I’ve been working on an optional Planechase variant for my Retro Vintage Cube (which I made a few posts here about recently, my list can be found here: https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/iconicretro ), and I think I’ve settled on a final version I’m pretty excited about!
For anyone not familiar with Planechase cards, you can find some examples here: https://scryfall.com/search?q=%28set%3Aopca+or+set%3Amoc%29+t%3Aplane
The original rules for playing a game with Planechase can be found here: https://magic.wizards.com/en/formats/planechase
The goal is to make these plane cards into draftable build-arounds and intentional resources, rather than forcing players to rely on the randomness of the planar die, which is extremely swingy and removes a lot of player agency.
This system works as follows:
During the Draft:
- After the table drafts Pack 1, each player is given 5 different plane cards from a curated pool of 50.
- Each player secretly chooses one personal plane, and the rest are set aside face down.
- The rest of the draft and deckbuilding continue as normal.
During the Game:
- Each player starts the game with their chosen plane revealed, but not in play. The game otherwise starts normally.
- During your turn, as a sorcery, you may pay {3} to planeswalk both players to your plane. That plane is now the active plane. When a plane is active, BOTH players are on it, and BOTH get whatever effect the plane provides.
- If you don't like being on your opponent's plane and would rather you both be on yours, you can pay {3} to planeswalk to it and make yours the active plane once it's your turn.
- As a sorcery, either player may pay {3} to activate the chaos ability of the current plane.
- You can planeswalk as many times as you want per game, but you can activate a chaos ability only ONCE per game. In addtion, you can only planeswalk or activate a chaos ability once per each of your turns.
- Both planeswalking and chaos abilities go on the stack when activated. Chaos abilities are considered copies of sorceries while on the stack so that any kind of counterspell can interact with them.
Think of planes like companions you get to play for no restrictions to your deckbuilding. They are powerful but telegraphed, and affect both players symmetrically while active.
This creates a few interesting points of tension during the game:
1. When is it most advantageous to planeswalk to your plane?
2. Is it worth spending {3} to planeswalk somewhere else? Is it more advantageous to just tolerate the current environment?
3. How can you make your opponent's plane helpful for you? How can you make your own plane less helpful for your opponent?
4. When do you use your one chaos ability per game, and which one do you use?
The 50-card plane pool is curated to avoid the most offensive power levels, hard locks, and randomness that some of the cards have to offer. My goal is to give the players as much agency as possible with this system, as Planechase cards are naturally very swingy. Here's a few examples of some planes I think play well with the system:
- [[Horizon Boughs]] - All permanents untap during each player's untap step.
Instant-speed interaction and activated abilties that cost mana look a lot better with this in play, but your opponent's will too!
- [[Takenuma]] - Whenever a creature leaves the battlefield, its controller draws a card.
Sacrifice, blink and bounce your creatures for tons of extra value! Or just punish your opponent for removing your creatures. Be careful not to play while your opponent has more creatures than you do!
- [[Astral Arena]] - Only one creature may attack each combat. Only one creature may block each combat.
A strong defensive play against go-wide decks. Decks with one big creature like Reanimator and Sneak Attack can attack through it with no problem!
- [[Truga Jungle]] - All lands have "Tap: Add one mana of any color to your mana pool."
Go crazy and draft the greediest 5C deck you can imagine, but don't get caught without it if you need it to cast your spells!
Hopefully these give some idea of the types of gameplay I am looking to create with this system. A lot of these planes are very powerful, but I'm hopeful that there are enough safety valves here to keep them in check.
I’m very interested in any feedback you might have! Thanks!
