those being Mythic Rares.
• Deck size >= 80 cards.  No maximum deck size as long as you can shuffle it.

Legality / Ban List:

• Modern-legal cards follow the deck construction restrictions above.
• Conspiracy block cards follow the deck construction restrictions above, except that draft-specific cards such as Conspiracies are not allowed/do not apply unless distributed to players as a house rule.
• Commander-legal cards are allowed, but count as Rare regardless of the printed card rarity.
• Basic lands have indestructible.  The original rule in AOM was that land destruction was banned; there are numerous reasons that non-basic lands should be able to be targeted and removed in various instances.  To protect from blanket effects (e.g. "Destroy all lands") and abusive land targeting, basic lands are automatically granted indestructible.  Whenever a player targets a basic land he or she controls, that land loses indestructible.  (Therefore, if a player turns a basic land into a creature, it is not indestructible after being targeted.)

Gameplay:

• Unless otherwise noted or I missed something, the game is played following Standard Constructed MTG rules or the house rules your playgroup has agreed to follow.
• Players begin the game with 30 Life.
• Mulligans: each player draws 7 cards, and may mulligan by laying down the cards drawn and drawing 7 again, repeating this process until an acceptable hand is drawn.  Players should not abuse this privilege.
• Players roll dice to see who goes first; the starting player draws a card on his/her first turn.
• Generals: each player will have chosen 1 to 3 creatures as Generals.  These champions will begin the game face up in the Command Zone, which functions similarly with the zone of the same name in the Commander/EDH variant.
• A casting counter should be kept in the Command Zone for each General, incremented each time the specific General is cast from the Command Zone.  Each time a General spell is cast from the Command Zone (whether the spell resolves or not), the mana cost is increased by {2} for each time the General was previously cast from the Command Zone.
• A General may only be cast when no other General is in play (on the battlefield) under its owner's control.
• Suspend is an exception to the above rule; a General with Suspend may be exiled when another General is in play under its owner's control and is still cast when the last time counter is removed.  The following rule still applies.
• If a situation arises in which a player controls more than 1 General he or she owns, one General must be chosen by the player to be immediately sent to the graveyard or back to the Command Zone.
• If a General would be put into a library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the Command Zone instead.  This is a replacement effect, so triggers such as "dies", "goes to graveyard", etc. do not apply.
• Predator vs. Prey: in a multiplayer game, the player to your left is your Prey; the player to your right is your Predator.  At all times while these two players remain in the game, you may only attack and target your Prey, unless your Predator has attacked or targeted you in the game thus far.  Once your Predator attacks or targets you or any permanent or spell you control, you are allowed to retaliate in your own defense from that point on.  When your Prey loses the game, you automatically gain 10 life, and the next player to your left becomes your new Prey.  More detailed rules follow:
• Targeting in this context applies to player/opponent and any permanent or spell the player owns or controls.  Until targeted by your Predator, you can only target your Prey.  As soon as your Predator targets or attacks you, it is "one and done"; the gloves come off and you can attack and target your Predator at will--but be careful: you get no bonus for finishing off your Predator, and when your Predator loses the game, his or her Predator gains 10 life and will be after you next.
• Blanket effects that say "each" or "all" only apply to you (the source of the effect) and your current Predator and Prey.  Even if you cast a spell with a blanket effect on your opponent's turn, it cannot affect anyone other than you, the person to your left, and the person to your right.
• When your Prey loses the game (for any reason, but typically from having a life total of zero or less), you gain 10 life.  This effect happens whether you or an opponent causes your Prey to lose.  The next remaining player to your left immediately becomes your new Prey.
• When there are two players remaining in the game, it becomes a duel with no targeting/attacking restrictions.

That's it!  I hope that players will give this variant a go and give feedback on what the play experience is like.  I enjoy deck building almost as much as playing the game, and I believe this format will foster serious creativity in construction and some intensely balanced multiplayer duels.  Thoughts, suggestions, and rants are all welcome.

--Joe

Army of Magic (AOM) - A Rarity Restricted Format for Magic: the Gathering

Unlike many of my peers growing up in the 80's, I wasn't exposed to Dungeons & Dragons, trading card games like Magic: the Gathering, and other such fantasy RPG forms of entertainment.  I didn't even own a gaming console such as the much coveted Nintendo or Sega Genesis.  Because of this, I evolved as a proud member of the PC Master Race with Ultima VII being my favorite RPG, but I never missed an opportunity to play Super Mario Bros. 3 on a friend's console.

As a 30-something, I've had to play catch-up.  Some dear friends (you know who you are) allowed me to try my hand as a DM, guiding a small band through treacherous caverns fighting evil Duergar and minotaurs.  An obsession for a while was this tremendously fun and varied card game published by Wizards of the Coast: Magic: the Gathering.

MTG Zones

The MTG Color Wheel

If you're not already familiar with MTG, I recommend simply getting someone in the know to show you how to play or at least watching videos on YouTube.  Figuring out the basics by reading "the instructions" was difficult for me--and I consider myself to be fairly intelligent with above-average reading comprehension.

But I digress.  The purpose of this blog post is to share a new format I've come up with for deck construction and play.  What I've found in playing various formats (constructed, limited, 2-headed giant, EDH) is that there's a natural tendency toward imbalance in decks, with typically the most "expensive" or "rare-heavy" decks having a significant advantage over "cheaper" or "common-heavy" decks.  There are answers to this of course, some of which are discussed at some depth by blogger "Cabel the Pauper" on Reddit and his blog, but the predominant answers seem to involve removing Rares altogether to level the playing field, with formats like "Pauper", "Peasant", and "Silverblack".

I personally feel that Rares, Mythic Rares, and special cards like Planeswalkers add a tremendous level of variation to MTG gameplay, allowing "interesting" effects to go off and challenge the other players to come up with appropriate answers.  I feel that removing these cards from play altogether would put a damper on the game.  Instead, I propose a format in which each level of card rarity has a different and specific restriction--hopefully not so much restriction as to make deck construction too difficult or time-consuming, but enough control to foster extremely selective creativity in the use of meager resources.  As I mused on my potential solution, I decided to pull features from the Modern Constructed rule set and some from the highly popular variant EDH/Commander.  Thus, I give you: Army of Magic, or AOM.  (I'll probably make another post that jumps straight to the rules.)

Army of Magic

Philosophy: for everyone to have fun.  AOM is designed as a casual play format, and probably won't take off on the tournament circuit.  I play with my girlfriend, our kids, and our friends, and the idea is for everyone to have a shot at winning every game if they play their hands right.

Deck Construction: remember the numbers: 3 - 6 - 9 - 12.  Remember these numbers and you can most likely remember the limits of deck building.

• There are no color restrictions in AOM.  Include whatever colors/color identities you feel you can play with the lands and deck sizes available.
• Up to 3 Generals.  Generals can be 1 to 3 creatures of your choice.  Rarity, Legendary status, and color don't matter except in keeping up with the totals below.  Just remember that these creatures will be available to play from your Command Zone similar to a Commander in EDH at an increasing cost every time you play one.  You can only cast a General when no other General is in play.  Planeswalkers cannot be Generals, even if the card says "[this] may be your Commander".  These are Generals, not Commanders.
• Generals are singletons, regardless of rarity.  You cannot include more than 1 copy of each General in your deck.
• Up to 3 Mythic Rares, only 1 copy of each.  Any mythic rare spell, including a General, counts toward this total.  Planeswalkers are typically of Mythic rarity, so they can be in your deck, just not as Generals.
• Up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  Other than this cap, see Lands below.
• Up to 9 Rare Spells, with no more than 3 of those Mythic.  So 3 Mythic + 6 Rare = 9 total Rare slots.  If your deck has 1 Mythic Rare, you can have 8 Rares; 2 Mythic, 7 Rare, and so on.  Again, Rares and Mythic Rares are Singletons--you can only have one of each in your deck.
• Up to 12 Uncommons, at most 2 copies of each.  "Two-ofs" can be included of Uncommons, but there is a firm maximum of 12.  So an AOM deck could have 6 distinct Uncommons with 2 copies of each, or it could have 12 Uncommon Singletons, or any mix in between.
• No maximum of Commons, at most 4 copies of each.  So you can add any number of distinct Commons, and you can have 1-ofs, 2-ofs, 3-ofs, and 4-card sets of each specific Common.
• Lands: no maximum on Basic Lands; at most 4 copies of each Uncommon Land; up to 6 Rare Lands, only 1 copy of each.  So lands do not count toward spell rarity totals.
• Generals count toward rarity restrictions.  Example: 1 General is Mythic Rare and 2 are Rare: the deck may contain up to 6 additional Rares, with at most 2 of those being Mythic Rares.
• Deck size >= 80 cards.  No maximum deck size as long as you can shuffle it.

Legality / Ban List:

• Modern-legal cards follow the deck construction restrictions above.
• Commander-legal cards are allowed, but count as Rare regardless of the printed card rarity.
• Land Destruction is Banned.  This might just be a personal bias seeping in, I don't care.  Land destruction and any card that says "destroy ___ land(s)" is strictly forbidden.  Land control (tapping land, taking control of a land, etc.) is perfectly legal within the deck construction limits.

Gameplay:

• Unless otherwise noted or I missed something, the game is played following Standard Constructed MTG rules or the house rules your playgroup has agreed to follow.
• Players begin the game with 30 Life.
• Mulligans: each player draws 7 cards, and may mulligan by laying down the cards drawn and drawing 7 again, repeating this process until an acceptable hand is drawn.  Players should not abuse this privilege.
• Players roll dice to see who goes first; the starting player draws a card on his/her first turn.
• Generals: each player will have chosen 1 to 3 creatures as Generals.  These champions will begin the game face up in the Command Zone, which functions identically with the zone of the same name in the Commander/EDH variant.
• A single counter representing all 1-3 Generals should be kept in the Command Zone for each player and incremented each time a General is played.  Each time a General spell is cast (whether the spell resolves or not), the mana cost is increased by {2} for each time a General was previously cast by the owner.
• A General may only be cast when no other General is in play (on the battlefield) under its owner's control.
• If a situation arises in which a player controls more than 1 General he or she owns, one General must be chosen by the player to be immediately sent to the graveyard or back to the Command Zone.
• If a General would be put into a library, hand, graveyard or exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the Command Zone instead.  This is a replacement effect, so triggers such as "dies", "goes to graveyard", etc. do not apply.

That's it!  I hope that players will give this variant a go and give feedback on what the play experience is like.  I enjoy deck building almost as much as playing the game, and I believe this format will foster serious creativity in construction and some intensely balanced multiplayer duels.  Thoughts, suggestions, and rants are all welcome.

--Joe