Two-Headed Giant, Brothers’ Highlander, Team Unified Rules

Welcome to the Two-Headed Giant, Brothers’ Highlander, Team Unified format page. Yes, this is 1 format, I’ll explain everything here below:

Two-Headed Giant:

You play in teams of 2, according to the normal Two-Headed Giant rules: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Two-Headed_Giant

Team Unified:

This means that in addition to the usual single-deck construction rules, no individual card (based on its English card title) may be used by more than one player in the same team, with the exception of basic lands. For example, if one player is using Chaos Orb in a Team Unified tournament, no other player on that team may have a Chaos Orb in their starting deck.

Brothers’ Highlander:
For the latest information please check out this page: https://brothersoffire.home.blog/brothers-highlander/

Below is a direct copy of the page above:

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.