Elder Dragon Highlander is a Magic: The Gathering variant which provides
a way of encouraging casual, interactive games with a low barrier to entry while still requiring good deck
building skills. It can be played 1-on-1 but is usually multiplayer.
A forum for discussion of the rules, strategy, and changes to EDH can be found here
This page details the "official" rules common to most groups. Local groups
often play with house rules (check the forum for inspiration), but this
consensus version exists so that players know what to expect if
they join an edh game outside their local play area. In particular,
after-hours EDH games at Pro Tours and Grand Prix use
these rules.
Deck Construction Rules
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Players must choose a legendary creature as the "General" for their
deck.
The following cards may not be used as a General: Rofellos(Rofellos is legal as a general Effective March 20th, 2009)
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The General's mana cost limits what coloured mana symbols may
appear on cards in the deck: if a coloured mana symbol is not present in
the General's mana cost, the deck may not contain any cards using that mana
symbol. Lands with a basic land type (basic lands, Shock lands, Dual
lands, Shadowmoor CIPT-basics, etc) contain the corresponding mana symbol(s) as
per CR 212.6g.
Example: If you were play Phelddagrif
(Casting cost 1UWG) as your General, your deck may not
contain any red or black cards; no card in such a deck may
contain red or black mana symbols or hybrid mana symbols (
Talisman of Dominance,
Life//Death
and Boros Guildmage are not allowed. Degavolver is doubly bad).
- A deck may not generate mana outside
its colours; anything which would generate mana of an illegal colour
generates colourless mana instead.
An EDH deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the General.
With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may
have the same english name.
- EDH is played with vintage legal cards, with the exception that cards are legal as of their set's prerelease.
Additionally, the following are banned:
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Shaharazad is legal for play in EDH, even though it's banned in Vintage.
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Different groups have different philosophies on banned cards.. YMMV.
Play rules
Generals are announced and removed from the game before shuffling
at the start of the game. Being a General is not a characteristic[MTG
CR201], it is a property of the card. As such, "Generalness" cannot be
copied or overwritten by continuous effects, and does not change with
control of the card.
Examples: A Body Double copying a General in a
graveyard is not a General. A General which is affected by Cytoshape,
or is face down, is still a General.
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If a player suffers 21 points of combat damage from
a single General, they lose. This is an additional state based
effect, similar to poison counters, but separate and specific to each
General. This damage cannot be healed or undone, even if the creature
is removed from play temporarily. Damage done by a creature under someone
else's control is still counted towards the 21 point limit for that creature
and defender.
While a General is removed from the game, it may be played. As an
additional cost to play your General this way, you must pay {2} for each
previous time you have played it this way.
If a General would be put into a graveyard from
anywhere, its owner may remove it from the
game instead. (This is a replacement effect.. the creature never goes
to the graveyard and will not trigger abilities on going to the
graveyard)
Players begin the game with 40 life.
- The first time a player takes a paris mulligan, they draw 7 cards (instead of 6).
The second mulligan is to 6, and so forth. (Actually this rule is very old, but it was only recently noted that it
was missing from the rules page).
Credits
- Sheldon Menery is the man responsible for
bringing EDH into the public eye, an influential voice in the
development of the format's rules, and the Godfather of the Pro Tour
EDH League.
- Duncan McGregor's knowledge and expertise have, since the
early days, been crucial to the format's stable development and its
maturing.
- David Phifer and Adam Staley were the progenitors of the original EDH format up in Alaska.
- Cari Foreman carried the rules torch, and hosted the rules website, during EDH's formative days.
- Alex Kenny and Toby Elliott have helped maintain the flavour and stability of the EDH rules for several years.
- Lee Sharpe did the programming to bring EDH to MTGO.
Links
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