You are all Planeswalkers who’ve discovered an abandoned plane filled with old Relics of power. Gather as many as you can to ensure you’re the last one standing. But be careful if you choose to hold onto the Relics’ emblem instead of consuming its spell power your opponents may try to steal them from you.
This format variant adds dynamic objectives to a Commander game that can quickly sway the balances of power at the table through clever play and off beat strategies.
Make room at the center of the table for what will be 6 piles of cards. Put the 5 four color Relics face down randomly. On top of those Relics put the 10 three color Relics face down, two on each pile, randomly. On top of those piles put the 10 two color Relics, two on each pile, face down randomly. Then put the 5 single color Relics Face up on each of those piles. For the 6th Pile put the 5 color goal face down and the colorless goal face up on top of it. At the end you should have 5 piles of Relics with six cards each and 1 pile with two cards, Totaling 32 Relics.
All For One is a rules variant for the Commander format where players compete to gather Relics of power to help push them towards victory. There are 32 Relics, each Relic has a corresponding color or color combination in Magic the Gathering.
Relics
Relics can be earned by completing the goal listed on each card. Relics goals are checked if they are completed at the end of each phase and the boon is awarded at the beginning of the next phase. The boons awarded by Relics all come with a choice. Either a player chooses a spell like effect that happens immediately and consumes the power of the Relic. Or they choose to hold onto the Relic and gain control of the Relic and its emblematic effects.
Emblems granted by Relics function similarly to planeswalker emblems except they are controlled, not owned, by the player who completed the Relics goal. So if the Relic changes controllers the emblem goes with it along with any counters on that emblem. Players should keep any Relics kept as emblems on their side of the battlefield in the command zone. Relics that are consumed for their spell-like effect should go to that player’s exile zone.
Discovering New Relics
Relics are replenished at the beginning of the next turn. If any pile has a face down card turn it face up at the beginning of the upkeep phase.
Stealing Relics
The first player to get two or more Relics becomes the Archenemy. Afterwards whoever has the most Relics in zones they control (the command zone or exile zone) is the Archenemy and should always be considered a threat to the rest of the table. Relics held by the Archenemy in the command zone (aka Relics that are held for their emblem effect) can have their goals recompleted, and thus stolen, by the Archenemy’s opponents.
Upon stealing a Relic that player gets to again make the choice of if they want to consume its spell-like power and put it in their exile zone or keep it their command zone for its emblem power.
In the case of a tie on who controls the most Relics, the player with the most emblems is the Archenemy. If players are tied for the most Relics and tied on the number of emblems they control, there is no Archenemy until that tie is broken, as there can only be one Archenemy.
Killing a Player
When a player is killed they drop all Relics they’ve obtained. The player who cast the final blow gets to claim one of the Relics they had for themselves of their choice. If they had more than one Relic the remaining go back on top of the piles in the middle of the table spread as evenly as possible.
The game is won by the last player left alive. But remember as a table you will all likely need to work together to take down whoever is the Archenemy, so be careful of who you are targeting, because the Relics can sometimes be deceptively powerful.
White
Goal:
Control 4 more creatures than your opponents.
Bonus: Distribute X +1/+1 counters on creatures you control where X is the number of creatures you control.
Or gain an emblem that says, “At the beginning of combat on your turn tap up to one creature each player controls.”
Blue
Goal:
Draw 4 or more cards in a single turn. Must also be 3 more cards than an opponent has drawn this turn.
Bonus:
Tap all creatures your opponents control and put 1 stun counter on them. (If a permanent with a stun counter on it would become untapped, remove a stun counter instead.)
Or gain an emblem that says, “At the beginning of your first main phase return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand.
Red
Goal:
Deal 15 in a single turn from sources you control.
Bonus:
Exile the top 4 cards of your library face up, until the end of your next turn you may cast those cards from exile.
Or gain an emblem that says, “If a source you control would deal damage to an opponent or a permanent an opponent controls, it deals that much damage plus 1 instead.
Black
Goal:
Cause 5 or more creatures to die in a single turn. Causes can be from destroy effects, sacrifice effects, -x/-x effects etc.
Bonus:
Draw 3 cards and lose 3 life. You may tap creatures you control and pay 1 life to draw an additional card for each creature you tap.
Or gain an emblem that says, “At the beginning of your upkeep put a Grave counter on this emblem. At the beginning of combat on your turn, put target creature card from a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control with mana value equal to or less than the number of Grave counters on this emblem.”
Green
Goal:
Control two or more lands than the other players.
Bonus:
Reveal the top eight cards of your library. You may put a creature card from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest into your graveyard.
Ferocious – If you control a creature with power 4 or greater, you may put two creature cards onto the battlefield instead of one.
Or gain an emblem that says, “Lands you control gain pay 3 generic and tap: draw a card”
