My 39-week pregnant wife brought home some packs for Pack Wars over the weekend. She likes Magic but hates deckbuilding, so most of the formats I've invented are ill-suited for her taste. When we play Pack Wars, I tend to fiddle with the mana base to smooth things out a bit.
I wanted to make a format that:
We've omitted my wife's least favorite Magic color (never managed to convert her on Gravecrawler recursion).
Decks are constructed as follows:
Shuffle your 8 lands and 12 random spells together. After mulligans are complete, add 10 random spells to the bottom of your deck.
The result is a 30-card deck where all your lands sit in the top 20 cards. You top out at 8 lands (the 10 from Battlebox (obviously influential) always felt a bit much to me ).
Design-wise, I've stuck to the following:
* no tutors: searching the deck always slowed things down, but it also ruins a bit of the mystery of a Pack-Wars esque format. Also, Karen doesn't know all the cards at a glance, so it would create some imbalance where I can parse the whole deck quickly, and she would feel bogged down by the obligation to read all the cards at once. Correspondingly:
* no milling opponents cards, no land destruction: we're capped at 8 lands, and I don't want games ending because you milled away all their mana sources. There are a couple of cards that play quite differently given the deck construction. Cards like See Beyond and Put Away force you to decide when to cast them. If you cast See Beyond on turn 2, you're reducing the chances of drawing lands on future turns.
* medium/low power threats, conditional answers: the spells are full of stinkers like Glint Hawk Idol and Terror of the Fairgrounds, as well as fun modal cards like Temur Charm and Fire // Ice.
* sprinkle in some color hate: with only 4 cards, and each player's deck being random mashups of the two, cards with monocolor Protection are actually quite fun. I don't like Protection in most cases, but here it works. Also, cards like Flashfreeze will always find their moment.
* no tokens: this one is more of a personal choice, but for something you can play at a cafe, I prefer no creature tokens. Just life totals and the odd counter or two.
Game 1 Results:
I had Karen's board locked down with a Time of Ice sitting on two Lore counters. I played Sea Gate Oracle revealing Flashfreeze and Fire // Ice. A plan brews.
I can Ice whatever she plays next turn, bouncing 3 creatures back to her hand. A tempo blowout! Then I can keep beating down with Slash Panther for the win.
Karen then removes my Imposing Sovereign, and plays a Fiend Hunter on her own Avalanche Tusker, protecting it from the bounce. If I bounce her Hunter, Tusker comes back and eats my board.
The defensive play bought her enough time to stabilize and win the game.
Conclusion
The format seems to be a hit at the Waddell household. Obviously it shares some design DNA with Battlebox. I do think in practice the 4-color / 8 land change is quite nice, although it's a change you could easily bring to Battlebox as well.
Do you guys have any experience / tips with pick up and play formats?
I wanted to make a format that:
- is pick up and play
- small footprint (fits entirely in a 100-card deckbox, easily portable)
- zero deckbuilding
We've omitted my wife's least favorite Magic color (never managed to convert her on Gravecrawler recursion).
Decks are constructed as follows:
Shuffle your 8 lands and 12 random spells together. After mulligans are complete, add 10 random spells to the bottom of your deck.
The result is a 30-card deck where all your lands sit in the top 20 cards. You top out at 8 lands (the 10 from Battlebox (obviously influential) always felt a bit much to me ).
Design-wise, I've stuck to the following:
* no tutors: searching the deck always slowed things down, but it also ruins a bit of the mystery of a Pack-Wars esque format. Also, Karen doesn't know all the cards at a glance, so it would create some imbalance where I can parse the whole deck quickly, and she would feel bogged down by the obligation to read all the cards at once. Correspondingly:
* no milling opponents cards, no land destruction: we're capped at 8 lands, and I don't want games ending because you milled away all their mana sources. There are a couple of cards that play quite differently given the deck construction. Cards like See Beyond and Put Away force you to decide when to cast them. If you cast See Beyond on turn 2, you're reducing the chances of drawing lands on future turns.
* medium/low power threats, conditional answers: the spells are full of stinkers like Glint Hawk Idol and Terror of the Fairgrounds, as well as fun modal cards like Temur Charm and Fire // Ice.
* sprinkle in some color hate: with only 4 cards, and each player's deck being random mashups of the two, cards with monocolor Protection are actually quite fun. I don't like Protection in most cases, but here it works. Also, cards like Flashfreeze will always find their moment.
* no tokens: this one is more of a personal choice, but for something you can play at a cafe, I prefer no creature tokens. Just life totals and the odd counter or two.
Game 1 Results:
I had Karen's board locked down with a Time of Ice sitting on two Lore counters. I played Sea Gate Oracle revealing Flashfreeze and Fire // Ice. A plan brews.
I can Ice whatever she plays next turn, bouncing 3 creatures back to her hand. A tempo blowout! Then I can keep beating down with Slash Panther for the win.
Karen then removes my Imposing Sovereign, and plays a Fiend Hunter on her own Avalanche Tusker, protecting it from the bounce. If I bounce her Hunter, Tusker comes back and eats my board.
The defensive play bought her enough time to stabilize and win the game.
Conclusion
The format seems to be a hit at the Waddell household. Obviously it shares some design DNA with Battlebox. I do think in practice the 4-color / 8 land change is quite nice, although it's a change you could easily bring to Battlebox as well.
Do you guys have any experience / tips with pick up and play formats?
