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Hey Gamers! I’ve got an exciting new format to talk about this week, courtesy of friends of our own Andrew Wade, who introduced it to him while he was traveling.
This new format is called ‘Little Big,’ and it revolves entirely around 1-drops (or cards with 1 mana value/mana cost).
What about Commander Challenge?
There was a Commander Challenge this past week, and I did play in it, and I normally write about those, but….
The deck I built wasn’t good. It was a mix of Changelings and Allies, and a lot of it didn’t do anything. Allies are pretty slow these days, and while I was close to a couple of surprise alpha strikes, I didn’t make much noise. I had no room for answers or interaction at all, and consequently I finished last. The prize was still good. 4 packs (1x Dragon’s Maze, 3x March of the Machine, solid pulls).
Other decks were better. The overall theme was Pride, and all legendary creatures were considered to have partner. Some decks embraced the theme, like Andrew’s ‘Humans Matter’ deck, a fast and furious Norin & Gimli pairing, and an entire deck full of Transformers, but others focused more on game synergy. Since this was such a rare opportunity to play any 2 Commanders together, and because the potential for power and combo is so high, it was tough to know which way to go. Hopefully The Connection does more Challenges like this so we can try more options.
Back to Ones
Back to the main reason for this week’s post: the Little Big format.
First off: this is an evolving format. Nothing here is set in stone. If you try it and something doesn’t work for you, and you think there’s a better way, do that. And then come back and tell us about it.
What is it?
The Little Big format is comprised of all 1-drops: ie., cards that cost 1 mana to cast.
There are three further restrictions on this:
- Cards must cost exactly 1 mana, so no X spells.
- Cards may not have an alternate casting cost, unless that cost is also exactly 1 mana*
- Cards may not have any mana activation costs, or other sequences of mana symbols, in their text boxes, unless those costs are all exactly 1 (total cost)**
*Phyrexian mana cards are fine (for me), and function as normal, even though paying 2 life is an alternate cost. I consider it part of the mana symbol itself.
**Activation costs that ignore mana altogether, such as tapping, are fine, as would be a cost like, ‘as part of the cost to cast this spell, discard 2 cards’.
Examples:
Merfolk of the Pearl Trident costs 1 mana and is legal.
Endless One can be cast for 1 mana, but the actual cost is X, so it is illegal.
Defy Gravity has an alternate casting cost of 1, using Flashback. It is legal.
Faithless Looting has a Flashback cost of 3, and is illegal.
Ana Disciple has 2 activation costs, and both require 1 mana. It is legal.
Lavastep Raider has an activation cost of 3, and is illegal.
Tragic Poet has an activation cost that ignores mana. It is legal.
Blazing Rootwalla has a mana activation cost for Madness that is 0, and would be illegal.
Candelabra of Tawnos has a mana activation cost of X, and is illegal.
Esper Sentinel creates a mana activation cost of X for opponents and is illegal.
Bone Shards asks for a creature sacrifice as an additional cost, and is legal.
Bubble Snare asks for 3 additional mana as a Kicker cost, and is illegal.
Kor Halberd costs 1 to equip, and is legal.
Inventor’s Axe does not cost mana to equip, and is legal.
Bloodthorn Flail costs 3 or requires a discard to equip. It is illegal. However, if it was ‘Equip -Pay 1 or discard a card,’, or just ‘Equip-Discard a card’, it would be legal.
Cheeky House-Mouse has an adventure spell that also costs 1 mana, and is legal.
Ghost Lantern has an adventure that costs 2 mana, and is therefore illegal.
Do I Build a Deck?
So far, the format has only really been tried as a Battlebox. This means that one player has assembled a large stack of legal cards, and both players draw from it and play Magic.
This could very well be played as a build-your-own-deck Constructed format as well, but as I said above, this is still evolving. If you’re interested, try the Battlebox first.
Once the game has started, it’s no different from regular Magic, with a few twists.
What about Land?
Land is a twist. There are no land cards anywhere in the stack, and in a Constructed version, land would be banned.
However: every card in your deck can be played face down as a land with no types that taps for 1 mana of any colour, or colourless. Like this:
So you will always have land, but each land played forces you to sacrifice the function of the card on the other side (unless you can bounce your land, which is possible). And it’s up to you to decide how many lands to play in a game.
Other Twists? Hand Size? Life Total?
Yes. Currently both starting hand size and life total is 5.
There are a few options for Poison Counters, and I think 5 is a good number for a poison kill as well.
Tiniest Leaders
My stack goes one extra step, and is only comprised of commons and uncommons. There aren’t many rares and mythics that are legal anyway.
But there’s a second stack too, made up of a selection of those rare and mythic one-drops (and a couple specific uncommons too). That’s so Little Big can have Commanders! Because Commander is all, and we are all Commander. They don’t even need to be Legendary.
Players will select a Commander at random pregame, and I’m toying with the idea of letting players redraw once each turn until they play a Commander. After that, it’s theirs.
Commander tax is currently 1 mana instead of 2, like in EDH.
Dealing 5 Commander Damage to a player is currently a victory condition as well.
There are some obvious exclusions of Commander creatures, like Death’s Shadow, which is a turn one 8/8 with minimal downside, and the new Ocelot Pride which is too much value. Deathrite Shaman is possibly too good as well.
We are all spared the necessity of banning Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, because of a Dash cost of 2 mana.
That leaves a really fun bunch of options. I went with the following, which includes a couple of silver-border/acorn cards, and one piece of equipment.
One-Drop Commanders
Is There a Banned List?
Not a formal one, but the following cards would be considered too powerful/game warping for my stack.
Too Good for Little Big?
| Too much card advantage (2) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Skullclamp Too powerful as a recursive threat (2) 1 Rancor 1 Nurgle’s Rot Too much damage/lifeloss for one card (5) 1 Goblin Grenade 1 Lightning Bolt 1 Lava Spike 1 Mind Bomb 1 Mana Clash Incompatible with low hand sizes (3) 1 The Rack 1 Storm World 1 Shrieking Affliction Demonic Consultation (1) 1 Demonic Consultation |
I don’t have a Lost Jitte, but I think that might be too good also.
In addition, the following types of cards are illegal (in my stack):
- Anything that puts cards on the bottom of your library. The Battlebox is too big a stack for those cards to ever come back, so it’s basically exile. This includes Scry.
- Anything else that allows you to manipulate the top of the deck, unless you’re going to draw the cards anyway. Brainstorm is illegal because it allows you to draw three and then set up the next 2 game draws. Heavily played cantrip cards like Ponder, Portent, etc are also banned because they allow you to set up an opponent’s draw. Sensei’s Divining Top is banned on principle. While this excludes most Surveil cards, an exception is Consider, where the card you see will either go in your hand or your graveyard.
- Anything that allows you to search the stack, for obvious reasons.
- Anything that allows you to shuffle the stack, or shuffle anything into the stack.
There are a few cards in my stack that need watching, like Healer’s Hawk, Quest for the Gravelord, and Akroan Crusader. They might be a little too good.
Some cards are not banned, but they have no function. Any reference to a specific land type is all but useless. Cards that refer to mana costs above 1 are essentially useless (or without restriction). Cards that want you to have 7 cards in hand, 10 or more life, or 5 lands in play are unrealistic.
Some cards were excluded because they require extra maintenance, like double-faced cards and a few cards that use oil counters.
Some cards missed out because of a lack of synergy. You can do a much more Artifact, Goblin, or Zombie-focused stack that I did, for examples, and use some additional cards that would be too narrow for me, like Goblin Soothsayer.
If you want a full list of what’s in my stack, leave a comment!
So Why Should I Play This?
- It’s fast
- Your choices really matter
- There’s no ramp, no cheating on mana, and no free spells
- The cards are very inexpensive, and if you have a Magic collection, you probably have enough to make a stack already
- Cards that were previously overlooked or underpowered gain new life, while traditional powerhouses may no longer apply
- It can be built to be very friendly to new players, or extremely cutthroat and complicated. You can totally include a lot of Scry and Surveil and play that game, or have a bunch of fun creatures and combat tricks
- It has some potential as a constructed format too, although considering the small pool, may be solved too easily
Conclusion
One of the best things about Magic the Gathering is figuring out a new way to do things. Whether it’s how to build a deck that will attack the meta, or come up with a whole new format to reinvigorate cards that otherwise just sat in a box, there are seemingly no limits.
If you look at the most popular Magic formats, you’ll see opportunities for fun, but a lot of flaws. The cost is often prohibitive, and the constant flow of new, more powerful cards, makes it tough to stay relevant in games unless you can play the hottest new stuff.
Like the genesis of Commander, Little Big is a response to overcosted formats that are pushing the majority of collections to the side. The stack I built is full of cool cards and cool interactions that would never crack any other format, and I’m very excited to keep exploring it.
Maybe high-stakes, competitive Magic is for you. Maybe you have a sweet EDH meta. Or maybe you’re like me, and you have a collection, and you don’t want to just play the same few powerful options over and over. Try it yourself, and see what else is out there! There will be something for you.
Thanks for reading!
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