I got a chance to play some more Viral Magic these last couple of weeks. We tried it out over our phones. If you didn't see my last article, definitely check it out, because this one will assume you read the last one!

When I first conceived of this format, it assumed a few key factors:

1. It would be a Constructed format,
2. People want to play with their paper cards, and
3. People want to play with their friends while talking and socializing with them, coming as close to hanging out in person as possible.

I'm going to assume 2 and 3 are true for at least some people, because they're true for me. I miss my semi-regular Magic nights with my friends where we drink beer and make food for each other (one of us makes awesome homemade focaccia, another makes hummus from scratch, some of us do proteins and such - we eat pretty darn well). I miss slinging cardboard and having motivation to pull out some cards and build a deck. I can't be alone.

The assumption of Constructed may have been a misstep. The fact is, aside from Commander, I don't really like Constructed. I'm not bashing it, and I think it's great for those who like it; it just isn't for me. I've dabbled in Standard. I actually own a couple of Modern decks and a Suicide Black Legacy deck that can pull off a turn two win if it's lucky. But Commander is where my heart lies. So while I chose Pioneer as the basis for Viral Magic, I don't know much about it. If I were to pull out my collection, I'd have to look up every card I considered to see if it were legal.

Which got me thinking about Limited. What if we cracked packs? It'd be nice if we could open the same packs, but this is a casual format designed to emulate Commander in its swingy-ness (if not its size), so as long as everyone builds with the same size card pool, it doesn't really matter.

The first thought was 3 packs. We get 10 commons, 3 uncommons, a rare, and a land in every pack, which is 14 cards that can go in a deck. If we open 3 packs that leaves us with 42 cards to build a 30 card deck without any lands. That's going to be tough. Among other things, it will almost certainly force a bending of the singleton rule, which I think is worth enforcing even in Limited.

So my dad and I settled on a sealed pool and each cracked six packs of War of the Spark (it was a set we each had packs of, though it turns out we each have an unopened Fat Pack of Battle for Zendikar sitting around, so we may try that next). From there, we each had to build our 30-card decks... and we promptly felt we didn't have enough cards. We both came to that conclusion independently.

Naya Attacks!| Viral Magic | Mark Wischkaemper

• Creatures (36)
• 1 Ahn-Crop Invader
• 1 Arlinn's Wolf
• 1 Burning Prophet
• 1 Chainwhip Cyclops
• 1 Challenger Troll
• 1 Enforcer Griffin
• 1 Goblin Assailant
• 1 Huatli's Raptor
• 1 Ironclad Krovod
• 1 Kraul Stinger
• 1 Kronch Wrangler
• 1 Loxodon Sergeant
• 1 Makeshift Battalion
• 1 Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
• 1 Pollenbright Druid
• 1 Raging Kronch
• 1 Tenth District Legionnaire
• 1 Teyo's Lightshield
• 1 Tomik, Distinguished Advokist
• 1 Turret Ogre
• 1 War Screecher
• 1 Ashiok's Skulker
• 1 Aven Eternal
• 1 Centaur Nurturer
• 1 Eternal Skylord
• 1 Flux Channeler
• 1 God-Eternal Kefnet
• 1 Kiora's Dambreaker
• 1 Lazotep Reaver
• 1 Pollenbright Druid
• 1 Sky Theater Strix
• 1 Spellkeeper Weird
• 1 Thunder Drake
• 1 Tithebearer Giant
• 1 Vampire Opportunist
• 1 Wall of Runes

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 1 Teyo, the Shieldmage
• 1 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
• 1 Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted

• Instants (10)
• 1 Blindblast
• 1 Defiant Strike
• 1 Heartfire
• 1 Jaya's Greeting
• 1 Sarkhan's Catharsis
• 1 Steady Aim
• 1 Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
• 1 Sorin's Thirst
• 1 Totally Lost
• 1 Unlikely Aid

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Storm the Citadel
• 1 Aid the Fallen
• 1 Bleeding Edge
• 1 Bond of Revival
• 1 Callous Dismissal
• 1 Davriel's Shadowfugue
• 1 Neoform
• 1 Relentless Advance

• Enchantments] (1)
• 1 Prison Realm

• Lands (10)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Plains
• 1 Forest
• 2 Island
• 2 Swamp

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 Firemind Vessel
• 1 Mana Geode

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As you can see, there were some... questionable choices here. Several of the cards in my "sideboard" were unusable because they were copies, others were over sixmana (which didn't stop me in the Sultai deck), and I decided Awakening of Vitu-Ghazi was unfair because it created a 9/9 Haste creature for five mana that in this format would also be indestructible and have Hexproof. But attempting to build a two-color deck was impossible - I only had 23 cards in and ! Having to play Ironclad Krovod means times are pretty tough. I effectively went into Green in both decks out of necessity.

(It's worth pointing out the building-two-decks thing is an old habit of mine. When playing sealed, I love to build two decks if it's at all possible. It's really fun to watch your opponent's eyes when they realize that their carefully chosen sideboard slots were a waste of time because you're playing a completely different deck. It steals games and, since sealed is most often played at Prereleases, means you get to play with more cards sooner. I felt I had three obvious paths - Amass, Weenies, and Flyers. The removal was better with the first two.)

Truth is I wanted two or three more packs' worth of cards. I suppose that's always true, but when building a sealed deck you are looking for 22 - 24 playables, not 30, plus you can have more than five mana in sealed. 28 more cards to consider would have made a considerable difference.

Here's what my battlefield looked like. I have this little tripod, so I used it, which made things much easier, though I started holding my phone and it's not impossible. The interface isn't perfect, but it works. It helps to either be able to remember boards and board states or have good knowledge of the cards being played, because it's very challenging to read your opponent's cards through the phone. You can see the pictures, though, so if you can identify them from that, you'll be all right.

Jund Goodstuff | Viral Magic | Mark's Dad

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Ahn-Crop Invader
• 1 Banehound
• 1 Bloom Hulk
• 1 Burning Prophet
• 1 Duskmantle Operative
• 1 Goblin Assailant
• 1 Goblin Assault Team
• 1 Herald of the Dreadhorde
• 1 Leyline Prowler
• 1 Mowu, Loyal Companion
• 1 Neheb, Dreadhorde Champion
• 1 Raging Kronch
• 1 Rubblebelt Rioters
• 1 Spark Reaper
• 1 Spellgorger Weird
• 1 Thundering Ceratok
• 1 Turret Ogre

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Angrath, Captain of Chaos
• 1 Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted

• Instants (6)
• 1 Band Together
• 1 Jaya's Greeting
• 1 Ob Nixilis's Cruelty
• 1 Sarkhan's Catharsis
• 1 Steady Aim
• 1 Unlikely Aid

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Courage in Crisis

• Enchantments (2)
• 1 Kaya's Ghostform
• 1 New Horizons

• Artifacts (2)
• 1 God-Pharaoh's Statue
• 1 Mizzium Tank

• Lands (5)
• 1 Forest
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Swamp

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My dad beat me both games we played. Here's his board. He has his dog, Sancho, but no one else in the house with him, so he took pictures with his laptop while holding his phone.

Another problem we encountered was the "no mulligans" rule. The theory behind it is to encourage a curve and good deck-building - if you pump your deck full of 5-drops you're not going to be doing much for the first several turns. It also dissuades combo, because you can't use your mulligan to dig for combo pieces. However, in Limited, it's quite difficult to assemble or even have a combo, and even with good deck-building you may end up with a nearly impossible hand. My first game with my Sultai deck I drew Aid the Fallen, Totally Lost, and Bond of Revival. Because I don't draw any cards until I play something and I couldn't play anything until Totally Lost on turn five, I got completely hosed. There was a better game to be played if I'd had the opportunity to ship my hand back. The problem is, the penalty of going down a card seems really rough when you're only starting with three cards, so I'm not sure how to solve the issue. I'm open to suggestions!

Now for the good stuff.

Cracking packs is fun for me and for my dad. We both enjoyed that process, and it gave us a reason beyond merely opening packs to see what's in them - the purpose made things more fun.

The deck-building challenge was interesting and fun. It's not a normal deck, but there are pieces of traditional deck-building that matter - you still need a curve and want a focus. Are you trying to be the aggro or the control? How many creatures do you need to run to function? Is a combat trick worth more than a sub-par removal spell? Is it worth it to run all three pieces of ramp available in order to run that 6-drop? How much removal do you want when your hand is so small? If you enjoy building Limited decks, or just like to tinker with your cards and put together decks, this is a fun way to do that.

Finally, it was really fun to play Magic with my dad. We've been playing together for a very long time (I think I taught him to play in 1993) and we both transitioned into Commander at the same time. We tell each other about the games we play and we regularly play with and against each other when we hang out. Even though he doesn't live that far away, the only way I've seen him for weeks is through the phone; it was fun to know we had an evening to play together and it was fun to sling some actual cardboard. I like video games, but pushing around actual cards gives a different feeling. No, it's not the same as a Commander night with a bunch of people or a Prerelease or FNM, but it was something. It scratched the itch in a way that digital Magic just doesn't for me.

Here's where we are. Build with Pioneer in mind if you want, but I'd recommend some kind of Limited card pool to start out. 8 packs if you've got 'em, but 6 works, it's just going to have sub-optimal choices. Come up with some method of mulligan; I'd suggest the honor system and just draw 3 each time until you draw a reasonable hand. What is that? It's up to the players. Don't make your friend hang out holding their phone while you mulligan forever for the perfect 3. Just mull until you can affect the board and actually draw a card or two in the first few turns of the game and play.

Finally, try the format. It may not be for you, and that's fine, but you may be surprised. It might be nice to make a plan with a friend to get together and play a game you both love in a new way.

It was for me.

Thanks for reading. Stay safe.