All right folks, and welcome to another supplement to the Magic: RPG game. What is this? In this fun variant, you create a level 1 Planeswalker, with limited access to cards, various abilities and skills, and then you play Magic. As you play, you level up and have more Mage Points to spend to improve your character over time.

Sound like fun? I hope so!

The initial edition of the game is here.

I have planned four supplements and have been writing them at the same time. The first of these supplements is right here. We create a stat to give you power, and then you can defend yourself against various attacks as well as attack others yourself. That’s right, you can attack. I know that just tickles your inner Planeswalker. Check it out here).

The other three supplements are a Commander edition of the RPG, as well as a multiplayer friendly one too. And then today. Today is all about a quirk in the rules of the RPG, and more importantly, about giving you tools to shut down junk that happens sometimes. Often someone will build an abusive deck, and today is about shutting that down. It also will be introducing the Beginning of the Game Phase to the game as well. ¹

In the initial version of the game, one of the early responses was, "I can build a broken deck at the kitchen table!" Sure! But you can also build a broken Commander deck for next week's game that kills the entire table by turn three. Why aren't you? What is stopping you? Whatever is stopping you, a social contract, a lack of fun, etc, is also stopping you from playing an abusive deck in the M:RPG as well. But nevertheless, there was this fear of people abusing the system.

So, I answered that by adding abilities to the game. I'd rather add in rules to answer issues the game is having than ban cards or do anything else. Ideally, I'll add in an Skill or Trait or three that will never need to be used, but sit there in case someone goes off the reservation.

And that's where the Veto Skill stepped in. Is someone in your group doing something obscene? Need an official way to dial them back? Then welcome the Deus ex Machina of the format — Veto. A Skill that only works against people being abusive, but otherwise is pretty weak.

Here's how Veto generally works. After selecting your decks, for each MP you spent in Veto you can name a card. that card is banned by all people that match. Then anyone who wants to may switch decks. We’ll examine the details momentarily.

Today I want to look at Skills and Traits that are answers to problems in the format, and I also have a brand-new cycle of five multiplayer-friendly cards that use the same mechanics for helping everyone too, to mix it up. But again, the key is shutting junk down. If you have been building up your characters, then you may have noticed that some folks out there can be a little onerous and abusive. These new abilities have several layers to shut them down.

In order to understand the rules today, I am re-introducing the Beginning of the Game Phase. This is a phase that happens one time at the beginning of the game to resolve all of the Skills and Traits that require a “Before the Game” choice, and then there is an option to change your deck should you want to, to accommodate the rules of the match that is about to occur.

Here is how the Beginning of the Game Phase Works:

The Beginning of the Game Phase

1. Select your deck and put it out. Roll and determine who will go first in the game, just as normal.

• The person who goes first will take the first step of the Beginning of the Game Phase, and then it will go around in turn order.

2. The first player will resolve any Veto he or she may have, but no more than one Veto. In turn order, other Vetoes are issued, with no more than one Veto per person.
3. Turn order continues, and keeps going, with any remaining Vetoes used.
4. Once all Vetoes are issued, and people know what cards are banned from the match, then starting with the first player, he or she determines any Trait or Skill with the “Beginning of the Game Phase” language, and again, just one choice is made.
5. In turn order, any other choices are determined, just one choice per person, and then all other decisions are made going around the circle until all Beginning of the Game Phase decisions are made.
6. After all cards are banned, and all decisions made, any player may switch their deck to another deck with legal cards in the format according to their Skills, Traits, and Stats. This switch requires them to lose one Mental Fortitude or one Physical Fortitude for the match. That player will either start with one fewer card (and have one fewer max hand size) or have five fewer life to begin.²
7. The Beginning of the Game Phase Ends, and then shuffle and take mulligans as appropriate

Once you have played the Beginning of the Game Phase (BotG Phase) once or twice, you’ll get it. Most players won’t have too many Beginning of the Game Phase abilities anyway. It’s pretty grok-able once you play it. It’s like resolving a Eureka. Start with the active player, they drop one permanent, then the next, and so forth, each dropping one at a time. In this case, you are starting with the person who won the die roll (or otherwise is going first) and then moving in turn order, with everyone resolving one Veto at a time, and then one other BotG Phase Skill or Trait at a time, until all pre-game decisions are made. Then you can audible into a new deck (that you already built with the character you have) for just one card or five life.

Note that two Traits in the first article had rules that made decisions for the beginning of the game. I am now rewording them to work with the Beginning of the Game Phase. Their official new language is below:

Remade Traits:

Filterscope — During your Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a color. Your basic lands can tap for that color this game, as well as their normal color.

Orb of Ice — During your Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a number. For this game, all spells with a converted casting cost equal to the chosen number cost double instead. So a Llanowar Elves would cost if the Orb were set to one, and an Elvish Archers would cost if it were set to two, and so forth. This effects every player at the table, including the person who tossed the Orb

All right, there we go. Now let’s move to some cool new Skills and Traits for your consideration.

And now here are the new Skills and Traits:

Most Beginning of the Game Phase abilities affect everyone, like Orb of Ice. A few don’t, but they are few and far between, and are designed to be flexible, such as Filterscope.

Today we have 18 Skills and Traits for your consideration.³

Skill

Actions are still orange, and Access still purple. As a reminder, Skills may be purchased multiple times.

Veto — You know how to shut down a fellow Planeswalker from ever knowing or casting a certain spell. The power is intoxicating. As explained above, a Veto is a temporary ban on one card for that game for anyone playing it. During the Beginning of the Game Phase, you may issue an edict against any non-land card, and that card cannot be cast that game. Considering how valuable and useful MP are, you usually don’t see someone carrying around a Veto unless there is something that it needs to stop.

From Problem to Plan — You know how to take the best schemes and plans of your foes and turn them upside down. All that is left is a momentary impulsive attempt to regain momentum. This Skill is an Action. Once during the game, for the rest of the turn, whenever a player would search their library for a card, instead they only search the top four cards.

Trait

We have 16 new Traits for your enjoyment. As a reminder, a Trait may only be purchased once. Again, like normal, abilities that give you Access to one or more cards are bolded in purple.

Bureaucratic Delay — Using the nature of structures to delay and slow down various processes can also prove useful on the battlefield as well. Even the most chaotic of mages and effects must respect the rule of law at times. Whenever a nonland permanent would enter the battlefield, if it has an “enters the battlefield” trigger, that triggered ability resolves during the next upkeep.⁴

Caltropping the Field — You know that controlling the battlefield will control the result. You have a sharp mind for battle. You have seeded the area with Caltrops, and sure, everyone is impacted, but you are expecting it. You want to force people to spend time shaking off the caltrops. Whenever a creature attacks, it does not untap during its controller’s next untap step.

Censor — You are a skilled lawmage who knows how to shut down things when they get out of hand. Gain Access to Abeyance, Silence, Orim's Chant, and all cards with the text of either, “Counter target activated ability,” or “counter target triggered ability.”

Haughty Memorium — Not every Planeswalker is ready with happy snacks and welcoming to other colors. What value is there in other colors? Why taint yourself? They have taken this arrogance, and filtered it into a weapon that works against others too. During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a color. During each player’s upkeep, they lose 2 life if they control a permanent that is of a different color than the chosen one.

Ley Harvest — You have learned how to tap into an increased harvest of a few ley lines that others can’t keep up. This allows you to get more benefit from the lands and mana connections you have made. During the end of your upkeep, untap two lands.⁵

Null Void — You have learned how to push your foes mystically into the Void where the fight can be a lot tougher on your foes, especially if they are unprepared. During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a card type other than land. For this game, whenever someone casts a spell of that type with a converted mana cost of 3 or more, they must spend an additional 1 generic mana to cast it.⁶

Peaceful Repose — You have learned how to let death and the dead rest for a while in a peaceful solace. Cards in graveyards lose all activated abilities, but retain continuous and triggered ones.⁷

Sign of the Spy — Every Planeswalker can use powerful predictive artifacts, spells, or allies to tell the future and give them a leg-up on the competition. But you were born under the Sign of the Spy. You can do it even stronger. (Or, you can make the requisite sacrifices to pledge fidelity to the Sign of the Spy), and thus turn mere knowledge into a tool for winning. Whenever you would scry, instead fateseal an opponent for that same number of cards.⁸

Slowed Response — You’ve cast a spell over the battlefield that slows things down of a certain race. Good job! During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a creature type. Creatures of that type enter the battlefield tapped.

Symbiotic Synthesis — Learning how to evoke the same reaction that someone did again you took months, but it was worth it. When someone attempts to damage you, they cannot do so without also hurting themselves similarly. Whenever a nonland permanent you control is targeted and destroyed by an ability controlled by an opponent, that opponent sacrifices a permanent her or she controls that shares a type with the permanent destroyed.⁹

Temporal Lattice — You have created a mystical lattice of temporal control, disallowing anyone from changing time or modifying the speed at which it flows. Whenever a player would take an extra turn, instead they draw a card.¹⁰

The Ode Cycle:

The Ode Cycle of Traits were created as fun-multiplayer abilities that can be exploited by the user like all symmetrical effects, but which still have the ability to give away fun times!

You have learned a powerful dose of magic. You know how to turn the natural aspects of war-music into a cadence that directly impacts the battle mystically. War chants, battle drums, skald singing, combat quartets, and more are all used by people to bring rhythm, direct troops, and more. And you can do it with an entire battlefield mystically, with an Ode that resonates with everything in the battle.

Ode to Brilliance — During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a number between 1-3. At the beginning of each player’s first turn, they draw that many cards.

Ode to Creation — During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a permanent type. Whenever a permanent of that type would enter the battlefield with counters, it gets an additional counter of that type.

Ode to Harmony — During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a number between 1-5. At the beginning of each player’s first turn, they gain that much mana of any combination of colors into their mana pool that lasts until the end of the turn.

Ode to Joy — During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a creature type. All creatures of that type get +1/+1 for the game.

Ode to Majesty — During the Beginning of the Game Phase, choose a basic land type. At the beginning of each player’s turn, they put a land of that type into play under their control, untapped. This land does not come from their library and is placed under their control.

I think the Ode cycle is pretty cool, and has room for more Everybody Wins concepts that uses the mechanics of the Beginning of the Game Phase to help everyone rather than hurt everyone which is what it was designed for.

And there we have it?

So what did you think of our little addition to the RPG? I hope you liked it!

Next up will be a Commander variant of the RPG, and then I have a multiplayer expansion planned after that. I hope you are enjoying your M:RPG games!

¹ Again, this is the 3rd Edition of these rules, although I have removed that language. Historically, So the Beginning of the Game Phase was introduced for a few reasons. But the major reason was the Skill Veto. Because of that, I used the language, “The Veto Phase” to refer to this Phase. But we have a lot of abilities that use that Phase, and every other phase or step in the game has a boring name like The Upkeep Step and The Main Phase. This keeps in line with the existing nomenclature.

² The payment for a mulligan to a new deck used to be a lot bigger, but after playtesting, I dropped it to this one MP cost.

³ For those who care, other than Veto, virtually none of these Skills and Traits are duplicates of ones in my first two editions of the game rewritten for this supplement.

⁴ For example, I cast a Mulldrifter. Then I don’t draw the cards after it arrives on the battlefield until the next upkeep, which will likely be another player’s. This was meant to be a brake on severe ETB abuse. I wanted to leave open the option to use it positively on your own cards as well as hurting another. Because it doesn’t shut stuff down totally, it’s an easier brake.

⁵ That is not a typo. This trigger occurs at the end of your Upkeep, not at the beginning? Why? So you can spend the mana and then untap, as well as using the abilities after you see everything else that is happening. This Trait is also designed as an anti-tempo Trait to fight stuff like Stasis or Winter Orb if you need it.

⁶ As an example, if you chose Instant, then if someone wanted to cast Chastise, it would cost instead of .

⁷ I considered a lot more heavy handed graveyard Trait that could answer serious problems, but we can exile the entire thing once a game with the Action Skill Honor by Pyre which lets you Tormod's Crypt once/game for each MP you spend in it. So this is for a crazier environment out there, and I wanted to not prevent graveyard-friendly decks but just to have a tool to nudge them back on track if they got abusive.

⁸ Fateseal is a reverse Scry that works on opponents and was introduced in Future Sight. Sign of the Spy is one of my favorite new abilities here. It’s designed initially to be a bit of an answer to combos and top-of-the-library shenanigans your opponent might run, but does so in a very intriguing way.

⁹ I wanted to leave enough hoops in this obvious homage to Karmic Justice, that it was not a ubiquitous answer. Just a road block. They choose what goes, instead of you. And it has to be targeted by them, not just something they control, so a Wrath of God or Diabolic Edict gets around this, it just worked on things like Nekrataal, Lightning Bolt, Disenchant, and such. Again, this is meant to be a light brake.

¹⁰ The flavor of this Trait is encouraged by extra turn cards with names like Temporal Manipulation, Temporal Trespass, Time Walk, Time Warp, and such.