Cactus Game Design Message Boards

I went to a local MTG get-together the other day with a friend.  He taught me how to play a while ago, and he loaned me a deck to play with.  Long story short, the whole affair wasn't too fun, but I did get an idea out of it.  The style everyone was playing was called EDH (Elder Dragon Highlander), which, as I understand it, is supposed to encourage casual play.  The most notable quality of this style that I noticed was the way points were awarded to the players.  There was a printed list of things that you could do in-game that would earn you more points toward your score, and I found some of them to be pretty hilarious.  I can't remember any specific ones, but here's a couple not-so-hilarious ones that I found on the internet:

+2 Bonuses:
Blackjack - Control two creatures whose total power is exactly 21.
Near Death experience - Be at 1 life with an empty stack.
Got Your Back - Save an opponent from taking lethal damage.

There were also some penalties:

-2 Penalties:
But We Just Started - Eliminate a player before their fifth turn.
Don't Pass Go - Take more than two turns in a row.

I think it would be cool if people played Redemption with similar obscure goals in mind.  Here's a few ideas off the top of my head:

Have one of several obscure/unused artifacts discarded by your opponent.
Play two or more enhancements with no special ability in a battle.
Reenact an epic battle from the Bible (e.g. David vs. Goliath).

I'm sure other people could come up with more interesting ideas than these.  Then all you have to do is assign point values and humorous titles to each of these and you're good to go!  I figure you can tally points in addition to lost soul scores to see who comes out on top at the end of the tournament.  Even if no one actually does this, I would love to see what kinds of quirky (and not so quirky) things you would award points for.

Oh man, this idea is so cool! I'm in love <3

I'd say 1 point for each LS rescued and 3 points for winning as a base (that way, you're still playing to win and get a 4+ point advantage over your opponent), and add the extra rules onto that. Such as:

-2 for playing Son of God
+2 for not having New Jerusalem in your deck
+2 for playing an Enhancement with no Special Ability on a character with no special ability
+2 for having a Lost Soul with no Special Ability in a deck with no FbtN LS
-2 for winning a battle without playing any Enhancements and playing a Dom

And so on and so on. This could be the most fun way to play the most fun card game.

Would these points be added to win scores or to LS diff?

reminds me of the final fantasy tactics gameboy games, where each level/battle had a random set of laws, and if one of your characters broke a law, the judge would come and remove that character from battle and throw him in jail.

reminds me of the final fantasy tactics gameboy games, where each level/battle had a random set of laws, and if one of your characters broke a law, the judge would come and remove that character from battle and throw him in jail.

(goes into the fetal position)
healing spells shouldn't be holy, healing spells shouldn't be holy, healing spells shouldn't be holy

Although it can be worth it to grab the +3 for winning.

Okay, so I've got some time to come up with some of these.  Some will be based on a list of EDH Victory points I found, some will be based on what others have already said, and some will be original.  All bonuses are assuming a Type 1 Multi-player game is being played.  Here we go.

+1 Bonuses
Can't Touch This - Win 3 battles with immunity.
Empty Alley - Draw no lost souls for 3 or more turns in a row.
Evenly Matched - End 2 or more battles in a stalemate.
Friendly Fire - Discard a hero and an evil character at the same time.
Hide and Seek - Have 3 or more occupied forts in play or set-aside area.
Indiana Jones - Have 4 or more artifacts active at one time.
It's Quiet... Too Quiet - Don't make a rescue attempt for 3 or more turns.
Juggernaut - Win 2 battles in the same battle phase with the same character.
Lay Down Your Life - Rescue a soul via mutual destruction.
Luck of the Draw - Win a battle on turn one.
Mind Reader - Look at (or reveal) opponent's hand 3 or more times.
Nail Biter - Win the game by only one lost soul difference.
Pumped Up - Permanently increase one of your character's abilities by 5/5 or more.
Spiritual Revival - Convert 3 or more evil characters.
Strength in Weakness - Win a battle with a character that has no special ability.
Thief! - Use an opponent's own enhancement against him.
Totally Legit - Win the game with a rescue attempt.
Turncoat - Use an opponent's own character against him 2 or more times.
Vendetta - Discard, shuffle, or otherwise remove one of an opponent's characters from play 2 or more times during a game.
War Party - Have 3 or more weapon class enhancements (of the same alignment) in play.
What's in a Name? - Receive a name-on-name bonus 2 or more times during the game.
Yeah I gots numbrs - Defeat a Fight by the Numbers character by the numbers.
? - Win a battle challenge in which at least one hero and one evil character participate.

+2 Bonuses
Bases Loaded - Have at least one hero or evil character from every brigade in your territory.
Battle Royale - Win a battle in which 3 or more heroes and 3 or more evil characters participate.
Got your Back - Save an opponent from losing a battle.
I Gotta Hand it to You - End a battle with zero cards in your hand.
Old School - Win a battle by playing a single-color enhancement with no special ability.
Retreat! - Withdraw from battle 3 or more times in a game.
Slave Trader - Have 5 or more heroes in your land of bondage.
Slow and Steady - All opponents deck out before you.
Submarine - Win a battle with a character that was previously face down this turn (not in draw pile).

+3 Bonuses
Destroyed Evidence - End the game with zero cards in your discard pile.
Historical Accuracy - Re-enact a battle from the Bible with the actual characters that were involved.  (Both players receive the bonus.)
Lone Ranger - Win the game with one hero in battle and no heroes in territory.
Questing - Rescue 2 lost souls with a converted evil character.


-1 Penalties
Win a battle with Angel of the Lord
Win a battle with Christian Martyr
Play Falling Away
Remove 3 or more of an opponent's characters from play at one time

-2 Penalties
Play Son of God
Play New Jerusalem

I'll probably come up with more later, and I'll add others as people mention them.

Bonuses
Luck of the Draw - Win a battle on turn one.

This should be a -1.

+2 Bonuses
Old School - Win a battle by playing a single-color enhancement with no special ability.

This should be worth +5 or something.  It would mean that someone actually put an enhancement like this in their deck (which is tough enough) AND that they are actually able to use it at the right time to win a battle (amazingly hard).

This is a sweet idea.  I'd be all for playing some games like this.  You guys should come up a top 25 for +'s and -'s and agree upon the #'s, so decks can be put together and game can be played.

Daniel

 

Strength in weakness + 1
Use a character with no special ability

Slow and steady + 2
Deck out your opponent

I gotta hand it to you + 2
Your opponents hand reaches 0 after all special abilities have resolved.

Slave Trader + 2
Have 7 or more heroes in your land of bondage

Biblical correctness + 1
Block with a Hero with a fitting evil character (David Vs Goliath, John the Bap vs Salome/Herod ant/herodias etc.)

Who needs a theme? + 2
Play a deck with no central theme (Strategies are allowed).

It's over 9000! + 3
Win a game (Within time limits) with a 153 deck.

Playing CM - 1
(Nuff said)

Playing AOTL -1

Playing Nj - 2

Playing Falling away - 1

Doubt yourself + 3
Win a battle with doubt (via enhancement or #s. Just like Pot's wife)

Buckler -2/+2
Cuz its Buckler.

Name on Name + 1
Play a name on name bonus.

Biblical Correctness + 1
Play a Non Name on name card that is part of that character story (Jawbone/Samson)

I hate Rainbows - 2
Have more than 4 brigades of one alignment in play.

No more heroes + 1
After your opponent is decked, leave him/her with no heroes in territory for three turns.

I can understand deck content, I just like encouraging weird decks.  For Doubt I'd really suggest 2 or more. First off you have to USE doubt (which doesn't happen often) Then you have to get init (0/12, good luck) and not get negated/itb+ Bw'd

Block with Doubt and use Gates to bring in KoT. 10/24 BTN.

Is giving up your fort worth + 1?

I hate to be Debbie Downer over here... but I want to express some of the flaws I see so that this could be really fun (Love the idea!)

1. There's WAY too much about deck building. Bonuses that require lame cards like doubt and no special ability cards I think just encourage people to make stupid decks just so that they can win in points. I think it would be very much more fun to have two national competitor decks that try to do rediculous things, such as:

1. Win 3 battle challenges or more -- Tyrant (+2)
2. Win the game by 1 lost soul -- Defense! ()
3. Discard TGT -- People's Champion (+2 for every player in the game, including yourself)
4. Win the game with a rescue attempt -- Starder Deck N00B
5. Win a battle challenge and a rescue attempt in one battle phase -- Juggernaut
6. Use Buckler -- Buckler Brigade! (+3) (yeah, this is based on deck building but it's buckler) 

I just think that these types of abilities would be a LOT more fun, so that people can take their awesome decks and then mess around with each other.

I'm much less excited about this than I was at first. It seems that everyone is wanting to neuter the possibilities of how points are awarded/deducted as much as possible. What's wrong with points for deck content? Or even if that's out (I can at least see where you're coming from), why all the hating on points that deal with specific cards? Shouldn't the nature of the beast be that you alter your deckbuilding to account for the fact that you're playing a different type? People don't use the same deck for Multi and 2-Player and Teams...