TL;DR: WB has a lifegain-matters that works unintuitively in 2HG, so if you’re judging a prerelease this is good to mention in your announcements. Also you might have to deal with multiple games in a match because of Fraying Omnipotence.
While most cards work pretty straightforward in 2HG there are some quirks, often involving the combat phase or life total changes. Those cards are explained in these notes.
If you’re playing a 2HG prerelease you should also check out the 2HG Hidden Gems that highlights which cards to look out for!
For further reading, if you want to know more about 2HG see the 2HG FAQ. If you want to know more about how these cards function in general see the regular release notes.
GENERAL NOTES
“YOU”
The rule of thumb for 2HG is “You” still refers to you alone, not both you and your teammate. Look for the word “you” in the card text, such as “creatures you control get +1/+1”, “as long as you control an artifact”, etc.
“EACH”
Cards that say “each opponent” or “each player” do affect more players than usual.
“Each opponent loses X and you gain Y”
- With Vampire Neonate your opponents lose 2 life in total and you gain 1 life in total. With Liliana, Untouched by Death’s first ability your opponents lose 4 life in total and you gain 2 life in total.
THEME: GAINING LIFE MATTERS
Epicure of Blood | Nightmare’s Thirst | Ajani’s Pridemate | Regal Bloodlord | Resplendent Angel
- Gaining life and losing life still happens to players individually, even though your life total is shared with your teammate. When your teammate gains life, your life total changes, but you aren’t gaining the life. The above cards will not count life gained by your teammate.
CARD-SPECIFIC NOTES
Blanchwood Armor
- As the ability is on the Aura and not on the creature, if you put this on your teammate’s creature it still counts your forests.
Infernal Scarring
- On the other hand Infernal Scarring grants the ability to the creature. If you put this on your teammate’s creature, they draw the card when the creature dies.
Fraying Omnipotence
- Both players on a team lose half their team’s life total simultaneously. That means that each team’s life total would be 0 or -1 after this resolves.
- Normally there is no sideboarding in 2HG tournaments because you only play 1 game each match. But if you draw the game with this, you start a new game for which you can sideboard.
Magistrate’s Scepter
- In 2HG taking an extra turn means your team takes an extra turn.