EDIT: SOME OF THE TWO-HEADED GIANT RULES INFORMATION BELOW IS OUTDATED. PLEASE SEE MY EMAIL FROM FRIDAY NIGHT AND SECTION 810 OF THE MAGIC COMPREHENSIVE RULES FOR UPDATES.
First off, the votes are in, and Two-Headed Giant (2HG) has won by a rather convincing margin of 19-4. Therefore, we will be playing 2HG Sealed this weekend. The event will be on Sunday at 2:30 PM. Sorry for the slightly awkward timing, but I won't be around at all on Saturday or early Sunday. Here's a basic rundown of how the event will work:
Start by choosing a partner. To prevent potential discrepancies in overall team skill and experience, players who have at least 10 league points may not team up with another player who has 10 or more league points. Once you have a partner, each of you will pay $15 and I will give you 4 Scars of Mirrodin booster packs. You will then open your packs independently and write down the rares, foils and any other cards of note and submit your list to me. The purpose of this is so that you and I will be able to know who opened what cards at what time so that there will be no disputes as to who owns what cards after the event. Once your cards have been recorded, you and your partner will share the contents of each player's packs and make two 40 or more card decks using your pooled cards and any number of basic land (which will be provided).
Each team takes their turns at the same time. That means teammates untap together, draw together, attack together, etc. However, 2HG matches are somewhat different than normal 1-on-1 matches because some of the usual rules are a little different. First, each match is only one game instead of best 2-out-of-3 (this means there are no sideboards, but teams can modify their decks between rounds). This is because 2HG matches usually take much longer to complete. 2HG games take longer partly because each team starts at 30 life. Each player also gets one "free" mulligan, where they can mulligan their opening hand and draw 7 cards. After the free mulligan, mulligans proceed as normal to 6 cards, then 5, 4, etc.
One critical rule of 2HG is that life is shared between the two teammates. This means that each player's life total represents half of the team's life total. This means that if me and Skye are on a team, and our team is at 30 life, each of us individually has 15 life. For example, if my team is at 40 life and my opponent uses Sorin Markov's second ability on me ("Target player's life total becomes 10"), my life total will go from 20 to 10, and therefore our team's life total will go from 40 to 30. After the ability resolves, Skye and I will both have 15 life as individuals and 30 life as a team. Conversely, if I play Blood Tithe, each of my opponents lose 3 life (for a total of 6 life lost by the opposing team), and my team gains 6 life.
Note that this rule does not apply to poison counters! This is because poison counters work differently than life totals. First off, poison counters can be given to either player on the defending team, so the same player can be picked each time poison damage is dealt. Poison in 2HG works the same way as milling does - if one player loses the game, the entire team loses the game. While this may seem like poison will be pretty easy to win with in 2HG, keep in mind that accumulating the poison counters will actually be much more difficult, since your infect creatures will have to get through twice as many blockers and removal spells!
If you have any more questions about how 2HG works, please send me an email, or come up to the SUB on Friday afternoon and I'll teach you about it in person.
I've also compiled some more off-site events you can earn League Points for. While usually not quite as exciting as the Pre-Release events, gaming stores also hold Launch Parties that are similar to the Pre-Release events. You get to play with the new cards and get a foil promo card (this time it's Steel Hellkite) just for participating. As with last weekend, I'll give you one point per store you attend an event at. Here's the list of events:
Wizards Wall:
Friday, Oct. 1 @ 7 PM: $12 Draft
Dogs of War:
Friday, Oct 1 @ 7:30 PM: $12 Draft
Get Your Fun On:
Saturday, Oct. 2 @ 7 PM: $12 Draft
Obviously, physical constraints of the universe limit you to attending 2 of the 3 events. However, keep in mind that it's much more important to me and to everyone else for you to attend the FITSSFF event this weekend, so please only attend these Launch Parties as an additional event, not a replacement for mine.
Finally, a ton of people attended the Pre-Release events and have earned themselves a few League Points. Also, nobody lied about what events they attended, which I'm also quite happy about. Keep up the good work! Note that you only get credit for one FITSSFF event for attending any number of pre-releases. Here's the latest standings:
0*. 33 - Dominic Casali (9 events)
1. 25 - Michael Smith (7)
2. 22 - Emile Paul (7)
3. 19 - Skye Kutner (5)
4. 18 - Hunter Garrett (5)
4. 18 - John Kreinbring (8)
6. 16 - Joe Hammond (6)
7. 13 - Dan Hooghkirk (4)
8. 12 - Scott Record (3)
9. 11 - Bryant Benson (7)
10. 10 - Brent Kollinger (5)
10. 10 - Haren Lalchand (6)
12. 6 - Kevin Crowley (3)
12. 6 - Liz DiGangi (5)
12. 6 - Ben Monge (2)
12. 6 - Will Sturges (3)
16. 5 - Alycia Johnson (3)
16. 5 - Stephen Kwok Choon (4)
16. 5 - Glen Parker (4)
16. 5 - Matt Wills (4)
20. 4 - Andrew Capik (2)
20. 4 - Michael Carney (3)
20. 4 - Nick Catalfano (3)
20. 4 - Helen Croce (2)
20. 4 - Michelle Karl (4)
25. 3 - Krystal Lutz (3)
25. 3 - Nikita Nikolayev (3)
27. 2 - Shawn Brabant (2)
27. 2 - John Chandler (1)
27. 2 - David Chesnutt (2)
27. 2 - Kareem Elashmawy (2)
27. 2 - Anna Hallihan (1)
27. 2 - Greg Lovell (2)
27. 2 - Aaron Macy (1)
27. 2 - Jennifer Mori (2)
27. 2 - Ethan Pepmiller (2)
27. 2 - Noah Senzel (2)
37. 1 - Michael Cambata (1)
37. 1 - Thomas Fitch (1)
37. 1 - Mike Mooty (1)
37. 1 - Steven Nelson (1)
37. 1 - Dane Newton (1)
37. 1 - Mike Sedivy (1)
37. 1 - Hannah Sharp (1)
37. 1 - Trish Vincent (1)
*Does not count towards top 8 point totals for end-of-semester invitational event.
If you take a good look at the standings, you'll see why I'm not allowing people with 10 or more points to play on the same team. This should give everyone else a better opportunity to bridge the gap between the top 11 and the rest of the pack. And this should be a great opportunity, since with so many players planning to attend, a ton of points (and prizes) will be there for the taking!
Finally, if you know who you want to partner up with, send me an email. It will help me out with logistics on Sunday. Also email me if you're interested in playing but have no clue who to partner with, as I can try to arrange a teammate for you. Thanks for reading this long message and I'll see you all on Sunday!
- Dom
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