The Lion
500 Card Powered Multiplayer Vintage Cube
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The story behind it...
It all began during a summer in the early 2000s. Every day, a small group of players from Orléans would gather. It took place in a bar in the city center. They would have a drink, exchange ideas, engage in deck building, and play a few games.
At that time, multiplayer games, or pentacle, were not something uncommon. This type of game allowed for a variety of experiences, something different from the traditional standard or draft games.
And then, one day, two players came up with the idea of sharing a single deck in a multiplayer game. Then, the idea of sharing that pile among all the players emerged. From there, innovations began to sprout. Funny, forgotten, overpowered, or even useless cards were added here and there.
And then, the major innovation arrived, which would ultimately create a unique format. One day, one of the players played a Savannah Lions on turn one. The other players were unable to kill it. The legend was born. Frustrated by mana death, the decision was made to create two piles: one for lands and one for spells. Ultimately, we simply begin casting spells as if they were lands.
One Lion. One manifest
The Lion is a french popular french variant which focus on the game mechanics without the boring and frustrating stuff :
No deckbuilding = it take too much time and brings inequality. To be honest, deckbuilding is always competitive ... always. So called "fun" formats with deckbuilding are at the end competitives ... so not fun at all ! (yes, i'm talking about you Commander).
No draft = it need additional skills + inifinite time. Ok like deck building, drafting can be fun. Nevertheless, draft without deckbuilding is just useless ...
No land (ie. no more mana death) = you just play any spell from your hand as a land (e.g. Nicol Bolas gives you a land which can produce black, blue or red mana). That's as simple as it is ! It's THE killer rule, which brings a new dynamic to the game.
FFA = 2 to X players without any conditions !
At the end you just need to build a giant singleton deck (mine is 500 cards) with only spells and special lands (e.g. Maze of Ith, Island of Wak-Wak, bounce lands, etc.).
We just split the deck into players and start playing quickly. It's just pure fun, especialy for casual players which play Magic one or two times per year. You just need to know how to play Magic !
Land or spell?
Some precision about this, because it's a core rule of the Lion.
Spells in hands are just spells. But a spell can be played as a land. Cards played as land are considered basic lands of the type corresponding to their color (so they can be multiple basic lands at the same time). Once a card is in play as a land, it's treated as it is.
E.g. if you play a spell as a land, it can be targeted by an Ice storm but not with a Terror.
Also if you have some effect which allows a land to be back in play like Worldgorger Dragon, cards comeback as land.
Same if you play a card like Future sight you can treat every spell as a spell or, of course, as a land as well. You decide.
Finally, if you return a land in your hand, it's now a spell again (except for a special land I think you got the point). This mechanic makes bounce lands like Azorius Chancery really powerful !
How to build it?
Some prefer a Lion matching peasant style. Mine is overpowered. It's all about you.
It highly depends on your players pool. My group prefer taking time, play the clock and play a slowly game. The first death is often the start of the game acceleration waiting for a climax.
My Lion is a 50/50 mix of spells and creatures (minus the only special lands of the deck).
Cards with key words like "each opponent" or "every player" are really powerful. Just by himself Kokusho, the Evening Star can just be 20pv Drain life at 5 players. Sundering Titan can be painful to manage. Both are just nightmare when it come to be combined with cards like Corpse Dance.
I also avoid all card allowing players to search to their library. Waiting ten minutes for a player to search a card on a +100 hundred cards isn't fun at all.
Special mention to some cards like Shahrazad, Ashnod's Coupon or Eye of the Storm.