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Already considered Magic: The Gathering's most social format, the Elder Dragon Highlander format has received a festive makeover perfect for the holidays. As part of a recent video, creators Josh Lee Kwai and Jimmy Wong demonstrated a four-player match dubbed "Holiday Countdown."

The Mechanics of the Holiday Variant Function

The basic idea is a simple mechanic superimposed on a regular EDH game. A rotating token moves between players. Once it arrives at the current player's turn, the game briefly pauses. All gamers makes a hidden choice whether they're being Nice or Naughty via two cards.

The participants reveal their choice simultaneously. After that, they apply the consequence tied to their decision, first with the player holding the token. The token then gets passed to the next player. A special tracker moves forward one notch, and regular gameplay carries on.

The choices become more significant over time go on, seeming carefully crafted.

Increasing Effects

The initial phases granted modest, shared benefits for the Nice path, like gaining life or Clue tokens. On the other hand, Naughty paths usually provided more specific upsides, often at the expense of someone else. One round allowed those who picked Naughty create a 4/4 flying creature. Anyone who selected Nice made a 1/1 Toy creature token for everyone.

The Grand Arrival

During the eighth round, Saint Nick personally arrived, changing the experience. According to the tally of each player was Nice versus Naughty, Santa gave out mystery presents. They appeared to be small containers, but inside were MTG booster packs of varying value.

• The kindest player received a premium special pack.
• The next kindest player opened a different Collector Booster.
• A special guest ended up with a older booster pack.
• The most mischievous player essentially received coal: a historically poor booster pack acting as a joke.

Every card opened could then be playable for the remainder of the match, played from outside the game by spending mana considered to be any color. Players who were nice players, their present wound up being a huge power spike. Meanwhile, those who chose Naughty essentially got a disadvantage.

Playing the Format at Home

While the original showcase featured considerable custom components, this is a concept that players can easily try at home. Participants plays with their standard Commander deck, and the additional materials needed are a selection of booster packs of varying value.

One potential challenge is that if everyone know ahead of time what being nice gets you, they all might aim for the top prize. You could add variety by using other methods, for example selecting cards from a communal pile or enabling gamers to include cards from their collection not in their deck.

Judging by the entertaining match, Countdown to XT-Mas stands as a fun method to add holiday cheer when playing with friends. It changes the social interplay in the game in a fun and manner, creating a memorable experience among Magic players everywhere.