Elder Dragon Highlander (EDH)

Elder Dragon Highlander is a variant of Magic: The Gathering that allows for new, innovative deck building themes. The format is designed for casual, multi-player games, but can be played competitively or in a duel. The rules for Elder Dragon Highlander are varied, and these rules are designed for play at The 9th Zone, although we did not come up with the original idea, nor are all of these rules specific to only The 9th Zone.

Deck Construction:

Choose a General
The idea behind Elder Dragon Highlander is simple: Choose a legendary creature to be your general and lead your troops. Pretty easy, right? Not so fast… you can only play cards in your deck that are of the same color as your general’s colors. If you would produce mana that isn’t your color, that mana is colorless. Furthermore, you cannot play cards that have mana symbols on them that are not of your general’s colors.
An example: You have chosen Numot, the Devastator as your general. This means that you have chosen red, white and blue as your colors. If you were to tap a City of Brass for mana, you could produce red, white, blue or colorless. If your opponent had Eladamri’s Vineyard in play, you would receive two colorless mana from it. If your opponent had Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth in play, your Plains could tap for white or colorless. You would not be able to play with Debtor’s Knell, as it is a hybrid of white and black, thus having a black mana symbol on it. You could not play with Bringer of the White Dawn (or any of the other Bringers) since you are not playing all colors, and they have all mana symbols on them. Assault // Battery would also be illegal.

Build your deck
Your deck must contain EXACTLY 100 cards, including the general (99 plus your general). All cards except for basic lands are on the restricted list, making this a Highlander style format. Since the cards are restricted, you cannot play more than one Relentless Rats. You cannot play with cards banned in Vintage (ante/dexterity cards) or cards on the banned list, which is as follows:

The banned list:

Ancestral Recall Balance Black Lotus Biorhythm Mox Emerald Mox Jet

Mox Pearl Mox Ruby Mox Sapphire Panoptic Mirror Shahrazad Sway of the Stars

Test of Endurance Time Walk Tinker Yawgmoth’s Bargain Yawgmoth’s Will

Like every format, if a card becomes degenerate, steps will be taken to ensure it doesn’t ruin the format.

Rules on the General

Deployment
All Generals begin the game removed from the game. You may play your general as if it were in your hand for its casting cost, but once deployed, cannot be played in this way again.

Death by General
If you take 21 points of combat damage from a single general, you die. This is an additional state-based effect, similar to poison counters. This damage is remembered even if the general leaves play, later to return. Life gain will not effect the damage total from a general.
Example: Al, Bob, and Dan are playing a game of EDH. Al’s general has done 18 points of combat damage to Dan, and Bob’s general has done 7 points of combat damage to Dan. Dan doesn’t lose because he didn’t take all 21 (or more) damage from a single general. Dan plays Wrath of God to survive, and Al returns his general to his hand. Al casts it on his turn, attacking Dan for 6 more points killing Dan, even though he was at 30 life.

I’ll be back!
If a general is ever removed from the game, its owner may shuffle it into his library instead regardless of whom controls the effect or what zone it was in before it was removed.

Karakas
All Generals have Protection from Karakas.

Legends and Generals
Generals do not follow the legend rule. Generals will take precedence over legendary creatures with the same name that are NOT designated as generals. If there is more than one player playing the same general, the NEWEST copy takes precedence (similar to Enchant World cards). This only applies to the actual card that is the general, not a copy of the general.
An example: Al controls Intet, the Dreamer (not as a general). Bob plays Intet, the Dreamer who has designated it as his general. Al sacrifices his Intet, but Bob does not. Dave then plays Exhume allowing everyone to put a creature into play from their graveyard. Dave chooses his general, which is also Intet, Al chooses his Intet (as before, not his general), and Bob chooses his Clone. They all come into play and Bob chooses his Intet to copy. Dave smiles, as his Intet is the only creature to not die.

Additional Rules

Players begin the game with 40 life.

This is a free-for-all format, allowing anyone to attack or target anyone (unless a card prevents it, obviously).

When a player dies, all cards owned by that player are removed from the game, and all spells on the stack owned by that player are also removed from the game. Also, if it was the dead player’s turn, it will now be the start of the next player’s turn.

Card specific rules

The Wishes from Judgment (e.g. Living Wish) can only fetch cards that were originally in your deck. You cannot have a sideboard, or a set of cards just to look through. If a creature was removed with Swords to Plowshares, you can Living Wish for it. You can also Living Wish for your general if you wish.

Rune Tail, Kitsune Attendant flips when his controller’s life total is 60 or higher.