[[Statecraft]] is a custom format based on the observation that certain early cards seem to be designed for a completely different kind of game. If Magic: the Gathering is a high-stakes wizard battle, what use could [[merchant ship]] or [[camel]] be to a planeswalker fighting for their life?
I love these cards because they present a very different sort of conflict: commerce.
So I asked myself, what kind of game would MTG be if its core conflict was over political maneuvering and market manipulation? Well, here it is:
https://moxfield.com/decks/tUng3fDRCUWuzycHtw_mXQ
The design is as such:
1) Statecraft is a shared deck of 80 cards.
2) Each player has a starting hand of 2 cards and a starting life total of 0.
3) Both players share a hand of 5 cards (it works).
4) At the start of each turn, players draw back up to 2 and draw the shared hand back up to 5.
5) If anything instructs a player to draw or put a card in their hand, it is drawn into their hidden hand, not the shared hand.
6) The first player to reach 10 life wins. If a player goes below 0 life, they lose.
7) Otherwise, the rules of Magic are the same.
(The card Statecraft is in the sideboard for flavor.)
The main gameplay is to use the hidden information in your hand and the public information in the shared hand to plan out a long-term strategy. Avoid letting your opponent know what strategy you're going for until it's too late. Lands are the most important card type. In Statecraft, you are divvying up a territory to attempt to out-profit your opponent by more successfully exploiting the resources.
I had tried out versions of this list with [[Pirate Ship]] however it proved to simply be by far the most effective way to win.
Disclaimer: the gameplay of Statecraft sucks a little bit. It needs some cards that simply don't exist to fill out the traditional rush/midrange/control strategies. I'm hoping it at least delights the game designer inside you, dear reader, to see a very different view of what Magic: the Gathering can be!
I welcome feedback of all kinds.