Annuncio UfficialeSpiegazione di Gavin VerheyGENERAL NOTES Release InformationThe Battlebond set contains 254 cards (5 basic land, 101 common, 80 uncommon, 53 rare, and 15 mythic rare).
Prerelease Weekend: June 2–3, 2018
Release date: June 8, 2018
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New Cards and Format LegalityThere are 85 cards in the Battlebond set that are completely new to Magic. These cards are legal for play in the Commander, Vintage, and Legacy formats. They aren't legal for play in the Standard or Modern formats.
The other cards in this set are legal for play in any format that already allows those cards. That is, appearing in this set doesn't change a card's legality in any format.
For more information about Magic formats, please visit Magic.Wizards.com/Rules. For information about the format legality of a specific card, please visit Gatherer.Wizards.com, search for the card, and check the "Sets & Legality" tab.
What Is Two-Headed Giant?Two-Headed Giant is a multiplayer format that lets you team up with a partner to play against another team of two players. Each player needs their own deck—Battlebond is designed to excel in Limited formats (Sealed Deck or Booster Draft), but players can also bring their favorite decks to play Two-Headed Giant Constructed games. For Sealed Deck play, the team opens six booster packs of Battlebond and adds basic lands to build two decks of at least 40 cards each. Note that this is unlike most sets, which recommend eight booster packs for Two-Headed Giant Sealed Deck. For more information on drafting Battlebond, see below.
Once each player has a deck, two teams sit down across from each other, each player next to their partner. Each team starts with 30 life rather than 20. Players randomly decide which team chooses to play or draw first, and the team that plays first skips their draw step on their first turn. Each player draws an opening hand of seven cards and chooses whether or not to mulligan. Teammates can talk to each other, share information, and give advice at any time. For example, teammates may look at each other's hands and confer during the mulligan process. Each player's first mulligan has them draw seven cards; players only begin to draw one fewer card with the second mulligan, where they draw six cards.
Once each player has kept their opening hand, the game begins. A team shares all steps and phases of their turn; each teammate untaps their permanents at the same time, draws a card during their draw steps, and may play a land during their main phases. However, players never share resources—you can't tap your teammate's land for mana to cast a spell or sacrifice their creatures to activate an ability. Keep in mind that any effect referring to "you" refers to only you, not your teammate.
At some point in a Two-Headed Giant game, you'll probably want to attack the other team! Each player on the active team chooses which creatures to attack with at the same time and chooses which opponent or planeswalker each of those creatures attacks. Both players on the defending team can block any creatures attacking any player or planeswalker on that team. Unblocked attacking creatures deal their combat damage to the player or planeswalker they're attacking, and a defending player losing life causes the team's life total to decrease.
If one team's life total decreases all the way to 0, that team loses and the players on the remaining team are the celebrated victors. A team can also lose if one of its players tries to draw a card from their library but can't. Other sets may have cards that say that one player wins or loses the game; in a Two-Headed Giant game, that player's teammate shares the thrill of success or the sting of defeat. You'll never be in a Two-Headed Giant game without your partner.
Drafting for Two-Headed GiantA Two-Headed Giant booster draft is similar to a normal booster draft. Each team has a number of booster packs and opens one pack at a time. For most sets, a team should have six booster packs to draft; for Battlebond, each team needs only four booster packs. The team picks two cards from the pack rather than just one, and then passes it in one direction. Repeat this process until the final card in the pack is drafted, then draft the next pack in the opposite direction, and so on until all the packs have been opened. All the drafted cards are in the team's pool—you don't need to choose which player will play with which cards until you build decks. Add enough basic lands to make each deck a minimum of 40 cards and you're ready to go.