EDH Kingdoms and Variants

I like free-for-all multiplayer, but sometimes I want the games to go a bit faster.  It's nice to have some rules that speed things up while still maintaining a fun multiplayer atmosphere.

I saw a post on /r/MagicTCG many years ago providing role cards for Kingdom EDH, an adaptation inspired by Bang!.  I printed out the cards and played a few games, but it was pretty clear that the Usurper role was the most difficult to win with and least fun to play.

My playgroup unsuccessfully tried some alternatives.  It seems that others had a similar opinion, because I saw more variants of Kingdom arise.  (I found a lot of these on a different reddit (/r/EDH) thread.

• Kingdoms, from EDHREC
• Expanded Kingdoms, from Scotty Makes Games.  Here's an imgur album with the same card set.
• Regicide, the Game
• Imgur album of alternative cards
• An MTGSalvation thread on Kingdom EDH
• MTG Treachery, something very similar to Kingdom, but with lots of different roles.
• Highlander, another fan-created game that's very similar.
• Battle of the Gatewatch, a similar thing based on the MTG Gatewatch.

None of these seemed perfect for my playgroup.  I'm not certain why.  Maybe because they were either too complicated, or maybe because we just wanted to fix the Usurper problem with our own invention.  

This summer, I think we finally got it right.  We created four extra roles, which are shuffled together, then one is chosen at random to be the fifth card in addition to the King, Knight, and two Barbarians.

We tried to maintain the basic templating of the Kingdom cards from the original post I had printed cards from.

The randomness of the fifth role really adds an element of uncertainty to the game play.  Even though the intentions of the Barbarians and Knight may become clear before the actual role cards are revealed, the role of the fifth player remains hidden, keeping everyone on their toes.  In the few games we've played, it's a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: We didn't even play enough games to test all four of the different random roles.  Future changes may be coming.  Nevertheless, we considered that all of these were included, so they all played a part in our games.

To make it very clear, to play with these cards...

1. Print out the cards from the original album, aside from the Usurper card.  You should have a King, a Knight, and two Barbarians.
2. Print out the four cards shown above.
3. Randomly choose one of the four cards above without looking at it.
4. Put the original four with the chosen one in opaque-backed sleeves and shuffle those five.
5. Pass them out to the five players.
6. Whoever has the King card reveals their card to everyone.  They go first.
7. Play EDH.  Whenever someone dies, reveal their card.  Someone's winning conditions may be triggered.  If someone wins, they reveal their role, then the game ends.

If there are six players, then the plan is to choose two of the random roles instead of one.  Although we haven't playtested this, we'd like to think that the rules hold.

In addition, these can be used with Oathbreaker with a small modification: the King begins with 26 life and everyone else begins with 20 life (instead of 40 and 30, respectively).

Credit: I don't remember who came up with each role exactly, but I think Bob Solorio was the originator of many of the extra four roles.

Bonus: I put all the card images in one PDF for easy printing.

Drafting WUBRG: Core 2020 - Better Results

In the past two Core 2020 FNM drafts I've done, I've gone 5-1 in total.  The key both times has been Renowned Weaponsmith. 

Friday's Draft Deck

Tips:

• Get Renowned Weaponsmiths.  So good.  Even one is enough to build around; the other cards are definitely not trash.
• Grab Heart-Piercer Bows high.  They're good even without the Weaponsmith, but if you get it, you'll wish you had as many as possible.
• As always, the dual lands ("Gain Lands") are really good.  Nab 'em.  You really can't take too many.
• Also amazing with the bows: Ogre Siegebreaker.  Attack, poke things in the heart, then kill them dead.
• Vial of Dragonfire is certainly going to be worth taking.  Tutor it up with the Weaponsmith!
• Angel of Vitality turns out to be really good with the dual lands.  Gain 2 instead of 1, that can turn the Angel on really fast.
• Other fliers are really good.  Cloudkin Seer, Warden of Evos Isle, Spectral Sailor, etc.  
• I like Moat Piranhas for slowing down the ground game until you get your bombs.
• Other artifacts work well with the Weaponsmith.

Two weeks ago I had one weaponsmith, and did great.  Last weekend, I had two and really wished I had taken more bows.  They work so much better in groups.

I didn't think I would enjoy WUBRG in Core 2020, but now I'm psyched to do it again.  

Drafting WUBRG: Core 2020 First Try

I haven't had a draft this disastrous in quite a while.  0-3 with zero game wins.  Urf.

I made it to the final event of the Core 2020 draft weekend. I tried a draft strategy based on the first card I got and it didn't work.  I opened a foil Mystic Forge and grabbed another (non-foil) one in pack two, so I figured that stockpiling artifacts was a good plan.  Only later did I realize I took a bunch of Golems.  Naturally, I was also heavily drafting the basic duals and Evolving Wilds (which combos really well with the Mystic Forge plan). 

Here's the deck.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough.  I lost 0-2 to WUR Flying Weenies, 0-2 to UB, and finally 0-2 to UBG. 

I even had some great openers...

Turn 3 Living the Dream: WUBRG and a big stomper.

But it wasn't enough.  I only saw one Mystic Forge, and only in the final match and far too late in the game.  I played two or three cards off of the top, but it was too little, too late.  I never drew the Ceratops, so my deck never showed off it's green side.  I never saw the Meteor Golem.  A lot of things just didn't come together.

I think I should have gone harder into the Prismites after getting the Forge.  They're pretty good anyways and I would have liked to have more throughout the matches.

I don't normally do a post after my first attempt (though maybe I should).  However, I'm not really sure when I'm going to get to draft again, and there have been a bunch of sets released in recent months (or so it seems, anyways).  So... this is what I've got. 

I do think five colors is a viable strategy here.  I really enjoyed it in Core 2019 after a few tries, and I hope I get the chance to do it again!

Drafting WUBRG in War of the Spark

Do you want to draft 5-color Super Friends?  Of course you do.  Although I've only done two War of the Spark drafts, I already like it way more than Allegiance and I really hope I get the chance to do it more.

Yes, this can be your hand.

The strategy here is still pretty simple:

Prioritize Color Fixing:  There aren't gates in every pack, but there are still lots of good things.  Gateway Plaza continues to be excellent.  Interplanar Beacon is really good (though the planeswalker-only part isn't great).  Mana Geode is great, Centaur Nurturer is real good, and Prismite is a body that may come in handy.  Mostly, though, I'm relying on the lands.  I pulled two Gateway Plaza in pack three on Friday night for a total of three and that plus one Interplanar Beacon really made the deck, to the point where I cut Prismite.

Planeswalkers: Draft them all.  I got passed two Nahiri on Friday which was nuts.  Ashiok was integral in two of my wins (I decked one person, even milling their Lab-Maniac-Channeling-Jace so they couldn't pull off the win.  Another opponent got Bolas's Citadel out, but I managed to kill them with zero cards left on their library.)

Proliferate: This keyword appears a lot.  On creatures that can do it, it's extra good.  Grab 'em when nothing else shines out.

Friday's draft deck.  My curve is not usually this focused!

Don't forget that you will need creatures to protect your friends.  And removal is always good, though some of that will probably come with the planeswalkers.

The hardest draft decision here is choosing between Gateway Plaza and a planeswalker.  Of course, this depends on the 'walker, but in pack one, I recommend going hard into the mana fixing.  Many of the planeswalkers will get snatched up early in that first pack as the rest of the table picks colors.  In packs two and three, a bunch of planeswalkers will show up.  Grab 'em.

When playing, go slow and make sure you are always checking in on the static abilities of your planeswalkers (and Interplanar Beacon, which triggers upon casting, not entering the battlefield).  I missed things and paid dearly for it.  Thankfully, my opponents also missed things (Nahiri granting first strike is real good). 

In my two drafts at my FLGS, I've gone 2-1 both times.  I hope I have another shot at going 3-0.  Either way, I've had a blast!  I'm bummed that this format is going to be gone soon.

WUBRG Zombie Repack Draft

Way back in the fall I held a draft with "packs" I'd created out of older cards I'd been donated.  (I hold these every so often.)  As always, I drafted five colors.  Unlike always, I drafted a Zombie tribal deck, and had zombie-relevant cards in four of five colors.

I recently found the deck, unsorted back into the collection!  I'm never going to draft anything like this again, so I'm really glad I found this again.  Here's the decklist:

Zombie-Matters cards (11):
Diregraf Captain
Forsaken Drifters
Infernal Caretaker
Ingenious Skaab
Phyrexian Bloodstock
Putrid Warrior
Quagmire Druid
Scathe Zombies
Strength of Night
2x Zombie Boa

Mana Fixing (4):
Chromatic Sphere
Elves of Deep Shadow
Quirion Explorer
Reef Shaman

Other spells (8):
Baton of Courage
Brimstone Volley
Crossbow Infantry
Enduring Victory
Ghost Warden
Goblin Legionnaire
Kabuto Moth
Power of Fire

Non-Basic Land (9):
Azorius Guildgate
2 Bloodfell Caves
Boros Guildgate
Dimir Guildgate
2 Evolving Wilds
2 Unknown Shores

(I don't recall which basic lands I included)

Drafting WUBRG (Ravnica Allegiance edition)

The cards in Ravnica Allegiance are almost too good.  Drafting five-color gates is an accepted strategy now, which means other people at the table might be going for it.  Still, I've managed to have some success.  As with Guilds of Ravnica, I expect you'll do better at a bigger table.  The real key, as always, is: Pick The Gates!  (Unless you draft, like, over 14 gates, you know you're going to run the gate, but you might not run the other card.)

Here are the immediate-pick cards you're looking for: (These are in order of how highly I value them.)

• Gate Colossus: Absolute bomb. 
• Gatebreaker Ram: Super good efficient creature for the deck.  This is a turn four 5/5 or 6/6.  In my last draft, this was my only green card.  No regrets.
• Gates Ablaze: Good early game if you can hold back, and great late game as a complete board wipe.
• Gateway Sneak: This is nearly as good as the second half of Guild Summit.  Get in there for value over and over again.  This card is so undervalued.  It wheels around the table all the time.  Still, take it early.  These may be the majority of the gate-relevant cards you see.
• Archway Angel: This actually will probably get taken before the sneak, so I would take this first against the sneak, even though I don't like it as much.  I've had opponents scoop to this card.
• Plaza of Harmony: I got to play with this once.  Solid land.
• Open the Gates: I've never bothered to draft this.

Other cards to go for: (This is less explicit than the last list.)

• Good rares.  People generally tend to lock in to one guild here, so other rares are going to show up in the second and third
• Removal.  There's lots of removal in this set.  Don't let it all go by.
• The split cards are real nice.
• High Alert.  Don't let someone else build around this card.  Also, there are a lot of non-Azorius cards that play well with this.  Bonus: people always forget about the third ability.
• Rakdos Trumpeter.  I keep being happy to see this one.  Good on offense and defense.

I have had one draft where I went 1-2, and one where I went 2-1, but the other four or five have been 3-0 wins.  (The 1-2 time was crazy, because I didn't get many gates-matters cards, but I did manage to grab both Tome and Glass of the Guildpact. After my first round win, I thought I had it in the bag.) 

I won the last two drafts with only three gate-relevant cards in my deck (2x Sneak and 1 Ablaze; and 1 Colossus, 1 Ram, and 1 Sneak).  That, combined with all the other great value cards that come around, make it happen.  Two drafts ago I was in a pod of only 6 people, and it still worked even though someone else at the table was going 5-color gates. 

Last night I won with 13 gates: the most ever, and I was only in a pod of 6.  I still wish I had had more gates.  (Note, the player on my left knew what I was going to be doing, so he hate drafted a Ram from me.  He was also the only player to win a game against me.)  Here's the list:

Gates:

• 1x Gateway Plaza
• 3x Azorius Guildgate
• 3x Gruul Guildgate
• 3x Orzhov Guildgate
• 3x Rakdos Guildgate

Other lands:

• 3x Island
• 1x Godless Shrine (Always nice to see valuable duals pop up.)

Gates-matters-cards:  (All of these showed up in pack 3.  That keeps happening to me.  Wait, wait, wait, oh great!)

• 1x Gate Colossus
• 1x Gatebreaker Ram
• 1x Gateway Sneak

 Everything else:

• Judith, the Scourge Diva
• Priest of Forgotten Gods
• Theater of Horrors
• Warrant/Warden
• 2x Carnival/Carnage
• Dovin's Acuity
• Forbidding Spirit
• Spire Mangler
• Arrester's Zeal
• Bladebrand (I've never cast this card.)
• 2x Bring to Trial
• Chillbringer
• Imperial Oligarch
• Knight of Sorrows
• Lawmage's Binding
• Noxious Groodion
• Rakdos Trumpeter
• Senate Courier

Overall, I feel like I was more successful with Guilds of Ravnica, mostly because I was never competing with other people trying to run this strategy.  In fact, one tactic I've considered is to tell the table that I'm going to run five colors to warn others against trying it.

My biggest question right now: are gates-matters cards going to be showing up in War of the Spark?  I hope I'll still be able to force five colors.