Aaron's Solitaire

Rules

For this Solitaire variant you will use only one library. Your opponent will also use your deck.
You and your imaginary opponent start with 20 life. Your goal is to reduce his life to 0 like a
normal magic game. Use the following rules:

You go first. Play your turn as normal.

Next, take the top card off of the library and place it in your "opponent's" territory. Your opponent
does not need mana to cast spells (not counting X spells, which are always zero unless there's
lands that can be tapped or other mana sources in your opponents territory already). If the card
makes no sense, discard it and draw again. If the card can be played on more than one card in
play, use the following as a guideline, but in general try to do the best you can to damage your
own position. In order of priority (if they apply):
Play it in your opponent's territory, unless it hurts your opponent or you cannot play it on
your opponent.
Play it on the creature with the highest current power (use toughness to resolve ties,
otherwise just toss a coin, or roll a die).
Play it on the type of land that the player has the least of.
Play it on the most recently cast spell that it can be cast on.
Play it in the way that causes most damage to you.
Your opponent will always attack with all creatures that can. It will also always block with all
creatures that can (unless they were tapped to attack). This includes Jade Statue if it has the mana
to use it.

Your opponent will always block by matching highest toughness (it's) to lowest power (yours).

This seemingly stupid play makes up for the fact that your opponent can cast any spell without
needing any mana. You will find that this comes out pretty even with a five-color deck of
commons.

History

This variants was created by Aaron Sherman.

Deep IQ
This variant has you play a game of magic against a series of tables that require 1d10. The order
of play for Deep IQ's turn is simple: roll on the current action table, figure out if attacking is good
for it, and attack if it's a good idea. Then end it's turn. Be sure to keep in mind that Deep IQ plays
as well as you do (i.e. you have to make some decisions for it); the rule is, if you would attack or
block if you were in its position, then it would. If there's more than one choice on one of Deep
IQ's rolls, make the decision as though you were in its shoes. Yeah, you can cheat if you want, but
cheating to beat a die and a piece of paper is about as gratifying as kissing your sister.

The table roughly corresponds to the amount of mana Deep IQ has available. It's first roll will
always be on Table 1. Every time you roll for Deep IQ, check the Advancement range. If the roll
falls within the range, move Deep IQ up one table (use a token to keep track). When you cast a
spell like Armageddon or Jokulhaups, Deep IQ will move back to Table 1. When you destroy one
of its lands (with a spell like Stone Rain), move it back one table.

Whenever Deep IQ gets a creature token, roll again on the token chart to determine the creature's
abilities. Apply the number in brackets as a modifier to the roll. (Same thing goes for the Spooky
Chart.) If Deep IQ's action is something you can't do, treat the result as "Do nothing."

There will be times when there's no clear-cut rule for how you should handle something (like a
Winter Orb or Stasis). Is such cases, come up with an appropriate penalty (such as -5 to all Table
die rolls) which lasts until Deep IQ can get rid of your offending artifact or enchantment.

Finally, keep in mind that beating Deep IQ isn't a walk in the park. If you can win even half of
your games, that's an accomplishment.

Table I

1-8) Do nothing.
9) Bury your best creature.
10) Put a 1/1 token into play (-4).
Advancement Roll: 1-9

Table II

1-4) Do nothing.
5-7) Put a 2/2 token into play (+0).
8) Move Deep IQ up to Table 4.
9-10) Remove your best creature from the game.
Advancement Roll: 1-8

Table III

1-3) Do nothing.
4) Put a 2/2 token into play (+2).
5) Put a 2/1 token into play (+4).
6) Destroy your best land.
7) Move Deep IQ up to Table 5 and put a 1/1 token into play (+0).
8) Put a 1/1 token into play (+1) and Deep IQ gets a free roll on Table 2.

9) Bury your best creature.

10) Destroy your best artifact or roll on Spooky Chart (-2).
Advancement Roll: 1-7

Table IV

1-3) Do nothing.
4) Put a 4/4 token into play (+3).
5) Bury your best creature.
6) Destroy your best artifact or enchantment.
7) Remove your best creature from the game.
8) Bury your two best creatures or you take 4 damage.
9) Put a 2/4 token into play (+7) or roll on Spooky Chart (-1).
10) Roll on Spooky Chart (+0).
Advancement Roll: 1-4

Table V

1-3) Do nothing.
4) Put a 3/4 token into play (+4).
5) Put a 2/2 token into play (+2) and Deep IQ gets a free roll on Table 3.
6) Destroy your best creature, enchantment or artifact.
7) Put a 4/4 token into play (+1).
8) Destroy all lands or put a 4/1 token into play (+3).
9) Bury your best creature or roll on Spooky Chart (+1).
10) Roll on Spooky Chart (+2).
Advancement Roll: 1-4

Table VI

1-3) Do nothing.
4) Bury all lands, creatures and artifacts or put a 2/4 token into play (+3).
5) Put a 4/5 token into play (+6).
6-7) Destroy your best creature or you take 6 damage.
8) Destroy your best artifact, enchantment or land.
9) Remove your best creature from the game or roll on Spooky Chart (+3).
10) Roll on Spooky Chart (+4).
Advancement Roll: None

Token Chart

1 or less) No extra abilities.

2) +1/+0 and flanking.
3) Regeneration. If Deep IQ uses this ability, subtract 2 from its next roll.
4) +0/+1 and banding.
5) First strike.
6) Protection from: Black (1-3), White (4-6), Red (7-8), Blue (9) or Green (10).
7) Landwalk: Swamps (1-3), Mountains (4-6), Islands (7-8), Plains (9) or Forests (10).
8) +2/+2, flying, phasing.
9) Unaffected by summoning sickness and trample.
10) (Roll two more times on this table, with no modifier.)
11) Flying and T: Deal 1 damage to target creature or player.
12) Protection from a color (see #6) and doesn't tap to attack.
13) When creature comes into play, bury one of your creatures at random.
14) Flanking and cannot be targeted by spells or effects.
15) Protection from a color (see #6), landwalk (see #7), one more roll with the same modifier and
your weakest creature becomes unblockable.
16) T: Remove target permanent from the game.

Spooky Chart
1 or less) Deep IQ plays an enchantment token. While this is in play, all of its tokens gain +1/+1.
2) Deep IQ plays an artifact token. While this is in play, reroll the first "Do nothing" result of
every turn.
3) Deep IQ plays an enchantment token. While this is in play, Deep IQ gets +1 to all die rolls.
4) Destroy all of your creatures, or all of your artifacts, or all of your enchantments. Treat Deep
IQ's next roll as "Do nothing."
5) Deep IQ gains 5 life and moves up to Table 6 if it isn't already there.
6) You take 10 damage.
7) Deep IQ plays an artifact token. While this is in play, it gets two table rolls every turn and takes
the best one.
8) Destroy all of your lands of one basic type (whichever is most inconvenient). Treat Deep IQ's
next roll as "Do nothing."
9) Remove the top 20 cards in your library from the game.
10) Deep IQ plays an artifact token. While this is in play, your best creature is considered tapped.
If you lose your best creature, the next best creature becomes tapped, and so on.
11) All of Deep IQ's tokens get a free roll on the token chart (+0). These abilities are permanent.
12) Deep IQ plays an enchantment token. While this is in play, it gets a free roll on Table 2 every
time one of its permanents is destroyed or buried.
13) Deep IQ gains 20 life.
14) Destroy all of your permanents. Treat Deep IQ's next roll as "Do nothing."

Solitaire
Ever wanted to challenge yourself to a Magic Duel? Here’s how! All you need is a deck (either a
deck you use all the time or a sealed deck), the rules below, and a slightly different way of
approaching the game. Solitaire Magic won’t improve your timing skills or the menacing glare
that intimidates opponents. It will, however, improve your card memory skills, including your
ability to estimate how likely you are to draw a card based on how many cards you’ve seen.

Setting up the Table

Take your deck, shuffle, and deal out seven traditional solitaire stacks – the first has one card, the
second two, and so on. As long as a stack contains any cards, the top one is always turned face up.
The remaining cards are you deck. You start with no hand and an empty graveyard. There are no
life totals, so don’t worry about that. The goal of the game is to eliminate all the cards in these
seven stacks before cycling through your deck three times.
 Mandatory Plays

Lands must be moved up above the stacks, where the aces would go in standard solitaire. Each
different land type is placed in its own pile. If more than one copy of a card is ever face up or in
your hand, move it to a stack with that card on top. In other words, if two stacks both have
Hurloon Minotaurs on top, you must move one Minotaur on top of the other one.

The Seven Stack (And How to Get Rid of Them)

The cards on top of each stack have many uses. If the card is a permanent, it’s considered in play,
unless it’s a local enchantment. If there’s more than one card face up on a stack (which cold
happen if you’ve drawn multiple copies of a card), all those cards are in play. For the purposes of
card text, you don’t control any of these cards. However, you may play these cards by paying
their cost as described below.

A card on top of a stack may be targeted as if it were in play, in a player’s hand, or even as if it
were being cast. For example, AEther Flash is on top of a stack, and you’d like to get rid of it.
You could play Disenchant, Power Sink, or Duress – from your hand or from another stack.
Because those cards could target AEther Flash either in play, while being cast, or in hand, you
could use any of them to remove it from the stack.

Creatures on the stacks can also be destroyed in combat. In Solitaire Magic, attacks are declared
against stack, not a player. The Magic creature-combat rules apply. Your creature is considered to
be attacking, and all the creatures in the pile are considered to be blocking. Since there are no
turns, creatures do not suffer from summoning sickness. Remember, this will usually just be one
creature – unless you’re facing a stack of identical creatures like the Hurloon Minotaurs above.

Sacrifice Your Lands

Instead of playing lands and tapping then for mana, you sacrifice lands to generate mana (and the
sacrificed lands go from the top row to the graveyard). In order to play a card or ability, you must
sacrifice a land that produces at least one colored mana of the card you’re playing. All other costs
are ignored. If a source provides more then one mana, the extra is lost. For instance, sacrificing a
swamp to play Dark Ritual will only allow you to play one spell or ability requiring at least B. if a
spell or ability has X in its cost, X is 1, plus 1 for each additional land you sacrifice or mana
source you play.

Three Trips through the Library

As in normal Magic, you draw cards from your library. But in Solitaire, you draw three at a time
and look only at the top one. Also, you don’t lose the first time you’ve drawn all your cards.
Instead, you can go through the deck three before you lose. Place the cards you’ve gone through
into a discard pile. When your library is empty, the discard pile becomes the library (unless
you’ve gone through the library three times already). Library-searching effects can still be played.
Harrow, for example, would allow you to search your library for two basic lands and put them
into play. In this case, the lands would go directly into the appropriate land stacks above the seven
stacks.

One Permanent at a Time

You can never control more than one permanent, except for local enchantments. Play that
permanent below your seven stacks. Whenever you use a permanent’s ability – or attack with it if
it’s a creature – you sacrifice it when the action is completed. You may use abilities that play as
fast effects multiple times before sacrificing the permanent, such as Knight of Dusk’s “BB:
Destroy target creature blocking Knight of Dusk.” You can play a local enchantment on that
permanent (or several enchantments), and any enchantments get sacrificed when the creature
does.

Your Hand – A Precious Resource

Of the three cards you draw at one time, only the top card is revealed, and that card is considered
your hand. If your hand matches a card on top of a stack, it must be moved to that stack.

If you have to discard your hand (if you play Apocalypse, for example), place the top card from
your hand in the discard pile. If an effect directs you to draw, take the top card from your library
and make it the top card of your hand. Effects that return cards to your hand put those cards on
top of your hand in any order you chose. Capsize, for instance, can move a permanent from the
top of a pile to the top of your hand. Evacuation, likewise, would put all face-up creatures – plus
your permanent if it’s a creature – on top of your hand in any order you choose.

Aim for the Graveyard

This works the same as the Magic graveyard. Al destroyed cards are placed in the graveyard,
including lands sacrificed to pay for spells and abilities. Remember, your goal is to eliminate the
seven stacks, so you want to put a lot of cards in the graveyard.

The Rest of the Rules

Because there are no turns, anything that happens at the beginning or end of any phase is ignored.
Abilities that are played during a phase can be used at any time. As always, one you use an ability,
the permanent is sacrificed. Since there are no life totals, damage is of no consequence to you,
though it still gets rid of creatures. If an ability requires you to pay life, you must discard a card
from your library for each life you wish to pay.
 Some Helpful Hints

Try and clear stacks away early. If there are two copies of the same cards on top of a stack,
move the one on the shorter stack to the other copy. This will help you eliminate a stack
and reduce the chance of a card in your hand matching a card on the stack.
Avoid using cards from your hand. The more cards you use from your hand, the less mana
you’ll have available to play the cards you’re trying to eliminate. Remember that you can
play face-up cards as if they were in your hand.
Before drawing cards, try to eliminate as many cards as possible using the resources
already on the table. Remember, only three trips through the library!
Be careful when playing a permanent. You need to have a way to get rid of it, unless you
want to control it and nothing else for the remainder of the game.
Not sure about how a card works in Solitaire? Make your own ruling – it’s Solitaire, after
all. Who’s going to argue with you?
History

This variant was taken from Duelist Issue 34. It was written by Michael Mikaelian.