This content was originally included in an issue of The Duelist magazine. The original article can be accessed via Internet Archive here.

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Main Magazine Page: The Duelist #0

By Jim Lin

Playing a team version of Magic can be both fun and challenging, especially if you like tinkering with new strategies. Many cards that are extremely potent in one-on-one dueling turn out to be much less effective in a multiplayer format, while others become much more interesting and valuable. Different decks will interact differently, so the two strongest individual decks may not make the best team. There are many different ways to play team Magic, and the rules given below are intended only as guidelines. The only absolute rule is that you should make sure that everyone involved in the game understands and agrees to the rules you’re using.

The Basics

The basics of Magic do not change in a team game. All of the players still start with 20 life and seek to reduce all of their opponents to 0 life. When players are eliminated, they no longer take turns, and any cards in play that originally belonged to them are removed from play, regardless of who currently controls them. The process of drawing cards, playing lands, casting spells, and attacking is unchanged, except as noted below.

Seating Arrangement

We generally use one of two different ways to arrange the players in a team game. The first is recommended for two-on-two games. Seat players in a circle so that each one sits between two opponents. Turns pass in a clockwise fashion, going from Team A’s first player to Team B’s firs player, then on to Team A’s second player and Team B’s second player.

For a three-on-three game, we use a line format. In this seating arrangement all players on one team are seated consecutively. Since turns still go clockwise around the table, all players on one team take their turns in a row. When you’re determining who goes first, it’s usually best to pick someone near the line between the two teams, so that no team gets to take all its players’ turns before the other team gets a turn. Due to the attacking rules given below, this seating format prevents those players sitting between their teammates from being able to attack any of their opponents directly. This position is often referred to as the “general” position.

Games with more than six players usually take too much time. If the power between decks is extremely unbalanced, you might want to try handicapped games, such as three on two. Be careful with this, though, since the side with more players will have an extremely large advantage if the decks turn out to be more equally matched than you thought.

Using Cards to Affect Others

The words “you” and “your” on a card still refer to you personally, not to your team; a card intended to benefit its controller cannot be used to benefit the controller’s teammates. Cards that specify “opponent” or “rival” refer to any players except yourself, including your teammates. Any card that says simply “player” or “any target” refers to any player. Any creature you summon appears on the table in your territory.

Attacking

In team Magic, the creatures in a player’s territory may only attack an opponent sitting next to the player. If a player is sitting between two teammates, the creatures in that player’s territory may not attack at all; you cannot use your creatures to attack your teammate. However, a player may choose to move such creatures to a teammate’s territory. Making such a move takes the place of an attack for that creature, but doesn’t tap it. Note that since walls cannot attack, they also cannot move.

Moving a creature to a teammate’s territory does not confer control of the creature to your teammate. That creature still attacks during your turn, not your teammate’s, and you decide whether and what it will block, not your teammate. If a card in play forces a creature to attack and the creature has a choice of two different players to attack, the creature’s controller decides whom it attacks. If such a card is played on a creature that cannot attack since it is not adjacent to any opponents, the creature must move to a territory from which it can attack.

When players are eliminated, their places are removed as well as all their cards. Thus, a player with no neighboring enemies can acquire one when an ally falls, and teammates who were not adjacent may become adjacent when a common neighboring  enemy is removed.

Communication

There are three possible ways to handle communication between teammates. In the first, no communication is allowed. Teammates may not ask each other for advice, make suggestions, or look at each others’ hands. The second possibility allows full communication; teammates may discuss any decision and show each other their hands. We’ve found the first option rather unwieldy and frustrating, while the second option tends to lead to very long games.

The third option, which we recommend, is a compromise. Teammates may not show each other their hands or ask each other for help in deciding which cards to play. They may, however, discuss how to use any card that is in play, and they may make suggestions to their teammates as long as they don’t refer to any cards in their hands. For example, a player with a Giant Growth or Howl from Beyond in hand might suggest, “Go ahead and attack even though it doesn’t look good,” but may not say, “If you want to attack, I can put Giant Growth on your creature.”