Magic: the Ascension

Rules

In Magic: The Ascension, all players create starter decks and use those decks to play against each other. When a player wins a game, their deck earns Mana Points, which the players can use to improve their decks. If you've ever played a role playing game, then this type of system is nothing new to you. Making a starter deck is just like making a first level character and then earning and using experience points to gain power and abilities.

Starter decks are all made with the same restrictions so that all players start out equal. The basic premise is to use mostly common cards from one basic set and one expansion set. A few uncommon cards and one rare card are allowed. As your deck earns mana points, you can use them to buy new cards (of varying rarity), the ability to use cards from a new expansion sets, a side board, Legends, and other stuff.

The variant Magic: The Ascension is usually run as a league. As normal league rules you may never play the same person twice in a row.

Building A Starter Deck

Players can choose to play with a two-color deck or a three-color deck. The descriptions below summarize the requirements for each type of deck.

Starter Deck Size

All decks must contain forty-five Cards.

Color Alliances

The color combinations in a two-color deck are limited to the following list:

The color combinations in a three-color deck are limited to the following list:

Card Sets

A player can use cards from one Basic Set and one small Expansion Set.

The Basic Set must be either 7th Edition or any of the Main Sets (Ice Age, Mirage, Tempest, Urza’s Saga, Mercadian Masques, Invasion, or Odyssey). You can't use 7th Edition cards and Main Expansion cards.

After choosing a Basic Set, the player chooses which Expansion Set he can draw cards from. When a player builds his deck, he is not required to use any cards from an Expansion Set, but must still pick one before making the deck. This will enable him to earn cards from that Set in the future. Once a player picks an Expansion Set, he can only buy cards from that expansion until he buys another expansion. All starter decks can have up to ten cards from the chosen Expansion Set.

Artifacts

All starter deck can have up to five Artifacts. Of these, only one artifact can be uncommon; the rest must be common. No artifacts in a starter deck can be rare.

Rarity

Starter decks are built almost entirely with common cards. Both types of decks are allowed one rare card (chosen from either a Basic Set or the player's chosen expansion set). Starter decks are allowed five uncommon cards.

Legends

Legend cards are not allowed in starter decks.

Gold Cards

Gold cards are not allowed in start decks.

Number of Same Card

Aside from basic lands, a starter deck can contain no more than two of the same card with the exception of one grace card (chosen by the player) of which there can be three of the same card.

Improving Your Deck

A deck can be improved by spending mana points on deck options. Mana points can only be spent between games. A player can buy an option any time they have enough mana points to spend on it.

Earning Mana Points

A player earns one mana point for every opponent he beats in a match. In one-on-one play, this will always be one mana point. In multi-player games, the number can vary depending on how many players are in the match and how many opponents die before you. In a game with four players, for example, the winner of the entire match will earn three mana points because he has beaten three other players. The first player eliminated from the game earns no mana points because they did not beat anyone. The next player out of the game earns one mana point, and the next player out earns two mana points.

Option Cost

1 common card (any card except Summon Legends) - 1 mana point

1 uncommon card (any card except Summon Legends) - 2 mana points

1 rare card (any card except Summon Legends) - 4 mana points

2 basic lands - 1 mana point

1 gold card - +1 mana point (This cost is in addition to the cost of the card based on rarity.)

1 Summon Legend - +2 mana points (This cost is in addition to the cost of the card based on rarity.)

Additional Expansion Set

When a player buys an expansion set he attains the right to buy cards from that set. The more sets you have, the more expensive it is to buy a new one. A player can never have more than four total expansion sets. When a player buys a new set they can pick five common cards from that set to add to their deck. So if you wanted to add two new sets your cost would be 22 mana points and you would get 5 commons from the first set and 5 commons from the second set.

First Set - 10 mana points

Second Set - 12 mana points

Third Set - 15 mana points

Increase the Number of Duplicate Cards Allowed

This option allows the player to have more than two of the same card in their deck. 8 mana points must first be spent to increase the limit of duplicate cards to three, and then 10 mana points can be spent at any time thereafter to increase the limit to four. The limit can never exceed four.

Three of the same card - 8 mana points

Four of the same card - 10 mana points

Sideboard

Each sideboard comes with five common cards. The cost for each sideboard is cumulative. If you've already spent ten mana points for your first five-card sideboard and you want to increase the size of your sideboard to ten cards, you must spend twelve mana points to do so. If after this you want to increase your sideboard to fifteen cards, it will cost fourteen mana points. If you have no sideboard and want to buy one with fifteen cards, it will cost thirty-six mana points. A player can never have more than fifteen cards in their sideboard.

First (five cards) - 10 mana points

Second (five additional cards; ten total) - 12 mana points

Third (five additional cards; fifteen total) - 14 mana points

Maximum Deck Size

Decks can never have more than seventy cards. If a player buys more cards than he can legally keep in his deck (or sideboard if this option is bought), then the player must remove a card from his deck until the deck meets the maximum deck size.

Deck Power

A player should keep a running total of every mana point his deck earns, even if they are all spent on options. This will act as a rating for the deck that gives some indication as to its power and effectiveness. Before a game starts compare mana points. If your opponent has more points then you currently have then you will get a bonus in the game. Below are the bonuses. You can receive one of the following:

This bonus is cumulative. So if your opponent has 15 more points than you then: You decide who plays first and start out with +5 life. At 25+ you decide who plays first, +10 life, and start with +2 cards in your starting hand.

Losing Streaks

Sometimes a player may make a starter deck that for all intents and purposes just plain sucks. This can lead to a bored and frustrated player playing against decks that are increasing in power at a rapid rate while his remains at a crappy level for all time. If a player loses five games (consecutively), they can do one of two things. They can either make a new deck with no rare cards at all, or they can opt to kill five cards from his deck, two of which must be common cards, and exchange them for five legal (from their Basic and Expansion Set) common cards. This option may only be used in the first 10 games they play.

History

This variant was adapted by Shane Morales.