The most popular form of casual MTG is probably multiplayer. Many play groups use it as a social device. In other words a way to involve everyone at once while still playing Magic. Multiplayer is a haven for those duelists who have grown tired of one-on-one matches with decks they’ve played too many times against opponents they know too well. Magic 2010, along with all its baggage, is the biggest thing WotC has dropped on duelists in years. As such we would be remiss to not include a few words about what Magic 2010 has meant to games with three or more wizards. Worth discussing are the new rules changes and the one 100+ new cards in M10.
M10 changed more than competitive dueling
The rules changes brought along with M10 far outweigh the impact of any particular card in the set. Harsh outcry was heard round the internet while WotC had complaint after complaint leveled against them. Many of those valid, and some even coming directly from us. That being said, multiplayer MTG has been effected in slightly different ways than the competitive two-player environment. For example, the seemingly innocuous simultaneous mulligan rule actually helps here. Each player shuffling in turn can cost at least five minutes in larger groups. Five minutes of valuable gameplay. The other changes have an even larger effect. (Ed. Note: Many groups have house rules already in place for multiplayer games, ours included.)
Mana burn has been used deviously in normal MTG as long as it has in multiplayer. The difference? Multiplayer is a natural fit for burn-forcing deck builds. Decks using Power Surge along side Citadel of Pain rarely see action in the true duel, but flourish in four or five-way games. Why? Because damaging each opponent is maximized the greater number of opponents there are. Of course that is not a difficult concept to grasp, therefore mana-burn pilots gravitate towards multiplayer much more so than single. All this means the banishing of mana-burn alters group games more than any duel format. Such is not the case for every new rules change.
won't be seeing these around the multiplayer table anymore
Damage no longer going on the stack has been far and away the most controversial change. With good reason, it removes a strategic element that many players had come to rely on. The outrage stems mostly from the removal of a few basic two-for-ones including Mogg Fanatic, Siege Gang Commander, and just about any sacrifice outlet. A two-for-one deal can make all the difference in a hard fought duel. Multiplayer however, is another animal entirely. Two-for-ones lack punch for the same reason discard does, you rarely achieve card advantage in multiplayer. No card advantage means not having to worry as much about this particular M10 change. Better to stay focused on what new cards the set contains.
Breaking down cards from M10 is easy. There are always three categories in any core set: The good, cards that seem made for use against numerous opponents (Breath of Malfegor comes to mind). The bad, anything that makes an attempt at focusing on one foe. And finally the absent, cards that players wish had been included but were omitted. Really this category can be defined by one card: Wrath of God. Board sweeping is a necessary staple of any good multiplayer game and Wrath is the best of the best. To examine the Good and the Bad cards we need a bit more space.
- The Good -
Soul Warden - A staple of group games since 1998 this one-drop (now) common is a great game starter for any wizard looking to maintain a healthy life total. Pretty obvious why the Warden makes the list, more players with generally more turns means many more creatures hitting the battlefield. Most of those will be bigger threats than your defenseless 1/1 thus it is unlikely to be the target of spot removal.
more players = more spells = more creatures. its math.
Burning Inquiry – At first glance this card has little value in any format. In fact this could be considered the worst Limited format card since One with Nothing. It makes the list for two reasons. First, it effects each player. A must for any good multiplayer spell. Second, it knocks apart any combo schemes your opponents may have been plotting and presumably allows you to draw more burn. Another single mana well spent.
Lurking Predators - The first of three absolute powerhouse cards in multi. Each spell an opponent plays can potentially equal a nasty beast joining your board. Consider that a five-way game will see around nine or ten spells played each round and start doing math from there. Never mind that you can also use it to bury useless non-creature spells and lands or keep something enticing (can you say Overrun?) top-decked. Throw in four copies of LP, some mana acceleration and just about any nasty creature you can think of. You’ll basically be playing Tooth and Nail each turn.
Twincast - Although not new to M10 this card edged out Hive Mind for a spot on the list. It adds similar excitement to the game without the chaos and confusion of the latter. Twincast is perhaps the most effective multiplayer card that doubles as an extremely useful duel spell. However, instead of using it to copy one of your own spells like Mind Funeral or Time Warp you can use Twincast to play off any crazy spell your opponents may cast. Twincast seems made for cards like Plague Wind or Blatant Thievery.
soooo good
Safe Passage - The most underrated card in 2010 is also the best multiplayer card in the set. Why is an expensive Holy Day claiming that title? Because it is so much more. Safe Passage combines a one-sided Holy Day, with Angels Grace and a touch of Wrap in Vigor. All for three measly mana. The best part? Multiplayer games are full to the brim with deck builds that go for the big finish. Imagine not only surviving your opponent’s mightiest blow, but being the only to do so. The game resumes as a one-on-one while your foe has exhausted their resources in what seemed to be the killing stroke.
- The Bad –
Platinum Angel - When Platinum Angel arrives on the battlefield you might as well paint a giant bull’s-eye on your shirt. The backlash against her will last until she is gone, or you just wish she was. Dropping any giant creature in multiplayer draws severe aggro from your fellow wizards, but the rules text of PA make her especially threatening. In fact, if played on your turn it is unlikely PA survives until it loses summoning sickness. And chances are you took a few punches to keep her alive even that long.
you'll find many voices much harder to silence
Silence - Control as a strategy becomes exponentially more difficult with each additional player. Silence is the ultimate control card. As discussed here, you need to play this card pro-actively for maximum effectiveness. Hopefully wasting your opponent’s key turn. Against multiple foes during a game that lasts many more turns this strategy simply doesn’t work.
Fog - It may be a surprise to see a card so similar to Safe Passage on the ‘Bad’ list. The difference between preventing damage to your board and preventing all damage in a multiplayer game can’t be overstated. For starters any creatures you would manage to kill with blockers survive. But the biggest factor here is your opponents being rescued. In a five-way contest spending mana to help your other opponents is often worse than doing nothing at all. To top it off, you just made a serious enemy out of whoever did the attacking. A lose-lose-lose situation. You want to avoid those.
All in all there have been some serious changes to our favorite casual format. The 2010 rules changes have not made the same impact, but an influx of new cards like Lurking Predators have made for some exciting multiplayer action.
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I generally disagree with this article. Although mana burn was huge in multiplayer, it very rarely actually affected a game unless someone was playing a mana burn deck.
The biggest (in my opinion) change to multiplayer was lifelink. Mana burn was big, and Damage on the stack was big. But when you’re playing both Loxodon Warhammer and Behemoth Sledge on the same guy and swinging. That little 1/1 just became a 6/3 with double life link. Go gain your 12 life and call it a day.
While the cards you named in the “good” catorgory I could generally agree with. With the exception of Safe passage. If someone is taking out 4 opponents in 1 turn. What makes you think they don’t have enough gas to kill you on your turn. Blasting station might have something to say about that.
In the bad catagory, Silence isn’t too bad. With Isochron scepter, you could make friends and enemies based on how you play. Since politics is pretty much multiplayer, this little combo could create an interesting 5 person game. Not to mention that it can help when it goes down to a one on one match up.
While I do enjoy your articles, I wonder about the consistancy of the facts in this one. You mention an absence of Wrath of God. While not in standard, I do believe there are enough of them in the world to allow the multiplayer scene to still be a viable powerhouse. While I do not contest that it’s absence in 2010 isn’t hurting the standard enviornment, it has no real effect in the multiplayer enviornment.
I mentioned your article was inconsistant because of the Wrath of God comment. Even if I were to agree with this comment the fact of twincasting a plague wind (which is also not in M10) was mentioned. While I cannot agree with you, I do enjoy your articles. They’re well written and certainly better then any I could write. (Trust me, I’ve tried). So don’t take this piece of critism as a bad thing, its just one person’s opinion disagreement of your opinion.
I think the biggest contribution M10 actually had to this format (as you pointed out) was lurking predators and Djinn of Wishes. While one lets you play creatures, the other lets you play non creatures. And since the lurking predators is a may ability, you can almost tutor for the one spell you want to play with the Djinn.
Wow, there are still people who think the loss of damage on the stack removed an element of strategy from Magic? I thought most thoughtful players had caught up by now. Oh well.
Anyway, I was happy to see Safe Passage on the list. I haven’t had the chance to play multiplayer in waaaaay too long, so I can’t comment on that in particular, but I agree that it’s underrated in general. I’ve even considered using it in a Standard FNM deck. The fact that it’s not only one-sided but also not restricted to combat damage is huge. There are just so many uses. Imagine having a couple of deathtouch creatures out, and they try to Overrun for the win (or even just swing with several creatures, unaided, for heavy damage). It goes from lots of damage and forcing trades with your deathtouch guys to a total blowout. There’s gotta be a way to abuse it. Maybe not at a Pro Tour, but somewhere…
I don’t get you guys sometime. Besides combat damage on the stack the biggest change to multiple player is lifelink, hands down. Lifelink says the creature’s controller gains the life, not the spell’s controller. This means you can no longer throw lifelink onto an opponents creature in multiplayer and watch it decimate a mutual enemy while giving you life. That change is enough for me to go back to using Armadillo Cloaks exclusively, it’s such a better card.
Meanwhile, saying Soul Warden is good in multiplayer is like saying Counterspell is good with two untapped Islands. Also, it’s back to being a common again. It was a common in Exodus.
I don’t know of any multiplayer groups that play standard either – I’ve played in many groups and multiplayer is the one time we get real free-for-alls. Occasionally we’ll make up house rules too or play formats like 5-star. Mana burn? Doesn’t really matter. Hell, it just prevents suicide moves now.
Burning Inquiry is quirky but by no means is it one of the best multiplayer cards. If anything, it will just put a target on your head. Lurking predators? Eh, okay, I’d want to see a more thought out use like a Lurking Predators, Soothsaying, Clash deck. Twin Cast? It’s called Fork, hardly new. Safe Passage is great, especially with some fun mass destruction like Fault Line.
Platinum Angel is incredible in Multiplayer, especially when you use it for misdirection. Silence will just piss most people off. Fog? What is there to possibly say about Fog that’s new or exciting? Not much.
What about the new card (and not functional reprints)?
How about Capricious Efreet’s rampant destruction?
Howling Banshee is a great 4-drop.
Magma Phoenix makes for a solid flyer and “DO NOT TOUCH” card.
Moss Adder is amazing against two opponents of those colors.
Planar Cleansing is a FANTASTIC sweep, it shuts down armies and combos.
Protean Hydra has plenty of time to get nice and big.
Sleep can be used to kill off a player without any effort on your behalf.
Xanthrid Demon is probably one of THE best multiplayer cards in the set.
Sorry guys, I feel like you’ve been off your game the last few weeks.
I think what Leaf was going for was cards that ARENT so obvious in multiplayer. We could talk about flying 7/7 tramples all day but it just seems a bit too plain.
Also.. every multiplayer group is different. Maybe your group lets you put out Plat Ang. without recourse.. but I know in my group I’d be dead 4 different ways
I think you do have a point though, most MP groups probably don’t play standard (I know mine doesn’t really). But as I said.. each group is different and you have to look at the cards in your own groups context.
If that’s the case, then Soul Warden shouldn’t be there either, ya know? Plus the list is filed under “Best/Worst/Top Lists”
Platinum Angel is an interesting card because at 4/4, he’s really weak. Sure, it may take two players to take it out but it’s easy to happen.
My playgroup got really mad after I made my Quash-Eradicate-Splinter-Sow the Salt-Bitter Ordeal-Jester’s Cap monstrosity.
And I feel like Xanthrid Demon is one of the more underrated cards in 2010. Sure, he’s got no place in Standard but man is he fun. Especially when I can play rituals.
We missed you today…I mean killing you in 4 different ways. Its true though, the minute one person puts out a power card, the masses descend to destroy you and then go back to amaasing their armies to take on each other. Lets take today for instance, someone played 2 coat of arms and was dead in a couple rounds (somewhere around 30 elves in play) the key card that took down this empire was Fog (my favorite card as should be known by now). It took another 10 rounds to finish the game between 3 other people. Who won? The guy who played the fog at just the right moment.
“Besides combat damage on the stack the biggest change to multiple player is lifelink, hands down. Lifelink says the creature’s controller gains the life, not the spell’s controller. This means you can no longer throw lifelink onto an opponents creature in multiplayer and watch it decimate a mutual enemy while giving you life. That change is enough for me to go back to using Armadillo Cloaks exclusively, it’s such a better card.”
You are misinformed. The reason you could, say, enchant an opponent’s creature with Spirit Link and gain the life instead of your opponent has absolutely nothing to do with the definition of the lifelink. Read the card carefully (printed or Oracle text). It does not grant the enchanted creature any abilities (so Grizzly Bears enchanted with Spirit Link would get the buff from Muraganda Petroglyphs). The triggered ability that gains you life from Spirit Link is an ability of the enchantment and is not the lifelink ability. Since you control the enchantment, and it’s the enchantment providing the life gain, you gain the life regardless of whose creature it is.
The new M10 enchantment called Lifelink, on the other hand, actually gives the enchanted creature the ability (the actual lifelink ability, not a similar-but-unnamed triggered ability), causing the creature’s controller to gain life. This is why the enchantment called Lifelink is not a functional reprint of Spirit Link. It has nothing to do with M10 rules changes; it has everything to do with reading the card.
What I meant to say was the replacement of Spirit Link with Lifelink. I know the differences but Spirit Link is being replaced by Lifelink now which is depressing. Cards like Spirit Link or Vampiric Link can be used to prevent creatures from killing you, while gaining life from other combats. Lifelink doesn’t allow for this and is a strictly worse ability in my opinion.
So… You play multiplayer in such a format as to have the printing of the Lifelink card prevent you from playing Spirit Link (you’re depressed, you say, about the “replacement”), but also such a format as to allow Armadillo Cloak (which you mentioned you’ll go back to). I’m awfully curious what format that is.
Wow you guys are harsh. This is a fine article. I hadn’t even noticed how safe passage was one sided like that. I need to slow down and read things more I guess. I was shocked that you didn’t include xathrid demon though. I noticed his “each opponent” wording from the moment I pulled him from the pack. He’s awesome. He would make himself a target for sure. But the potential to deal tons of damage *with* a 7/7 trampling flyer.. That’s pretty good.
I see why you mentioned burning inquiry. It actually is a good card. Imagine megrim and underworld dreams in play. You could drop two of them or twincast them for tons of damage to everybody at very little cost. That’s nine damage for one mana to each opponent with both enchants in play. (incase you’re bad at math) I could almost make a deck for this…
yawning fissure is also an each opponent card. Pretty bad in one on one, seems designed for multiplayer to me.
Keep up the good work.
Hive mind + Pact of the Titan = end of discussion. Who says multiplayer can’t be fun…
That asside, Hive Mind= Multiplayer Madness.
It seems I need to clarify a few points.
First, the rules changes matter much less in general for multiplayer formats, with the slight exception of mana-burn which rarely matters in any format. However I felt I needed to cover all my bases.
Second, I didn’t mean to imply that multiplayer changes with the standard rotation. If I gave that impression then it was unintended. What I wanted to stress were the cards actually in M10, and point out that one big one (Wrath of God) was not. Not as important if you assume everyone already has a playset, but that isn’t the case.
Third, if you play in an environment that one big creature (like Xathrid Demon) can win a game then good for you. Actually that sounds fun. But that is not something I am used to. Much the opposite, big creatures make bigger targets and end up causing more harm than good.
The point with Xanthrid Demon is in multiplayer where few cards are restricted, playing him third or fourth turn isn’t that hard for monoblack. Add in a few Dash Hopes or Darkness and you can protect him pretty well.
Fog is not as bad as you think it is. Having someone swing at you with all they’ve got, maybe with an Overrun, and then preventing all damage leaves them completely open for a counter attack on your turn.
Word up! Another card that is really not used and there should be 4 in every deck, is naturalize. Green is a spit in the face of the biggest creature with enchantments and artifacts to beef it up and 1 $.50 card ruins all the fun. I can’t count the # of times I have won because of Fog, and the guys I play with know this and always tend to say I have something up my sleeve… I believe the term “sneaky” was used.
Good call on the platinum Angel. Everyone in my circle are veterens with 13+ years of experiance. Anyone who plays a creature like PA might as well scoop cause they are not gonna live till their next turn.
I think the artical was well written. The examples were the cards that a lot of people look over (minus the cards we already knew from the past)
I do agree that their should have been a lot of cards in both the sections. At the same time I realize their are hundreds of cards in the set, and obviously that is way to much to cover.
As far as card disagreement….One of the best parts of magic is that one mans trash is another mans treasure. Some cards are very usefull in the eyes of one person, but to another they are usless.
Soul Warden is really nice in multiplayer, especially as a combo with Darien, King of Kjeldor, which would prevent you from taking any damage whatsoever.
Would the above mentioned combo with Warden/Darien work? I think you would take the damage, then the game checks your life totals, realizes you are at/below 0, then you die before the soldiers come into play. Or do I have the timing wrong? I know Darien gives you the soldiers “whenever you take damage”, but I would think you’d hit 0 before the life gain from Warden hits.
As long as you aren’t dealt enough to kill you, you’ll be fine but a single attack would kill you.
And they already errated Darien into a soldier instead of a lord!
I can’t say that I have used fog in Multiplayer ever since I aquired Constant Mists, Spike Weaver, or Spore Cloud/Tangle. In multiplayer, you need to have the ablility to reuse a card multiple times or in Spore Clouds case leave your opponents unable to defend themselves.
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