Rules for Commander and Two headed giant?

[MTGBostonDabs]

hey, so I've just recently gotten into MTG and I was wondering what the rules for both Commander and Two headed giant are? Setup, decks, rules / life and such.

Any help is appreciated pre ordered a case of dragon of takir can't wait!

[Kaylesh]

For commander, all the rules are on http://mtgcommander.net/rules.php

[Prplprince]

I think a more complete rules list you can find easily online but here is an abbreviated version.

Commander: you chose one legendary creature (and now a choice of one of 5 planes walkers) that is designated as the commander of the deck. The rest of your deck will need to be exactly 99 cards plus the commander. It is a singleton format which mean you can have only one copy of a card in the deck except basic lands or special cards like a  {Shadowborn Apostle} or  {Relentless Rats}. These cards can only match the color identity of the commander so for instance if you have you commander as  {Kaalia of the Vast} You can't play any green or blue spells in your deck that include those colors. There are a lot more rules and it would take a paragraph or more just explainable

[LinkCelestrial]

There is a fantastic subforum for Commander. There you'll see deck lists (some are for Timy Leaders which is a bit different) and at the top are some stickied threads that should have enough to get you started.

2HG (two headed giant) is a format where two teams of two players battle it out. It can be played with decks from any format (Standard, Modern, Casual ect).

It differs from a normal game of magic in just a few ways. Teams share turns (most importantly combat phases) and life. They have seperate hands and decks but you may look at and discuss your teammates hand. Brief breakdown of a turn.

You and your teammate untap.

You and your teammate draw.

You and your teammate have a first main phase, during which you may cast spells like normal. Just coordinate with your teammate so you don't attempt to cast spells simultaneously.

You and your teammate declare attackers. Meaning you attack together and your opponents block together. The revers is also true.

You have a second main phase just like the first one.

You both agree to pass turn.

Important gameplay mechanic effects:

When you attack you /do/ declare who you're attacking. That means if one of your opponents has a {Circle of Flame} out it's in your best interest to attack the other one.

If you cast a spell like {Gray Merchant of Asphodel} you'll technically hit both members of the opposing team, therefore earning you double damage.

I have house rules regarding the two above rules as technicalities effect cards when they shouldn't.

When it comes to combat phases you are attacking the opposing team or a Planeswalker one of them controls. You do not differ between players. Therefore cards like {Circle of Flame} will always apply. However cards like {Leyline of Sanctity} will only protect the player that controls it.

As far as damage and life loss is concerned you have one opponent. However other affects effect each opponent. So if you cast {Skull Rend} your opponents would lose a total of 2 life and each of them would discard two cards.

Make sense? Hope this was helpful.

[Prplprince]

^^ there you go. I've only played two headed twice so I only know the rules as explained by my partner lol as we called them "ghetto rules" 😄. Both formats are very fun to play and two headed in limited lets you pool your best cards that wouldn't work so well in the same deck because of colors into two streamlined decks. I remember during the khans prerelease I had a jeskai control deck with only a few flying creatures and my friend had an abzan big stuff deck. As he called it "I'm the fist that hits your face and he kicks you in the junk when you cover your face"