Horde : un format coopératif

In Brief: Horde Magic is a multiplayer variant where all players work together to survive and defeat an opposing, automated, semi-random "horde" deck.

Rules Rundown: There's a lot going on in Horde Magic. We'll break it down into gameplay, player, and horde rules.

Game-Play Rules:

• The objective is for the allied team to survive and eliminate the threat of the horde.
  
• Players achieve victory when the horde deck has no cards remaining in its library, no cards in hand, and no creatures on the battlefield.
  
• Players will lose the game at zero life, as normal.
  
• If the team were to attack or otherwise deal damage to the horde "player," then that number of cards are put from the top of the horde's deck into its graveyard.

Player Rules:

• There are up to four players total, and each player brings his or her own deck.
  
• All players share their turn and life total, a la Two-Headed Giant, and each contributes 20 life to the starting total (one player is 20, four players is 80).
  
• The team takes the first three turns of the game, then alternates with the horde deck.

Horde Rules:

• There is no player for the horde deck; it will play automatically.
  
• The horde is a 100-card deck, taking away a random 25 for each player under four on the team (three players is 75 cards, two players is 50).
  
• The horde is built using token cards as well as regular Magic cards.
  
• The horde's turn starts by revealing the top card of its library. If it's a creature token, it is set aside and this process repeats until a nontoken card is revealed. Then, all of the creature tokens are cast (they cost 0 Mana), followed by the revealed spell.
  
• The horde will only cast spells once per turn, at the start of the turn. A creature hit by Boomerang or similar will be cast again after the revealed spell for the next turn has been cast.
  
• The horde deck has any amount of mana needed, and can always pay additional costs required (such as Sphere of Resistance and Propaganda).
  
• All creatures the horde controls have haste and must attack each turn if able.
  
• If there is a choice presented for the horde, such as a player casting Fact or Fiction or controlling a planeswalker that the horde's creatures could attack, the choice is made as randomly as possible.

Pros: Horde Magic is completely cooperative, mimicking the experiences available in some first-person shooters and other games. While the original intent of the format was designed with a zombie horde and Commander players in mind, the horde can be custom-built to your group's desires (Squirrel horde? Goat horde!? YES.), and any assortment of decks can be used.

Cons: The average player probably doesn't have fifty or more tokens lying around, and a cooperative game against a nonplayer "opponent" making as few decisions as possible can take away from some of the "smart" things that make Magic exciting.