I have a few potential tweaks to the Archenemy rules that 1) help to present focus to defeating the AE, 2) create interesting conundrums for the AE instead of forcing potentially thoughtless schemeplay, and 3) staves off premature endings to the game (via infinite combos and such). I'd like to share this with you if possible.
Archenemy EDH begins with heroes at 40 life each (20 in normal formats), and the AE at ~ life.
Instead of life, AE has 40+20x cards in scheme deck (max 2 of a given card, and max of 140 cards total because of printings), where X = the starting number of heroes (minimum 3 heroes, no maximum though 5 is an encouraged cap). (Split this life total number in half for normal formats, and limit copies of schemes to a cap of 1).
When AE would lose or pay life, they instead mill that many cards from the scheme deck, face-down. AE (and only the AE) can look at these milled cards. When counting life totals, AE counts the cards in his or her scheme deck.
Due to the "life loss" aspect of setting a scheme in motion for this iteration of Archenemy, here setting a scheme in motion at the start of the AE's precombat main phase is optional.
Special:
Infect damage to AE = 4x damage instead of poison
Commander damage to AE = 3x damage. Commander damage kills specifically do not apply to the AE.
When being milled (whether to graveyard or to exile), AE can choose to mill from scheme deck instead, if they have 100+ cards in the starting scheme deck. These milled scheme cards are put into exile face-down, unlike when taking damage. No player may look at these exiled scheme cards.
When gaining life, AE instead chooses X discarded schemes (from the command zone, not from exile) and puts them on the bottom of their scheme deck in a random order. AE can choose the schemes to be placed on the bottom of his or her scheme deck. AE cannot have more cards in their scheme deck than they started with, or use schemes that weren't in the starting scheme deck. If the AE would gain more life than to the total they started with they still count as gaining that much life, even if no cards are put into the scheme deck.
If a "lethal infinite combo" is conducted against the AE, only X iterations of said infinite combo are to be performed each valid turn, where X is the number of heroes that the game started with. If the AE would conduct a lethal infinite combo, it is only conducted against one of the AE's opponents at random and only during the AE's turn.
I'd love to hear some feedback on this if possible. I want to implement these rules in my local playgroup with my completed set of 2x schemes lol
It's an interesting concept, but it has one major issue in my mind. Currently, you can build an archenemy deck of 20 schemes that best fit your deck, allowing you to concentrate the power to balance against multiple other players. With your setup, you have to dilute your scheme deck with some of the weakest or least suited for your deck. It becomes a lot more random, and the abilities whiff more often.
I suppose youve got a point there, but I think the randomness is an interesting part of this variant, and a necessary consequence at that. I actually playtested this as 3-on-1 with 70 schemes and it seems like that was just as random anyway. 100-140 shouldn't make a huge difference except for more opportunities to get schemes going.
I have a few potential tweaks to the Archenemy rules that 1) help to present focus to defeating the AE, 2) create interesting conundrums for the AE instead of forcing potentially thoughtless schemeplay, and 3) staves off premature endings to the game (via infinite combos and such). I'd like to share this with you if possible.
Instead of life, AE has 40+20x cards in scheme deck (max 2 of a given card, and max of 140 cards total because of printings), where X = the starting number of heroes (minimum 3 heroes, no maximum though 5 is an encouraged cap). (Split this life total number in half for normal formats, and limit copies of schemes to a cap of 1).
When AE would lose or pay life, they instead mill that many cards from the scheme deck, face-down. AE (and only the AE) can look at these milled cards. When counting life totals, AE counts the cards in his or her scheme deck.
Due to the "life loss" aspect of setting a scheme in motion for this iteration of Archenemy, here setting a scheme in motion at the start of the AE's precombat main phase is optional.
Special:
Infect damage to AE = 4x damage instead of poison
Commander damage to AE = 3x damage. Commander damage kills specifically do not apply to the AE.
When being milled (whether to graveyard or to exile), AE can choose to mill from scheme deck instead, if they have 100+ cards in the starting scheme deck. These milled scheme cards are put into exile face-down, unlike when taking damage. No player may look at these exiled scheme cards.
When gaining life, AE instead chooses X discarded schemes (from the command zone, not from exile) and puts them on the bottom of their scheme deck in a random order. AE can choose the schemes to be placed on the bottom of his or her scheme deck. AE cannot have more cards in their scheme deck than they started with, or use schemes that weren't in the starting scheme deck. If the AE would gain more life than to the total they started with they still count as gaining that much life, even if no cards are put into the scheme deck.
If a "lethal infinite combo" is conducted against the AE, only X iterations of said infinite combo are to be performed each valid turn, where X is the number of heroes that the game started with. If the AE would conduct a lethal infinite combo, it is only conducted against one of the AE's opponents at random and only during the AE's turn.
I'd love to hear some feedback on this if possible. I want to implement these rules in my local playgroup with my completed set of 2x schemes lol
~Lil Kalki
Proud Disciple of the Church of the Wary
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
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~Lil Kalki
Proud Disciple of the Church of the Wary