🔗 Share this article

Already known as Magic: The Gathering's most social format, the Elder Dragon Highlander format is getting a seasonal makeover just in time for the festive season. During a special show, personalities from a popular channel showcased a multiplayer match titled "Countdown to XT-Mas."

The Mechanics of the Holiday Variant Works

At its core is a simple layer added on top of a standard Commander game. A rotating indicator moves around the table. Once it arrives at the active player's turn, the action halts for a moment. All gamers makes a hidden choice whether they're being Naughty or Nice via indicator cards.

Everyone reveal their choice together. After that, they apply the consequence linked to their selection, starting with the player holding the marker. The token then gets passed to the right. A special tracker moves forward a single increment, and normal Commander resumes.

The choices intensify as the rounds go on, seeming finely tuned.

Increasing Choices

The initial phases provided small, table-wide boons for the Nice path, like life gain or investigation clues. In contrast, The Naughty options often gave personal upsides, often to the detriment of someone else. As an example allowed players who picked Naughty get a powerful airborne creature. Anyone who picked Nice created a small artifact creature token for all participants.

The Grand Showdown

During the last phase, Santa Claus personally arrived, changing the experience. According to the frequency with which a participant selected Naughty versus Nice, Santa gave out wrapped prizes. Outwardly, these were small containers, but held Magic booster packs with different rarities.

• The most benevolent player was awarded a top-tier Collector Booster.
• The second-nicest player opened a another type of premium pack.
• A special guest received a older booster pack.
• The most mischievous player got the worst prize: a notoriously weak booster pack that's essentially a punchline.

Each card unwrapped immediately became used for the remainder of the match, cast from exile using mana as though it were any color. For the nicer players, their gift proved to be a significant advantage. Whereas, mischievous participants essentially got coal in their stocking.

Recreating the Format at Home

Although the demonstration match featured a lot of custom components, the format is something players could easily replicate in their own playgroup. Each player plays with their standard EDH deck, and the only extra items required would be a selection of booster packs from different sets.

One potential challenge lies in the fact that if everyone know the rewards in advance what being nice gets you, they all try to get the top prize. You could change this with alternatives, such as doing a mini-draft together or letting players include cards they own not in their deck.

From the successful demonstration, Countdown to XT-Mas proves to be a joyous way to add holiday cheer when playing with friends. It adds a layer to the social interplay between players in a uniquely festive way, creating a memorable experience for Magic fans this season.