Variant Magic: The Gathering formats

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Magic: The Gathering's standard method of play is one-on-one using a deck of at least 60 cards with a maximum of four of each card except for basic lands, but casual play groups and even Wizards of the Coast have developed many alternative formats for playing the game. These formats are designed to accommodate larger numbers of players, to allow two or more players to work together as a team, or create specific requirements for deck construction. They are distinct from the officially sanctioned formats such as Legacy, Vintage, or Block Constructed which are organized by the DCI and merely define the available card pool, not change the rules of the game.

Many of these variants are popular in tournament play, though not all have support from Wizards of the Coast, several of the variants have also been implemented in the official online version of Magic: The Gathering.

• Multiplayer — The simplest format is the free-for-all, where players sit in a circle and vie with those around them to be the final surviving player. One variant is "Rainbow" (or "Five-Player Star") and involves exactly five players, each one playing one of the colors of Magic and trying to defeat the two diametrically opposed ones. Theoretically, the five decks should be equally balanced, so that the game is based more on skill than on deck strength. Another variant involves limited attacks, where the player can only attack the player to the left of them.This means that the players must take out all other players before reaching the final two. Often one player uses most of their cards killing off the multiple opponents and cannot finish the final one.^{[citation needed]} Team-based play is also popular. "Two-Headed Giant" is a team game where pairs of players share turns and life totals. In "Emperor", two teams, each generally composed of three or five players, play to ensure their central player (the "emperor") outlasts the other. In June 2005, rules for handling multiplayer games were added to the official rulebook, and "Two-Headed Giant" team play is the first multiplayer variant to be sanctioned by the DCI.^[1]

• Vanguard — In this variant, each player has a special card that affects the game. These cards change the players' starting life total and cards in hand, and have additional effects as well. Vanguard initially began with special oversized Vanguard cards, released as part of various promotions. Although three cycles of cards were made, interest never caught on due to relatively low production and lack of sanctioned tournaments. The cards featured depicted major characters from the storyline of Magic, including Gerrard Capashen, Karn and Squee. A new version of Vanguard was eventually added to Magic Online, with a player's avatar filling the role of the oversized physical cards[1]. Players are given a standard set of avatars and can receive more as entry and high-finishing prizes in release events.^[2] New avatars are regularly added as new sets of Magic cards are released, each depicting a card from the set. The wider availability online, combined with occasional tournaments, has made online Vanguard more of a success than its physical predecessor. One recent addition to the standard Vanguard format is Momir Basic, which involves the Momir Avatar which allows a player to discard a land card to get a random creature into play. All Momir Basic Decks are constructed entirely of basic land.

[edit] Alternative deck construction

Various alternative rules can be used to govern the construction of decks. Some of these variants have become so popular that unsanctioned tournaments have taken place at various Magic tournaments and gaming-oriented conventions such as Gencon.

• In one system, players are allowed to use only one of each card instead of the usual limit of four. This variation is called "Singleton", "Highlander" (named after the catchphrase "There can be only one" of the movies), "Legendary" (in Magic, there may only be one of any legend card in the game), or "Restricted" (tournament formats with a restricted list insist that decks have no more than one of those cards) Magic. Some players of this format require that the decks have a minimum of 100 cards, ban sideboards, and institute a special rule for mulligans with hands having either too many or too few lands. [2][3][4][5]

• In the "Pauper's Deck" or "Peasant Magic" variants, all rare cards are disallowed, and players must construct decks using only the more commonly available cards. Peasant Magic was created by Rob Baranowski who felt that players with limited access to cards should still have an opportunity for competitive play. Tournaments for this format have taken place at Gencon since 2001.
• In "5-Color" or "Prismatic Magic", players must build very large decks (at least 250 cards) and accommodate a minimum number of cards of each color. This format was first developed by Kurt Hahn and several other players in the Milwaukee area. [6] 5-Color is managed by the 5CRC which while not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast or the DCI, does organize tournaments, has its own list of banned and restricted cards and has a world championship held at Gencon. It also supports ante cards, an initial component of the rules for Magic that has sense been deprecated. When Magic Online was under development, this format was requested by many users, and it was added as "Prismatic" with slight differences, including the minimum number of cards of each color and no support for ante. An additional "big deck" mulligan is also standard online, allowing players to compensate for hands with too many or too few lands.
• In order to alleviate problems with the mana resource system, some play variants include rules for building decks without lands. These variants often include other compensating controls, such as restricting players to one spell per turn (as in "Type 4" or "DC-10"), or in using spell cards themselves to be played as lands and produce matching colored mana.
• "Mental Magic" is one of the more extreme variants, in that cards may be played as any card in the game with the same mana cost.
• One draft Variant is Reject Rare Draft which has each player donate 45 rare cards (the same number as in 3 regular boosters) and then draft as normal. This variant was developed at Neutral Ground, a gaming store owned by Brian David-Marshall, a columnist for Wizards and noted commentator in the Magic world.
• Permanent Magic is a variation where instant and sorcery spells are banned. (Which can also be combined with Restricted Magic.)^{[citation needed]}
• Backdraft is a draft variant where each player tries to build the worst deck possible because each player will be giving another player that deck to play in the tournament. To avoid mana problems, players choose what lands to add in the deck they are "backdrafted". Additionally, house rules may restrict backdrafters to 3 colors maximum.^{[citation needed]}
• Mini Magic is a constructed variant where decks are built with a maximum card limit of 15 and a maximum hand size of 3. Because of the small deck size, the state-based effect where the game ends if a player is unable to draw a card from his or her deck is ignored. Select cards are banned in this format due to their heightened power level given the limited deck size. Alternatively, Mini Magic may be drafted using a single booster pack per person.^{[citation needed]}