If you’ve ever played competitive Magic: The Gathering, chances are you’ve heard the lie—”If you play this format you can play with all of your cards.” This deceptive statement is something I have heard regarding Vintage (Type 1), Legacy (Type 1.5) and even Extended (Type 1.x). While meant with good intentions, this statement has proved disappointing to countless up-and-coming players that try one of these formats based on the principle that they can play with that little niche card they were always so fond of. In the end, they find that not only is the deck they have complete crap (precisely because they based it around that niche card), but they have to conform to one of three to five existing decks just to have a chance in the meat grinder that is Magic: The Gathering.
So what do I even have to offer if this lie is absolute? Can I offer a Vintage format where their favorite deck is the best deck that no one else has thought of? No. Can I offer a format where their price range is a fair price range? Almost. What I can do is offer a format that promises one thing: The format I offer allows you to successfully play more cards you want to play—and is receiving deliberate support each set by Wizards of the Coast. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to present: Elder Dragon Highlander.
What the deuce is an Elder Dragon and why is it Highlanding?
Elder Dragon Highlander, or EDH, is a format created by part of the Magic community specifically for multiplayer play. EDH has several different rules that determine your deck building constraints and in general make the format more fun and friendly for the individual. The comprehensive deck building instructions and game play rules are listed at the official web page under “Construction” and “Play” respectively, but the basics are as follows:
- Your deck is built around a single Legendary Creature referred to as a “General”
- No cards within your deck can have a mana symbol on them that is not in the casting cost of your General
- Your deck is comprised of all singleton cards (that is, no duplicates) aside from basic lands
- Your deck is composed of 100 cards exactly including your General— although during game play your General is confined to a special zone called “The Command Zone” where you can play him as though he were in your hand
These rules create special restrictions which make no two decks (even those using the same General) identical. Using the General as the primary threat in a deck or just using it for its colors and keeping it in the command zone for style points are both common occurrences. In addition to these simple deck building constraints, there are other game state changes which are to be observed—so definitely go give that a quick look-see as me summarizing them here cannot do them justice. It is an easy read so I’ll wait here while you go do that…
… All set? Excellent, onwards!
The Good
Because of the way the format is built, there is no way for money cards to make or break a deck. Sure, some people will have $60 Counterspells or $150 lands, but because of the size of decks and the fact that those cards are one-offs, they can no longer be abused by building a deck around them. This makes budget decks and budget cards (like your favorite niche card) completely playable. Not only are those cards playable, but often are powerful additions to EDH decks due to the Highlander (there can be only one … of any card) nature of EDH. That nature, combined with the variant rules mentioned above, can make certain cards more powerful than they are in a regular game of Magic (I will leave the discovery to you).
The multiplayer environment in which EDH is played is also amazing in that it creates an equilibrium at the table. What I mean is: either the most powerful decks will all be fighting amongst each other for table superiority or the weaker decks will be allying to combat the stronger decks. What happens is essentially the strong decks have to push and shove their way through any phase while weaker decks have more leeway to do as they please. If the table identifies that your deck isn’t top notch, you’re going to get more freedom to do what you like instead of being beaten to shreds, essentially balancing you out against the decks that are more powerful (and hence require more attention).
In many of the games I have seen, strong decks get focused down quickly and an underdog can scoop up victory with a very “out there” card that no one saw coming. This means that you don’t have to replicate that ridiculous top-tier deck from the format. Your own deck is instantly competitive. This is not to say that you can forsake standard deck building rules or that you are always going to win, however. Time investment in tuning your deck and identifying your strengths of different strategies in EDH will increase the frequency at which you win.
The Bad
Now I would not be a proper voice for this format if I did not impart the other side of the story upon you. Yes, there is a part of this format that is less-than-savory. In fact, it completely contradicts the ideals of the format; the rules committee.
The rules committee is a group of people from the official site that are in charge of keeping the format fun and within the spirit of how they created it. This, in itself, is not a bad thing—what is bad is that they control the format’s Banned List. This is the list of cards that have been banned to keep the game fun, within the spirit of what they wish to do, and balanced. The issue is that many of the decisions they make are inconsistent with either other cards they keep legal, or contradict the basic rules used to identify what should be banned. The list of currently banned cards is listed under “Social” on their website’s front page.
The Silver Lining
There are two important things to understand which make the bad… not so bad. First, they (the rules committee) are very keen on keeping the Banned List small. Small is good in that it restricts the least amount of cards from players. Less of your cards will be banned in this format than in Vintage or Legacy—far less. The cards that are banned at large are cards that make people groan—which is fine—but they are also cards that in many cases just require other people to play smart around; so in a sense, they take some of the responsibility away from the players and just keep the card under their collective thumb.
Second, although this format is supported by Wizards as far as new cards being created, it is an unofficial format. This means that if the Banned List ever got to a point where it was ridiculous and the rules committee was just failing at their duty, a third party could create their own list for the community to go by. As it is, many different regions have their own list based on their own individual preferences (such as the commonly referenced French Banned list). This makes the format much more community-oriented and friendly to play by groups at large because they can dictate their own lists (though this is dangerous work in itself and should be done sparingly).
Icrontian Call To Arms
What more could be said about EDH…? A lot. I have loads I can say and will if the community interest is there. My local group and I have been playing this format to the point where we quit playing competitive (Legacy) Magic so we could just enjoy this. I have libraries of knowledge on EDH packed into my skull that I will be willing to divulge to the community if the interest is there.
So here is my call to arms for the Icrontic community:
Reference the comprehensive deck building rules for EDH on their website, throw a deck or two together and give it a go. Once you have done this I want feedback; tell me what you think about the Banned List, the cards you have tried, or what you liked and didn’t like. Tell me what you want to know about the format.
Lastly, once you have heard all you need to hear and are sold on this format, I would like you all to bring it. I will be at many of the Icrontic events this year, I would be willing to organize an EDH event (the game only gets more fun once you’ve had some shots) in which we can bash heads and just have a good time enjoying Magic how it was intended to be. So get interested and get inquiring.
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