Mythic Commander Highlander (MCH) for casual MtG

Mythic Commander Highlander (MCH) Rules - version 1.3

This Magic: the Gathering variant format as created as an alternative to the Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) format to address the issues our local group had with the EDH format; namely the oversized EDH decks being difficult to properly shuffle and the multiplayer games taking longer then we liked due to high starting life totals. We feel the MCH format addresses these issues while still providing all of the aspects of EDH that we found enjoyable.

Mythic Commander Highlander (MCH) is a Magic: the Gathering variant which provides a way of encouraging casual, interactive games with a low barrier to entry while still requiring good deck building skills. It can be played 1-on-1 but is usually multiplayer.

1.0 Deck Construction Rules

1.1 Players must choose a Legendary Creature or Planeswalker as the Commander for their deck.

1.2 Players may choose any Legendary Creature or Planeswalker as their Commander. Two players in the same game may choose the same Commander, an other players may include that card in their Deck even if it’s not their Commander. Commanders that are Legendary Creatures are subject to the Legend rule just like any other Legendary Creature; Commanders that are Planeswalkers are subject to the Planeswalker Subtype rule just like any other Planeswalker; multiple copies of the same Legendary Creature or Planeswalker (whether Commander or non-Commander) will all be put into the Graveyard (or Command zone) as a state based effect.

1.3 The Commander is the principle around which an MCH deck is built. It is more easily available than other cards in the deck, and MCH decks will usually want to leverage their Commander’s strengths in their design. It is not, however, guaranteed to be available at every point in the game so MCH decks should be able to function without it for a time.

1.4 The Commander's mana cost defines what color of mana a deck may generate. Commanders are considered to have in their mana cost all mana symbols present in their rules text.

1.5 A deck may not generate mana outside its colors. If an effect would generate mana of an illegal color, it generates colorless mana instead.

1.6 An MCH deck must contain exactly 61 cards, including the Commander.

1.7 With the exception of Basic Lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same English name.

1.8 MCH is played with Legacy legal cards, with the follow exceptions:

1.8.1 Cards are legal as of their set’s prerelease

1.8.2 The following additional cards are banned:

Biorhythm
Braids, Cabal Minion
Coalition Victory
Gifts Ungiven
Karakas
Kokusho, the Evening Star
Limited Resources
Lion's Eye Diamond
Metalworker
Painter's Servant
Panoptic Mirror
Protean Hulk
Recurring Nightmare
Sway of the Stars
Upheaval

2.0 Play Rules

2.1 The start of the game procedure for MCH is as follows:

2.1.1 Players announce their choice of Commander and move that card to the Command zone.

2.1.2 Each player draws a hand of seven cards.

2.1.3 Players may mulligan, using the standard MtG "Paris" method.

2.2 Being a Commander is not a characteristic (MTG CR109.3), it is a property of the card. As such, "Commanderness" cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects, and does not change with control of the card.

2.3 While a Commander is in the Command zone, it may be cast. As an additional cost to cast a Commander from the Command zone, its owner must pay {2} for each time it was previously cast from the Command zone.

2.4 If a Commander would be put into a Graveyard or Exile from anywhere, its owner may choose to move it to the Command zone instead. This is a replacement effect; the card never goes to the Graveyard or Exile and will not trigger abilities. Commanders will move to the Library or Hand as normal; only transitions to Exile or the Graveyard may be replaced.

2.5 Players begin the game with 30 life.

2.6 Commanders are subject to the Legend and Planeswalker Subtype rules; they will be put into the Graveyard or Command zone at the same time as other Legendary Creatures with the same name or Planeswalkers with the same subtype.

3.0 Changelog

01MAR10 - Version 1.0 released
17MAR10 - Version 1.1 (changed 2.1.3 from "Partial Paris"/"Brittany" mulligan to "Paris" mulligan; changed 1.8.2 to remove Riftsweeper from banned list)
20MAR10 - Version 1.2 (changed 1.4 to implement Klutz's EDH General Mana Color Fix; changed 1.8.2 to remove Empress Galina from banned list)
24MAR10 - Version 1.3 (changed 1.6 from 66 cards to 61 cards to make MCH more compatible with Singleton 60/Highlander decks)

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These rules were derived from the Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH) rules released under the Academic Free License (AFL) by Gavin Duggan.

Updated rules to Version 1.3 (changed 1.6 from 66 cards to 61 cards to make MCH more compatible with Singleton 60/Highlander decks)

Wow- thats way beyond the scope of my magic games,but then tweaking decks was my least favorite part of the game. I'd rather people just pull from one big giant deck and go with what they've got.

Steve"simpleton"Avery

Stephen Avery wrote:

Wow- thats way beyond the scope of my magic games,but then tweaking decks was my least favorite part of the game. I'd rather people just pull from one big giant deck and go with what they've got.

Ah, sounds a bit like the Stack format of play. That's fun too. One of the things I like about MtG is that there are so many different ways to play the game.

Sounds interesting -- lately, I have been shedding some of my cards and focusing them in on just the cards I will be using for Type I. I might give this a shot though before all the "regular" cards are gone.

Space Ghost wrote:

Sounds interesting -- lately, I have been shedding some of my cards and focusing them in on just the cards I will be using for Type I. I might give this a shot though before all the "regular" cards are gone.

Are you playing Type I competitive or casual? I was playing around with the Type II competitive stuff for a while but decided that I like multiplayer casual MtG better, although I'm seeing some hints that Wizards' might be offering a competitive multiplayer format and if so I'll most likely give it a shot.