Yes, it's coming BACK! However, I have always maintained that although I run the game, it's not MY game, it's YOUR game, so let me know if you're interested in playing and if you have any input on how it's run.

For those not familiar with how it works, here's a quick breakdown of the OLD rules:

quote:

---

THE RULES:

3-Card Blind (3CB) is a very unique game.
The rules are as follows:
* Your deck is composed of 3 cards, all of which start in your hand.
* You have no library (technically, the library exists, but starts at 0 cards) and no sideboard (Wishes fetch nothing).
* Random effects always go against the owner of the card.
* You can see your opponent's hand, so you can always make the best possible play.
* You don't lose as a result of not being able to draw a card.
* You will play each opponent twice, once going first, once going second.
* For each win, you score 3.
* For each draw, you score 1.
* For each loss, you get nothing.
* A subgame played with the card Shahrazad will result in an incomplete game and both players will receive ZERO points, since the main game cannot be resumed. Neither player loses or draws, so neither player earns any points.
* Other than the aforementioned, EVERYTHING IS HANDLED EXACTLY LIKE A REAL GAME OF MAGIC!
Remember, it is important for your deck to include a way to cast your cards! (Lands, artifact mana, pitch cards, etc.)
If you want to play PM me a message in this format.
Subject should include "Vanishing 3-Card Blind" (Just click on the little PM icon above my post and it should work out that way.)
Card #1
Card #2
Card #3

Be sure you really are happy with your deck before you submit. Once you send in a deck, there is no changing it except in the case of an illegal entry.
Please make every effort to spell your card names correctly. It makes it easier for everyone. Thanks.
The "Vanishing" part is the twist. To start off with, only Unglued, Unhinged and Ante cards are banned. After each round, the 3 cards in the winning deck plus any cards in more than 1/3 of the decks played will be banned for all future rounds. Any lands that only provide mana are exempted from the banning rules.

---

I always get asked how the decks play against each other and how they score, so let's pit two decks against each other.

Alice's deck (player #1):

Island
Force Spike
Flying Men

Bob's deck (player #2):

Plains
Isamaru, Hound of Konda
Path to Exile

We play two games, one where Alice goes first and one where Bob goes first. Both players try to maximize their points and know exactly what the other person has.

When Alice goes first, she plays Island first, but knows if she plays Flying Men right now, Bob will simply play a Plains and Isamaru and she will lose the race. However, if she just holds onto Force Spike, Bob can never resolve Isamaru, so she can force a stalemate, a standoff where each player is waiting for the other to make a move first, so the first game is a draw.

When Bob goes first, he simply plays Plains, then Isamaru. Alice can't stop this and Flying Men can't deal with Isamaru, so Bob wins.

So, Alice would score 1 point (draw + loss = 0 + 1 = 1 points total) against Bob.

Bob would score 4 points (draw + win = 1 + 3 = 4 points total) against Alice.

We'll add in Charles (#3), who manages to lose both games to Alice and wins both games against Bob.

You don't play against your own deck, so you get no points for that (we usually just mark it with an "X")

Then their scores would look like this:

## 1 2 3 TOTAL
01 X 1 6 07
02 4 X 0 04
03 0 6 X 06

Alice has the highest number of points in this tournament, so she wins!

For those of you who have played before, there is a brand new twist this time around, or rather, there will be several twists:

1) We will only be using cards from Standard. I know some veterans of the game will gripe and say that Standard is awful in general and worse when you can only use three cards, and you won't get to use your broken decks like Black Lotus, Black Vise, Balance. However, the smaller card pool is less intimidating to newer players and less mental strain to us all. We can change the format soon.

2) Instead of the normal 40+ weeks that I normally try to drag out the tournament, with no clear winner until our numbers diminish into nothing, we will instead be running each round for only 10 weeks, and at the end declare a winner. If you don't like Standard, wait 10 weeks and we'll have a new format. I'd even be willing to put the next format to a popular vote (sorry, no electoral college in this game) and see what most people would like to play. There will be a clear-cut winner after 10 weeks AND the play will rotate more often than usual, so it doesn't get stale.

3) Due to the limitations of the Standard pool, I don't want to restrict everyone to boring decks like Plains, Dryad Militant, Dryad Militant versus Mountain, Pillar of Flame, Rakdos Cackler. So, instead, just for this round, there will be a major alteration of the rules:

Each turn, you may put a token land onto the battlefield on your side. This counts as your land for the turn. If a token land leaves play for any reason, it ceases to exist. The ONLY lands you may play this way are the five basic (non-Snow Covered) lands available in Standard - Forest, Island, Mountain, Plains, Swamp.

You are free to play with other non-basic lands, but these will count towards your three cards in your deck if you do so.

4) I'm flexible on start and stop times, but I have found that it works best when I start early in the week and end on the weekend. This allows players who only have free time to play on either weekdays or weekends an opportunity to play. So, right now, I am going to consider Monday at midnight PST the last chance to submit, then Tuesday morning (whenever I'm awake), I will post the decks and players will have until Sunday night to score their decks.

5) If you have any suggestions, complaints, vents, rants, or good ideas, feel free to post them here and I will read ALL comments on the tournament, as long as it is constructive and productive. If you simply post:

quote:

---

Standard sucks. Can we not play a stupid format?!

---

I'm not going to give that much thought.

On the other hand, if you post:

quote:

---

I think that Standard is much too stifling towards creativity. Could we use Modern instead?

---

__________________
MOTL Fantasy NBA 2010 Champion

quote:

---

Originally posted by Myy:
I've been waiting for this

You forgot to include, no mise decks. if your deck can't beat island.dec then it's a mise deck.

---

whats a mise deck?

__________________
Motl member since November 1, 2000

Your 2008 & 2010 Siskel & Ebert award winner!

32nd in refs on Motl!

quote:

---

Originally posted by revenger:
whats a mise deck?

---

A deck that can't beat island island island.

__________________
MOTL Fantasy NBA 2010 Champion

~MM

Edit: Does your token land have to copy a land in play? Like I have a Swamp in play, and can't play an island right?

__________________
I am MeddlingMage...YOUR Motl Survivor 11 Champion, 2007 Captain N award winner, 2010 Marlboro award winner, and 2011 Champion Tournament Pick'em
MOTL NCAA Bracket Challenge winner!

CM Punk "OMG Kevin Nash WTF, thought he was dead, LOL"

quote:

---

Originally posted by MeddlingMage:
So what you're saying is, if someone wanted to play a spell (and I know its not T2, but its good for an example) I can play Mountain, Ball Lightning (RRR), Lightning Bolt.
Then after I play a mountain, next turn I get a token mountain, then another token mountain and would be able to cast it then?

~MM

Edit: Does your token land have to copy a land in play? Like I have a Swamp in play, and can't play an island right?

---

You simply get a free land of your choice each turn, so you are not required to have any lands as part of your 3 cards.

Let say I choose Llanowar elves, tundra wolf, and carrion feeder as my 3 cards. Each turn, I can choose to put a basic land token of whichever type I want, and tap it for mana.

__________________
MOTL Fantasy NBA 2010 Champion

quote:

---

Originally posted by MeddlingMage:
So what you're saying is, if someone wanted to play a spell (and I know its not T2, but its good for an example) I can play Mountain, Ball Lightning (RRR), Lightning Bolt.
Then after I play a mountain, next turn I get a token mountain, then another token mountain and would be able to cast it then?

~MM

Edit: Does your token land have to copy a land in play? Like I have a Swamp in play, and can't play an island right?

---

If it helps you, imagine that there's a stack of basic lands next to you and you can grab one per turn and play it as your land for the turn. It's not copying something in play, it's a token card that's a basic land.

I'm just trying to avoid any abuse by suddenly having people using more than 3 cards they started off with. If you shuffle one into your library or hand, they won't stay in that zone.

~MM

__________________
I am MeddlingMage...YOUR Motl Survivor 11 Champion, 2007 Captain N award winner, 2010 Marlboro award winner, and 2011 Champion Tournament Pick'em
MOTL NCAA Bracket Challenge winner!

CM Punk "OMG Kevin Nash WTF, thought he was dead, LOL"

quote:

---

Originally posted by MeddlingMage:
So then we could have 3 spells in our hand, and then just use lands from the "stack"?

~MM

---

Exactly. That's the intent of the rule.

Otherwise, most people will be playing one land + two creature or one land + creature + non-creature spell decks. It would get very dull fast.

That's why I wrote that I don't want us all playing deck like

Plains
Dryad Militant
Dryad Militant

or

Mountain
Pillar of Flame
Rakdos Cackler

Here's who we have so far:

__________________
Motl member since November 1, 2000

Your 2008 & 2010 Siskel & Ebert award winner!

32nd in refs on Motl!

quote:

---

Originally posted by revenger:
What happens to cards casted? is there a graveyard? ok~ uve casted all 3 spells, what happenes?

---

You keep playing the game out until there is a winner. You do not lose for not being able to draw, or cast spells.

You just keep playing with whats in play.

~MM

__________________
I am MeddlingMage...YOUR Motl Survivor 11 Champion, 2007 Captain N award winner, 2010 Marlboro award winner, and 2011 Champion Tournament Pick'em
MOTL NCAA Bracket Challenge winner!

CM Punk "OMG Kevin Nash WTF, thought he was dead, LOL"

~MM

__________________
I am MeddlingMage...YOUR Motl Survivor 11 Champion, 2007 Captain N award winner, 2010 Marlboro award winner, and 2011 Champion Tournament Pick'em
MOTL NCAA Bracket Challenge winner!

CM Punk "OMG Kevin Nash WTF, thought he was dead, LOL"

quote:

---

Originally posted by MeddlingMage:
Deck submitted.

~MM

---

__________________
There's no need to fear, UNDERDOG is here!

All your Gruul Nodorogs are belong to me. Trade them to me, please!

Report rules violations.

quote:

---

Originally posted by WCFmo:
So we don't have to have land out of the three cards?

---

correct.

__________________
MOTL Fantasy NBA 2010 Champion

__________________
My 2008 Nationals

The Official Tower Magic Facebook Page