The following text is adapted from material found in the Battle Royale giftbox booklet.

BASIC MULTIPLAYER RULES

For the most part, Magic rules and spells work the same in multiplayer games as
they do in a one-on-one game. To play a two-on-two game, start with the
following basic multiplayer rules:
1. Everybody sits around a single table, with team partners sitting across
from each other. After the first player takes his or her first turn, play
moves around the table to the left.
2. A players creatures can attack only the opponent to his or her right. If
that player is eliminated, they can then attack the remaining opponent.
3. If a player is eliminated, all his or her permanents are removed from
the game. The game continues until both players on one team are
eliminated.
4. Table talk is not allowed. You cant tell your partner whats in your
hand, what your next move is going to be, or what you want him or her
to do. This makes the game more interesting, because you have to pay
attention and make educated guesses about what you think will help
your partner and harm your opponents. It also prevents one partner
from running a partnership, leaving the other partner out of the
picture.

MULTIPLAYER VARIANTS
This section describes several multiplayer Magic variants. Dont worry if the
variant descriptions mention rules or terms youve never heard of; those are
explained in the next section.
DCI Two-on-Two
Four players Two teams
Although this format isnt actually sanctioned by the DCI players
organization, the DCI does recommend it as an interesting variant. In this format,
you and your partner sit next to each other, across from your two opponents. The
left player of one team takes the first turn, and then play passes to the left, so one

team will have the first and fourth turns while the other team will go second and
third. You may attack only the player across from you; if that player is eliminated,
you may then attack your remaining opponent. Moving creatures is allowed (see
Moving Creatures for how this works), and moved creatures attack the player
across from your partner. Spell range is unlimited, table talk isnt allowed, and
life totals arent shared.
Typically you and your partner will want to gang up on whichever of your
opponents is more vulnerable. Once that player is eliminated, the two of you will
have a big advantage against your remaining opponent. Because table talk isnt
allowed, you need to think about which opponent to beat on first, then play
accordingly (possibly by removing that players creatures first). This strategy cuts
both ways, however. If the other team gangs up on your partner, you need to rush
to the defense, using creature destruction on the creatures that are dealing the
most damage to your partner and using cards like Fog and Healing Salve to keep
your partner in the game as long as possible.
Two-Headed Giant
Four players Two teams
Two-Headed Giant is a variant of DCI Two-on-Two or basic two-on-two
multiplayer Magic. In Two-Headed Giant each team represents two heads of a
giant. The giant has an initial life total of 40, and damage dealt to either player is
deducted from the giants total. Your creatures can attack any opponent, so
moving creatures isnt allowed. You win by reducing the opposing giants life
total to 0.
Emperor
Six or ten players Two teams
An Emperor game is a contest between two teams. Each team has one emperor
(seated in the middle) and two generals (seated one on each side of the emperor).
The left-hand general of one team takes the first turn, and then play passes to the
left, balancing the advantage of going first with having all the opposing team
members take their turns next. The spell range is limited to onethat is, your
spells and abilities can affect only you and the players sitting one seat to your left
or right (the two players right next to you). You can attack only players on your
immediate left or right. Because of this, until a general is knocked out, neither
emperor can be attacked. Moving creatures is allowed. Each player starts with 20
life; life totals arent shared. If a general is eliminated, the remaining players on

that team continue to play normally. When an emperor is eliminated, that team
loses.
You can also play Emperor with four generals per team, sitting two on each side
of the emperor. Spell range is still limited to one.
Free-for-All
Best for three to six players No teams
The Free-for-All format is exactly that: youre on your own against the world.
Your creatures can attack any other player, and spell range is unlimited. The last
player left standing wins!
Melee
Best with six to ten players No teams
If you try to play Free-for-All with six or more players, youll quickly realize that
it isnt practical. There are too many permanent effects to keep track of and too
many choices of whom to attack. Melee is a structured Free-for-All with rules to
address these problems. You can attack only the player to your left, and spell
range is usually limited to one, though you can also try it as two. The object is to
knock out the players to your left. Whenever the player to your left is knocked
out, you get 1 point, even if someone else eliminated that player. You also get 2
points if youre the last one in the game. In the end, the player with the most
points wins, even if he or she isnt the last remaining player.
Grand Melee
Fifteen or more players No teams
A Melee game with fifteen or more players graduates to Grand Melee status and
requires some complicated arrangements to keep the game from bogging down.
Though anyone can enjoy playing in a Grand Melee, we recommend that you
dont try to run one until youve played a few regular Melee games and are ready
for a challenge. If complex logistics dont appeal to you, skip ahead to the next
format.
The main difference between Melee and Grand Melee is that you need to have
two or more players take their turns at the same time; otherwise the game takes
far too long. To decide how many turns should happen at the same time, divide
the total number of players by one plus the number of players within spell range.
(If you use a spell range of two, for example, the number of players within spell

range would be five: you, the two players on your right, and the two players on
your left.) Round down. Space the turns out evenly among all players.
EXAMPLE: If youre playing with twenty-eight players and a spell range of two,
youll start the game with four turns happening simultaneously (1 + 5 players
within spell range = 6, and 28 players 6 = 4.66, rounded down = 4).
Below is a number of starting turns chart for up to forty players using a spell
range of two:
Number of
Players
36 to 40
30 to 35
24 to 29
18 to 23
12 to 17
11 or fewer

Number of
Turns
6
5
4
3
2
1

Players spheres of influencethe spheres around each player created by the spell
range on both sides of that playerare never allowed to overlap. After a player
finishes his or her turn, the player to that players left cant start his or her turn if
doing so would put a player into two spheres of influence at the same time. The
player whose turn it would be waits until he or she could start a turn without the
spheres overlapping.
As players are eliminated, youll eventually need to reduce the number of
simultaneous turns in the game or else the game will grind to a halt. Youre
forced to do this when the number of turns multiplied by the number of players
within spell range is greater than the number of players in the game. You
probably should reduce the number of simultaneous turns before youre forced
to, thoughotherwise, the game will slow down because of spheres of influence
bumping into each other. Its best to reduce the number of turns as soon as the
number of players still in the game would give you one less turn using the
starting game formula.
EXAMPLE: If youre playing with twenty-eight players and a spell range of two
as in the last example, youll have to move from four simultaneous turns to three
when there are nineteen players left in the game (4 turns x 5 players within spell
range > 19 players in the game). However, youd be better off eliminating a turn
when there are twenty-three players left (1 + 5 players within spell range = 6, and
23 players 6 = 3.83, rounded down = 3).

Theres no absolutely fair way to eliminate a turn. When the number of turns
needs to be reduced, the turn in the spell range of the last person eliminated is
removed instead of being passed at the end of the current players turn. This will
often result in a player receiving one less turn than the other players nearby.
EXAMPLE:In a game with twenty-four players and four simultaneous turns,
the next person to be eliminated will reduce the turns to three. The turn in that
players spell range will disappear after the player currently using it completes his
or her turn.
When a player is eliminated, that player immediately removes all cards he or she
owns from the game. (This may affect players in other spell ranges.) All cards that
player controls but doesnt own are put into their owners graveyards. For
purposes of calculating spell range, the eliminated player still counts as
occupying a position. For purposes of creatures attacks, that player doesnt.
However, you can never attack a player outside of your spell range.
EXAMPLE: Bob is to your left and Susan two to your left. Ted is three to your
left, which is outside of your spell range. During your main phase you eliminated
Bob with direct damage. Now during your combat phase you may attack Susan
with your creatures. If youd also eliminated Susan with direct damage, you still
couldnt attack Ted, because hes outside of your spell range.
When a turn passes in the spell range of an eliminated player, that players
position is removed.
EXAMPLE: To continue the last example, after eliminating Bob and attacking
Susan with your creatures but not eliminating her, the turn would pass to Susan.
Then, Bobs position would be removed, and Susan would become the player to
your immediate left. Ted would then be in your spell range.
Two-Color Star
Five players No teams; two opponents
If you want to try something a bit out of the ordinary, you might play Two-Color
Star, a variant for five players. First, assign each player two friendly colors; the
five friendly-color pairs are white-blue, blue-black, black-red, red-green, and
green-white. Then each of you should build a deck using only cards that are of
your assigned colorsplus lands, of course! Both of your friendly colors should
be reasonably well represented in your deck. You cant use artifacts or cards of
the other three colors in your deck.
Next, figure out which is your enemy color. If youre playing white-blue, your
enemy color is red; for blue-black, its green; for black-red, white; for red-green,

blue; and for green-white, black. Your opponents are the players using your
enemy color in their decks. For example, if youre playing blue-black, your enemy
color is green, so the green-white and red-green players are your opponents. The
two players who arent your opponents (in this case, white-blue and black-red)
arent really your allies either; theyre neutral. Youre competing against them,
but you dont get any benefit from hurting them.
Once youve all figured out who your opponents are, sit in a circle like this, so
that your neutral players are the two players next to you and your opponents are
the two players across from you:
In Two-Color Star, you attack only your opponents with your creatures, but spell
range is unlimited. Moving creatures isnt allowed (because you have no
teammates).
You win if youre the first to knock out both of your opponents. For example, if
youre playing green-white, you win if both the black-red and blue-black players
are knocked out. Ties are possible if no one wins when the first two players are
knocked out. For instance, if both the white-blue and black-red players are out
and the blue-black player is eliminated, the green-white and red-green players
both win at the same time, making the game a tie.
One Deck
Four or more players Two-on-Two or Melee
One Deck is a variation of Two-on-Two or Melee. This is a great variant when not
everyone has a deck available. You need just one deck of at least 120 cards for a
four-player game. Add at least twenty cards for each additional player.
Decks for One Deck games typically use all five colors, but you can build a deck
using fewer colors if you want. Avoid using spells that require two mana of the
same color in their mana or activation costs; that way each player will have a
better chance of being able to play the cards he or she draws. You should also
reduce the number of one- and two-mana spells. Such cards are usually good
only in the early game, and it may take a while to get even one land of a
particular color. If youre using a five-color deck, you may want to prohibit
attacking for the first three turns or increase the opening hand (and hand-size
limit) to ten cards. This will reduce your chances of ending up with the wrong
color mana to cast your spells.

A One Deck game works like a normal Two-on-Two or Melee game except that
every player draws from a common library and uses a common graveyard. (If the
deck runs out of cards, the games a draw.) The difference between a cards
controller and its owner is eliminated; if you control a card, youre its owner, no
matter who drew or played the card. For example, if you play Raise Dead, you
can select any creature card from the graveyard. If you steal a creature with Ray
of Command and then Unsummon that creature, the creature will go to your
hand because youre the current controller of that creature card. When building a
deck for One Deck, add Classic cards such as Gravebane Zombie, Gravedigger,
Sage Owl, and Relearn to take advantage of the common library and graveyard.
In One Deck Melee, to the victor go the spoils. When the player to your left is
eliminated, at the end of your turn you gain control of all his or her permanents
and you get the cards in his or her hand. (Discard down to the appropriate hand
size if you have more cards.) It doesnt matter who administered the final blow; at
the end of the turn, the player to the eliminated players right gets the eliminated
players stuff.

GENERAL RULES AND TERMS

Not sure what we mean by phrases like moving creatures or spell range?
This section details some of the rules and terms common to most multiplayer
variants.
Attack Right and Attack Left
In some multiplayer games, your creatures are allowed to attack only the player
on your right or the player on your left. This rule limits only your creatures
attacks; it doesnt affect the spells you play or your choice of targets for your
creatures abilities. Because play always passes to the left when a players turn is
done, attack-left formats and attack-right formats produce slightly different
games; games that use attack right are slightly more defensive, while those that
use attack left are mostly offensive.
Moving Creatures
In some team formats, you can move your creatures to your teammates territory
the space in front of your teammate where his or her cards go. This allows your
creatures to block for your teammate and attack the opponents next to your

teammate. You move creatures as part of declaring your attack; to move a

creature, simply place it in the territory to which youre moving it. Moving a
creature counts as that creatures attack for that turn and follows the same
restrictions; if a creature cant attack, you cant move it either. Moving a creature
doesnt tap it, though.
Your moved creatures remain under your controlthat is, you decide whether
they attack or block, when to use their abilities, and whom they attack during
your turn. But they can block attacks only for the player whose territory they
occupy; they cant block for you. Your moved creatures can attack only the
players next to the player whose territory they occupy, not the players your
creatures can normally attack. However, your moved creatures still attack during
your combat phase, not your teammates, so your moved creatures and your
teammates creatures cant attack together.
Spell Range
In some multiplayer games, your spells can affect only players sitting close to
you; this is stated as a spell range and is typically one or two. For instance, if the
rules for a game say that the spell range is one, a Wrath of God will destroy only
creatures controlled by you and by the players sitting one seat away on either
side (the players right next to you); other players creatures are unaffected.
Similarly, if you control a Howling Mine in that game, only you and the two
players sitting next to you get to draw an extra card every turn. Furthermore,
your target choices are limited to you, the players sitting next to you, and the
permanents in front of each of you, no matter who controls them.
When spell range is unlimited, you can choose any legal target for your spells,
and untargeted spells affect every players territory.
Player Elimination
In multiplayer variants, whenever a player is eliminated, all permanents he or she
owns are removed from the game (unless stated otherwise in the rules for that
variant). Permanents controlled by the eliminated player but owned by someone
else are put in their owners graveyards. Creatures that have been moved to the
eliminated players territory but are controlled by other players are moved to
their controllers territories.