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Emperor Magic is quite possibly the greatest variant on the game eve created. I was first exposed to this format in an Inquest article many years ago. Because some of you may have never heard of the variant or play with a different set of rules, I describe the style I know and love.
Emperor Magic requires six players, or two emperors and 4 generals. Emperors sit across from each other and have their generals on their left and right. Here's a sample diagram:
Emperor Letters
General A General B
General 1 General 2
Emperor Numbers
The purpose of Emperor Magic is to kill the other emperor. The trick is that you can only affect players to your left and to your right. In other words, General 1's spells affect General A and Emperor Numbers. If he wants to target a player with a fireball, he can only target those two players. If he plays a Wrath of God, only General A, himself, and Emperor Numbers have to bury their creatures. If Emperor Numbers lays down a Bad Moon, only his, General 1's, and General 2's black creatures get the bonus. Getting the picture? Once General 1 kills General A, Emperor Letters is now in is realm and can be targeted (General 1 could also be targeted by Emperor Letters at that point). Once the emperor dies, that team loses, regardless of whether or not they have a general remaining.
Players also have the option of moving their creatures to other team members. If a creature can legitimately attack on a turn, a player may instead opt to ´´march´´ his creature to an adjacent player. The emperor can march their creatures to either side, but if generals want to share creatures, they must first march to the emperor.
That's really all you need to know to play. There are many variations on this style of play and a set of 'House Rules' follow this article.
You'd be very surprised how much strategy can be involved with this type of game. While generals can get away with playing a standard dueling deck, emperors might want to put more thought into theirs. Aside from obvious choices such as Howling Mine, Emperor Magic provides a unique format that encourages the play of rarely used cards. Chump rares and 'trash' cards start to shine in this format. The local commons box can become a treasure trove of powerful spells. Here's a list for your consideration. If you want to find out more about a card, just type it into Cardshark's search engine.
Truce: Who would have thought that a worthless Homelands rare would prove so useful? For 2W, you have an instant that lets all players draw 2 cards or gain 2 life for each card they don't draw. If you're an emperor and both of your generals are on their feet, your team can gain a net of 5 cards for 3 mana...not a bad deal at all. It's life option may not be very popular, but it's always nice to have the option if your general is in a heated match and just needs to survive another turn or two to deal a killing blow.
Prosperity: This card has its uses in tournament play, but is broken in Emperor. Sorcery - XU, each player draws X cards. Spend four mana, your team nets 8 cards...ouch.
Noble Benefactor: A 2/2 for 2U is kind of lousy. If you can find a way to kill him off, however, he turns into a demonic tutor for your entire team. Your generals will love you for that...
Shade's Form: Torment offers up a useful emperor card. For 1BB, this enchant creature gives the ability of a Frozen Shade. If the critter dies, he comes back into play under your control. This card is great for two reasons. First, it serves as an insurance policy on a creature, brining it back for a second round. Second, since you still control the enchantment, you can use your mana to pump up a general's creature, giving your general a fatty and you something to do with all those untapped swamps.
Turnabout: This instant for 2UU lets you tap or untap all of a player's lands, artifacts, or creatures. Use it to double a general's mana or refresh their defenses. Or, if one of your generals has fallen, use it to tap your opponents army and buy yourself some time.
Flickering Ward: Keeping your general's creatures alive keeps you alive. Flickering Ward is an enchant creature that costs W. When it comes into play, the enchanted creature gains protection from the color of your choice. Hopefully you can see the usefulness behind this without me explaining it to you. Even better, however, is that for W you can return the ward to your hand, allowing you to save it from the graveyard if the creature pops off or redistribute it to a soul in greater need.
Hunted Wumpus: Another absolutely broken card in this format. For 3G you get a 6/6 monster. If that isn't enough, when you put it into play all other players get to put a creature into play from their hands too. It's like Christmas for you and your generals...
Elvish Herder: For G you get a 1/1 creature. In and of itself, this is rather unimpressive. Once he hits the table though, for G you get to activate his ability, giving trample to target creature. Even better, he doesn't tap to do it. This lets you make sure the damage your generals do doesn't get chump blocked away.
Well of Knowledge: An artifact that lets you draw cards for every 2 mana you spend is pretty good. Too bad the other players get to do it as well...oh wait...this is Emperor...
Obsidian/Crimson Acolyte: These cards do get played in Type 2 tourneys, but I thought I'd bring them up to make sure they weren't overlooked. For W you get to give a creature protection from black or red depending on your flavor of acolyte. Like the herder, it doesn't tap so you can do it as many times as you have mana. Being able to protect all of your general's creatures from burn really pisses off a red mage.
There's a list of 10 to get you started. Toss a few of these in with a couple of modestly large creatures and you have the recipe for an effective emperor deck.
Now here's that list of House Rules:
1)Creatures that are marched have summoning sickness until they have spent the end of a turn with a player.
2)When rolling to play first, the emperor who wins first goes himself, then has one of his generals go. Play proceeds clockwise with the first general of the other team.
3)Generals and emperors can look at each other's cards.
4)Enchant Worlds are the only cards that affect every player at the table, regardless of who they are next to.
5)When a general dies, all creatures under his control are removed from game.
6)An opponent must be present during a player's upkeep before being 'registered'. This gives the emperor a slight edge when one of his generals falls.
And on a final note, Sliver decks are ridiculous in this format. Cards like Muscle Burst/Diligent Farmhand are also brutal if generals and emperor collaborate beforehand while building their decks. Please note that it's usually more fun playing decks 'off the shelf', so to speak, and discovering unexpected synergy rather than designing teams to go together.
Regards,
Kevin Knack
geikiganger@hotmail.com
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