Favorite Tournament Format
Booster Draft/Sealed Deck.
I like not having to own the power cards, being on an even field with other players, and not having to "scout the metagame", the last an activity which is far beyond my care for the game. Booster Draft is *the only way to buy cards*. For real, at a $10 booster draft, with any prizes, it's a great deal. Why buy packs? Sealed Deck is the same, but more luck and less skill. At the same time, Sealed Deck is more balanced. Any player who has a full understanding of the rules is on even footing with any other player. With draft, your neighboring players may inadvertently derail you, or unfairly give you advantages over the whole table. If your neighboring players are incompetent, the whole table may suffer. But drafting is the best way to play tournament magic.
When else do cards actually operate as R&D intended?
Unsanctioned format : Range Free-for-all multiplayer.
This is the multiplayer format at the LHS game club. We used a two player range for any targeted or global effects. If a player Misdirects an effect, it must target something within the second player's range. Attacking could take place against an adjacent player, or, with flying creatures only, the player two away from you. Sharahazad (sp?) was the only card that was errataed, in that it forced each player to pair off and duel, with the result that half of all players would be at half life. Needless to say, any player foolish enough to play it would be crushed by the full circle of players.
If a player dies, that brings other players into range of global effects. Here's an example of this affecting gameplay :
Player A is locked by stasis
Player B is locked by stasis
Player C controls a survival of the fittest deck, with a moderate group of creatures. Has the ability to eliminate stasis.
Player D controls a green ground horde of immense power. Has no ability to eliminate stasis.
Player E is stasis locked, at low life.
Player F is stasis locked.
Player G is stasis.
Player D would be extremely hesistant to destroy Player E, despite the relative ease of doing so. Destroying E brings D into the stasis player's range, and would ruin player D. Therefore, Player C would want to destroy player E. Because this action ruins D, and D has nothing else to do but attack C. Also, a direct attack on D may be far more difficult than a weakened E. But what if F then concedes, bringing player C, tapped out, into stasis range, as an act of spite? So all players always can effect the game, just by their strategic location.
I would place my bet on player C to win that game, though.
Any game-type that can add a level of strategy gets my thumbs up!!
)). There are so many interactions with cards in a format like this, that it's a fresh experience whatever your background of Magic.