{"id":3061,"date":"2015-05-08T15:13:51","date_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:13:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/?p=3061"},"modified":"2015-05-08T15:20:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-08T15:20:50","slug":"2hg-creating-a-fun-experience-for-everyone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/2015\/05\/08\/2hg-creating-a-fun-experience-for-everyone\/","title":{"rendered":"2HG &#8211; Creating a Fun Experience for Everyone"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-caption alignleft judgeimg\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.magicjudges.org\/judges\/dci\/1202709730\"><img src=https:\/\/apps.magicjudges.org\/dci\/avatar?dci=1202709730&size=200 alt=\"Written by Jeffrey Vandenberg\"><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Written by Jeffrey Vandenberg<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>I love Two-Headed Giant as a format. It presents a great opportunity for friends and\u00a0family members to play a game of magic where both of them are sharing the same stakes in a sanctioned event. 2HG offers you an opportunity to create a unique experience at a prerelease, FNM, or side event at a larger tournament.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><p><img  style='float:right'  class='lems-mtg-cardimg' src='http:\/\/gatherer.wizards.com\/Handlers\/Image.ashx?size=small&type=card&name=Two-Headed Giant of Foriys'><\/p>I used to own a store and would regularly run a 2HG FNM, always had a 2HG event at Prereleases, and regularly handle 2HG side events at larger events.\u00a0<b>In case you hadn\u2019t picked up on it: I love Two-Headed Giant.\u00a0<\/b>It\u2019s not quite like most other team variants. Both players are in the same game, enjoying a shared experience. It encourages discussion, creates some interesting interactions that change the valuation of cards, and as it\u2019s usually run at Regular REL in a casual environment.<\/p>\n<p>I would like to share with you some of the lessons I\u2019ve learned, which can hopefully help you make your next 2HG event more enjoyable for everyone.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Start of the Tournament<\/h2>\n<p>Remember to announce the key changes for 2HG:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>30 life for the team.<\/li>\n<li>One game in the match.<\/li>\n<li>Free mulligan per player.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><p><img  style='float:right'  class='lems-mtg-cardimg' src='http:\/\/gatherer.wizards.com\/Handlers\/Image.ashx?size=small&type=card&name=Careful Consideration'><\/p>Most people don\u2019t play 2HG enough to remember all of the differences from a standard game of Magic. So calling out the differences before Round 1 helps to serve as both a refresher for those who haven\u2019t played in a while and a primer for those who haven\u2019t played it.<\/p>\n<p>I like to introduce 2HG events in an interesting way. \u201cWelcome to Two Headed Giant, where the interactions are made up and the rules don\u2019t matter.\u201d This helps to set the tone for the event and usually gets a chuckle or groan.<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Rules Questions<\/h2>\n<p>Players will have plenty of questions about how something works in 2HG. With careful reading, generally speaking, most rules questions are easily answerable.<\/p>\n<p>If the rules text or mechanic says:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Each opponent<\/b>: Then the card just gained a lot of value. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Archers%26%238217%3B+Parapet&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Archers&#8217; Parapet<\/a> hits twice as hard, as it means that the opposing team loses 2 life rather than just one. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Sorin%2C+Solemn+Visitor&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Sorin, Solemn Visitor<\/a> Ultimate also gets that much better (though if you\u2019ve got an ultimate you\u2019re in a good spot).<\/li>\n<li><b>Each Player<\/b>: This is going to affect everyone on the table equally. If it is better in 2HG depends a lot more on the circumstances. The ultimate on <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Jace%2C+the+Living+Guildpact&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Jace, the Living Guildpact<\/a> isn\u2019t so good for your teammate, for example.<\/li>\n<li><b>You Control<\/b>: Generally speaking, this is probably not going to interact as well as the player hopes. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Abzan+Battle+Priest&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Abzan Battle Priest<\/a> is pretty obvious that it\u2019s only going to aid your creatures. <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Arrow+Storm&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Arrow Storm<\/a> on the other hand requires that you attacked, not whether your partner attacked.<\/li>\n<li><b>You don\u2019t control<\/b>: This card will probably impact your partner poorly, <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=In+Garruk%26%238217%3Bs+Wake&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">In Garruk&#8217;s Wake<\/a> will destroy your teammate\u2019s creatures and planeswalkers. Though, some interesting combos could happen with <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Channel+Harm&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Channel Harm<\/a> and a helpful teammate.<\/li>\n<li><b>Other<\/b>: Read the card. I trust you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I will call out one last area that is particularly tricky, but hopefully won\u2019t come up too often:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A Player doesn\u2019t have a life total. But they do gain and lose life.<\/li>\n<li>A Team does have a life total, but the team doesn\u2019t gain or lose life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is an an example to help illustrate this. You control an <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Ageless+Entity&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Ageless Entity<\/a> and your partner gains 5 life. Your <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Ageless+Entity&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Ageless Entity<\/a> doesn\u2019t get any +1\/+1 counters. You as the player didn\u2019t gain any life. Your teammate gained the life. Slightly sad, but you\u2019re happy for your partner, right?<\/p>\n<p><strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>It\u2019s about the Teams<\/h2>\n<p><p><img  style='float:right'  class='lems-mtg-cardimg' src='http:\/\/gatherer.wizards.com\/Handlers\/Image.ashx?size=small&type=card&name=Team Spirit'><\/p>If you have the space, break matches up more than you would for a normal tournament. Most stores and venues use tables that can accommodate three\u00a0matches per table. I\u2019ve found renumbering the tables to have just one\u00a02HG game per table helps create a much more enjoyable event. It gives the players a bit more elbow room and plenty of table space for the eventual gridlock of permanents that will accumulate in play. People are there to have fun and not worry about bumping elbows with their neighbors or thinking about getting out of the play area as soon as possible.<\/p>\n<p>As an added plus, spreading out teams mean you have plenty of places to sit and observe when the round winds down. You\u2019ve got to take care of yourself as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Player Experience<\/h2>\n<p><p><img  style='float:right'  class='lems-mtg-cardimg' src='http:\/\/gatherer.wizards.com\/Handlers\/Image.ashx?size=small&type=card&name=Planeswalker%27s Mirth'><\/p>This, no matter what format, is always something we have control over and can make better. It\u2019s not 2HG-specific, but something I care deeply about. If there is something that makes the player\u2019s experience better, and it doesn\u2019t really inconvenience someone, do it.<\/p>\n<p><i>I authorize you. Right now. Right here. Make any player\u2019s experience better.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>As 2HG is a more relaxed format, there are plenty of opportunities, both planned and spontaneous, to create unique experiences for players. In the last round of a recent 2HG tournament, there was a team playing for at best 2-2. They were not really playing for much in prizes. One of the players had just cast a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-content\/plugins\/lems-mtg-helper\/lems-mtg-helper-cardfinder.php?find=Wingmate+Roc&width=223&height=310\" class=\"jTip\" name=\"\">Wingmate Roc<\/a>. At this point he said \u201cThere should be an achievement for that.\u201d So, I made an achievement card for the player out of a used sheet of a life pad.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3064\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Pre-Achievement.jpg\" alt=\"Pre Achievement\" width=\"400\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Pre-Achievement.jpg 400w, https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Pre-Achievement-300x170.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>After they won the match, I made sure to stop by and check the box for \u201cWin Game\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-3063\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Post-Achievement.jpg\" alt=\"Post Achievement\" width=\"400\" height=\"227\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Post-Achievement.jpg 400w, https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/files\/2015\/05\/Post-Achievement-300x170.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The player, a younger kid, was delighted. That made his entire tournament. I didn\u2019t really think anything more about it at the time. It was a random act of kindness and fun just to help make the tournament a bit better. Do that!<\/p>\n<p>The true impact of it was realized a week afterwards. I was judging a local FNM and one of the players mentioned his friend had saved that achievement card and kept it in his trade binder.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><p><img  style='float:right'  class='lems-mtg-cardimg' src='http:\/\/gatherer.wizards.com\/Handlers\/Image.ashx?size=small&type=card&name=Cabal Trainee'><\/p>I hope you have gained some nugget of information from my experiences and will help to create a better 2HG tournament in your shop or wherever you judge. Keep the focus on fun, read the cards carefully, and you\u2019ll be on your way to making it an event everyone will enjoy and want to repeat. If you find yourself regularly running these events, take some time to get yourself acquainted with Section 810 of the Comprehensive Rules. It will give you the answers for some of the corner cases that can emerge.<\/p>\n<p>Cheers and Happy Judging!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>L2 Jeff Vandenberg returns to discuss making a fun experience of the 2-headed giant format at Regular REL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":3047,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[37,9],"tags":[238,239,236,60],"language":[180],"class_list":["post-3061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education_development","category-events","tag-2hg","tag-casual","tag-jeffery-vandenberg","tag-regular-rel","language-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3061"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3073,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3061\/revisions\/3073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3061"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.magicjudges.org\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=3061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}