Tiny Leaders: Reborn

  The Short and Sweet of Things Recently, with an announcement focused on changes coming with Foundations (read about it here ), WotC wrapped up by declaring The End of the World As We Know It! More accurately, the article announced then discussed the removal of some old, and arguably archaic and unintuitive, rules regarding combat (more specifically, blocking and damage). Effective with the release of Magic Foundations, damage assignment order will no longer be a thing in Magic. In the Beginning (of Combat) This all started in the beginning of Magic, with LEA rules of damage on the stack. In the old days, when creatures were terrible and spells were either just as terrible or beyond insane (for a long time, the Gold Standard of one-drops was Savannah Lions ), combat damage used the stack. The stack also functioned fundamentally differently than it does today, using a game concept called “batches”, which is why older spells are divided into three categories (technically four) i...

  Quick note on the conventions used before we get into things: while normally “A” and “N” names are used to denote Active and NonActive players, for multiplayer scenarios sequential letters of the alphabet are generally used, with “A” indicating the Active Player at the start of the scenario. Also, typically only items relevant to the scenario are mentioned, and everything is assumed to be both legal and irrelevant. If a detail is somehow relevant and not indicated, this is usually because either it was overlooked during development/recreation and/or was not considered previously. A detail being absent does not necessarily (although usually does) mean it is irrelevant.   The scenario: A mon is trying to determine their options for legal attacks. Previously, B ruh resolved Disrupt Decorum and currently C oin controls Sphere of Safety . D oomed is tapped out with nothing relevant on board. To determine what constitutes a legal attack for A mon, let’s first take a look at so...

       Greetings , friends! Today I am happy to announce the arrival of the Cube Spotlight Series on the TL:R server! This has been a longtime dream of mine, to share my love of this unique format that not only by its very nature almost requires community support, but also thrives on, enhances, and is compounded by the community around it.     Cube is both the most pure form of Magic and the least Magic-like format I have encountered yet. The near-infinite degree to which a Cube can be customized, the fathomless depth of the available card pool to draw from, the boundless creativity of the human spirit, and the expression of these to meet any of a number of varying goals means that no two Cubes are alike, and even the same Cube will play differently each time.     By hosting this recurring, bi-weekly draft series, I aim to continue strengthening our community through shared experience, providing opportunity for creative expression both in gameplay...

  On Mana Value and Restrictions in TL:R Gray Beadle, Rules and Policy Manager The past couple of days have really hammered home for me how little the general player base understands the behind-the-scenes that goes into not only creating and maintaining rules and policy, but also creating, curating, and maintaining a format. Most already know that one of the primary roles of a Judge is to be a bridge of sorts between the general player base and rules and policy. Usually this only goes as far as the “how”, and not the “why”. My case is rather unique, as while I do write and (try to) maintain the rules and policy supplements, it is not my vision that guides me; rather my efforts are guided by the ideal of what TL:R is and what the Committee wants for the format. That being said, it does give me some insight into the reasons behind certain choices made, and hopefully I can convey those reasons in a sufficiently cohesive manner. First, I’d like to address the minor issue of {X} spe...

  Opening Ceremony Let's start by addressing the elephant in the room: there was an oversight in policy that didn't disallow changing your commander from game to game during a match, provided your deck still fit within the color identity and the event wasn't using decklists. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Sure, I would prefer to get it perfect the first time, having to go back and make adjustments means it wasn't good enough for whatever reason; if it was I wouldn't be adjusting it. However, finding the flaws in the policy and the process used to craft it now, when the stakes are low, is about as good as it gets. Having a community involved and caring enough to shine a light on these errors is praiseworthy, and is another reason I love doing what I do with this community in particular. I hope we can continue to foster an environment that promotes positive development and feedback.  The Long List of Reasons A key element of the TL:R format identity is the use ...

  Foreword Recently, the TL:R community was shaken to varying degrees by what was to most an unforeseen, unexpected, and unnecessary change to the format rules. Here I will attempt to describe the series of events that led up to the change, some of the process behind it, what the change actually means, and announce a nonfunctional update with that change . To read that announcement, scroll to " An Identity of Our Own ". Bottom Line Up Front: a nonfunction rules update will introduce the concepts of “Tiny” and <cost identity> (skip to the announcement for details). This nonfunctional (meaning has no effect on the function of the rules or the game) will define and use these concepts to help players of all skill and experience levels better understand, apply, and explain the updated rules as well as help with as-yet-unseen hurdles. Explicitly: A card’s <cost identity> is the set of each mana value among all sets of characteristics on a card; put simply, the mana co...