3CMC battlebox
A battlebox where every card has CMC 3 or less.
Both players share the same deck.
Each player starts with all 5 basic snow lands and the 5 allied guildgates set aside. In addition they also have one copy of Arch of Orazca set aside. Each player is allowed to play one land per turn from their land pile.
Additional rules:
- Starting hand size is 5 (since the deck is all spells).
- The person who plays their turn second starts with a copy of Lotus Petal in play.
- The person who plays first does not draw a card on their first turn.
- If an effect would put a card on the bottom of the library, that card is exiled instead.
- Each player has their own graveyard.
- Lands have hexproof and indestructible.
There is no mana screw or flood. The deck is always balanced because both players share the same deck. The CMC limit drastically increases the number of decisions you make per turn and makes the early turns matter and the gameplay dynamic. Arch of Orazca provides a mana sink late game.
Design decisions
Modal and pseudo-modal cards were prioritized to give players flexibility and reduce the number of dead draws. Additionally, with the unique mana base in battle box, multicolored cards are easier to cast and therefore stronger.
Deciding which land to play is important to sequencing a wide variety of multicolored spells. These decisions matter more for some cards which scale in power throughout the game.
The graveyard is an important resource, and many cards interact with it.
The top of the library matters too, since the deck is shared.
As of September 2024, we have been balancing this list with every new release for the past seven years. It is a ton of fun to play.