Smileylich's Magic: the Gathering Multiplayer Rules

(by Donald Miller) (Version 1.0) (March 11, 2003)

This pretty much states how we've been playing multiplayer Magic here at Penn State (well, the group of 30 or so of us who play at the HUB, there are other groups around). Basically, it's a relaxed version of Type I (Classic) format.

• Deck Construction
  • Any card in Magic is allowed, including Unglued, Starter, and all three Portal sets.
  • Minimum 60 cards.
  • Standard limit of 4 applies, plus the Type I (Classic) Restricted and Banned lists.
    Note: If you have a really funny deck that doesn't follow these restrictions; check with us, we'll probably allow it (I used to have a degenerate deck with 50 Leviathans in it). For the record, a deck that does something infinite within the first 3 turns is NOT considered funny... :)
• Mulligan
  • You may Mulligan on 0, 1, or 7 non-mana-producing lands.
    Note: One land Mulligans are allowed, since being mana-screwed in a big multi-player game is no fun.
  • When you Mulligan, you draw a new full hand of 7 cards (not "Paris" style).
  • To speed up play, you do not have to reshuffle your deck when re-drawing. Simply put your old hand aside, and draw another 7 cards. When you are done "Mulligan-ing", take your Mulligan hands and shuffle them into your library before drawing for your first turn.
    Note: You would obviously have to reshuffle if you were to Mulligan through your entire library. The other players may throw dice at you if you do this... :)
  • If someone else declares a Mulligan, you may "take his Mulligan" and redraw, even if you have 2-6 mana-producing lands.
• Who Goes First, and First Draw
  • The loser of the previous game (i.e. the player that was killed first) plays first in the new game.
    Exception: If someone did something "infinite" on the previous game and killed everybody, that player automatically goes last (i.e. the player on his left goes first).
  • On your first turn, you do draw an (eighth) card, even if you are the first player.
• Proxies
  • Proxies are allowed. Try to make them out of photocopies or print them on a computer; massive numbers of handwritten proxies (or cards representing other cards) are a headache.
  • It is assumed you actually own the cards you are proxying for. The main point of proxies is to allow you to have many decks together without worrying about swapping your real Library of Alexandria (or whatever) around.
    Note: Many players (myself included) do not actually care if you really own the cards; go ahead and proxy a full set of Power 9 and dual-lands if you want. Other players may take offense at this; so check ahead of time.
  • Decks that consist entirely of proxies are referred to as "Kinko's Decks" (because you probably went to Kinko's Copy Center to make it). A Kinko's Deck is not necessarily frowned upon, especially if it does something funny.
    Note: It's been my experience that the owner of a Kinko's Deck that's really funny or successful tries to make it "real" ASAP; this is just to experiment to see if the idea works.
• Specific Card Rulings
  • There's a lot of these; this will be expanded as I make note of them.
  • Horsemanship cards (from Portal Three Kingdoms): All instances of the term "Horsemanship" is replaced with "Flying".
    Note: I personally dislike this rule, but I understand why it is done, since not many people have Portal Three Kingdoms cards.
  • Blacker Lotus: [Optional Rule] You may tear the Blacker Lotus into "one piece"; effectively making it: "T, sacrifice Blacker Lotus and remove it from the game: Add 4 mana of any one color to your mana pool.".
    If this rule is allowed, Blacker Lotus should probably be restricted (like Black Lotus).
  • Chaos Orb: This is a legal (non-restricted) card, and is errated as follows: "1, sacrifice Chaos Orb: Flip a coin, if you win, target non-token permanent is destroyed. Chaos Orb's effect is not considered targetted.".
    This is done because it is assumed the defending player may spread out his cards as he wishes, and you can reasonably aim for one particular card.
    Note: Falling Star would have a similar ruling.
  • Chaos Confetti: "4, sacrifice Chaos Confetti and remove it from the game: Roll 1d6 and choose that number of non-token permanents. For each one, flip a coin, if you win, that permanent is destroyed. Chaos Confetti's effect is not considered targetted.".
  • Sylvan Library: They "stack"; i.e. if you have two Sylvan Libraries in play, you look at top 5 cards.
  • Temporal Aperture: You don't have to shuffle if you don't know the contents of your library; just cut your library and reveal the new top card. (This speeds up game play.)

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