Consider some limited Constructed Format such that the players
assume their two decks to represent an optimal draw in a sealed
deck tournament where every player gets nothing except one
single starter. Starter Fever realizes this idea in providing
the following deck construction rules:
Corporation and Runner decks each consist of no more than
max. 2 Rare cards
max. 13 Uncommon cards
max. 11 Vital cards
max. 30 Common cards
Any card may be put into the deck no more than once
(this condition is called Highlander format).
This way even beginners feel that they have a chance, since it is
not necessary to be a card lord in order to build a deck according
to these guidelines.
Don't expect that all decks look exactly the same. There will be
Fast Advancement Decks, there will be Tag'n'Bag Decks, there will
be decks based around the two rares, etc.
The Expansion
If you want to include Proteus, the following modifications should
be made to this format:
Corporation and Runner decks each consist of no more than
max. 2 Rare cards, including max. 1 Proteus Rare Card
max. 13 Uncommon cards, including max. 2 Proteus Uncommon cards
max. 11 Vital cards
max. 33 Common cards, including max. 30 Limited Common cards and
max. 5 Proteus Common cards
Still no more than one of each card may be put into the decks.
Hence, for each Proteus card you like to add to your deck you have
to drop one Limited Card (apart from the three additional allowed Commons).
The Clou: Booster Fever
Up to this point it all sounded very simple. To add the twist you
could additionally offer some of the following house rules, e.g.
for a little tournament or gaming evening:
Players have a sideboard containing cards in such a way that, for
each commonality, the number of cards in any of their decks plus
the number of cards in the according sideboard add up to the maximum
number as given above. (Example: If you have only 8 Vitals in your
deck, you should put three additional Vitals into your sideboard).
Every player who loses a game may exchange up to two cards in the deck
that lost with two cards from her sideboard.
Two opponents buy one booster together. It will be shuffled and put
aside as the ante pile face down. After each game, the winner gets
two ante cards and the loser one. After two matches (four games) the
overall winner gets two additional ante cards and the loser the last one.
In a tournament each player could come with one booster. Two opponents
shuffle their boosters together and put the resulting ante card pile aside
face down. After each game, the winner gets two ante cards and the loser
one. When the match (two games) is over, the 24 remaining cards will be
randomly distributed back to the two players, such that each player goes
away with a total of 12 cards which he shuffles together with the 12
cards of his next opponent. After the second round, each player goes
away with 9 cards to his next opponent etc., yielding a tournament
that consists of exactly five rounds and at least six players. All
ante cards won during the tournament are immediately added to the sideboards.
You do not have to make the draw from the ante pile at random. You can
let the players choose from the boosters.
I would enjoy to hear or read about any experiences you had with this format.