Runboard.com
Слава Україні!

~ ~ Welcome! Do you fiddle or piddle at something, or several or many things? Then, you might belong here! Welcome home! :) ~ ~

runboard.com       Sign up (learn about it) | Sign in (lost password?)

 
OldWarrior Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Master Fid Pid

Registered: 04-2006
Location: USA, Western hemisphere, earth
Posts: 305
Reputation: 4 (+4/-0)
Reply | Quote
Magic, The Gathering -- New Fan-made Game Play Variation: Land Lock


Land Lock

The basic concept is that the each player will have a deck with all their land cards and their normal deck (without the land cards).

The Land Lock variation of the game actually would give players more control over their decks and how they function. They would not be as likely to get hung up on having not enough lands or having too many lands.

Other means of producing mana by non-land cards would continue to be used as desired -- those cards being included in the player's main deck.

I plan to outline the specific rules -- the nitty gritty, but I do not think it will be too difficult. Some restrictions will necessarily apply -- like cards that cause players to mill (discard cards from the top of their Library {their deck of cards} into the Graveyard {discard pile} until they reach a number of land cards.

One of the first rules, suggested by one of my fellow workers, would be that a player may draw from either deck of cards whenever they may draw or are required to draw.

Milling a target player's deck will also be a little more complicated. Milling could be just NOT used in this variation, or a percentage of land cards could be milled along with cards from the player's main deck -- in order to accommodate the milling method of winning the game. EDIT: Okay, I did it! I added rules to accommodate milling. emoticon

Other game functions would be affected, for better or worse, by this variation. For example, Scrying would be more powerful as the player would be allowed to scry either deck or both in the case of Scry 2 or higher.

Another example: some cards used to search for lands in one's deck would be less useful, or not useful at all, while some of them would still be just as useful, depending on the type of card and the purpose for which they are included in one's deck. More specifically, in multi-colored decks, and decks with various non-basic lands, searching for lands would still be useful, but mono-colored decks with only basic lands would very much limit which land-search cards could be helpful. Land-search cards which allow playing more than one land during one's turn would still be powerful aids in mana ramping.

Anyway, I plan to get the rules hammered out and then post them here in addition to other places. (EDIT: posted first version in the reply below)

Last edited by OldWarrior, 13/May/2014, 1:47 pm


---
Old Warrior

Check out Bible Notes
It is one of my favorite places on the Internet.
God bless you, everyone!
10/May/2014, 10:05 am Link to this post Email OldWarrior   PM OldWarrior Blog
 
OldWarrior Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Master Fid Pid

Registered: 04-2006
Location: USA, Western hemisphere, earth
Posts: 305
Reputation: 4 (+4/-0)
Reply | Quote
Magic, The Gathering: Land Lock Variation Rules version 1.0


Note: These are made to give me something to work with in play testing. Anyone else who wishes to test these rules, I would be glad to hear your findings. There will certainly be versions 1.1, 1.2, 2.0 and so on, as I get the bugs worked out.

Also, please note that this is only a fan-made variation of the game. It is provided entirely free and all rights to Magic, The Gathering, its cards and their text, and the game's official rules are reserved by Wizards of the Coast.

I like to compare this variation with Mana Drop. I think Mana Drop makes the game wildly fun, but that it can easily overpower one player at the very beginning. I think this Land Lock variation will tend to work better with the normal rules of the game, helping to prevent some of the most common mana issues that players often have: not enough lands and too many lands. It might even help with duel-colored and multicolored decks.

Generally, my intention in providing this variation is to help level the playing field where decks can be more consistently tested against each other without players being able to say (as much) "You only won, because I was having trouble getting mana." or "...because all I could draw were lands."

This game play variation allows players to decide how quickly (or slowly) they will have access to their land cards.


Magic, The Gathering: Land Lock Variation



1. Rules Consistency -- Wherever possible and practical, all the normal rules for Magic, The Gathering should be followed, whenever there is not an exception to the normal rules stated herein, and unless said Magic rule(s) causes this variation to become unplayable. In the latter case, there will obviously need to be an adjustment to these rules or the banning of a certain type(s) of card(s) from this variation of game play.


2. Deck Division -- Each player's deck must be divided into two decks, one with only land cards in it and the other with only spell cards (Artifacts, Creatures, Enchantments, Instants, Sorcerys, and etc, including any combination of non-land card types, like the god cards which are Enchantment Creatures).

This should probably be kept in mind when building or modifying decks to play using the Land Lock variation. Otherwise, player Magic decks should generally be built the same as they would be for normal Magic games (especially head-to-head and free-for-all formats).

Note: under no condition will any player's land cards be put into his/her Library/spells deck, nor will any of a player's spell cards be put into his/her Land Lock deck.


3. Deck Shuffling -- After being divided into two decks, the Land Lock deck need not be shuffled if it has only one basic land type in it (all basic Swamps, or all basic Forests for instance). Otherwise, both decks should be shuffled thoroughly before the game begins -- shuffled as separate decks, of course.


4. Starting Hand -- Each player will draw the normal amount of cards (7) from their non-land deck (henceforth referred to as their Library), except for the first player in a Head-to-Head game. To accommodate the normal "do not draw" rule on the first player's turn in Head-to-Head games, the first player will draw six cards instead of the usual seven AND will draw a card during the draw step of his/her first turn.

Note: unless a player has a zero cost non-land card that can produce mana, it is assumed that most players will be drawing from their Land Lock decks in at least the first turn of the game.


5. Mulligan -- Taking a Mulligan will work as normal but, the player may only draw from his/her Library deck (not the Land Lock deck). Remember that whenever the first player must subtract a card for taking a Mulligan, he started with only six and must take five for his/her first penalty.


6. Drawing Cards -- Whenever a player must draw a card or may draw a card, he/she chooses whether to draw from his/her Library deck or Land Lock deck. This is true for each card that is to be drawn -- the player doing the drawing decides for each card to be drawn whether to draw from his/her Land Lock or Library deck.

Note: The normal rule about playing one land per turn has not been changed for this rule set. emoticon


7. Searching a Library --

7.a. Searching a Player's Own Library -- If a player has a card that allows him/her to search his/her own Library, he/she may search either Library deck or Land Lock deck or both. If one of the decks is left undisturbed during a search action/effect, then it does not get shuffled when resolving the shuffle portion of the card text.

Note: To be clear, a player searching his/her own deck(s) may look at both his/her Library deck and Land Lock decks, but he/she does not have to do so. If you are a player that likes to shuffle your cards when you feel like you are stuck, this may appeal to you. Just remember that looking forces the shuffle, so that any good cards on the top now get shuffled with the rest of them! emoticon

7.b. Searching an Opponent's Library -- This resolves much like when a player searches his/her own Library, except that it also allows the player to have an opportunity to see ALL cards in his/her opponent's Library, including Land Lock and Library decks. IF a player takes this opportunity to see both decks, then they must both be shuffled.


8. Looking and Reordering -- Whether a spell or effect targets one's own Library or Graveyard or that of an opponent's, the player which is allowed to look at, scry, reorder, (and the like) has the freedom to do such actions on either or both decks of the target player. The only stipulation is that the total number of cards involved must be the same.

For example, if a player is allowed to scry two cards (look at the top two cards of his/her Library and put them on the top or the bottom of his/her Library in any order), then he/she may do this with either of his two decks OR split it, resolving the effect by scrying one card on the top of his/her Library/spells deck and one card on the top of his/her Land Lock deck. The total comes to two -- which is the important thing.


9. Milling (forcing an opponent to place cards from his/her Library into his/her Graveyard) -- While it is difficult to accommodate milling in this type of play, the following rules should help.

(The simplest thing to do would be to just ban all milling cards, but I had to try, since milling is so popular with some fellow players.)

9. a. Target Player's Library -- The target player's Library still includes both his/her Library (or spell) deck and Land Lock deck. Therefore, as soon as a mill effect that involves milling more than one card is about to resolve, the game pauses in order for the players to determine the percentage of land cards versus spell cards the target player has in his/her Library*. It might be good for each player to note this ratio before any Land Lock game begins -- assuming milling is allowed in your Land Lock game(s).

* Note: For the purpose of this Land Lock variation of the Magic, The Gathering game, a player's land cards versus spell cards ratio is based on the original condition of their deck beforethe game begins. It is a static statistic and does not change during game play.

9.b. Milling Just One Card -- When milling just one card, the player who owns the milling effect as it resolves determines whether the target player must mill the card from his/her Library deck or Land Lock deck.

9.c. Milling Multiple Cards -- When milling more than one card, the player who is the target of the milling effect when it resolves mills cards according to their Library's ratio of spell cards versus land cards.

For example, if the target player has 40% lands and 60% spells in their original deck (his/her Library before divided into two separate decks), and is forced to mill 5 cards, then that player will take two cards from the top of his/her Land Lock deck and three cards from the top of his/her Library/spells deck.

9.c.1. Resolving a Fraction of a Card in Milling -- The player who owns the milling spell or effect when it resolves decides from which deck the odd card will be milled.

Example of a Fraction of a Card: a milling spell/effect resolves, requiring seven cards to be milled. If the target player's Library ratio is 40:60 (lands:spells), then 2 cards must be milled from their Land Lock deck and 4 cards must be milled from their Library/spells deck. This leaves one fractioned card, divided between both decks. The player who owns the spell/effect at this time, must choose from which deck to mill the 7th card.

9.c.2. Depletion of Land Lock OR Library/spells Deck -- Whenever a milling spell/effect resolves and the target player does not have enough cards in one of his decks, then the balance of cards to be milled will be milled from the remaining deck.

Example: Target player has one card in his/her Land Lock deck when a milling spell/effect resolves which requires him/her to mill ten cards. In this case, the ratio of land cards to spell cards will not matter. One card is milled from the Land Lock deck, thus depleting it. The other nine cards are milled from the target player's Library/spells deck.

A different example, which is unaffected by the ratio: when a player is the target of a Traumatize spell when it resolves, then half of each of his/her decks will be milled according to the text on the Traumatize card.

9 d. Milling to Target Card -- Cards which represent a spell, or have an effect, which requires one or more players to mill until they reach (or hit) a certain number of any type of target card are banned from this type of game play. Reason: because the Library is divided now (see No. 2 above. emoticon )

Common example: cards which cause a player to mill until they reach a certain number of lands. (By the way, I actually like those cards, they are just not practical in this type of play.)


10. Deck Depletion -- A player cannot lose the game due to deck depletion as long as he/she can still draw the required number of cards from either his/her Library/spells deck or Land Lock deck, or both. In other words, a player's Library does not run out of cards, or "mill out", unless both decks are depleted.


11. The Graveyard -- Each player will have a single Graveyard (discard pile), just like in the normal rules. This means that every card that goes into the Graveyard by the normal rules, will still do so, including all land and spell cards as usual.


12. Shuffling Graveyard into Library -- Spells or effects which allow or require a player to shuffle his/her Graveyard back into his/her Library will resolve the same as normal, except that the land cards will be shuffled back into the player's Land Lock deck and the spell cards into their Library/spells deck.

Last edited by OldWarrior, 13/May/2014, 3:29 pm


---
Old Warrior

Check out Bible Notes
It is one of my favorite places on the Internet.
God bless you, everyone!
12/May/2014, 3:12 pm Link to this post Email OldWarrior   PM OldWarrior Blog
 
OldWarrior Profile
Live feed
Blog
Friends
Miscellaneous info

Master Fid Pid

Registered: 04-2006
Location: USA, Western hemisphere, earth
Posts: 305
Reputation: 4 (+4/-0)
Reply | Quote
Re: Magic, The Gathering -- New Fan-made Game Play Variation: Land Lock


During the process of working through these rules, I began to realize that it would have been best to NOT name the deck with only spells in it as the Library deck. Hence, the reader will notice that I began to type Library/spells deck instead as I got further and further into the rules. I will probably change it to read Spell Deck and Land Lock Deck and that both of these together make up the player's Library. That would probably provide less confusion and better rules consistency.

Last edited by OldWarrior, 12/May/2014, 6:33 pm


---
Old Warrior

Check out Bible Notes
It is one of my favorite places on the Internet.
God bless you, everyone!
12/May/2014, 5:36 pm Link to this post Email OldWarrior   PM OldWarrior Blog
 


Add a reply





You are not logged in (login)

Back to top