Brothers’ Highlander is our in-house 100-card singleton format. The emphasis in every respect is to encourage highly unusual cards to be played, to have interactive games featuring cards that most of us barely knew existed – including the latest releases which keep slipping out from Legends.
The rules are updated periodically. The latest version is stored here on this page.
Brothers’ Highlander rules version 2.0 – November 2022
Deck sizes: 100 cards exactly.
Legal sets: ABU, AN, AQ, LE, TD, FE, 93/94 promo cards. (Note: Fallen Empires is legal).
RULES: Swedish Old School rules (i.e. modern but with errata for Chaos Orb)
PRINTINGS: This set follows traditional British reprint policy. Any non-proxy, non-foil, card with original art in the original frame is legal. CE and IE are illegal. Revised Edition Serendib Efreet and Plateau are legal.
RESTRICTED LIST: All cards apart from basic lands.
BANNED LIST: Library of Alexandria, Mind Twist, Karakas, all ante cards
CONTROLLED LIST: Players have 10 points to spend per deck on CONTROLLED cards:
- Ancestral Recall – 5 (-2)
- Balance – 1
- Braingeyser – 7 (+2)
- Black Lotus – 7
- Demonic Tutor – 5
- Disintegrate – 3 (new entry)
- Icy Manipulator – 3 (+1)
- Jayemdae Tome – 3
- Maze of Ith – 3 (+1)
- Mirror Universe – 8
- Any Mox (Pearl, Sapphire, Jet, Ruby, Emerald, Platinum) – 3
- Recall – 4
- Sol Ring – 5 (+2)
- Su-Chi – 1
- Tetravus – 1 (new entry)
- Time Vault – 2 (-2)
- Time Walk – 7
- Transmute Artifact – 1
- Triskelion – 3
BONUS LIST: The following cards have NEGATIVE points values, enabling those playing them to spend additional Controlled points beyond their allocation of 10. These are:
- The Legends ‘Banding lands’ (Cathedral of Serra, Seafarers’ Quay, Unholy Citadel, Mountain Stronghold, Adventurers’ Guildhouse): MINUS 1
- Wood Elemental: MINUS 1
MULLIGANS: We play the Gentleman’s Mulligan, not London Mulligan. After drawing their initial 7 cards, either player may declare a Gentleman’s Mulligan and show their hand to their opponent. (The opponent may choose to accept a Gentleman’s Mulligan without inspecting the declaring player’s hand).
If it contains 0 or 1 mana source, or 6-7 mana sources (i.e. a mana screw or a mana flood), that player can shuffle their deck and draw a fresh 7. There is no limit to the number of Gentleman’s Mulligans that can be declared. (A mana source is any zero-converted-mana-cost card which produces mana – i.e. a land or a Mox, or similar).
WHO GOES FIRST: Each player declares the value of their opening hands – the player with the higher score goes first (a player does not have to show their hand – their word should be enough!):
- one point for every Swedish-legal black-bordered card
- two points for a Summer Magic card
- half a point per ‘semi-pimp’ card – a non-English black-border printing (“Aland’s rule”)
- If the scores are tied, the player with the most Swedish-legal black-bordered cards goes first.
Brothers Of Fire 