Author Topic: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)  (Read 4937 times)

Offline Childe

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[MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« on: July 19, 2013, 07:39:23 PM »
This is a variant format I designed for Magic: the Gathering. The rules for this format are living rules, meaning I can and will adjust them based on what I notice happening with the format. Also, I know they are not perfect. This is the first pass of the rules. I'm positive there are or will be issues, and there are already a few things I know I need to keep my eye on. But theory only goes so far, so it's better to see what happens in practice. Altogether, it's a fun format.

The point of this format is to design your dream booster pack, within the modern rarity distributions, and then use that, along with some basic lands, as your deck.


Rules

Super Basic Rules
Each deck needs:
  • 1 Rare or Mythic Rare
  • 3 Uncommons
  • 10 Commons
  • 1 Additional card of any rarity*
  • Any number of basic lands
Each card must have a unique name, except for the 1 additional card and the basic land cards.

At the beginning of your upkeep, if there are no cards in your library, you may shuffle your graveyard into your library. (The Upkeep Step comes before the Draw Step.)

*This card is your pack's 'premium' card.



Basic Rules:
Here are the rules for those who prefer complete sentences but don't want to look at the Comprehensive Rules.
(click to show/hide)



Comprehensive Rules:
Here are the rules in their entirety, worded how they would appear in the Comprehensive Rules document.
(click to show/hide)


I also highly recommend when playing this format to include a ceremonial "Cracking of the Packs," where players "open" their "packs" and show off how crazy their pulls are, since the whole point of this format is you're designing your own pack that would never exist in real life.


Banned Cards
Some cards are perfectly fine in other formats but because of Perfect Pack's unique deck-building process are degenerate in the Perfect Pack format. Rather than have players remember a series of new rules for each of these cards, they are simply banned instead.

The current banned list for Perfect Pack is as follows:
  • Bojuka Bog
  • Jund Charm
  • Morningtide
  • Nihil Spellbomb
  • Rakdos Charm
  • Relic of Progenitus
  • Rest in Peace
  • Tormod's Crypt


Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is "Premium?"
"Premium" is the term Wizards of the Coast uses to refer to what you probably call "foil" or "holographic" cards.
« Last Edit: July 20, 2013, 06:08:05 PM by Childe »
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Offline Gazzien

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2013, 12:48:01 AM »
This... makes me really happy. Sad that I can't play mill, but with a 15-card deck, it would be problematic.

Still, I've got an idea for this...

Offline Childe

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2013, 08:07:26 PM »
Woah. So I was browsing from the Home page and saw this thread actually got bumped.

Gazzien, mill can actually work as long as you also use a means to exile the opponent's graveyard before they shuffle it back in or if you cause them to draw more cards than are in their deck, since the reshuffle only occurs during a specific part of the turn.

The shuffle just prevents mill from stomping all over the format. Original testing skipped this rule to see how bad the situation was. There were no survivors. Even with this rule in place, it became obvious a ban list needed to be created because cards like Tormod's Crypt created abusive situations with milling.

I hope you've been enjoying the format! I'd love to hear what your experiences have been like.
"You had a tough day at the office. So you come home, make
yourself some dinner, smother your kids, pop in a movie, maybe
have a drink. It's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kids."
- The More You Know

Offline Gazzien

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2013, 02:06:08 AM »
Woah. So I was browsing from the Home page and saw this thread actually got bumped.

Gazzien, mill can actually work as long as you also use a means to exile the opponent's graveyard before they shuffle it back in or if you cause them to draw more cards than are in their deck, since the reshuffle only occurs during a specific part of the turn.

The shuffle just prevents mill from stomping all over the format. Original testing skipped this rule to see how bad the situation was. There were no survivors. Even with this rule in place, it became obvious a ban list needed to be created because cards like Tormod's Crypt created abusive situations with milling.

I hope you've been enjoying the format! I'd love to hear what your experiences have been like.
I just find that with all of those restrictions, it's hard to exile the graveyard fast enough. And no-one near me likes the format as much (they all prefer EDH), so I don't have anyone to play with...

Well, deck made. Playing, not so much - I don't have a Queen, nor any of the newer cards.

(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: October 03, 2013, 02:36:07 AM by Gazzien »

Offline Childe

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2013, 10:29:19 PM »
Considering milling is anywhere from about 3-4x as quick in this format as in typical 60-card constructed and there are still, I believe, 2 cards in the format that exile the entire graveyard (just at higher mana costs than Tormod's Crypt), mill can definitely still exist. There's no real way to reintroduce cards like Tormod's Crypt that have this effect below 5-6 mana without drastically warping the format. There's also cards like Leyline of the Void, where you can drop them and then start milling. I enjoy mill myself and I can assure you it's viable here. It just might not be Mono-Blue always.

As for players, I know at least one other fan of the format. If you play online, you can go onto the IRC/chat here http://www.ruleofcool.com/smf/index.php?action=chat and ask Ina. Ina's often up for a Perfect Pack match. I'm sometimes on the chat as well and I obviously like this format or I wouldn't have made it.
"You had a tough day at the office. So you come home, make
yourself some dinner, smother your kids, pop in a movie, maybe
have a drink. It's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kids."
- The More You Know

Offline Gazzien

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2013, 01:16:09 AM »
Considering milling is anywhere from about 3-4x as quick in this format as in typical 60-card constructed and there are still, I believe, 2 cards in the format that exile the entire graveyard (just at higher mana costs than Tormod's Crypt), mill can definitely still exist. There's no real way to reintroduce cards like Tormod's Crypt that have this effect below 5-6 mana without drastically warping the format. There's also cards like Leyline of the Void, where you can drop them and then start milling. I enjoy mill myself and I can assure you it's viable here. It just might not be Mono-Blue always.

As for players, I know at least one other fan of the format. If you play online, you can go onto the IRC/chat here http://www.ruleofcool.com/smf/index.php?action=chat and ask Ina. Ina's often up for a Perfect Pack match. I'm sometimes on the chat as well and I obviously like this format or I wouldn't have made it.
Ah, okay~ How do you guys play online? All I can think of are the console-games, but those wouldn't let you run a Perfect Pack deck...

Offline Childe

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2013, 11:12:45 AM »
PM inbound.
"You had a tough day at the office. So you come home, make
yourself some dinner, smother your kids, pop in a movie, maybe
have a drink. It's fun, right? Wrong. Don't smother your kids."
- The More You Know

Offline Gazzien

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Re: [MTG] Perfect Pack (Format)
« Reply #7 on: October 08, 2013, 12:53:54 PM »