My Alternate Rule Set: 2 VS. 2

thelosh19

Moderately Experienced TCGer
Member
I need some feedback here

Format will be BLW through the most recent XY expansion set. All players will have a
completed decklist with their teammates list attached. Teams shall
have names. Pre-registration is required.

These games are similar, but with a couple of changes. The table is set up so
that players on the same team sit next to each other. The table talk
should be limited to yes or no questions only. The player that goes
first for each team may not attack. A round will be defined as each
player having taken their turn. The card “N” is limited to 3
copies in a deck. Due to the higher than average hand refresh we feel
this is the way go to.

Stadium cards and abilities affect all players. Garbotoxin is the best example.
Garbotoxin applies to all players when Garbodor has a tool on it.
Abilties such as Plasma Transfer, Verdant Wind, Deluge, Inferno
Fandango only apply to the team that controls that Pokemon. Team 1's
player A has a Blastoise in play, Player B on team 1 may also use
Deluge.

Because this is a team based format, you may play any energy card or trainer on
your teammates Pokemon. You may not play your Pokemon on your
teammates field. You may not play a deck search type card to look in
your teammates deck. You also cannot use a card to retrieve cards
from your teammates discard pile.

Cards such as Colress, Deoxys-EX, Altaria and Empoleon can not do more than they
would be able to do in a normal game. Colress has a max of a 10 card
draw. Deoxys-EX is limited to 4.

Each player will set out 6 prize cards during the set-up phase. The winner is
determined one of two ways. The team that takes all prize cards wins.
That being said, if Team A has a player that has taken all 6 of their
prize cards and causes another knockout, their teammate gets to pick
up their prizes.

The other method is to be ahead in prizes after plus 3. It is still being
debated between myself and my trusted pokemon friends what the round
length should be. Either 45 mins or 60 mins. NO TIES!

Poison and other after turn effects take place before and after the afflicted
player's turn.

One other change is that 2 stadiums may be in play at a time. They must have a
different name.

You have 45 seconds to make an action. Actions are defined as playing a card,
attaching energy, doing a deck search etc..

Teammates must have different colored sleeves. This is non-negotiable.

A couple of things may occur during a game. For instance, Team A's player one
decks out. They no longer take a turn. Team A's Player two now takes
player one's turns. Same thing applies when one teammate runs out of
Pokemon.
 
RE: My Alternate Rule Set: 2 VS. 2

Some questions about your format:
How will tables be set up to ensure that you can't see your teammates hand? Or is this allowed?
Can the team that goes 1st (on the 1st turn) attack?
How do mulligans work?
Why are people only allowed to ask yes or no questions to their teammate? It feels that in a tag team battle it would make more sense to cooperate with their partner, and yes or no questions limit that.
Do attacks that say 'Opponent's pokemon' get changed to Opponents' pokemon (makes opponent plural and possessive). Eg. 'This attack does 10 damage to you opponent's benched pokemon.
Are you allowed to attack your team member like in the VG?
Does going 1st switch each round? Can you choose who to attack when going second?
"Team that takes all prize cards" = 12 prizes?
BO1 45 minutes seems adequate. Having another person helping you out even if you get a bad start. So BO1s aren't as bad.
How does sudden death work?
Can the 2 stadiums be from the same person? Same team?
What happens when player B takes player As turn (specifically the game actions that happen when player B takes over).

I like your idea, but it does need some clarification. I used to do this with my friends a few years ago but we'd get confused with rules like N and smeargle and such. Hopefully my questions aren't too much of a pain!
~Elbow
 
RE: My Alternate Rule Set: 2 VS. 2

You can look at your teammates hand. I stated that the player that goes first for each team may NOT attack.

The idea behind limiting questions is to keep the game moving along. We arent playing a 6 hour game.

Cards like Noivern affect all opponents.

all prizes does mean all 12.

Yes on the stadiums. They have to have different names.

If team 1 player b takes team 1 player a's turn, its a prize card penalty.

NO SUDDEN DEATH. play until there is a prize card difference.
 
RE: My Alternate Rule Set: 2 VS. 2

thelosh19 said:
You can look at your teammates hand. I stated that the player that goes first for each team may NOT attack.

I get that the player who goes first for each team can't attack. But does the rules to 1 vs. 1 games apply where on the 1st turn the 1st person (in this case the 1st team) can't attack?

The idea behind limiting questions is to keep the game moving along. We arent playing a 6 hour game.

What constitutes a Yes or No question and are there restrictions to asking? Can I say: "Can you attack Player A and I'll attack Player B?" "Can you win the game if I do X?" *During a deck search*: "Can you skyla for X card?"
Are these all acceptable Y/N questions?


Cards like Noivern affect all opponents.

All includes your own teammate? (Assuming every player in play had a full bench) Would Noivern's attack do 360 damage (2 opponents) or 540 damage (2 opp. + teammate)?

all prizes does mean all 12.

Yes on the stadiums. They have to have different names.

If team 1 player b takes team 1 player a's turn, its a prize card penalty.

I think I misstated this question. I really meant what happens when Player B takes over Player A's turn AFTER either Player A decks out or has no more usable pokemon in play (specifically the game actions when B takes over). Below you stated, "For instance, Team A's player one decks out. They no longer take a turn. Team A's Player two now takes player one's turns. Same thing applies when one teammate runs out of Pokemon."

NO SUDDEN DEATH. play until there is a prize card difference.

One last question. What constitutes a Prize card difference? Total prize cards or player with the least prize cards?
 
The first player for team one or team 2 can not attack turn one.

Those are overly specific yes or no questions, but yes those would be acceptable.

Just opponents. Noivern would load damage on just Team B.

I don't know how i could phrase that differently. In order to maintain balance, Player b team 1 takes player a team 1's turns in order for the game to stay fair.

Total prize cards.
 
If you used a card like Noivern from furious fists, and did 30 to all of your opponent, could dusknoir move damage from player A's pokemon to play B's pokemon?
 
When me and my friends were at summer camp, we actually played a multi battle like this and also a free for all format
 
TheLegendaryRaikou said:
If you used a card like Noivern from furious fists, and did 30 to all of your opponent, could dusknoir move damage from player A's pokemon to play B's pokemon?

Yes Sir. Thats part of the fun.
 
thelosh19 said:
I need some feedback here

Format will be BLW through the most recent XY expansion set. All players will have a completed decklist with their teammates list attached. Teams shall have names. Pre-registration is required.

These games are similar, but with a couple of changes. The table is set up so that players on the same team sit next to each other opposite each other with opponents to their left and right. The table talk should be limited to one vague yes or no questions per turn. (You can't ask something like, "Do you realize that our opponents don't have a counter to Pyroar?" Only things like, "Do you need a new hand?" or, "Do you have the knock out next turn?") The player that goes first for each team may not attack. A round will be defined as each player having taken their turn. The card “N” is limited to 3 copies in a deck. Due to the higher than average hand refresh we feel this is the way go to. Cards like N and Colress require you to choose an opponent to complete the effect with.

Stadium cards and abilities affect all players. Garbotoxin is the best example. Garbotoxin applies to all players when Garbodor has a tool on it. Abilties such as Plasma Transfer, Verdant Wind, Deluge, Inferno Fandango only apply to the team that controls that Pokemon. Team 1's player A has a Blastoise in play, Player B on team 1 may also use Deluge. This wasn't a thing. The way we played is things like Garbodor you now had to choose which opponent to lock. It sounds weird, but it's to keep things from being too broken. Also we played so that you couldn't use your teammates's Abilities. Teammates were treated as their own separate players.

Because this is a team based format, you may play any energy card or trainer cards on your teammates Pokemon for your teammate. You may not play your Pokemon on your teammate's field. You may not play a deck search type card to look in your teammates deck. You also cannot use a card to retrieve cards from your teammates discard pile. You can play search cards for your teammate, but it is your teammate who has to complete the search. (That includes things like discarding cards.)

Cards such as Colress, Deoxys-EX, Altaria and Empoleon can not do more than they would be able to do in a normal game. Colress has a max of a 10 card draw. Deoxys-EX is limited to 4.

Each player will set out 6 three prize cards during the set-up phase. The winner is determined one of two ways. The team that takes all prize cards wins. That being said, if Team A has a player that has taken all 6 three of their prize cards and causes another knockout, their teammate gets to pick up their prizes.

The other method is to be ahead in prizes after plus 3. It is still being debated between myself and my trusted pokemon friends what the round length should be. Either 45 mins or 60 mins. NO TIES!

Poison and other after turn effects take place before and after the afflicted player's turn.

One other change is that 2 stadiums may be in play at a time. They must have a different name. You can't be fighting in two different places at once.

You have 45 seconds to make an action. Actions are defined as playing a card, attaching energy, doing a deck search etc..

Teammates must have different colored sleeves. This is non-negotiable. We didn't have this rule. Probably because cards that each player played went into their own discard. I don't think you are allowed to attach tools to your teammate's Pokemon, so there's really no more of a chance of getting cards mixed up than there normally is.

A couple of things may occur during a game. For instance, Team A's player one decks out. They no longer take a turn. Team A's Player two now takes player one's turns. I'm not sure what the rules are here, but I'm definite one teammate doesn't take two turns. Same thing applies when one teammate runs out of Pokemon. When one player no longer has a Pokemon in play, they can still conduct their turn as usual, but whenever they get a Pokemon in their hand (or a card that can directly get them a Pokemon), they have to play it (which is kind of dumb since the hand isn't public knowledge, but at the same time it wouldn't make since for you to be in a battle and not send out a Pokemon). I'm pretty sure the win condition here is only met when it applies to both teammates. That is either both players deck out or both players don't have a Pokemon in play.

These are the rules we play with. I want to say this was a real thing at some point, and that these rules closely reflect those rules with some minor changes, but I could be entirely wrong about that. We've actually had sanctioned events in this format. Usually what we do is Team Play States the day after States. Lugia is the play by the way.
 
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