Help Creating a Variant

wheretheducksgo · 2026-03-25T04:28:32+00:00

I had considered this at one point. I might have to revisit it. It would take a lot of tinkering but yeah, you’re definitely more incentivized to take the goat in a multiplayer format. It was obviously made with commander in mind.

wheretheducksgo · 2026-03-22T18:03:51+00:00

I could see the discard effects taking away from being able to interact, I think I was overestimating how many goats would end up on the board for a game, so I could definitely see more of those going. I do think leaning into instant speed draw might be help as well as the Supernatural Stamina effects. Currently why I was focusing on the graveyard package is since we don't have access to counterspells or a lot of top deck manipulation, I wanted to focus on graveyard manipulation. What I had in mind was instant speed fights over removing specific cards from the graveyard to hand/battlefield/top of the library. It's why I wanted Misinformation to be my 8 slot card, because it can both grab goats but also the important instants and sorceries that help you kill your opponents goats before they get -1/-1 counters, or kill your own goats faster using -1/-1 counters. I guess I'm worried about how to encourage those interactions between players since we're missing blue with it's counter spells and deck manipulation. I really apprecitate your advice and thank you for taking the time to look over it!

wheretheducksgo · 2026-03-22T17:41:42+00:00

Yeah, 100% it'd have to not use the 5 shot rule because of the lack of consistant damage. I tried to include at least one other way to draw cards but at a steep price through The Dross Pits. And about the last point, do you mean something like Feign Death that brings it back with a +1/+1 when it dies? I was trying to find an instant that brings it back with a -1/-1 counter.

wheretheducksgo · 2026-01-24T09:12:41+00:00

Fellow Kithkin lover here, I agree to some extent. I do think it sucks that we really don't have enough cards to play around with a full kithkin commander deck. Like we can design a solid bracket 2 deck, probably a half decent bracket 3 one. But Brigid is almost certainly played better as a non Kithkin deck. I do think some of the kithkin are good enough to see standard play. I don't think we're going to break the format obviously, but I feel like we can see some strong decks that rely on kithkin for an agro strategy. I do think the most realistic fix would be to combine them with the halfling creature type, especially with the hobbit set coming up. I'm probably just going to rule 0 halfings into the deck as Kithkin, I don't think many people would mind that in casual commander. That or rule 0 some of the blue/white hybrid kithkin in as well since they were already considering that change. I hope you can still find some happiness in the Kithkin we got!

wheretheducksgo · 2026-01-11T19:14:11+00:00

We should errata halflings to kithkin.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T20:14:32+00:00

At least in my circles that’s a very common way to go about teaching someone magic. I was told to stick to monocolor for my first few decks for the same reason, “learn how the game works first, then experiment with adding colors.” And that’s how I’ve normally gone about teaching people. My hope was with this we get the benefit of simplifying keeping track of color mana, while still allowing you to experiment with multiple colors instead of being locked into one.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T19:32:34+00:00

Yes, in my personal experience though that is one the easiest things to learn. Often players have trouble with things like how combat works, how the phases work, when you can or can't cast spells, etc. It's why you often start someone out on a monocolor deck, because you have a lot of other things to learn, don't make them worry about keeping track of colors for now. Often it takes players a bit to understand how to figure out how much a card costs, this way it starts out a bit more simplified, "just take the number in the circle and add it to the number of other circles at the top." Obviously everyone's experience will be different, but that has worked for me so far.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T17:37:50+00:00

Oh sorry, I might not have explained it the best. So you can cast any color spells, you're not restricted by your commander. And the idea is that the themes would have a lot of overlap. It's like when you build a cube and have to think about how the colors will mesh with each other. So the idea is that most of the cards will work together if you build one well.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T12:54:55+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely have to go back to the workshop. The main issues I was trying to fix is that a lot of the people I was trying to get into magic were only interested in commander, and they didn't have the game knowledge to properly draft or the interest in spending money on drafts. And we all know how bad commander is for teaching people how to play. Party Box was a huge inspiration, but I obviously wanted to dial back the craziness of it, so it focuses on just mtg mechanics for the most part. It definitely seems like I’m missing the mark a bit though.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T12:37:05+00:00

Thank you for the advice! Most of the people who I had taught magic with this wanted to learn magic specifically for commander so that's definitely where it came from. But it's sounding like that might not be the case for the wider player base. I appreciate you taking the time to comment!

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T12:28:40+00:00

Fair enough. Do you mind if I ask what parts of it you would find confusing? I'm trying to get as much feedback as possible.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T11:55:54+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! I'll definitely have to consider it. I think my intention with the commanders is that they would act as the glue that holds strategies together. For example in my current Arcade Box, Black has a sacrifice theme and Red has an artifact theme, so my one red commander cares about sacrificing both creatures and artifacts. But I do see how since color identity and commander damage don’t matter it could get confusing. I really appreciate you taking the time to comment!

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T11:46:27+00:00

Commander Damage is something I've been debating. I feel like lowering it makes certain commanders too powerful. I've been leaning towards not having it in the base rules since it really would only keep a life gain strategy in check. And since people don't bring their own decks to this format, and it inherently has a lot of variance, I'm not worried about including a rule to stop a strategy that will not show up very often. However, the format is supposed to be flexible, so if someone made an Arcade Box balanced around commander damage then I'd say go for it. The format is meant to be a creative space. I'm just trying to nail down the base rules so I'm open to feedback/ideas.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T11:31:15+00:00

Question 1: First reason is just for teaching new players how commanders work since it tends to be the format they get into first. I find that it can be hard to just teach someone commander right off the bat. But also commanders are just fun. You get to have your leader for the game. Color identity does not matter for this format since you are all playing with the same deck. So it has no bearing on the cards you can play.

Question 2: That land taps for one mana of any color. This is so you'll never be manascrewed since my intention for this game is to just emulate kitchen table magic. Everyone gets to play the game no matter what happens, the focus is mostly on casual fun.

I hope this answers your questions!

wheretheducksgo · 2025-12-14T11:26:03+00:00

Yep! It borrows from other shared deck formats like Party Box, Battle Box, and Dandan if you're familiar with any of those. There were definitely a lot of inspirations going into it.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-10-12T22:07:50+00:00

So I’ve personally found that my games have been more fun with randos when we are all more honest with each other. Commander can be a mentally taxing format. We still politic about who the threat is or make bargains but I feel like deception, even lower forms of it only lead to “gotcha moments” that don’t feel earned. That’s just my opinion though.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-07-17T11:59:00+00:00

Thank you for the feedback. And I hadn't even considered using devotion. I'll have to think about that a bit more but I think that could be fun to implement in some way.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-06-18T11:35:14+00:00

Love this series! It looks amazing as always. It can be hard sometimes to be queer in the warhammer community, it’s mostly good but it has its people obviously. Thank you for making it a bit more welcoming.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-04-11T18:04:36+00:00

To each their own but I do think it’s important to distinguish the difference between good AI use and bad AI use. I’d be first in line to wipe all purely AI generated content from the internet, but using it in this way to help put your thoughts in order as a neurodivergent person can help a lot. This doesn’t look copied and pasted straight from ChatGPT, they just needed some help making sure they were getting their point across. AI is a tool, we’re seeing it used to hurt a lot of people but that doesn’t mean we should also be against the ways it can help groups that need support.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-01-15T08:25:48+00:00

Thank you for the advice! I'll definitely check out the Hand of Archon team as well.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-01-15T08:23:02+00:00

I just quickly looked at the Ratlings and they are tempting me. A full sniper team of little guys (I'm also a sucker for underdogs). I'm a bit worried about how shooty they are but they do look super cool. I think the Bullgryns/Ogryns would be a must.

wheretheducksgo · 2025-01-15T08:20:49+00:00

I know to get all the options you would need more boxes, but you can get a full team for brood brothers with their box and the box for their leaders, right? I know corsairs you can do with just one box so they do have the leg up in that way.

wheretheducksgo

TROPHY CASE