Guardian Force UK

Here is a quick look at the rule changes within Magic the Gathering for 2010

1) Mulligans

Both players will take a mulligan at the same time with the player going first declaring  if they will take one or not.  If you opt out of a mulligan you can not mulligan again this round.  The game begins when both players decline a mulligan.

Doesn’t mean much for us in our circle but I guess it would speed up tournament play.  I remember sitting there knowing I need to mulligan but have to wait for my opponent to shuffle and deal a couple of times before I can do anything. (more…)

You’re probabally aware by now we are a pretty geeky lot, one of the things that we really geek out on is quasi-popular trading card game Magic: the Gathering. We don’t tournament play or anythingn like that but we had casually played for pretty much as long as we have known each other and we have a few nights a month of spell flinging multilayer fun. The problem (social status aside) with Magic is that to be honest it can be a little,well, not fun. Blue basically runins the game and over complex or competitive net decks are almost totally banned form our table. Don’t get me wrong we all like playing and building the decks etc there is just a whole bitch level of Magic we try to avoid.

What is Planechase?

We’ve always been disappointed with Wizards for not embracing the casual multiplayers and while good old Vanguard was nice and fun it wasn’t varied and often was not different to normal Magic. Well Wizards have really stepped up to the plate with the latest multilayer ruleset, Planechase.

From a marketing perspective Wizards have really been putting an emphasis on the Planeswalker mythos, introducing the cards, mini-sites and novels all aimed at highlighting the “your an important sup0er powered wizard”. With this comes the expansion on the Planes themselve and the idea that Plansewalkers can indeed travel between them. As any good warrior will tell you however terrain is an extreamly important part of any battle and in Planechase we see the different magical worlds have massive strategic impacts on Magic.

The game is played as a multilayer “free for all” meaning you can target and attack whoever you want. Many other multiplayer rules such as a free mulligan and drawing if your first continue but while ever you battle your do so “on a plane”.

Planes are oversized Magic cards (like Vanguard but smaller) that have global effects that are constantly in play. These effects are often themed around the story of the various places such as 4th Sphere of Phyrexia is “sacrifice a non-black creature in your upkeep” and Stronghold Furnace on Rath os “All sources deal double damage”. All Planes also have a second “Chaos” ability which is usually a powerful positive or negative effect triggered by a dice roll, we’ll come to that in a minute. The Chaos abilities are often things related to the Planes primary power, i.e. The 4th Sphere one puts a 2/2 zombie token into play.

The first Plane is decide at random with the first player turning one of his separate “planes” deck cards over and from here on play commences as normal with whatever additional effect that Plane has. As a sorcery a player can choose to role the Planechase die. This is basically a d-6 with 4 blank sides, one Chaos symbol and one Plansewalk symbol. To roll the dice you have to pay mana equal to the amount of times the die has already been rolled this turn, basically first roll is free second roll costs 1, third roll costs 2 etc.

If this lands blank nothing happens, if it lands Chaos that Planes Chaos ability immediately activates, if its Planeswalk the person whol rolled the dice turns his/her top Plane over and now your fighting there.

An interesting twist is that many Planes have “When you Planeswalk to or from” effects meaning a Plansewalk in the middel of your turn could bring a great advantage or penalty.

So how does this effect the game? Well it makes it a shitload more fun. Planechase really mixes it up for Magic, a new plane can completely topple you from a winning position to a losing one and visa-versa and some Chaos effects can totally change the game, one for example is “you can’t cast spells until a player has Plansewalked” and in one of our games this ability was triggered three times between four players before someone managed to ‘walk away.

It can also massively speed games up and slow them down and altering the pace of Magic makes the game more enjoyable and strategic as well as giving you an almost infite possibility to come back from nothing that does not always exist in standard Magic games, in our first game the player who had mana stalled at the start came back to win because Plane effects had slowed other players down for him to catch up.

It’s also great having random combo’s develop from nowhere, this is the result of a Plane from the Artefact deck and a creature from my zombie deck, comblicious! In case you can’t see the picture my zombie is [card]Corpse Harvester[/card] and the active Plane is Goldmeadow. Zombie army!

At the moment the game is available only in precons and we did pitch the four preconsturcted decks against each other so let’s answer the questions that everyone is no doubt asking.

Which Planechase Deck is the Best?

We were playing four player, all decks in and out of three games the artifact deck was the one that didn’t manage a win, however it was usually the one coming in at second so in my honest opinion Wizards have done a really good job of balancing these decks off against each other. I think when all the chips are down Zombie Empire or Strikeforce are the best decks, they are a little faster and the kill cards in them are a little easier to play, especially in free for all. The Elemental Thunder has the best Plane cards I think but the Artifact deck has [card]Darksteel Reactor[/card] and [card]Cranial Plating[/card] so the balance is definitely there.

You can find a full list of the decks and their cards here at the official Wizards site.

In Summary…

Planechase adds a whole new level of fun to MtG, if you like playing TCGs in a fun multiplayer environment then this really is one for you, the decks are relatively cheap (£15-17 on eBay) and it’s literally all you need to play. After the fun we had with the few games last night I guarentee we will play again and we will also give some contsrtucted ago alongisde the Plane effects.

Oh one more note, with Magic 2010 being release they swept away mana burn. Lol yeah no more Vineyard decks. There are a lot of rule changes coming in for old players so be sure to keep an eye on them!

What’s your favourite Game?
That’s cool with me it’s not my favourite but I’ll play it with you.
What’s your favourite deck?
I might not beat it but I’ll build one out of Zendikar!

As Jack Black once sung… or something like that. :)

Zendikar is the latest expansion of the trading card game, Magic the Gathering. I’ve been playing this game for what seem like forever, well, 1995 anyway. Ice Age was out and all decks were Black. Zendikar brings, Awesome Basic Lands, Keywords of “Trap”, “Landfall”, and “Ally” as well as “exile” and “battlefield” replacing “destroy” and “play”? Hmmm, not yet fans of the terminology shift.

Even though I’ve been priced (and bored) out, of tournament Magic, we still play the odd night of casual multi-player. Mostly 5 Corner or just 3-4 player attack left; there is the less frequent game of Two Headed Giant and Emperor.

Even though they are casual, I found personally that not sticking to a restricted build when playing was getting silly. Playing an “open” format led to games being VERY quick, too quick. I decided, and fortunately most of GF agreed that “block” decks were the way to go, as well as theme (Race) decks. It means there is a restriction, it also means that we’re using cards from lots of different sets and not having the same card EVERY game. (Spiritmonger, Pernicious Deed etc etc) It’s nice having a large range of keywords per game too.

I’ll take a look at some of the cards from this set. We tend not to play counter spell style decks and only Diablos plays “Alternate Win” conditions. These aren’t “house rules” a such, more a survival tactic. If you want to get invited back, leave the blue at home. (That includes you DoctaJonez)

So I’m gonna give my top ten multi-player cards from Zendikar…

10
Iona, Shield of Emeria – 6WWW
Legendary Creature – Angel (Mythic Rare)
Flying
As Iona, Shield of Emeria enters the battlefield, choose a color.
Your opponents can’t cast spells of the chosen color.
7/7

Iona a good ability and could be a game winner one on one. It’s perhaps not so good for multiplayer but you can decide that as you play it. I personally played a game last night while flicking through the spoiler on my iPhone, I noticed at that point if I’d have played this guy and said “Black”, the 3 other guys would have conceded right there. It’s not in the spirit of our games to hose a colour so I wouldn’t really expect anyone I know to play it, but it can have a major effect on any game. Besides, I would want to win before I got enough to cast this guy.

9
Needlebite Trap – 5BB
Instant – Trap (Uncommon)
If an opponent gained life this turn, you may pay {B} rather than pay Needlebite Trap’s mana cost.
Target player loses 5 life and you gain 5 life.

In multi-player, someone somewhere will gain life, hopefully! A card that costs this much should be a game winner near enough; not just getting an advantage over a player. Only downside is it will not remove the source of the life gain. If it’s a creature with Spirit Link then the 5 lost lives will be wiped out anyway. Black\White deck with Swords to Plowshare anyone?

8
Malakir Bloodwitch – 3BB
Creature – Vampire Shaman (Rare)
Flying, protection from white
When Malakir Bloodwitch enters the battlefield, each opponent loses life equal to the number of Vampires you control. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
4/4

In this set, you can easily have 2-3 Vampires giving something in the region of 4-12 damage\life. 4 toughness, black and pro white mean this is very hard to kill and for a casting cost of 5 you can’t really complain.

7
Bloodchief Ascension – B
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of each end step, if an opponent lost 2 or more life this turn, you may put a quest counter on Bloodchief Ascension.
Whenever a card is put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, if Bloodchief Ascension has three or more quest counters on it, you may have that player lose 2 life. If you do, you gain 2 life.

Not bad for 1 mana considering Megrim is 3. Playing 5-6 players will have your life total on the up. Getting the counters up won’t be too hard. After that, sit back, relax and let everyone else raise your life total. Tome Scour along with this shows why we play block!

6
Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet – 5BB
Legendary Creature – Vampire Warrior (Mythic Rare)
{B}{B}{B}, {T}: Destroy target creature. If that creature is put into a graveyard this way, put a black Vampire creature token onto the battlefield. Its power is equal to that creature’s power and its toughness is equal to that creature’s toughness.
5/5

This is what you want to play in Multi-player. Kill your dudez, make a copy of your dudez. Not a “game winner” for 7 but has a nice ability that will put a bulls-eye on him in just about any game.

5
Felidar Sovereign – 4WW
Creature – Cat Beast (Mythic Rare)
Vigilance, lifelink
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you have 40 or more life, you win the game.
4/6

Coming to a Diablos near you. ? 40 life is easy in multiplayer and in this set. 6 toughness is going to be hard to kill so it has a good chance of lasting through to your upkeep. Life Gain decks usually struggle for a win condition that isn’t just a big angel, now there’s a kittie instead.

4
Rite Of Replication – 2UU
Sorcery (Rare)
Kicker {5} (You may pay an additional {5} as you cast this spell.)
Put a token that is a copy of target creature onto the battlefield. If Rite of Replication was kicked, instead put five of those tokens onto the battlefield.

Only Blue card but it’s not half bad. 4 mana for a clone spell is a standard cost early on. Late on for 9 mana for 5 clones and can win the game, which you’d expect for the cost. It does depend on one of your opponents having something good out, but assuming this is at least turn 8, that SHOULD have happened.

3
Beastmaster Ascension – 2G
Enchantment (Rare)
Whenever a creature you control attacks, you may put a quest counter on Beastmaster Ascension.
As long as Beastmaster Ascension has seven or more quest counters on it, creatures you control get +5/+5

Only green card in the top 10 and one for DoctaJonez. Only issue is to get the 7 tokens you need to attack 7 times so he’ll struggle! But when you do all your guys get huge. 1 mana for a 6/6 elf isn’t bad at all. A quick google check shows that it resolves at the declare attackers stage. Meaning if you attack with a 1/1 elf and it adds the 7th+ counter, it could be 6/6 by the time damage is dealt.

2
Chandra Ablaze – 4RR
Planeswalker – Chandra (Mythic Rare)
[+1]: Discard a card. If a red card is discarded this way, Chandra Ablaze deals 4 damage to target creature or player.
[-2]: Each player discards his or her hand, then draws three cards.
[-7]: Cast any number of target red instant and/or sorcery cards from your graveyard without paying their mana costs.
5

Only red card and only Planeswalker. I’ve never played one personally but this one got my attention. If you can protect it and your graveyard, you can burn, draw, burn, draw, (etc) play your graveyard, win.

1
Luminarch Ascension – 1W
Enchantment (Rare)
At the beginning of each opponent’s end step, if you didn’t lose life this turn, you may put a quest counter on Luminarch Ascension.
{1}{W}: Put a 4/4 white Angel creature token with flying onto the battlefield. Activate this ability only if Luminarch Ascension has four or more quest counters on it.

In 5 player, you could play this on your second turn and EASILY have 4 counters on it by your turn, then pump out a flying army. There’s no limit to this other than the amount of mana in play. There’s no tap ability, no “remove 4 counters” like the others have, why? Why NOT play this in multi-player?

@jestatharogue