Two Headed Giant Sanctioned
- Thread starter Spiderman
- Start date
J
jorael
Guest
We've been playing 2-headed giant in our playgroup for some time now, but with different rules. I really like the idea of simultaneous playing, so I'll be proposing this in our group.
We played without communication and free mulligan, but that seems fine too (Limited, however, really dislikes that free mulligan thing).
We played without communication and free mulligan, but that seems fine too (Limited, however, really dislikes that free mulligan thing).
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Why wouldn't it matter if I only play it occasionally? I'd still like to be able to go back to it anytime I feel like it and can find three other like-minded people.Spiderman said:
The thing about casual games being unsanctioned is perfectly true, but I've found that it doesn't always work out very well in practice. Back when the old mulligan was changed to the Paris mulligan, I didn't really understand how to use a Paris mulligan (there's skill involved in it, even if a lot of players, especially tournament players, don't even think about it now). I didn't see the reasoning behind it. Now that I've learned how to Paris mulligan effectively, I like it better than the old mulligan. But back when the change was made, a lot of players at my local cardshop felt the same way I did, and we just played with the old mulligan in casual games. Nowadays, if I were to play casually with some people and tried to use the old mulligan, they'd probably look at me funny. But since it's casual, they might even let me use it. If someone tried to use it in a game with me without asking beforehand, I don't know that I'd let it go. It's become accepted in the casual environment (or so it seems to me anyway) that the Paris mulligan is the only mulligan. New players don't even know about the old mulligan, more often than not.
The mulligan thing went pretty smoothly I guess. A bigger thing for me was when the 6th edition rules changed it so that you lose immediately if you have zero life (not worded that way, but whatever). I was very much used to a lot of things from the old rules, and staying alive until the end of a phase was something that I really didn't want to let go of (in a lot of games it can mean the difference between winning and losing). This sparked some minor arguments with my opponents until I stopped bothering and just went with the rules change. It was an official change, after all. Now, if there were other people that I played against who wanted to go back and use the old mulligan, or 5th edition rules or whatever, we could do that easily. But most people, like myself don't care enough. These days I wouldn't really be interested too much in such a playgroup, since I'm used to the new ways by now.
I don't play multiplayer variants of Magic all that much. If two-headed giant sanctioned is vastly different from the way I played it before, over time casual players will be more comfortable with the new version. It certainly won't be worth it for me to try to convince people to use the old rules for two-headed giant. And I don't think I'd care much for the new ones, although I might give them a try. I'd probably just give the variant altogether. Oh well.
Edit: Looking at the FAQ, it appears that I will indeed not be playing two-headed giant anymore. I find the shared turn thing unappealing. Everything else looks good, but that shared turn thing is a huge turnoff for me. I'm not 100% sure about this though. The shared turn thing could be really fun if I just give it a try...
I just thought that if you played occasionally, it shouldn't be too hard to pick up any new changes.
Reading your post, it kinda sounds like you you ought to try it before dismissing it
I mean, for every example you gave, it sounds like you didn't like it at first but got used to it. The same thing could happen here
Reading your post, it kinda sounds like you you ought to try it before dismissing it
I mean, for every example you gave, it sounds like you didn't like it at first but got used to it. The same thing could happen here
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
Well, the other examples applied to ordinary duels between two players, rather than a specific format. Since the vast majority of the total games I've played have been against one other player (without any unusual variants on the game thrown into the mix) I've had to either get used to the changes or not play at all. I don't think I play two-headed giant often enough to continue if I dislike the new style of playing it: but then again, I might like it if I try it. Who knows?Spiderman said:Reading your post, it kinda sounds like you you ought to try it before dismissing it
I don't see why the number of players matter. It's just a "rules change" (I guess from unofficial or house to official/sanctioned). If the other 3 players play by the new rules, you have to again get used to the changes or not play. It's no different whether it's a single player or 3 players.
Killer Joe
New member
Can anyone give me "the gist" of the tew-headed giant format? (briefly )
)
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
It matters because, as I said in my last post, the vast majority of the games that I play are regular old games against one other player. If there's a rule change I dislike that applies only to another variant of the game, I can simply not play that variant any more if it suits me. I don't have that luxury with rules changes that affect 2-player duels. I have to either abide by the change or quit the game altogether.Spiderman said:
O
orgg
Guest
Giest: You and your friend untap. You and your friend draw a card. You and your friend play land. You and your friend play spells. You and your friend decide what creatures to attack with, and what creatures to hold back. Your opponents then decide what creatures to block with and what creatures do not block. MP2, see MP1. You and your friend discard. All creatures damage is removed and other assorted things happen. Then your opponents do the same thing.
That's the gist. Each team takes the turn simultaniously.
That's the gist. Each team takes the turn simultaniously.
Killer Joe
New member
Thanks
J
jorael
Guest
We played according to the new rules and I liked it!
Time Stop is a killer: A whole team just skips a turn (exept untapping and casting instants). Cards that get you more turns are probably just as good in 2headed giant.
Time Stop is a killer: A whole team just skips a turn (exept untapping and casting instants). Cards that get you more turns are probably just as good in 2headed giant.
J
jorael
Guest
It's certainly not as bad as during chaos multiplayer.
There probably are a LOT of cards that can really wreck a team. Countermagic is a way against such cards.
Shisato suddenly seems interesting... Making a whole team skip their untap step is nasty The masques pirates become better too: 2 opponents need to have mana open, while your ally doesn't (and you get a critter!).
There probably are a LOT of cards that can really wreck a team. Countermagic is a way against such cards.
Shisato suddenly seems interesting... Making a whole team skip their untap step is nasty
The masques pirates become better too: 2 opponents need to have mana open, while your ally doesn't (and you get a critter!).
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
I must have missed this before. Casual two-headed giant games were fun because you could throw any of your decks into the mix and see how things played out. This rule is a huge blow to that. I was never the sort who built decks specifically for one variant or another (I did some 150-card highlander games with friends, but that was it).
Oversoul
The Tentacled One
The only way to get around it would be for you and your partner to use completely different decks. If you both use black as a primary color, one of you will have to refrain from using Dark Rituals. There are, of course, tons of combinations of decks that this doesn't affect. But I'd much rather not limit myself.
Two-headed burn deck giant was one of the tricks I remember using. I've also seen U/B controllish decks used together (and very effectively).
I don't know whether this new two-headed giant will be all that popular amongst casual players or not. On one hand, you're limited by the whole "Between the two decks there can be no more than four copies of a single card" thing. On the other hand, it is played out differently than most games of Magic, which adds a certain appeal to a lot of people...
Two-headed burn deck giant was one of the tricks I remember using. I've also seen U/B controllish decks used together (and very effectively).
I don't know whether this new two-headed giant will be all that popular amongst casual players or not. On one hand, you're limited by the whole "Between the two decks there can be no more than four copies of a single card" thing. On the other hand, it is played out differently than most games of Magic, which adds a certain appeal to a lot of people...