🔗 Share this article

Widely considered Magic: The Gathering's friendliest format, the Elder Dragon Highlander format has received a seasonal twist perfect for the festive season. During a holiday-themed episode, hosts from a popular channel demonstrated a four-player match called "Countdown to XT-Mas."

How the Festive Variant Works

Fundamentally involves a straightforward layer superimposed on a standard EDH game. A designated indicator travels around the table. Once it arrives at the active player's turn, the action briefly pauses. Each participant secretly chooses if they will be being Nice or Naughty via two cards.

Everyone reveal their choice together. They then apply the bonus tied to their own choice, starting with the player holding the marker. This marker then gets passed to the next player. The holiday round counter ticks up by one step, and normal Commander resumes.

These decisions do escalate over time progress, seeming well-balanced.

Increasing Effects

The initial phases granted minor, collective benefits for choosing Nice, such as life gain or investigation clues. In contrast, Naughty choices often gave more targeted advantages, frequently at the expense of an opponent. For instance let players choosing Naughty receive a powerful airborne Reindeer token. Players that selected Nice generated a 1/1 Toy creature token for all participants.

The Climactic Finale

On the last phase, Saint Nick himself arrived, turning the game. Based on the tally of each player chose Naughty versus Nice, Santa gave out mystery presents. Outwardly, these were deck boxes, but contained MTG booster packs of varying value.

• The kindest player received a premium Collector Booster.
• Another friendly player opened a slightly less valuable premium pack.
• Another participant received a less powerful booster pack.
• The most mischievous player got the worst prize: a historically poor set which is basically a joke.

Each card unwrapped could then be used for the rest of the game, cast from exile with mana considered to be colorless. For the nicer players, their gift proved to be a significant power spike. Meanwhile, mischievous participants were given a punitive gift.

Playing the Format with Friends

While the demonstration match included significant custom components, this is a concept that any group can easily try at home. Each player plays with their standard EDH deck, and the only extra items required would be four different booster packs with different worth.

The main challenge is that if players know the rewards in advance the prize for being Nice, they all might aim for the best booster pack. Groups can mix it up by using other methods, like drafting cards from a communal pile or allowing participants to include cards they own from their binders.

From the successful demonstration, Countdown to XT-Mas is definitely a joyous format to create laughter this holiday season. It adds a layer to the strategy between players in a joyous manner, making it a unique way to play for Magic players everywhere.