Modes of Magic

Magic like many great games can be played in a variety of ways. Games like Monopoly, Risk, and Scrabble are so popular, that many people play with their own house rules. Magic has an overgrowing number of formats that are all gaining in popularity. Magic Online has 17 formats. Vanguard has spawned its own versions of Standard, Extended, and Classic as well as Momir Basic which is a subset of Vanguard itself. Vanguard lets you start with a special card in play that changes the game like “Draw 1 card and lose 1 life during your upkeep, you start out with 15 life.”

Tribal lets you play with your favorite creatures types. Singleton restricts all cards to just a single copy, no crazy combo decks here. Prismatic lets you assemble an extra-large 250 card deck that requires all 5 colors to be included. Other types of games include Peasant Magic which includes only commons and a few uncommons. Highlander which is basically Singleton decks with a minimum of 100 cards, which makes every game different. Now there is even the officially sanctioned Two Headed Giant format as well as regular multiplayer Magic. Every format has different a feel to it. So if you are tired of just Standard, try something else. And don’t worry if you lose at first, you have to walk before you can run. :)