NorrYt's Type 4 Limited Infinity Draft Box

N

NorrYtt

Guest
Updated 2005.3.24

The Definitive Limited Infinity Article by Stephen Menendian from MTG.com.

Limited Infinity is a Multiplayer format where all players have infinite mana but can only play one spell each turn. A large (mine is 300) card pool is Rochester drafted by the players. As many of the rules are customizable, here are my complete rules (I am still experimenting with them to make them better fit my box):

  • For a 3 player game, players Rochester draft 15 packs with 6 cards per pack. This makes three different 30 card decks from 90 cards.
  • For a 4 player game, players Rochester draft 20 packs with 8 cards per pack. This makes four different 40 card decks from 160 cards.
  • For a 5 player game, players Rochester draft 20 packs with 10 cards per pack. This makes five different 40 card decks from 200 cards.
  • For a 6 player game, players Rochester draft 20 packs with 12 cards per pack. This makes six different 40 card decks from 240 cards.
  • For a 7 player game, players Rochester draft 20 packs with 14 cards per pack. This makes seven different 40 card decks from 280 cards.
  • For an 8 player game, players Rochester draft 18 packs with 16 cards per pack. This makes six different 36 card decks from 288 cards.
  • Players begin the game with 20 life, 5 cards in hand, and maximum hand size of 5.
  • Players have infinite mana of any color whenever they want it.
  • Even with infinite mana, players must still announce their payments to "keep the game honest", such as paying upkeep for Force of Nature. If you don't announce you want to pay an optional upkeep cost, then you are assumed to have chosen the other option (take 8 damage).
  • Players can only play one spell each turn.
  • Playing a Morph facedown (Hystrodon) does not count as your spell for the turn, though it still counts as a spell for purposes such as Forgotten Ancient and the Storm ability.
  • Similiarly, any spell played with its alternate play cost does not count as your spell for the turn. Examples of spells with alternate play costs include Disrupting Shoal, Pyrokinesis, and Avatar of Woe (see Specific Card Errata in the next section).
  • "The defensive ability wins." Basically, if an ability (like Smokespew Invoker) tries to "harm" something and another ability (like Jareh, Leonin Titan) tries to "prevent", "stop", or "counter" it, the defensive ability always wins. Determining the defensive ability is easy the vast majority of times. (NOTE: The Comp Rules for infinite loops like this state the nonactive player will always get his effects on top of the stack, so this ruling is a reversal of the "infinite loop" rules).
  • Players may send different attacking creatures at different opponents ("split attacks").
  • All other rules for Free-for-Alls are enforced (priority passing, APNAP, game winning and losing conditions, and events upon player death) as described in the Magic: The Gathering Comprehensive Multiplayer Rules.

Specific Card Errata

This section contains specific card errata. Cards are errata'd for game balance and increased fun.

  • Avatar of Woe - This creature's "conditional reduced mana cost" counts as an alternate play cost instead. If there are 10 or more creatures in all graveyards, you may select to pay only BB for her and she does not count as your spell for the turn.

The Goals of the Draft Box
  • Balanced game play.
  • Balanced color distribution.
  • Winning through creature combat.

Nuances
  • In small groups (3 players), the tempo cards like Timmy, Power Gamer and "Ach! Hans, Run!" coupled with a little card drawing can easily outrace opponents into victory.
  • In large groups (6+ players), decking is a serious issue. In these games, threat generation (like Summoning Station) and large life gain (like Ancestral Tribute) are often more powerful than pure card drawing. Ornate Kanzashi and Krosan Reclamation are much higher picks here.


NorrYtt's Top Picks
  • Best Creature - Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang
  • Best Morph - Bane of the Living
  • Best Spell - Insurrection
  • Best Card Drawer - Ornate Kanzashi (in large games when decking is always a danger)


Watch List
  • Timmy, Power Gamer
  • Chainer, Dementia Master
  • Insurrection
  • Blast from the Past
  • Biorhythm

Version History
  1. Initial Draft Box based on articles and forums threads; still learning the format.
  2. Removed slews of broken cards like Nezumi Graverobber, Vedalken Orrey, and more. Unexcitingly replaced with filler.
  3. Increased the number of large threats (Infernal Spawns of Evil); removed unpopular cards.

The Draft Box v1.3

White (50)
  1. Myojin of Cleasing Fire
  4. Eternal Dragon

  7. Exalted Angel
  8. Daru Spiritualist



Blue (50)


Black (50)
  1. Chainer, Dementia Master - Combos with Bosh, Mystic Snake, and more

Red (50)


Green (50)
  1. Multani, Maro-Sorceror
  2. Verdant Force
  3. Living Hive
  4. Plated Slagwurm
  5. Beast Attack
  6. Grizzly Fate
  7. Bringer of the Green Dawn
  8. Uktabi Kong
  9. Jugan, the Rising Star
  10. Body of Jukai
  11. Gurzigost
  12. Krosan Colossus
  13. Child of Gaea
  14. Force of Nature
  15. One Dozen Eyes
  16. Gigapede
  17. Lhurgoyf
  18. Elvish House Party
  19. Crush of Wurms
  20. Genesis
  21. Broodhatch Nantuko
  22. Caller of the Claw
  23. Thornscape Battlemage
  24. Iname, Life Aspect
  25. Hystrodon
  26. B-I-N-G-O
  27. Timmy, Power Gamer
  28. Gamekeeper
  29. Molder Slug
  30. Forgotten Ancient
  31. Hunting Pack
  32. Seedborn Muse
  33. Elvish Piper
  34. Desert Twister
  35. Tel-Jilad Justice
  36. Naturalize
  37. Enshrined Memories
  38. Moment's Peace
  39. Tangle
  40. Reclaim
  41. Might of Oaks
  42. Restock
  43. Bearscape
  44. Granny's Payback
  45. Worldly Tutor
  46. Dragon Fangs
  47. Krosan Reclamation
  48. Biorhythm
  49. Holistic Wisdom
  50. Defense of the Heart


Gold, Artifact, and Land (50)

Gold (??)
  1. Meddling Kids - choose 'target' and people will often have no plays
  2. Aura Mutation
  3. Artifact Mutation
  4. Order/Chaos
  5. AEther Mutation
  6. Captain Sisay
  7. Rare-G-Bone
  8. Reviving Vapors
  9. Phantom Nishoba
  10. Rith, the Awakener
  11. Sabertooth Nishoba
  12. Crosis, the Purger
  13. Hunting Grounds
  14. Terminate
  15. Mystic Snake
  16. "Ach! Hans, Run!"
  17. Recoil

    Artifact (??)
  18. Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang - The best artifact creature, often equips to a morph
  19. Pentavus - Only slightly worse than The Fang
  20. Darksteel Colossus
  21. Loxodon Warhammer
  22. Predator, Flagship
  23. Triskelion
  24. Razormane Masticore
  25. Skullclamp
  26. Jayemdae Tome
  27. Thran Tome
  28. World-Bottling Kit
  29. Helm of Possession
  30. Mirari
  31. Possessed Portal - Combos with Tatsumasa
  32. That Which Was Taken - Combos with white Myojin
  33. Ornate Kanzashi - An innocuously powerful miller and card drawer
  34. Summoning Station
  35. Solarion
  36. Etched Oracle
  37. Panoptic Mirror
  38. Fireshrieker
  39. Mirror Mirror rorriM rorriM
  40. Suncrusher
  41. Gleemax
  42. Bosh, Iron Golem
  43. Duplicant
    Land (7)
  44. Treetop Village
  45. Yavimaya Hollow
  46. Winding Canyons
  47. Shivan Gorge
  48. Minamo, School at Water's Edge
  49. Volrath's Stronghold
  50. Dust Bowl
 
N

NorrYtt

Guest
Banned List for NorrYtt's Type 4 Limited Infinity Draft Box

This list contains cards that have been tried yet proved too unbalancing to remain in the Draft Box.


White
  • Eights-and-a-Half-Tails - This creature is simply ludicrous. It gives all your permanents protection from all colors, artifacts, lands, instants, sorceries, and enchantments. Your opponents cannot block or swing passed your creatures. Because I have few Wrath affects, 8Tails gets axed.
  • Glory - This creature offers far too much protection while simultaneously being difficult to remove in the graveyard.
Blue
  • Greater Morphling - It is difficult to imagine a beater better than this. This creature is an 18/100 hasty trampler with protection from all colors that untaps. If the defender has a creature, Greater Morphling provokes it so he is blocked, then gains Bushido 1000 to trample over for the kill. Unhinged should be fun but this isn't.
  • Desertion - This card has almost no drawbacks because when you play it, your opponent has already played his spell for the turn. Desertioning a creature like Bosh wrecks both your opponent's spell for the turn and gives you a huge beater that swings next turn when you conveniently have your spell to protect it. Unfair.
Black
  • Nezumi Graverobber - This card is more than unfair. It is simply Yawgmoth's Will in this format.
  • Myojin of Night's Reach - Forcing your opponents to pitch their hands is very overpowered. The balanced version of this creature is Mindslicer.
Artifact
  • Vedalken Orrey - While custom-made for the format, it simply boosts too much tempo boost when combined with card drawing. Breaking the rules

Land
  • Karakas - While custom-made for the format, it simply boosts too much tempo boost when combined with card drawing. Breaks the rules of the format in a negative way.
 
N

NorrYtt

Guest
Cut List for NorrYtt's Type 4 Limited Infinity Draft Box

These cards have been played and later cut from the Draft Box for various reasons.


  • White
  • Opal-Eye, Konda's Yojimbo - This creature can prevent hundreds of damage if he stays in play for a long time. While defense is a good thing, Opal-Eye strongly discourages combat and renders most red spells useless. I've made a concious effort to speed games up.
Blue
  • Parallel Thoughs - This card is skillful and neat but takes too much time to resolve. It is never an attractive play because if it gets waned the cards under it are gone.
  • Browse - A double-edged sword, drawing lots of cards is not that powerful and removing lots of them from the game can leave you without enough resources to survive. Card drawing should be skillful, but this card is too harsh to its player for the reward it offers.
  • Future Sight - This card is too randomly useless to reward skill.
    Black
Black
  • Krovikan Horror - A skillful card that is too unwieldy to generate card advantage most of the time. Unpopular.
Red
Green
[*]
Gold
[*]
Artifact
[*]Well of Lost Dreams - A horrible attempt to reward lifegain. Useless.
[*]Avarice Totem - Rules complexity hinders its political usefulness.

Land
 
N

NorrYtt

Guest
Reserved Post #3.

Please don't reply to this thread; this is just a place for me to list my things in a common place from anywhere I go. When I get webspace somewhere I will use that. Thanks.
 
T

train

Guest
I'm not trying to break your request for posting... but what is this box for? drafting with friends or something?... is it real - "greater morphling" for example... Maybe an explanation in the first post would stop some from posting and let them know what this is for certain...

Who knows - others may follow your lead and make their own box because of your great idea...
 
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