[UGb-Reanimator (A) vs RDW (B) 2:1]

UGb-Reanimator (A) vs RDW (B) 2:1
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 1:0
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 1x
Remarks: A keeps one-lander with Entomb + Animate Dead -> T2 "kill" after Gitaxian Probe + Iona

G2: 1:1
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 2x
Remarks: Oath wasn't enough vs Opp mull 2x but Shrine of Burning Rage, Smuggler's Copter + Mishra's Factory

G3: 2:1
A on the play mull 2x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Demonic for Oath, Eidolon + Spellshock


Gr-Cradlehoof (A) vs Temur-Tempo (B) 0:1
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 0:1
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 0x
Remarks: T2 Brazen Borrower, T3 Oko on the play is hard to deal with - still quite close thanks to Thrun


UGb-Reanimator (A) vs 4c Twin-Combo (no black) (B) 0:2
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 0:1
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 1x
A keeps greedy hand: Fetchland, Oath of Druids, Sylvan Library, Demonic Tutor, Thoughtseize, Treasure Cruise, Drown in the Loch ... no second land.

G2: 0:2
A on the play mull 2x / B mull 0x
Remarks: non-game and fast Twin-Combo


Gr-Cradlehoof (A) vs 4c Twin-Combo (no black) (B) 2:1
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 1:0
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 0x
A curves out for Garruk Wildspeaker and Primeval Titan

G2: 1:1
A mull 1x / B on the play mull 1x
Remarks: Prime Speaker Vannifar was too fast

G3: 2:1
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Karakas keeps him alive vs Polukranos + Surrak the Hunt Caller + Nissa. Llanowar Tribe + Cradle accelerate into Craterhoof bring him down to 3 lp. Polukranos + massive mana clean the board fast enough to avoid combo-kill next turn.

[How often do you play Highlander (highlandermagic.info rules)?]

This survey was handed out on the Continental Cup #2 in Halle, November 2019. 47 of 90 people took part in the survey.

How often do you play Highlander (highlandermagic.info rules)?
(absolute frequencies)




How satisfied are you with the format currently on a scale from 1 to 10 (1=not at all, 10=very much)?
(absolute frequencies)



(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)



satisfaction according to how often highlander is played




These card(s) should be banned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
(cards currently on the Watchlist are italic)




Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (e.g. “too strong” vs. “too powerful”).)

Demonic Tutor
- quite slow
- fairly costed
- Tutors make the format too consistent in the face of power creep
- Combo seems too good atm
- broken, but if you splash its greedy
- allows strategies
- nothing broken
- easy splash for every deck
- 100 singleton format -> not having 2 copies of every card x4
- too powerful
- format defining card
- iconic card x2
- no tutors x2
- control needs this card
- fair powerful
- people splash b for tutor
- maybe too cheap
- generic
- skill intensive
- black payoff
- singleton
- banned Mystical < Demonic
- combo needs it
- not too strong at cmc 2 + sorcery
- too good overall
- it's the best card of each deck with black
- combo and card too strong
- powerful card, not nuts

Dig Through Time
- doesn’t seem oppressive
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- maybe too good
- finds answers, digs deep
- finds too often heavy solution
- UU is often complicated
- nothing broken
- no action needed
- no tutors
- too good
- double U somewhat balance this card
- U staple that makes blue competitive
- one of the blue spells should be banned
- fuels decks with cantrips a lot
- extremely swingy
- undercosted
- out of nowhere
- 2 mana = 7 cards ?!
- too strong on balanced boards
- powerful card, not nuts
- too strong top deck
- good but not too good
- too much advantage for easy restriction
- is ok
- too strong and better than cruise
- too many delve cards in one deck are not possible
- if a delve spell should go i think it should be DTT

Entomb
- Best 1cc Tutor
- enables hard to interact with strategies
- only one deck plays this effectively
- Reanimator not oppressive
- a lot of combos
- nothing broken
- depends on Reanimate / Echo the Aeons abuse
- fair
- could be broken if more people bought Bazaar
- no tutors x2
- good for reanimator x2
- ban echo of aeons instead
- too strong
- narrow applications
- reanimator not Tier 1
- has not dominated in any archetype
- not more busted than other cards in the format
- is fine
- possibly too strong, but demonic is worse
- hard to say since reanimator is not that representative
- powerful card, not nuts

Mana Drain
- glorified Counterspell
- reactive, not worth banning
- most of the time Counterspell x3
- manapush is insane x2
- too good Counterspell
- it’s so Yu-Gi-Oh -> OP!
- nothing broken
- unnecessary to have Counterspell with huge tempowing
- almost fair
- necessary UU harcounter
- ramp in mono U + counter
- powerful card, not nuts
- variance increases
- strong but not unfair
- hard to abuse
- mostly no value
- strong but ok
- slightly better than Counterspell
- i think here are more problematic cards
- not as strong anymore, since the speed of the format has increased

Tainted Pact
- deck building restrictions  x3
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- bad Demonic
- requires greedy deck
- nothing broken x2
- no tutors x2
- ok, this card cannot be used by combo x2
- instant demonic
- in the right deck critical
- not universally playable
- skill intensive
- maybe too strong
- better than DT in most scenarios, but restrict deck building enough
- exiles library
- as long as DT is in the format we dont have to talk about pact
- the downside of exiling is real
- powerful card, not nuts
- fair card

Tolarian Academy
- hard to interact with x2
- deck is becoming too strong and will be able to win without x2
- not the problem in Academy
- ban other Academy stuff x3
- play solitaire
- deck is too fast, too consistent
- need to be weakened
- too boring to play against
- nearly every deck is playing Wasteland
- annoying to play against
- broken x2
- unfun
- too oppressive
- too good
- deck is retarded
- obv
- instant speed tutor, but needs deck built around it
- powerlevel?
- deck is inconsistent enough
- skill intensive
- too strong?
- much too strong
- very powerful
- too consistent
- if proxies are allowed, academy might be too powerful
- people should learn to adept first

Treasure Cruise
- doesn’t seem oppressive
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- maybe too good
- finds answers, digs deep
- too much [] power
- who don’t like going on a cruise
- it’s ok
- too powerful
- too oppressive
- powerful card, not nuts
- too good
- blue needs some toys, this is one of it
- U staple that makes blue competitive
- extremely swingy
- undercosted
- out of nowhere
- 1 Mana = 3 cards ?!
- too strong on balanced boards
- too strong top deck
- good but not too good
- comparable to Ancestral Recall, which is banned as well
- is fine
- too strong, almost Ancestral Recall
- too many delve cards in one deck are not possible


Following cards were asked as well, even though they are currently not on the Watchlist:

Oko, Thief of the Crown
- hoses all creature strategies
- unfun
- too strong
- not able to kill without removal
- this survey is now a 3/3 Elk
- game turns to elk

Oath of Druids
- too oppressive
- 2 mana 'I win'
- should at least be on the Watchlist
- it’s one of the most powerful card in our format

Scapeshift
- search and win
- just ridiculous
- too strong
- too consistent
- now also got Field of the Dead


These card(s) should be unbanned:
(absolute frequencies)
(relative frequencies)
(cards currently on the Watchlist are italic)




Reasonings (single cards):
(I tried to make the written reasonings as unadulterated as possible, even if there were synonymous formulations (e.g. “too strong” vs. “too powerful”).)

Skullclamp
- just broken
- needs setup to be good
- advantage doesn’t outright win
- to get creature decks going again
- could be interesting
- try out  x2
- that’s broken stuff
- too strong in the current meta
- needs setup, creature based decks
- fair enough
- enough antitech
- not sure, probably too good
- too strong
- please never unban
- unban jitte instead
- not universally playable
- archetype enabler
- too strong
- busted in already good creature decks
- takes aways the cost of playing mana dorks
- go creatures, go elves
- only helps mono G
- problematic in other formats
- stupid card
- auto include in every creature deck

Survival of the Fittest
- just broken
- may be banworthy if some other changes are implemented
- easy repeatable tutors are even worse
- too much combo already
- a lot of mana + setup + combo deck
- that’s broken stuff
- enables too strong interactions
- multiple tutor
- should be tried
- too oppressive
- too good and tutor
- maybe but first keep Academy in check
- that one is retarded
- repeatable tutor too strong
- i dont know
- broken combos possible
- please test it
- probably not too powerful anymore
- potentially too strong for reanimator
- I would love to but NO! Pls NO!

True-Name Nemesis
- unfun
- hard to interact with
- creature that can be answered
- too oppressive
- is actually not so bad
- not oppressive enough
- not good enough anymore
- not too strong
- fair enough
- complete unfun
- enough antitech
- dumb
- i really do hate this card
- good ban
- why ban?
- unfun card
- bad for gameplay
- not OP
- not for powerlevel, but for bad impact on the games it appears in
- dont care
- ban makes the match up against blue decks better
- not problematic for the most decks
- it’s and creature

Umezawa's Jitte
- hoses all creature strategies
- unfun x2
- too stupid in creature match ups
- to get creature decks going again
- first unban Skullclamp
- jitte is just unfair
- only unban if SFM get’s banned x2
- fair enough
- enough antitech
- too good
- will warp every creature mirror
- if you really want to unban equipment, unban Jitte, NOT Skullclamp
- equipment drawback
- fun card
- too support creature toolbox decks
- not too strong at the moment
- seems ok to test
- turns all around once it enters
- please don’t
- tested and was too strong
- stupid card


How satisfied are you with the current Mulligan on a scale from 1 to 10 (1=not at all, 10=very much)?
(absolute frequencies)



(mean)
(median -> resistant to outliers)




Comments on the Mulligan:
- better than scry
- more games decided by flood/screw or bad hands vs. good hands
- today was fun
- more lopsided wins than with free mulligan
- i like this mulligan
- keep the current mulligan
- 1 free mulligan would be totally fine
- it’s nice to have a mulligan like in standard, modern etc.
- favours combo decks
- didn’t fix the non-game issue
- free mulligan would increase the number of games which are not decided by a bad starting hand
- mulligan is fine x2
- please ban it
- much more non-games x2
- maybe it’s too good with two-card combos
- current mulligan is ok
- i think the free mulligan should be a part of HL
- still undecided
- amount of non-games increased, but free mulligan + LM feels too strong
- i think more exciting games would happen on a free mull
- brawl uses freemull
- no opinion
- LM is perfect
- spoil 2 cards mulligan <3
- Mulligan is good
- especially mulligan to 5 still enables interactive gameplays
- non-games were drastically reduced compared to vancouver mulligan
- I would prefer London + Free Mulligan
- a lot worse without free mulligan
- free mulligan is not needed
- you can easier win games with mulligan on 5
- i prefer london + free


Comments on the Format:
- feels combo heavy
- need to be super aggressive or have a combo win
- fair decks seem to be not good enough
- powerlevel of cards is too high  x2
- currently in a pretty good spot
- combo decks are fine for the format as long as they don’t dominate
- I like the strong cards that cannot be played in other formats
- nice format
- i always hate bannings
- the Academy deck needs to be nerfed (ban Academy or tutors)
- the current format splits my community
- I would like if you ban some cards
- meta was nicely diverse

Next testsession on cockatrice:
this Sunday, 01.12 / 20.30

Grid is a decent card. Its actually ok as win con and checks walkers somewhat. Its slow though.

Vs ouphe and other hatebears oath of druids can be a plan b.

As for stony, rod. Those are really hard and probably beat you when they come early. If you can get academy going you might get some counterplay but its hard.

B2b can be beaten with candelabra.

How do we defeat Collector Ouphe (, Stony Silence, Null Rod or even Back to Basics)?

The cards I came up with sofar are not exactly great:
Upheaval
Spine of Ish Sah
Chain of Vapor, Cyclonic Rift, Capsize, etc.
Clutch of the Undercity
Commit/Memory
Ugin, the Ineffable and other Planeswalkers, which I dont want to play

Ghirapur Aether Grid is what I'm going to try, but I would really like an artifact, obviously.

Hopefully you guys can give me some feedback, thank you!

Awesome, thanks for getting us started!!

I'd like to play, no matter what format we end up on.

Maybe we can use Discord for discussing details.

[UGb-Reanimator (A) vs Izzet (B) 2:0]

first matches today - noone wanted to play with Free Mulligan or Skullclamp yet

UGb-Reanimator (A) vs Izzet (B) 2:0
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 1:0
A on the play mull 2x / B mull 1x
Remarks: T3 Intuition Into T4 Exhume Jin-Gitaxias + Counterbackup

G2: 2:0
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 2x
Remarks: B screwed, non-game

Gr-Cradehoof (A) vs 5C-Reanimator (B) 0:2
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 0:1
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 0x
Remarks: Life From the Loam, Titania, Show and Tell for Elesh Norn

G2: 0:2
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 1x
Remarks: Dark Ritual, Demonic Tutor, Oath of Druids

UGb-Reanimator (A) vs Royal (5c) Blood (B) 2:1
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 0:1
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 1x
Remarks: long and grindy game

G2: 1:1
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Back to Basiscs + multiple resurrected Jin-Gitaxias

G2: 2:1
A mull 1x / B on the play mull 0x
Remarks: B Mana Screwed, A Rotting Regisaur + Reanimated Griselbrand

Gr-Cradehoof (A) vs Royal (5c) Blood (B) 2:1
FM: - / SC: -

G1: 1:0
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Derranged Hermit + Cradle + Craterhoof

G2: 1:1
A mull 1x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Discard + Questing Beast + Oko

G3: 2:1
A on the play mull 1x / B mull 0x
Remarks: A curved out, B flooded

[Highlander Online Play]

Highlander Online Play

There was a demand to revive the Highlander Online scene somehow by parts of the community. Maybe it is hard to put into practice but at least worth a try. So here we go.

In the past we’ve had a multi-culti Highlander-Online-League with players from Portugal, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and even USA but the number of participants was shrinking slowly but steadily. In the end there were always the same few people for playing this league, almost all from Germany and partly even from the same community so I decided to stop that Highlander Online League for a while waiting for the right moment for a relaunch…

I have different ideas concerning Online Play:

1 - Use a Discord-Server as meeting point for all players looking for some matches on cockatrice or other platforms. Leave your nickname here so we can create a user-list. Maybe announce some fix play times so it is easier to find like-minded persons.

Platforms:

Cockatrice
Name: Rooster Rangers
Server: server.cockatrice.us
Port: 4748

User-List:
Bobz0rd – Max Hof.
hitman_HL - Ronald Leh.
Iulus – Julius Sta.
0rley - Oliver
Phexian - Benjamin Rud.
rekka - Kurt Kof.
Vazdru – Gerry Sta.
[to be continued]

I will be online this Sunday, ~ 7 to 9 PM for some test-games.  

2 - I would like to gather some data for metagame, mulligan and unban-watchlist.  Therefore, I would like to launch following experiment:

Before I select my deck, my opponent may choose for the match:

•   To add Free Mulligan -> FM, then London Mulligan (otherwise regular only LM) and
•   To add Skullclamp (otherwise regular Banned-List)

I give a similar standardised notification for game report like Steffi did for Halle.

Notification look like (example):

UGb-Reanimator (A) vs Gwb-Cradlehoof (B) 2:1
FM: - / SC: +

G1: 1:0
A on the play mull 0x / B mull 2x
Remarks: non-game, B: mana-screwed

G2: 1:1
A mull 0x / B on the play mull 0x
Remarks: SC appeared but had no impact, combo-kill Craterhoof

G3: 2:1
A on the play mull 1x / B mull 0x
Remarks: Entomb T1 = unfair

Why only online? Cockatrice has a replay-function so it is easy to find the necessary information even if you have forgotten some details – best thing after a long play session

Furthermore, it is easy to have a lot of different decks available and switching decks with and without Skullclamp is easy as well.

It is only a small input but a small one is better than none. Maybe some guys out there wanna join this experiment so we can gather more data – just let me know and I will add your infos as well.

3 -  On the long run I will try to establish an Online-Tournament if there is any demand for. The current draft is a non-profit, small-entry event with following stats:

Meeting Point: Discord Server
Pairings/Judge/cockatrice-deckcodes via Discord
Starting Fee: EUR 2,50
Max 16 players
4 rounds Swiss (e. g. Sunday 16-21 or weekday 19.30-0.30)
Winner 75% of pool as MKM voucher (e. g. 16 players -> EUR 30)
Runner-Up 25% of pool as MKM voucher (e. g. 16 players -> EUR 10)

Let me know if you would join such an event or if you would like to have some change. Thanks in advance!

[place:]

On the 10th of November, after Continental Cup 2, the first “Highlander Conference” in Halle took place. 20 people from different communities participated to talk about the format.
We now want to share with you the protocol that we wrote together in order to share with the community what we discussed and what the results are.

place: Halle, Hall of Games
date: 10.11.2019, 10.30 – 13.15

participants:
Jörn Fra. (Jo Fra), Roy Her., Richard Kir., Cedrik Köh., Ronald Leh. (hitman), Lars Lin., Felix Mat. (nbb), Andre Mey., Marvin Mün., Björn Ort. (MMD), Patrick Ric. (firestarter), Benjamin Rud. (benjamin bittenachnameeinfügen), Daniel Sch., Hendrik Sch. (Hendrik Hansen), Sven Von., Cédric Zoh. (Alf Cett)
for the HL Council: Stephanie Bre. (Dr. Opossum), Max Hof. (Bobz0rd), Gerry Sta. (Vazdru), Thomas Sti. (Ma Qi)

topics:
1.   Introduction of the participants
2.   Conflicts in Berlin
3.   What is the philosophy of our format, what should it be?
4.   Proxies
5.   Website
6.   Online Play
7.   Content for Highlander
8.   Transparency
9.   Representation Model / Democracy / Council Members
10.   Surveys / Mulligan


1. Introduction of the Participants

The participants were introducing themselves to each other. 16 members from different German communities and four members of the HL Council took part in the discussion of the topics. The discussion was fruitful and it was an open atmosphere.


2. Conflicts in Berlin

Concerned persons explained their views on the recent quarrel going on in Berlin and partly on facebook. Different conflict lines and multiple perpectives were explained. The Berlin HL community seems still divided. The problems couldn’t be solved during the conference obviously, however there is hope that both parties will be able to move on and the quarrel won't be disturbing the highlander community and especially the Berlin one too much.


3. What is the philosophy of our format, what should it be?

There is a need for more discussion about our format. Conflicts have occured, but the discussion culture from here on should be friendly, constructive and open for ideas. Sometimes it is quite hard to discuss on facebook because it gets personal, so people stay away from such discussions.

The best philosophy is the one which attracts people to play Highlander most. The question is still how to achieve this.

Questions to consider concerning the banned-list:
-   How broken should the format be? Who defines what is broken and what is fair?
-   How strong may combo-decks be? When is a combo-deck too dominant?
-   Competitive vs casual?
-   Should proxies be allowed?

Bannings without a vision/philosophy for the format are hard to deal with.

Task: Formulate a vision/philosophy for the HL format and create new banning/unbanning guidelines.


4. Proxies

Proxies were discussed as a good tool, to make the format grow and become better by giving everyone access to missing cards and therefore access to our format. Especially new players would profit as it is hard to build up the necessary card pool for a variety of decks. Players should have the chance to test decks before they make the card-investments.

It has been mentioned that the Highlander Community is usually quite helpful to new players. Cards and even whole decks have been lent to beginners. Just ask for.

If Proxies are allowed lies in the responsibility of each tounament organizer.
The council encourages the use of proxies at smaller tournaments (e.g. FNM).
At bigger tournaments with higher buy-in (EUR 10+) and pay-out proxies should still be forbidden.


5. Website

The participants agree that there must be a new and modern website where informations can be gathered centrally.

There is already a website for European Highlander made by Hendrik Sch. (europeanhighlander.com). There is an offer to work together and use the website perspectively.

There is a Highlander-website designed by the council too but there are some unanswered legal issues, esp. the website-impressum. Sven Von. has some expertise in this topic as he works in this sector. Max Hof. offered help to realize the website going public if necessary.

Task: Council decides till 01.01.2020 (Watchlist Announcement) what concept they want to implement on one website.


6. Online Play

Some parts of the community want to organize and schedule more online play on Cockatrice. The Online Liga (HLL) organized on the forum of magicplayer.org by Gerry Sta. has been stopped because of decreasing number of participants. In a first step there should be something like a meeting point and fixed Cockatrice play times for online Highlander players. Maybe there is a chance to revive an Online League or an Online Tournament.

Task: Support HL online-play community somehow.


7. Content for Highlander

European Highlander content should be centralized. All content-managers should sent their content to this central place. We should collect all blogs, channels, etc. The website should link to every European Highlander content. New content should be added. A concept for publishing decklists should be found. After the crush of mtgpulse, we have had different options but none of them seem satisfying.
Tournaments, content and a central, modern online presence seem most important for the development of Highlander.

Task: Communities and council should organise a guideline for the procedure of the publishing of tournament results and decklists.


8. Transparency

The council will register a council facebook account. Everything officially announced by the council will be posted with the council account in the future.

It's important for the community to know about the plans of the council. Bad discussion culture in the community lead to a non-participation in discussions. The watchlist is already a tool for the community to get an insight which cards are discussed and which possible changes could happen.

Task: The council will regularly reveal the topics it is currently discussing, next time at 01.01.2020 (Watchlist announcement).


9. Representation Model / Democracy / Council Members

Reasons for legitimization:
History of the format, ongoing engagement for the format, communication work with and for the community.

The community should have more influence on the format-relevant decisions.
 
No elective system but orientation of council actions towards the outcomes of ongoing public discourse. There should/must be applicable rules which govern this.
Regional representation of communities is not mandatory for a council member but the council should represent "en gros" the geographical areas. It makes the communication and flow of information with the different communities easier if they have a someone in the coucil.
You can apply to become a council member and you can be recommended by a community for some reasons. The council is open for new council members.
The discussion for tools to strengthen the democatric system has been postponed but democracy related topics will be discussed, whenever they appear with reason.

Task: Explain how to become a new council member. What are the requirements for a new council member. Make clear what are the reasons if someone gets rejected.

Following questions came up during the discussion:

* What function does the Highlander council have?
* Which duties and responsibilities are necessary to fulfil this function?
* How should the council be assembled to achieve this?
* How is it visible for the community that the council try to fulfil their tasks appropriate?
* What is the right approach to ensure that there is a fitting formation of the council?

For lack of time the questions haven't been discussed adequately during the conference.


10. Mulligan / Surveys

London Mulligan vs Free + London Mulligan has been a difficult decision.
The commuinication between the council and the community could have been better, e.g. how the decision process has been made. Some guys would like to have a reroll of the discussion. The mulligan is still under observation.

Surveys can be made my the council on its own but of each council members as well. There are no strict rules for it. Some guys prefer if the surveys would we published by the new council facebook account instead.
There is no agreement at this point.
Surveys, polls and all other content can be published by each council member without any previous coordination in the council and thus in individual responsibility.


Big thanks to all participants that showed their commitment to the format and took their time to discuss those topics the day after the tournament!


written in cooperation / in agreement with:
Jörn Fra., Felix Mat., Björn Ort., Cédric Zoh., the Highlander Council


source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/480610332544301/

Added:

Video Coverage:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQuERVNigfE