Dream Wizards: Elder Dragon Highlander
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The Wayback Machine - http://www.dreamwizards.com:80/edh.html
Introduction
Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) is a multi-player format where each player selects a Legendary Creature as their General, and builds a 100 card deck (99 plus your General) using the color(s) of that General. Every card besides Basic Land is restricted in the format… so there can never be more than any one copy of a single card. EDH follows the Vintage Format Deck Construction rules, and does maintain its own Banned list as well. Sets are legal for EDH play the day of the set’s Prerelease.
Picking a General and Building a Deck
A General must be a Legendary Creature from any Vintage Legal Magic set. Generals are “reserved” in advance and no other player may use that card in their deck. In order to reserve a General, you should email the organizer with your request and then play your general in a game of EDH. If you don’t play in a game of EDH, you’ll have to submit your General again. Once you’ve played in a game of EDH with that General, it is reserved for you to play with. If you’d like to drop out of the league, or reserve a different General, please email the organizer so the reserve list can be updated. For more information on currently reserved Generals and points of contact, see below.
Decks must be constructed using the colors of your Legendary Creature General. For example, if your General is Black and Blue, then you can only play spells that have Blue and/or Black on the card. If a card has a mana symbol on it that’s not in your color(s), you can’t play it. For example, a red/white hybrid card could not be played With Tolsimir Wolfsblood (GW) as your General. Illusion//Reality and Thornscape Battlemage are also right out. An exception is made for the Fifth Dawn Bringers.
You can only generate mana that shares a color with your General. If mana of another color would be added to your pool, that much colorless mana is added to your mana pool instead. Colorless cards are allowed in any deck.
Decks must contain exactly 100 cards (99 plus your General). All cards except for Basic Lands are Restricted which means you may only run one copy of any card. The cards that can be used in EDH are the same that can be used in Vintage; so Ante cards and manual dexterity cards are Banned.
Also Banned:
Ancestral Recall
Balance
Black Lotus
Biorhythm
Crucible of Worlds
Library of Alexandria
Mox Emerald
Mox Jet
Mox Pearl
Mox Ruby
Mox Sapphire
Panoptic Mirror
Shahrazad
Sway of the Stars
Test of Endurance
Time Walk
Upheaval
Worldgorger Dragon
Watch List:
Beacon of Immortality
Decks may not use any Banned cards, nor may they use any other player’s General. Legendary Creatures that are not in use may be included in any player’s deck. Cards that can bring other cards into a game (such as the Wishes from Judgement) can only be used to bring cards that have been removed from the current game into the current game. There is no sideboard for EDH.
Playing a Game
Each player starts the game with a life total equal to 200 divided by the number of players in the game. With 2 players in the game, each player starts with 100 life. With 4 players in the game, each player starts with 50 life. Players start the game with their General in the removed-from-game zone. The starting player is determined randomly. Note: EDH ignores the normal Play-Draw rule, so even the starting player draws a card. Play then progresses in a clockwise fashion around the table.
Whenever a player could play a Creature spell, they may play their General from the removed-from-game zone. For the purposes of playing a General from this zone, the minimum cost to play a General is 6. I.e., if the converted mana cost of the General is less than 6, then it is raised to 6 for playing the General this way (think of this just like Trinisphere’s ability). If an effect your opponent controls would remove your General from the game, instead, shuffle your General into your library. If you choose to play an effect which RFGs your own General, then you may choose whether your General is shuffled or RFGd.
Players lose the game the same way that they do in normal games of Magic (being decked, having 0 life, etc.), and when they leave the game all cards they own leave the game, spells that were on the stack are countered, and all effects that they controlled end. I.e., if a player loses the game and controlled Vedalken Shackles that was being used to take control of a Yotian Soldier, then the Vedalken Shackles will leave the game and the owner of the Yotian Soldier will regain control of his creature. If the player also had a Lightning Bolt that hadn’t resolved, then it would be countered.
The other way to lose the game is by taking 21, or more, points of damage from a single General during the game. Keep track of this damage as well, since, even if the General leaves play and then returns to play, the prior damage still counts.
The last player left is then is the winner of the game!
Additional EDH-Specific Rules
All Generals have protection from Karakas.
Rune-Tail, Kitsune Ascendant’s ability triggers when your life equals 1.5 times you starting life. (E.g., If you are playing in a 5-player game, Rune-Tail will trigger when you reach 60 life.)
Currently Reserved Generals for the Dream Wizards League. Pleasecontact Cari if you’d like to reserve a General for this league. Please note that there are no planned games for this League, just bring your deck along when you come to a Dream Wizards event:
Andy (Nicol Bolas)
Brian (Cromat)
Cari (Treva, the Renewer)
Chad (Rubinia Soulsinger)
Chris (Darigaaz, the Igniter)
Doug (Maraxus of Keld)
Jeff (Arcades Sabboth)
Kenny (Vaevictis Asmadi)
Martha (Ertai, the Corrupted)
Paul (Dromar)
Ron Be. (Atogatog)
Ron Bo. (Sol’kanar)
Ryan (Chromium)
Sean C (Tsabo Tavoc)
Sean V (Bartel Runeaxe)
Steve (Rith, the Awakener)
Tom (Crosis, the Purger)
The following Generals are reserved by Pro Tour Judges. Please contact Sheldon if you’re a judge and would like to reserve a general for the next Pro Tour:
Duncan McGregor (Sol’Kanar)
Gis Hoogendijk (Chromium)
Ingrid Lind-Jahn (Crosis)
Paul Morris (Dromar)
Peter Jahn (Nicol Bolas)
Scott Larabee (Lord of Tresserhorn)
Sheldon Menery (Pheldagriff)
Toby Elliott (Barrin, Master Wizard)
Thanks to:
Sheldon for spearheading the EDH movement.
Brian for hunting down and compiling the format information
Cari for bringing it all together
Articles consulted:
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=7933
http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/article/8377.html
http://www.tptb.org/magic/formats/dragon.shtml
http://www.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/~geduggan/EDH_rules.php