Battle Box

Battle Box is a quick, self contained Magic format. Everything fits in one box for easy, no-setup games.

This Battle Box was discussed on Episode 59 and Episode 82 of Lucky Paper Radio where we cover all things Battle Box.

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How to Play

Both players begin with a set of 10 lands in the command zone — 5 basics and 5 allied, tapped, duals — which they can play.

Players draw from the Battle Box as a single shared library.

The starting hand size is 4 cards. There are no mulligans.

No other rules are altered. Players have separate graveyards and can play one land per turn. Cards are considered 'owned' by the last player who drew them. In practice, effects that interact with the library or cause confusion with the rules changes are excluded from this particular list. If you prefer, you can split the box into separate decks for each player without affecting gameplay.

For more about the format check out my article explaining the format and how the rules influence different types of effects.

Gameplay and Design

This Battle Box is designed for quick games to fill downtime between and around your other favorite ways to play Magic. It's designed around combat focused gameplay where players have to work to get the most value out of their cards.

As is typical of the format, the list excludes mana acceleration, deck searching, and land destruction. I've also excluded top-deck manipulation to focus on an otherwise 'normal' Magic interactions rather than a novel experience. The box is restricted to three token types, Zombies, Saprolings, and Thopters to keep the box compact and logistics easy. The box itself includes 4 land sets so two games can be played at once. Or 3 or four player games if you're into that sort of thing.

Cards are designed to have a narrow range of power. Games depend on players getting the most value from a range of effects and evaluating when to pressure the opponent's life or prioritize resources given a mix of different cards. There's a fair amount of looting, which gives players some flexibility to craft a strategy. There's a light madness theme to complement. The overall mana costs of cards is very low to balance players drawing more spells than normal, since the deck includes no lands. This is also balanced by plenty of mana sinks. The size of creatures is overall very small so small removal, and ways to counter it are very relevant.

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This is the evolution to my original Battle Box from years ago. When returning to it after a long hiatus, with time and some specifically shifted goals, it made more sense to 'start from scratch' and keep the original list as an artifact.

There are a few changes in goals. The biggest is, the previous iteration was just too big, physically. I want it to be something I can throw in my bag before and between draft rounds so portability is key. I also want to remove the top-deck-matters cards. This is fun space to explore, but I'm less interested in the unique experience and more interested in some quick, quality gameplay. I still like drawing from the same deck though as slapping the deck in the middle and drawing four cards has a nice zero setup feel. Tokens are going to be minimized, hopefully to four or less types. Beyond that, it's just a pile of cleanly designed, combat focused, cards with lots of opportunity for players to line them up in novel ways.