MTG Horde Format Revisited - The Homebrewery 03/04/2023, 13:15

MTG Horde Format Revisited

T
he Gatewatch looks on in horror as another corpse rises, joining the mindless army that stretches out, filling the The Surviv
streets with twisted, moaning, blood!drenched faces. The Hor
A wave of fire washes over the writhing mass as Chandra rains down elementals to help push the dead back. One
large, hulking brute becomes wrapped in chains of blue mana as Jace pulls him down to the ground. Trees erupt
from beneath the cobblestones; Nissa tangles their branches and roots together creating a barrier to try and stem
the undead tide. A snarling face bursts through the brambles, teeth ready to tear into Jace's throat. As the jaws
clamp down, a rush of white mana explodes and surrounds Jace in an armored shroud. He looks back over his
shoulder to see Gidean, hands still glowing, give him a slight nod before they both turn back to the horde.

What is this?
This is a revamped version of the MTG Horde Format originally created by Peter Knudson back in 2011. Unlike the original
format he proposed where players use their own commander decks to survive the onslaught, this version is designed to be a bit
more like a boardgame style of Magic. It includes a collection of "survivor" decks that are prebuilt to be thematic, balanced, and
provide the best possible play experience

Main Rules Overview

This format is designed for 3!4 players to work together using the four prebuilt Survivor decks to take on a 100 card deck, known
as The Horde, that plays itself. The goal is to work together to survive the constant onslaught until The Horde runs out of cards.
The basic rules are not extremely different from Peter Knudson's original version, but it has had several new mechanics built in.

Setup
Each player selects one of the Survivor decks. These are 60!card singleton decks with the original transforming planeswalkers as
commanders.
The players then select which Horde deck they'd like to fight against. Shuffle the "Loot" deck then draw 10 cards from it and,
without looking at them, shuffle them into the Horde deck. Set the remaining Loot cards aside for later. You're now ready to play.

Playing the game

The Survivors start with 40 shared life and have a life total cap of 50, The Horde starts with 20 life and has a life total cap of 30.
The Survivors get 3 turns to prepare before the Horde takes a turn. The Survivors take turns simultaneously. After the 3 turn set!
up, the Survivors and the Horde alternate turns.
At the beginning of each of the Horde's precombat main phases, the top card of their library is revealed. If the card is anything
other than a non!token creature, then another card is revealed. All cards are immediately cast as they are revealed. Keep revealing
until a non!token creature card is revealed. Token cards are considered to be creature spells and as such are also cast as they are
revealed.
Once a non!token creature card has been revealed and cast, the Horde moves to it's combat step. All creatures controlled by the
Horde must attack each turn if able and are attacking every Survivor at the same time. When any of the Survivors choose to block,
they block for the whole team. The Horde also gains life equal to any lose of life it causes the Survivors or damage it causes to
planeswalkers the Survivors control, up to their life total cap of 30.
On the Survivor's turn, they may choose to attack the Horde directly. The Horde does not lose for having 0 or less life though,
instead the Horde exiles 1 card from the top of their library face down for each 1 damage they take while their life is at 0.

Loot
One of the bigger additions to this version is the Looting System. These artifacts can be obtained by the Survivors in one of two
ways: through combat and buying them.
Gaining Loot Through Combat: As the Horde is flipping cards over on its turn, if one of the artifacts from the Loot deck is
revealed, it becomes bound to the next revealed creature. If it's an equipment, it is automatically equipped.
If the Survivors kill the bound creature, they steal the artifact from the Horde and decide which player on their team gains
control of it.
Buying Loot: At the beginning of the Survivors upkeep, the top 3 cards of the Loot deck are revealed. During the Survivor's
upkeep, they may choose to buy any of the revealed artifacts. They buy artifacts by sacrificing a number of treasure tokens equal to
the artifact's mana value. They then choose which player on their team gains control of the artifact.
The main way that the Survivors can gain the treasure tokens to buy these artifacts is through defeating members of the Horde.
Any time the Survivors kill a non!token creature controlled by the Horde or prevent a non!token creature controlled by the Horde
from coming into play, the Survivors create a treasure token. The Survivors share any treasure tokens their team controls.

Ending the Game

The Survivors win when the Horde deck can't flip over any more cards, and the Horde doesn't control any creatures.
PART 1 | Rules
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MTG Horde Format Revisited - The Homebrewery 03/04/2023, 13:15

Specific Rules Cases

Beneficial Effects Horde
Hord
If the Horde controls a beneficial spell or effect (Ex: adding +1/+1 counters) that requires a target creature, it will always pick the If the Hord
creature it controls with the lowest power. If two or more creatures are tied for lowest power, the Horde will pick one randomly. comes into

Harmful Effects that Linger Drawi

If the Horde controls a harmful spell or effect with lasting consequences (Ex: adding !1/!1 counters and destroy effects) that If a spell o
requires a target creature, it will always pick the creature the Survivors control with the highest power. If two or more creatures Horde's "H
are tied for highest power, the Horde will pick one randomly. The Hor
If it targets a non!creature permanent, the Horde chooses the target with higher mana value, if there's a tie, it chooses randomly. proceeds t

Damaging Effects
If the Horde controls a damaging spell or effect (Ex: "Deal 1 damage") that requires a target, it will use a priority system.

1. If it can target a player, it will target a random opponent.

2. If it can not target a player it will target a creature that it can kill, prioritizing creatures with the highest power.
3. If it can't kill anything, it will target the creature with the lowest toughness.
If there's ever a tie, the Horde chooses the target with higher mana value, if there's still a tie, it chooses randomly.

Overload
The Horde will always pay the Overload cost if given the option.

May Abilities
If the Horde controls a spell or effect with the word "may" in its rules text, "may" is replaced with "must".

Flashback
Any cards the Horde controls with Flashback, lose Flashback and gain Rebound (If you cast this spell from your hand, exile it as it
resolves. At the beginning of your next upkeep, you may cast this card from exile without paying its mana cost.)

Attacking into Planeswalkers

If any attacking creatures controlled by the Horde are unblocked while one or more of the Survivors control a plansewalker, flip a
coin for every unblocked creature. On heads, the creature deals its damage to the players' life; on tails, it deals its damage to a
planeswalker. If the Survivors control multiple planswalkers, the creature deals its damage to one chosen at random.

Randomizing Targets
Some of these cases might involve choosing something randomly. If that's the case, the Survivors can determine what
is the best way to randomize the results.

Blocking with the Horde

If the Horde has any untapped creatures when the Survivors attack, the Horde will attempt to block using the following priority
system and it will never block an attacking creature with more than one of its own creatures.

1. Prevent as much damage as possible.

2. Keep as many of its own creatures alive as possible. If creatures must die, prioritize keeping creatures with more power alive.
If there's a tie, go by mana value, if there's still a tie, choose randomly.
3. Kill as many of the Survivors' creatures as possible, prioritizing creatures with higher power. If there's a tie, go by mana value,
if there's still a tie, choose randomly.

Choosing Colors & Creature Types

If the Horde needs to choose a color and/or creature type in order to receive a beneficial effect, it does not pick the color and/or
type until the beginning of it's next combat step. At that point, it will always choose the color and/or creature type of creatures that
it controls the most of.

PART 2 | Specific Rules Cases

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MTG Horde Format Revisited - The Homebrewery 03/04/2023, 13:15

Prebuilt Decks
Survivors Gideo
Gideon is
Chandra, Roaring Flame with benef
Chandra helms a deck full of burn spells and elementals. She is all about damaging individual creatures controlled by the Horde Gidean
as well as attacking the Horde directly. In RPG terms, she fills the role of DPS for the group.
Chandra Decklist Loot
Jace, Telepath Unbound These arti
Loot De
Jace's deck is, naturally, all about control. It includes several control auras and is also the only deck able to counter some of the
more devastating spells in the Horde decks. In RPG terms, he is in charge of crowd control.
Jace Decklist

Nissa, Sage Animist

Nissa is the leader of an army of treefolk. She is responsible for holding the line and ensuring that the Horde has to work to lower
the Survivors' life points. In RPG terms, she is the tank.
Nissa Decklist

PART 3 | Prebuilt Decks

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MTG Horde Format Revisited - The Homebrewery 03/04/2023, 13:15

Horde Decks The C

Goblins, th
The Zombie Horde much dark
The original inspiration for the Horde format. This deck contains a multitude of powerful zombies that work together to enhance attempt to
and supplement each other. If you want the classic Horde format feel, this is the deck to try to survive against. This version though dragons m
has the added terror of turning any fallen creatures into zombies and incorporating them into their undead ranks. Special
Special Rules: All creatures controlled by the Horde have haste. If the Zombie Horde causes the death of any non!commander lower pow
creature controlled by a Survivor, that creature is returned to the battlefield under the Horde's control at the beginning of the Cult of t
Horde's next pre!combat main phase. It loses all activated abilities and becomes a zombie in addition to its other creature types.
Zombie Horde Decklist Dinos
The groun
Phyrexian Perfection revealing a
This deck dramatically increases the deadliness of the game. The Phyrexians are full of artifact creatures that build off of each Special
other, terrifying global effects, and the ability to weaken their foes and drive them insane through their infected oil. Dinosau
Special Rules: All creatures controlled by the Horde have haste and are Phyrexians in addition to their other creature types.
The Survivors share poison counters. They do not lose the game for having 10 or more poison counters. Every time the Survivors Eldra
gain one or more poison counters, each Survivor exiles 1 card from the top of each of their libraries face down for each poison
The plane
counter. life out of y
Phyrexian Perfection Decklist
able to sto
Special
The Sliver Hive the Horde
Slivers are one of the most iconic creature types in Magic history and also one of the scariest. Each creature in this deck adds to eldrazi tita
the evolution and adaptation of the hive. Just one unlucky genetic quirk can spell doom for the Survivors. Eldrazi
Special Rules: All creatures controlled by the Horde have haste. All of the artifact slivers in the Horde deck are treated as
tokens. Midni
Sliver Hive Decklist
Fog rolls t
A howl pie
The Armies of Men wolves is c
Humans are a resilient and tenacious creature type. Alone, they might be weak, but together, they can form a devastating wall of constantly
force and destruction. This Horde works together to bolster each other so that the whole is far more powerful than the sum of its Special
parts. start of the
Special Rules: All creatures controlled by the Horde have haste and are Humans in addition to their other creature types. the Horde'
Armies of Men Decklist creatures
the start o
Midnigh

PART 3 | Prebuilt Decks

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MTG Horde Format Revisited - The Homebrewery 03/04/2023, 13:15

Challenge Mode Expansion

Challeneg Mode Rules The C
The Horde
The Zombie Horde them when
When the Horde reaveals a 2/2 zombie creature token from the top of its library, they create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Dinos
Phyrexian Perfection Whenever
creature a
The Sliver Hive
At the start of the game, remove all non!token slivers from the horde deck. Randomly split them into two even piles. Shuffle one Eldra
pile back into the horde deck. Shuffle the other pile and place it face down, this will be the reinforcment deck. Whenever the
Horde casts a non!token sliver spell, it also casts the top card of the reinforcment deck. Whenver a
creature to
The Armies of Men Midni
Whenever
Put that ca
the ability

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