Formats

There are numerous variant limited formats in Magic.  The following are a list of those discussed in this blog, with the most commonly played or discussed formats first.

1. Cube

A cube is a collection of preselected cards sorted into 15-card piles to serve as boosters for a group of players to draft with.  The most common type of cube is known as a Power-Cube.  These cubes contain the most powerful cards in the game (or, at least, the most powerful in a draft setting).  Pauper-Cubes or “Common Cubes” are cubes composed entirely of common (or sometimes uncommon) cards.  A Tribal-Cube is one that focuses on synergy between creatures of a similar type, often times including numerous “Lord” creatures.  A cube with some rising popularity is the Combo-Cube: containing a selection of cards commonly referred to as “combo pieces”, the cube focuses more on synergy between effect than the power of individual cards.

2. Type-4

Type-4 is a format in which all players have unlimited mana of any combination of colors.  However, players may only play one spell per turn.  These cubes can be drafted or all players may draw from the same pile.  These cubes usually contain an abundance of counter-magic and powerful “game-ending” spells.  As players don’t require mana, cards-in-hand is the most important resource one needs to manage.  The games are often times very diplomatically: players must balance between countering game-ending threats and keeping enough cards in hand for their own use.  Cards that allow a player to pass priority unlimited times, such as repeatable activated abilities, allow players to hold off on using precious counter-magic and force others to stop game-ending threats.  As a result of this, however, there is often times a limit on how often a player can activate an ability and pass priority without simply causing a complete delay in game.  Activated abilities, especially those that activate from the hand such as cycling, are much more useful in this format than most others, as activating an ability is not casting a spell.  Oftentimes players will only start with a limited number of cards in hand (usually 1, 3 or 5).

3. DC-10

Originally used as a form of Pack Wars (in which both players play using an unopened booster pack instead of a deck or pile), DC-10 is a format in which players get 10 mana each turn (including their opponent’s turns) instead of using land.  They can be played with separate decks or with both players drawing from the same deck.  Usually players are limited to one spell per turn, creating an atmosphere similar to Type-4.  Because there is a cap on mana, however, abilities like Firebreathing and X mana costs are permissible, but still discouraged.  When players have unlimited spells per turn, however, cards kept in one hand become an extremely important resource a player must manage properly.  Oftentimes players will only start with 3, 4 or 5 cards in hand.

4. Pack Wars

Pack Wars is defined as any game played with unopened booster packs instead of decks.  In the most commonly played variant, players add 2 of each basic land to their pack and shuffle (without seeing the contents of their pack).  Oftentimes players prefer to start with only 4 or 5 cards in hand or simply remove the “milled out” rule.  Most players agree that Conflux is the best set for this variant, as the prevalence of both multicolor and domain cards makes most packs suited for the 5-color mana-base used by Pack Wars.  Pack Wars can also be played similar to DC-10 or Type-4.  Its a great way to open packs won at a tournament or from a box/fat-pack if your friends don’t feel like drafting.

5. Reject Rare Draft

In this variant format, players bring 45 random rares with them to the event.  Usually these rares are those worth the least amount of money but which are still usable in a draft format.  Cards are mixed together and redistributed in 15 card packs.  Players then draft the packs and play.  Its often used when players want a new assortment of “junk rares” in their collections or simply want to see interesting interactions between rarely played cards with interesting effects.  So while Mudhole is a “junk rare”, it does very little in limited-format Magic so shouldn’t be brought to this event.  Clockwork Dragon on the other hand, would be a great choice.

6. Assassin Sealed

Although decreasing in popularity in recent years, Assassin Sealed is a variant in which players buy 3 boosters and shuffle the contents with 3 of each basic land (or a tournament pack, if using pre-Alara sets).  Each player shuffles their own decks without revealing or looking at any cards and starts the game with only 10 life.  Players are then each assigned 2 cards–one they keep face up and the other they keep face down (only they know what it is).  Each face down card corresponds to a card of a different player in the game.  If a player is eliminated, the player who had that player’s card as their face-down card reveals it and takes the defeated player’s face down card.  If the player who took the defeated player’s card was also the player who caused that player to lose, they gain 10 life.  The game is best played with 6 or more people.

6. DC-Fun

A format invented by a writer of this blog.  It is similar to DC-10, with no spell-limit per turn.  It most different from DC-10 in the cards chosen for the stack: the most unique and “oddball” cards in Magic.  Cards commonly played have some form of mini-game, such as coin flipping or guessing games, or have a global effect that drastically change how the game is played, such as how cards are drawn or how creatures attack or block.  Other cards are chosen for their ability to remove these cards, or simply because they are group-favorites.  Each player draws from the same deck (the “owner” of any card being the person who drew it from the library).  Furthermore, cards with Buyback, Gotcha or Recover give anyone who elects to use that effect a Poison counter when the card returns to its owner’s hand.  Favorite mechanics of this system are dexterity cards, cascade, coin-flipping, planeswalkers, flip-creatures, cycling triggers and morph creatures (but it depends on the play group).  Finally, if a player wins, that player may create their own card to add to the stack.  While single player games take 15-30 minutes, games with 4 or more players can take upwards of 2-3 hours.