Does anyone play normal Highlander?

[Sigar]

I really have a hard time navigating this site since the new layout, but I wanna know if anyone here plays normal highlander (not EDH) and if there's a forum/thread for it. I think the format looks very fun, and I never really got the whole general thing.

[majikal]

I really have a hard time navigating this site since the new layout, but I wanna know if anyone here plays normal highlander (not EDH) and if there's a forum/thread for it. I think the format looks very fun, and I never really got the whole general thing.

http://www.highlandermagic.info/

[andrew77]

I play and I like it a lot. The banned list is a bit weird, but I think the format is much more balanced than EDH although it isn't really suitable for multiplayer play. I really enjoy all highlander formats as they let you play with a ton of obscure cards and promote innovation, but I have recently found EDH to be too random and too reliant on politics to really enjoy it. My goal in every game I play is to win and will never be to help player x win or some such bullshit and I get really angry when people are stupid or get easily manipulated in EDH games. If I wanted to just play politics for a couple hours I would just play 5 star and 1v1 EDH is just bad. The banned list isn't designed for 1v1 and games are extremely random or extremely boring most of the time.

German highlander on the other hand is really interesting. The mulligan rule is excellent and besides a few problems I have with the banned list it is almost perfect. You don't have the silly color restrictions of your general as in EDH and decks aren't as slow and ridiculous. If you like german highlander I would also suggest you take a look at australian singleton. It is basically a 60 card singleton format that uses a points list instead of a banned list. From a convenience standpoint it is much easier to use a 60 card deck and not having a banned list is awesome from a design standpoint as well. The decks are more powerful though and there is a lot less room for innovation as you only run 60 cards instead of 100, but I really like the points list idea. It is very balanced.

[Penguinizer]

Around where I live/play, it's hard to actually find someone who plays EDH. Most people just play German highlander, which I find to be pretty exciting because even if another player has what could be considered a better deck, the other player still has a fair fighting chance. I don't really mind the banlist, although I believe that Survival of the Fittest is pretty strong and might actually deserve a spot in the list.

[Philipp2293]

If you like german highlander I would also suggest you take a look at australian singleton. It is basically a 60 card singleton format that uses a points list instead of a banned list. From a convenience standpoint it is much easier to use a 60 card deck and not having a banned list is awesome from a design standpoint as well. The decks are more powerful though and there is a lot less room for innovation as you only run 60 cards instead of 100, but I really like the points list idea. It is very balanced.

Do you have a link to the rules/points list of australian singleton? Sounds really interesting.

[andrew77]

Do you have a link to the rules/points list of australian singleton? Sounds really interesting.

Here's a link to the points list. There's a lot more info on their forums.
http://community.goodgames.com.au/forums/index.php?showtopic=31661

[sunshine]

I'm a pretty big fan of the Skittles highlander variant - It isn't "normal" highlander, but it's not EDH which is what I think you were getting at. Basically how it works is you're only allowed to build your deck with non-rares that are vintage legal - and your deck needs to have an equal number of cards of each color (+ artifacts). So people generally play 6 white, blue, black, red, green, and artifact cards along with 24 land. Gold cards count as fractions of their colors i.e. Jund Charm counts as 1/3 black, 1/3 green, 1/3 red.

[Offler]

If there will be any interest, why not to create "german" highlander topic somewhere around this forum?

[GGoober]

I play Extended Highlander with my group of more 'casual' friends.

Although this list is quite sick
25 Lands (colonnade, mutavault, creeping tar pit)

Ponder
Preordain
Trinket Mage
Mimic Vat
Esper Charm
Mind Spring
Diabolic Tutor
Jace's Ingenuity
2 More card draw (can't remember what)

Eliixir of Immortality
Executioner's Capsule
Pithing Needle
Brittle Effigy

Thoughtseize
Duress
Negate
Mana Leak
Countersquall
Cancel
Stoic Rebuttal
Cryptic Command
Glen-Elendra Archmage

Path to Exile
Doom Blade
Shriekmaw
Wrath of God

Ethersworn Adjudicator
Sun Titan
Grave Titan
Elspeth KE
Elspeth Tiriel
Jace 1
Jace 2
Liliana Vess

[Julian23]

In Bavaria we also play "Munich Highlander" which consits of at least 300 cards (most people use ±600), no countermagic, no discard, no non-ability-land destruction, no extra-turn effects (e.g. also Yosei etc.), no tutor effects besides Rampant Growth and all its cousins as well as no direct damage/loss of life to players. You get to bring a 30-card sideboard consisting of lands from which your land tutors etc. will search so you don't have to actually go through all your deck. If cards are removed from the game or placed "under" your library, you just remove them. Once a game finishes you just start again with the remaining cards in your deck. It's the most fun format I have ever played because games tend to go on forever with a damn lot of interaction happening.

It's usually played 2v2 but 1v1 can also be quite entertaining.

[Offler]

I have heard in "german" highlander about deck builded around Battle of wits. Must be crazy to play :D

I play only german highlander. smaller formats are too fast for me, EDH is limited to 100 cards. German has "100 at least" cards. Except of dudes which argue that if you cannot build up thinner deck you are bad deckbuilder I dont see any problem in larger decks (except lost of consitency sometimes...)

[Penguinizer]

The loss of consistency can be made up for with tutors. I only play two though in my Doran Rock. Demonic Tutor is a must for any deck with black. I also chose to play Worldly Tutor just because my deck has a lot of creatures with relevant abilities. Blue has even more tutors to play with.

Anyways, Battle of Wits might very well work. UWB has access to plenty of tutors as well as control to fight back against aggro.


Here's my deck if anyone cares: http://deckstats.net/deck-416575-5153e51dd4eb13fdeb1a564cfb29e6b7-en.html

It's missing some cards like Thoughtseize and Bitterblossom. Some of the creatures choices might be a bit weird as well.

[4eak]

I love highlander. We usually play with just 60 cards though.



peace,
4eak

[Atwa]

Australian singleton looks like a great format. I love my format where I can play every card I own without too many broken things happening. I can finally play Balance in Doran Rock!