Posted this is my journal as a record, and thought others might get some use out of it. also, it would be great to see what other formats people are playing the game with.

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Teams games are a blast. Many people scream bloody murder at the thought of playing a multi-player game at all. If it doesn't help your head to head skills, they feel it is a waste of time. What many of them miss is that some skills that can really help you head to head are brought to the forefront in multi-player games.

If it is a free for all for example, you have to contend with far more than just one opponent’s field. If you take one guy down, the other sees you as the biggest threat and then swings in mercilessly. You need to be able to apply equal pressure on multiple opponents, and survive the potential attacks that can come from various enemies.

Sounds pretty heavy, right?

A 3 man free for all is the best overall way to view this. You are trying to exert your will on two fields, and double the resources, that you might in a single player game. Granted, they aren't dedicating ALL their resources solely against you most of the time. But the moment your lead seems significant, this is usually what does indeed happen.

As you go above 3 players this effect tends to diminish. Instead, you are left with picking an opponent or two, and unstated peace treaties are formed without a word ever spoken. Of course, everyone realizes that once the dynamic changes, like a player is put out of the game, the damage will again rain down. 5 player free for all games are a blast, and some characters become just insane in these formats. Let alone having multiple players running something like Gravesites.

But once you are past 3 players, the game often becomes not so much strategy as hitting as hard and fast as you can, knowing that your opponents can focus on you and eliminate you in a moments notice.

There is also the two-headed monster format. This is where 2 people are a team. They build at the same time, share all resources, and are both considered to control each character on a single field. Both teams start at 100 endurance. This opens up a lot of cool options also, and really helps when a team runs a generic team-up or two.

But as of late, we have been having a lot of fun with a modified format called Emperor. The idea is for there to be two teams of 3 players each. You sit across from each other at a table, and the Emperors each sit in the middle of their two teammates. Example.....

A B C
_________
_________

1 2 3

In this setup, ABC is one team, and B is their Emperor. Team 123 is another with the 2 spot being their Emperor.

Each player has their own 50 endurance, and each controls their own cards. Each team builds and attacks as one unit, so one side of the table, even though there are three players, takes each turn as if they were one player in a head to head game.

The key here is range. Each player can only affect things 1 space away. Player 1 can only impact his Emperor with beneficial effects, and can only attack or hard player A with harmful effects. Each player has this same range of 1, and all characters have a combat range of 1.

Emperors however have a range of two. They can use any beneficial cards or effects to help themselves, and also help either of their teammates. But they can also negatively impact players on the opposite team, just not the Emperor directly! They can No Man Escapes anyone on the table with the exception of the opposing Emperor for example.

Their characters can also use any activated abilities at this range of 2. A Cardiac stun or Kiman reducing defense? They can do it to either opposing player, but not the opposing Emperor. Their characters still only have a range of 1 however.

So how does an Emperors characters ever get to attack? Well, each character in the game has an activated effect that allows them to move 1 field left or right, as long as it is an ally. So Player 1 can exhaust his Roscoe, and move him one space to the right... putting him in his Emperors field of play! This basically protects him form opposing enemy effects. The Emperor does not control this character, Player 1 still does, but he is now no longer in his direct combat field.

So the Emperor can also exhaust a guy to move it one position left or right, and this way can place a character in his teammates field to help him out. Again, the Emperor still controls this character, and there is no free team-up to allow team attacking or reinforcement. By doing this, a character can technically move form one player, through the Emperors field, and to the other team mates field over the course of two turns.

Even ongoing plot twists and location effects are limited to their ranges. A Graveyard form player A makes the opponent sitting across form him (opponent 1) and his Emperor cycle a card also, but no one beyond that range of 1. If the Emperor has a Gravesite out, everyone but the opposing Emperor will cycle a card each turn.

So what’s the goal? Each player has their own 50 endurance. When a player loses this, like normal, he is removed from the game. But his Teammate and their Emperor may not be eliminated yet. If this is the case, then play continues, and ranges remain the same. But since one place is removed, this means both Emperors can now affect each other at a range of 2! This also means if layer A is eliminated, Player 1 can now also attack the opposing Emperor. The Emperor can also hit this player in combat now since there is no longer another field between them.

If the Emperor (or the other team-mate) has any characters in the field of play in front of a player who is eliminated, those characters (and equipment, which is NOT destroyed by moving between fields) returns to its owners field of play.

When the Emperor loses his life, even if both Allies are still in play, that team loses the game. This should be impossible to do without removing at least one ally first.

And that’s it! It may seem kinda quirky at first, but once you play it a few times it starts to flow well, and makes for a great way to have a lot of people play without sitting and waiting for others to finish.

.... about range....

Now, the range idea worked so well, that we started using it outside Emperor games. What it does is let you focus on fewer opponents directly; so that the larger the number of players doesn't mean the faster you get wiped out. The MOST that can be brought to bear against anyone in a turn is 2 players if you use range. So in a 4-player game, if you go around the table like normal, and each player has a range of one, then you will never be able to impact the person directly opposite you... until someone is eliminated. Example.....

X O
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O X

In this setup, each X player can affect any O player, but not the X player. The same is true then of the O players. But once ANY player is eliminated, you basically have a 3 way free for all.

Good idea, reviving the best(most enjoyable) Magic format, the emperor team game. I need to bring that up with my players as a posible idea.

By the way, building Highlander decks is lotsOfun too.(only one of any card per deck) And yes, it does screw Army cards, so I was thinking of making all army cards restricted to 3 ofs or something, but I am undecided.

The trouble I’ve found with 3 and 4 player free for alls is that it inevitably becomes a kingmaking exercise, as whoever is obviously going to go out first can cripple one of his two opponents before he exits. Because Vs is so focus and balanced for head to head play, its impossible to reconcile that with a 3 player free for all game.

HOWEVER

I’ve been experimenting with a 3-way variant that rebalances the head to head nature of the boards. It also could potentially lead to several interesting deck builds specifically geared around it.

It works extremely simply. Everything operates exactly the same way except that whoever is on Initiative may not be the subject of attacks by the other two players, but in turn that player does not receive an attack step that turn.

This means that during the attack step, the attacker/defender dynamic is preserved from the original 2-way game, but the constant rotation of the initiative means that the roles of attacker/defender change each turn.

It might be possible also to come up with new deck concepts to exploit the fact that one in every three turns you will be untouchable by the other players (in terms of attacks).

Ouch, that means they get a free build and prepare for the turn. Then they can under-drop and equip all the items they need for the next turn. Interesting idea.

That also means they can set up any combo pieces much easier that way.

yup I would have to agree with bullseye on this one Control and Combo (not to mention Titans) have a huge advantage with that set up. Imagine playing NS when you get to skip every third turn! and initiative on half the remaining turns it would be very easy.