House Rules

[Tonygrabowski4]

I thought it would be interesting to hear some of your house rules and/or cards that are frowned upon during your edh matches.

Frowned upon cards for me and those I play with (so far) are:

{divinity of pride}:  We either don't play it or, if someone does, change 25 life to 50 life.  A turn five (or possibly less) 8/8 flyer with lifelink is a bit ridiculous.

{Sorin Markov}:  The fact that Sorin enters play and immediately puts a player to 1/4 life is sickening.  The fact that he can do it and live is why he catches the ol' stink eye when he hits the board.

We don't really have any special house rules but I was thinking about one.  I was visualizing an incentive for polishing of an opponent.  Maybe like some life or perhaps a card.  Anywho, I look forward to reading your rules/"banned" cards.

[Shadridium]

It's not a strict rule but nither me or my best friend will run {Iona, the shield emria} because its just not fun at all.

We also allow the nephilem to be used as a four color commander.

[imthelolrus]

 {Serra Ascendant} is a card Moneekah and I dislike.

[Gorzo]

We've stopped using the 21 commander combat damage rule altogether in my playgroup. We all agreed it just wasn't fun. Anyone can slap a {Whispersilk cloak} on a mediocre-power commander and win in just a few turns. When it happened, the person doing it would usually be the one to say it was "lame" and unfun, and wanted the game to continue until life totals actually hit 0. So we just stopped using it, and we've been having a blast!

It's nice not having to keep track of all the different commanders' damages, too. That could get annoying.

[MuggyWuggy]

{Serra Ascendant} is a card Moneekah and I dislike.

Yeah it ruins multi EDH quite a bit. Tempted to remove mine from my Trosti deck


Now with competitive EDH (1v1) on the rise tho, I feel until there is a definitive list of banned cards and a standard points system, it's hard to say: this card should be banned

[Coffee Vampire]

If I start a playgroup in the near future, the only house rule will be that the nephilim can be used as commanders. They are legenda in my heart :)

[Dudecore]

We got rid of the silly and redundant "mana symbols" are color identity. We allow hybrid cards in decks that don't produce the that color, as hybrid cards are not gold cards. You can even put {Ancient Grudge} in a mono-red deck, but since you can't pay for {G} it's kinda stupid to do it. But other cards like {Crystal Shard} are fair game.

We found it redundant (as others have) to have restrictions on the cards in your deck, considering your commander already restricts what color mana you can produce. It has been a great success, and we found ourselves not really even using the new rules that often.

Edit: as coffee said, we made the Nephilim legendary creatures. No one has used them yet, but they'd be legal if you played with us.

[Tonygrabowski4]

Can we get this stickied?  Please, oh mighty mods of iMtg.  Grant me this request.

[Mlerner12]

Combos are right out, No {Zur the Enchanter}, and no decks designed specifically to ruin the fun in your group. That's it though.

[xStrayKnightx]

We bump Poison counters from 10 to 25, in the event that someone's actually using Infect.
{Felidar Sovereign} is bumped to 80 life.
X cost in cards is restricted to 5 at the most.
And everyone has their first two turns at the same time, then start properly at T3.
No insta-kill combos.
No player deaths inside the first 10 turns.
Players must have at least six land on the field before being a viable target.

These rules are put in place so the games can stretch a bit. We play casually and for fun, and long games can get ridiculously funny.

[Tonygrabowski4]

We bump Poison counters from 10 to 25, in the event that someone's actually using Infect.

Infect is lame.  LOL.  But seriously, it's lame.

Nobody in our group has played an EDH infect.  I was thinking about it.  What is the difference between wither and infect?  Wither is just -1/-1 counters to creatures, right?  That might be better.  Just switch all instances of infect with wither instead.  That way the deck still has to inflict player damage as normal.

[Moneekahh]

We don't have any official rules, but if someone plays {Winter Orb}, be prepared for some saltiness.

[Coffee Vampire]

That's what I think EDH shouls be: play whatever you want, but if you start douching it up be prepared for death by group rape. However this is only possible if all decks have the same power level. And that's kind of unrealistic, which is why the need arises for house rules like "no infinites" and such. The only reason people ban infinites is because they make the game unfun. But if the group is able to gang up on anyone trying to get cute with an infinite or what have you, and stop that person, combos actually become fun because to pull it off, you need to be excellent at .politics..

[Arzair]

I will probably get hate for this but I feel that it needs to be said.

I am constantly reminding myself to breathe while I write this...

House rules are fine at your kitchen table. 
When I am building a deck I am not thinking about your kitchen table.

But when posting decks and whatnot and talking about their successes shouldn't the poster let the reader know if their deck is being played in a handicapped arena?

How can someone who plays in an extremely cut throat, competitive meta reliably get good feedback when the feedback is coming from people who play in "everybody holds hands and plays some magic games?"

Infect: viable strategy that can keep a player on their toes (easily dealt with if your deck is built correctly)

21 commander damage: stops the game from lasting what could be hours, also a main strategy of many decks.(easily dealt with if your deck is built correctly)

Insta-win cards: don't let them resolve or have removal... If you don't then they deserve to win. (easily dealt with if your deck is built correctly)

Combo: if they were able to do it without anyone stopping them, they deserve to win, shuffle up and play again. (easily dealt with if your deck is built correctly)

Sorin markhov/ magister sphinx : don't let it resolve... Or keep pressure on them so it isn't in their best interest to do so...(easily dealt with if your deck is built correctly)

Early turn plays: the first few plays of the game are so important it is difficult to fathom why players would willingly skip through the first few at the same time...(can win the game in the first 4 turns if your deck is built correctly)

Banning specific commanders: if they aren't on the official ban list, than play anything you want. I am going to and so is everyone else.

I understand that as of right now most people still consider commander (EDH) to be a casual format...

But it sounds to me that some people aren't even playing the same game as I am...

I am confused, mostly because I am no longer sure of the validity of this forum as a feedback mechanism regarding commander.

House rules are fine at your kitchen table.
I am not trying to offend anyone. I am legitimately torn, because I enjoy the forum.

[Coffee Vampire]

Commander is a casual format and was made to be played casually, but it is easily broken and some people (like you and me!) have fun breaking it. So don't be surprised when you see all the crazy house rules people have. It's in the nature of EDH to have those. Some metas just are not equipped to deal with infect decks, and such.

I suggest that if you post an EDH deck for feedback, you say it's competitive. I'll definitely give feedback! I'm very interested in "cutthroat" commander, it's all I play online and it is what I am almost done building in real life. :D