Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Bachelor Party Format


Let's brainstorm some a new format for us to try out for my bachelor party so we can start deckbuilding. I was thinking of a format where we commander decks where you have to build them using only cards from three sets from different blocks and planes. This would mean that you couldn't just do all three sets from mirridon plane sets and build an affinity deck, but instead would require more creativity. 

If you all are down for this format, here are some questions I have about setting up the rules.
1. Should we allow the commander to be from any set, not just your three? Or should we allow any rare creature from your sets to be played as the commander?
2. Should we choose all three sets at random? Allow each person to choose all three sets? Or some combination of the two? Having only sets chosen at random means that someone could get unlucky and get like homelands, mercadian masques, and ice age. Maybe we should require one set be chosen at random from large sets that are more modern.
3. I am thinking each person should have three different sets with no overlap just to make a wider variety. Should we allow for any shared sets?
4. Is three the right number of sets or should it be more? I was thinking three would be good to make the decks less powerful and require us to play with more cards we wouldn't usually think to play with.
5. Should commander/planechase/conspiracy/modern masters sets be fair game?

8 comments:

  1. 1. I'd say just commanders from our chosen sets but since that maybe limited we could do any rare creature.
    2. I like the idea of randomness. Maybe let us choose 1 set for our commander. 1 modern set at random and 1 older set at random. Since it'll be multiplayer, the games may tend to balance out if one player's card pool is too powerful/weak.
    3. I think we could allow overlap if we did one old set and one new set at random and then choose a set and if it overlaps that's the player's choice.
    4. 3 sounds good to me.
    5. I'd have to say those 3 sets go against the spirit of randomness and are too good for this format.

    That's just my two cents. But you know me. I'm a deadbeat dad so I'm down for whatever.

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  2. I agree with all of Joey's suggestions. Though I can see the pros/cons of overlapping. The thing is, if we only choose the set our commander comes from and there's no overlapping, how do we determine who gets first pick, etc?

    If the set your commander is from is chosen intentionally, then I think there's no need to use a rare. Maybe one way to offset random bad beats would be to have the random old and modern sets give you three options of which you pick one. That way you have a little more control over the selection. So if you got as your old sets (Odyssey, Homelands, Fallen Empires) you could pick Odyssey and not get so screwed.

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  3. How about we break it down like this:

    Set 1 - everyone gets a choice of 3 modern legal large sets (chosen at random, with three different sets for each person)
    Set 2 - a random modern legal small set
    Set 3 - a random small or large set that is not modern legal (excluding really expensive sets like alpha, beta, etc.)

    Commanders can be chosen from legendary creatures in any of your three sets, but hopefully the choice of three for the first set will at least give you some decent options.

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  4. sounds good to me. Do you get to know your random Set 2 and Set 3 before making your choice of three for Set 1?

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  5. Yes, that seems like it would allow you to build a better deck and allow for more strategery. What do you think, Joey? I mentioned this format to Tommy on the phone today and he seemed excited about it.

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  6. Sounds like a plan Stan. I'm all for strategery.

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  7. Here are the results for the random number generator. Get to brewing!

    Phil
    1 - 8th Edition, Gatecrash, Magic 2014
    2 - Worldwake
    3 - Ice Age

    Justin
    1 - Avacyn Restored, Shards of Alara, Champions of Kamigawa
    2 - Journey into Nyx
    3 - Apocalypse

    Joey
    1 - Innistrad, Magic 2010, Rise of the Eldrazi
    2 - Guildpact
    3 - Alliances

    Tommy
    1 - Ravnica: City of Guilds, Dragons of Tarkir, Theros
    2 - Oath of the Gatewatch
    3 - Legions

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