While surfing the internet last weekend, I noticed that a casual, multiplayer format got some attention and TLC from Wizards of the Coast. No, I’m not talking about Commander, but rather a much older casual variant called “Emperor.” 

Here’s the post from the MTG mothership from about 12 years ago:

WOTC suggests in the article that the “Emperor” format variant is a fun way to shake up a sealed-deck gathering by adding a team-based, multiplayer element to the mix. 

I happen to agree that Emperor is an interesting Magic variant. In fact, it was the first set of alternate rules for multiplayer that I ever encountered way back when I started playing Magic in the mid 1990s. I’m talking back before there was even an Elder Dragon Highlander format, let alone commanders and command zones. 

Emperor is also interesting in that it is a multiplayer team format. Here’s a summary of the format rules that make the format unique:

1. Teams of three or five players, seated together on one side of the table against the other team. 
2. The player seated in the middle of each team is that team’s “Emperor.” 
3. The allied players seated to the left or right of the Emperor are the teams’ “Generals” or “Lieutenants.” 
4. A team only loses the game when it’s Emperor loses the game. 
5. Spells have a “range of influence” that dictates how far their effects impact other players. A General or Lieutenant’s spells and abilities have a “range of one” (meaning their spells and abilities impact the players sitting directly adjacent to them, i.e. an adjacent opposing General or Lieutenant and their own Emperor. Emperor’s have a “range of influence of two,” meaning their spells will impact both of the Emperor’s own Generals and both opposing Generals. 
6. All creatures have the ability: “T: Target teammate gains control of this creature. Activate this ability only when you could cast a sorcery.”

Essentially, the objective of each team is to defeat the enemy “Emperor” in the middle of the opponent’s formation. Spells have a “range of influence” and players can tap their own creatures to send them to help a teammate’s position. 

Emperor also received some official rules updates in the Comprehensive Rules to coincide with the release of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty:

It’s interesting to me that WOTC posted an article about the Emperor format and took the time to clarify some of it’s minutiae in the comprehensive rules. I also see the format serves an interesting function because it is a mechanism for playing team-based multiplayer, which is a pretty fun concept both in theory and practice. Team Sealed Grand Prix, for instance, were among my absolute favorite events to play across the entire history of Magic. There’s something special about getting to play on the same team as your friends and working cooperatively to build decks. I love it. 

I haven’t played a game of Emperor in well over a decade, but the format has a special place in my heart because it was how I was first introduced to multiplayer Magic. Back in the day, when I was just a wee boy, my cousin and I used to go up to a local comic book shop that had a Magic open play night and those gatherings always ended with games of Emperor. We clearly didn’t know very much about how to build great decks back then and so everybody would just use their regular dueling decks to fall into line and defend the Emperor. 

I remember that some players would build decks specifically designed to be great at being the Emperor featuring cards like Howling Mine to gas up teammates within a “range of influence of two.”

I remember that Moat was a really hot Emperor staple way back in the day since it essentially impacted combat for both sets of Generals. 

Enchant world cards impacted everybody regardless of range of influence which kind of makes them the OG cards designed for multiplayer because their mechanic has some unique applications specific to a multiplayer format that was popular among casual fans at the time. 

So, there were players almost 30 years ago who had meta decks to play the format which is a neat piece of Magic trivia. While I do think that it’s interesting that players can construct decks specifically tuned to the format, I also kind of like the way WOTC has positioned the format as being a vehicle for sealed team deckbuilding where we can put certain types of cards into a General or Emperor’s deck, depending on where they will be most effective. Also keep in mind that the Emperor can play their own creatures and then tap them the following turn to send them to a teammate’s aid. 

Last week, I touched on the idea that Commander has become the de facto way that Constructed casual Magic tends to be played. One of the shortcomings of Commander as a format variant for Limited play (as opposed to Constructed) is that it relies on a legendary creature to be a commander and cards that share a color identity which is very restricting to building a sealed pool, whereas Emperor is a lot more flexible as an option for building sealed decks (not to mention that “team-based” multiplayer element is unique and interesting in and of itself).

The fact that WOTC updated the rules and posted about the format also makes me wonder if there’s any chance they’d ever support the format as a legitimate sealed deck format that could be played at a MagicFest, prerelease or side event as a sort of Team Sealed alternate variant. I have no clue, but it would certainly be fun to battle multiplayer with a team of three in a way that is different from Two-Headed Giant (which I also enjoy). 

It’s interesting to me as a long time fan and player to see a seemingly ancient artifact of a format dug up and reexamined. I do remember playing Emperor before EDH and enjoying the experience as a beginning player all those years ago. 

Last but not least… I can’t help but observe that a Battle Box, such as my DeMars Danger Cube stack, would be absolutely perfect for facilitating casual games of Emperor using the Battle Box mana system of one of each of the five basics and five ETB tapped dual lands. 

Introducing the Brian DeMars Danger Cube!

Battle Box or Cube? How about both? Brian is mashing the two formats together into his brand-new “Danger Cube” for amazing Limited play!

The stack is already balanced to the best of my ability with regard to color, mana value and power level, which means each player in the Emperor game could be given approximately 75 random spells from the big stack to represent their deck and ten lands to be deployed from exile. The ability to “pass creatures” to teammates is also a great way to make sure the synergy cards end up going to where they are useful.

Playing Emperor with a Battle Box is also interesting for the same reason as applying the format to a Sealed deck. It takes the customization of building decks specifically tuned to exploit the mechanics of the format out of the equation and removes the necessity of actually spending 50 minutes building Sealed pools before a game can even be played (or requiring six or more different decks to be present in order for a game to occur). The LGS in my province was finally able to open back up to host their weekly casual open play night and so I fully intend to take my stack next week and see if I can find five other spellslingers who want to try out a game of Emperor using my Danger Room stack. 

In summary:

1. Last week, WOTC updated the comprehensive rules describing the format. 
2. Emperor is an interesting casual, multiplayer team variant that can be easily applied to sealed deck construction in a way that Commander is quite inflexible. 
3. I’m fairly certain that a well-balanced Battle Box is an excellent way to facilitate casual games of Emperor without any setup.