Battlebox is meant to be a ready-to-play magic experience requiring no setup.

How to play

• Players start with 10 lands in their command zone: one of each basic land and one of each ally color tapland. They may play one land from this zone on each of their turns
• Players roll to decide who will take the first turn
• Players draw their cards from a shared deck, which contains only spells
• Players begin the game by drawing 4 cards from the deck
• No mulligans

House rules

• The player on the draw starts with a treasure token. This is to make up for the disadvantage of being on the draw
• Both players start with an Arch of Orazca in their command zone

Why battlebox

• No set up required
• No mana flood or mana screw
• It tests a particular type of skill: the ability to manage resources and make gameplay decisions
• Some variance to keep gameplay interesting

Guiding principles for this battlebox

• All lands produce snow mana, and the taplands have basic land types. Snow and domain are prominent mechanics
• No ramp, no land destruction, minimal card draw. Battlebox is about testing your ability to manage resources, so cards that get you extra resources are excluded
• No tutor effects, or spells that would cause you to shuffle your library
• No tokens or counters. This is meant to streamline gameplay, and keep the box small and easily portable
• Reading the card should explain the card - no mechanics that require outside knowledge like MDFCs, sagas, "venture into the dungeon" etc
• Mostly commons and uncommons, to make sure cards are readable, that the band of power is not excessively high
• The pool is kept small, so that entire battlebox - single-sleeved, lands included - can fit in a single Ultimate Guard Boulder