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Naturally, when I pulled up outside my friend Andrew's share house I had to double check the address. The house looked as many student houses tend to, like they should be ear marked for demolition. A distinctive "herbal fragrance" reminiscent of my older brother's previous "horticultural interests" wafted from a front room as the front stairs creaked menacingly beneath me. I remember feeling uncomfortable. My friend answered the door and once inside I noticed two guys at a table playing Magic. I recognised the cards as similar to one my brother played years ago. I felt the need to say something to impress these people. I walked over and said, "Ah, Magic". Instantly, I had two new friends, the now late Damien Morris (rest in peace my friend), and Tim Butland.

I look back on those days of magic innocence and smile, nothing was ever sleeved, no one played in tournaments or had heard of such a thing called a "rating". We played on the floor in the middle of the living room, the occupants of this house and me, a shy girl who finally found a group of people she fitted in with and came out of her shell. Everyone shared the same pools of cards in the beginning, much like it is now, although, I haven't seen someone roll a cigarette with a brassclaw orc and smoke it any time recently. I learned the game amongst new friends all of whom were fairly new to the game themselves. It took me a while to pick up the game but I was buoyed by Tim telling me that they had to resort to using finger puppets to explain the concepts to Andrew. In the end I picked it up.

Its now seven years later, expansions, cards and even friends have come and gone. But in that time where so much has changed a tradition was forged. Every Wednesday night, we get together and we play Multiplayer Magic. Usually "We" consists of Tim Butland, Michael Mason, Daniel Edwards, Darryl Greensill and myself as a general core with others of more transient attendance. The usual suspects, all of whom I have befriended through my first five years playing Magic are the ones I will later refer to in this article. After all, I can't offend everybody!

The format we play is decided usually on the night and depends on attendance, usually if we have more than six, a melee or free for all will tend to take too long, and an Emperor or Hunter format will be used. If there are more than 8 then sometimes two smaller melee groups are played. Vanguard has been experimented with, as has two-headed giant.

For the benefit of those who may not be aware and are wanting to try these formats I have taken the liberty of cutting and pasting them the official wizards Multiplayer rules, which is something I have never thought to look at until I decided to write this article. However, no one's going to criticise anybody for bastardising these into your own "house rules or house format" as you see fit, you just didn't hear it from me J

Emperor:

Six or ten players / Two teams

"An Emperor game is a contest between two teams. Each team has one emperor (seated in the middle) and two generals (seated one on each side of the emperor). The left-hand general of one team takes the first turn, and then play passes to the left, balancing the advantage of going first with having all the opposing team members take their turns next. The spell range is limited to one-that is, your spells and abilities can affect only you and the players sitting one seat to your left or right (the two players right next to you). You can attack only players on your immediate left or right. Because of this, until a general is knocked out, neither emperor can be attacked. Moving creatures is allowed. Each player starts with 20 life; life totals aren't shared. If a general is eliminated, the remaining players on that team continue to play normally. When an emperor is eliminated, that team loses. You can also play Emperor with four generals per team, sitting two on each side of the emperor. Spell range is still limited to one."

Source: http://www.wizards.com/magic/generic/official/rulings/multiplayer_rules.doc

*Author's Note: When I have played this format moving creatures has generally only allowed during a player's upkeep. However the wizards don't specify this. Further, within our group some spells such as Wrath of God have affected everybody, as do global enchantments.

Hunter:

Any number of players / no teams

Basically you can only attack left or only attack right and you have a spell range of two. This format tends to be good where there are a lot of players and you want to fit more than one game into an evening. Especially good if you play with a group of people who need to be encouraged to be aggressive.

Vanguard:

Any number of players / no teams

I personally like this format and it can be used in multi-player or one on one duelling. For those of you who own Vanguard cards these are large cards (similar size to promotional cards) with Magic Legends or Characters on them who affect you as a player, for example: Hanna for example reads, "Your spells cost 1 less to play". You can read the complete list of Vanguard Cards and their abilities at this URL.

http://www.crystalkeep.com/magic/lists/files/list-vg.pdf,

Two Headed Giant:

Four players / Two teams

"Two-Headed Giant is a variant of DCI Two-on-Two or basic two-on-two multiplayer Magic. In Two-Headed Giant each team represents two "heads" of a giant. The giant has an initial life total of 40, and damage dealt to either player is deducted from the giant's total. Your creatures can attack any opponent, so moving creatures isn't allowed. You win by reducing the opposing giant's life total to 0".

Source: http://www.wizards.com/magic/generic/official/rulings/multiplayer_rules.doc

*Author's Note: I think there is reasonable merit in running Two Headed Giant with basically two people on 20 life as opposed to one giant on 40, the claim is that the giant can still function with one head missing but the other has to do all the work, hence, similar to Emperor, if one head is gone, then that player is out of the game but can still try and beat down the two on the other side. Sounds impossible, but has worked before. This format tends to be covered in "Two on Two" see the source reference for details.

Melees and Free for All's:

Every person for themselves, if you like backstabbing (and we all do) this is always a fun format. It is as much a game of diplomacy and politics, as it is Magic.

Free-for-all

Best for three to six players / No teams

The free-for-all format is exactly that: you're on your own against the world. Your creatures can attack any other player, and spell range is unlimited. The last player left standing (or awake) wins!

Melee

Best with six to ten players / No teams

"If you try to play free-for-all with six or more players, you'll quickly realize that it isn't practical. There are too many permanent effects to keep track of and too many choices of whom to attack. Melee is a structured free-for-all with rules to address these problems. You can attack only the player to your left, and spell range is usually limited to one, though you can also try it as two. The object is to knock out the players to your left. Whenever the player to your left is knocked out, you get 1 point, even if someone else eliminated that player. You also get 2 points if you're the last one in the game. In the end, the player with the most points wins, even if he or she isn't the last remaining player."

Source: http://www.wizards.com/magic/generic/official/rulings/multiplayer_rules.doc

Grand Melee, - Wizards recommends a complex set of logistics to ensure that grand melee games actually finish and sometimes, in reasonable time frames. You can view the set of rules and calculations for this at the source reference above if you are interested.

The best part of the Multiplayer game is that it is only limited by your imagination. If your imagination has been stunted or impaired from excessive television, or other means, please see above for ideas on where to begin to spice up your Multiplayer games and there are many other formats listed and rules recommended for such at
http://www.wizards.com/magic/generic/official/rulings/multiplayer_rules.doc

Multiplayer Politics and House Rules of our games.

These are our politics and house "rules" - I could bore you with euphemistic generalisations, but instead, I am going to lay it on the line and name names at the risk of being targeting for all attacks and aggression in future multi-player games. Perhaps you can see some similarities between these notorious individuals and some people you play Multi player with in your groups. First of all, the rules.

Rule 1: The Half Hour Rule

When someone is eliminated from the game, the game should last no more than half an hour so that the eliminated player doesn't sit there twiddling his or her thumbs for the remainder of the evening. It is often bandied about with the best of intention, and not adhered to enough. (We are getting better though)

Rule 2: Burden of Travel shall be shared

Games rotate on a weekly basis between our five residences. All incidentally, with more structural integrity than the first house I played magic in J

Rule 3: There are no other fixed rules.

Except for not cheating (which is generally applicable!) There are no other fixed rules in the multi player games, they are not serious, they are fun. Food is usually involved which is all good.

Multiplayer Politics

The Combo Player (otherwise known as Comboman/woman/person)

As a general rule it is recommended (and usually follows) that everybody attack Tim (Comboman) Butland first. I would recommend this rule to anyone engaging in Magic the Gathering Multiplayer games with Tim Butland and I should know, I have played Magic with him for a whopping seven years - it's a miracle we're still speaking to each other!

Generally, the combo player is a good magic player with good deck ideas, but rarely gets to do much after the first time playing their combo deck, because everyone will gang up on them. (He's playing that deck! Let's get him!!)

The Player that objects to Randomness (vocally or otherwise)

A series of random actions and attacking Daniel Edwards is always worthwhile wholly and solely because his emotive reactions are highly entertaining for all concerned. Except perhaps Dan.

This player may also be disguised as the "political player or instructing player". Appearing on the outside to "try and do the best for the instructed and instructor, but really just trying to make you a pawn in their cunning plans for Multiplayer game domination bwooohoohahaha!" You may find yourself thinking "Sure his arguments seem reasonable enough, if you do, I would recommend you target this person in the same way as "the combo player".

The "Bearded" Player

My Mum once told me that you should not trust men with beards (my father being the only bearded man of exception). This rule in other cases is sometimes true, however, it is always true when playing Multiplayer Magic with Michael Mason.

This player is usually more shifty that most of the other players in your group. This is therefore, very shifty. They may pretend as though they are doing nothing of consequence in the game and will often appear amiable and diplomatic. They are to be watched constantly.

It should be noted that Michael Mason is a bit of a Magic Chameleon. I have observed him at times being guilty of also being "The Combo Player, the Interfering Player, and The player that does nothing all game, gets left alone and then kills everyone (mostly) with a huge army of creatures and huge amounts of life"

The Interfering Player

It has further become customary that in our Wednesday night games, whenever a player casts a spell, they should wait and see if Darryl Greensill wants to interfere with it.

Obviously, this player loves to interfere with what is going on between other players, or what you are doing. A mortal enemy of Mr. Combo, be especially watchful of the interfering player when they are on low life when they know they are going to be eliminated from the game.

The player that does nothing all game, gets left alone and then kills everyone (mostly) with a huge army of creatures and huge amounts of life . (mugshot) Samantha Hepworth

And for me, well naturally, I play to the highest (cough cough) standard (cough cough), never randomly attacking anyone or attempting to turn my fellow players against eachother while I build up an army of soldiers or elves (cough cough) I would never hear anyone saying in shock, "What!! How the hell did you end up on 68 life"!! (cough cough).

This player tends to play the game in their turn, rather than everyone else's (I'm looking at you Comboman and the Interfering Player!). This player may also be guilty of announcing very quietly (or while the political player is mouthing off) cards of consequence such as Wellwishers, Righteous Causes and creatures people generally like to know about such as "forgotten ancients".

So there you have it, an overview of multi-player magic as it exists for me in my small corner of the world. If nothing else, I hope I have saved you having to look up the URL for the multi player rules, if ever you were inclined to look at them.

I've made a lot of great friends playing magic, four of whom I am sure I will probably lose for next several Wednesdays until this article is archived.

But even now as a target, I will still go to face off against Comboman, dodge the Interfering player, play diplomacy with the political player and be ever guarded against the "bearded" player. It's a ton of fun and a big bowl of laughs served with a side of lively conversation and heated debate.

That aside, it's tradition!

Good Luck

Samantha Hepworth
Email: Emailsam@mail2sam.com

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