How many players in your game?

[darrenhabib]

I'm always used to 4 players, 5 sometimes. But I'd say 4 is the average. Do you play in bigger groups?

Some cards and decks do matter about number of opponents so I'm curious if some people have large groups that can make advantage of that.

I imagine people who play at their LGS could/would get big games going.

[Dunadain]

My groups usually start with four, and then somebody has to leave 3-5 turns in =/

[Mookie]

I would estimate my meta's group size at around 3.5 - we usually aim for groups of four, but three and five come up occasionally... and if we get to six or more people, we split into pods of three and four as appropriate. Six-person games do happen occasionally, but they tend to be rare. It helps that my meta tends to have 10+ people on any given night, which makes it more feasible to split up (or wait for enough people to start a new game with any stragglers).

[Lifeless]

5 with a floating 6th.

[Treamayne]

I much preferred five player games. Then MTGO removed all ability for games above four players. Like @Dunadain, we tend to start with four players almost every time, and we tend to lose at least one player by T3. Difference is that on MTGO, it's not because somebody has to leave, it's because of any reason or no reason at all:

SPOILER

Show

Hide

• I don't like my hand
• I don't like your General
• I don't like your ramp
• I don't like like your value piece
• I was attacked
• My value piece was removed
• No reason 't all
• etc.

[DirkGently]

At an LGS, I'd say 35% 3 player, 55% 4 player, 10% 5 player

At a private game, 75% 3 player, 20% 4 player, 5% 5 player.

Beyond 5, split the pod always.

[Cyberium]

No option for two people? I playtest against one friend a lot before taking it to four people.

[Toshi]

I strongly prefer 3 or 4 player pods. 4 player pods come with more politicking, 3 player matches don't require as much time - so both are great fun.
5 player pods are a mixed bag, as FFAs tend to be terrible and laggy, star/pentagram modes highly swingy.
I avoid anything above 5 in a single pod like the plague. Nobody got time for that! 6 and up we split into groups of 3 and 4, thankfully.

[PrimevalCommander]

Most of my pods recently have been 3 player. I don't play online, and we have had several local guys leave the meta in the last couple years. So this makes getting 4+ people together more difficult. Last time I played we had 4 players, but due to schedules and stuff we only got maybe (4) 4 player games and (6) 3 player games. Having that 4th player goes a long way to dilute the amount of removal spent on any individual's threats and can balance out a power discrepancy much better than 3 player pods. I get a few more games every so often with just my brother and best friend, which adds to the 3 player average.

But funny enough the 4 player games didn't quite feel like 4 players because one guy played minimal interaction and minimal draw, making him all but useless in helping balance the game barring pulling a spot removal or two every game to dismantle his combo attempt. Hopefully we got him thinking about card draw and spot removal because he didn't meaningfully participate in many games he was in for this reason.

[Ruiner]

My playgroup usually meets up on Saturday at someone's house and generally there are about 5 or 6 of us that shown up. Usually at least 4 and sometimes 7+.

We never split into separate pods. Six players is the most we go with a "normal free for all" though. At 7+ players we will almost always switch to "Kingdom" format, which speeds games up with the victory conditions involved. Six players we will either do Free For All or Kingdom (often switching up throughout the night).

Most of us have been playing for a while, so a six player game really doesn't take terribly long usually unless there are a lot of slow value building grindy decks for some reason.

I picked "6" in the poll.

[Dragonlover]

Three or four. Friends don't let friends play 5 player games, and I have been known to sit out rather than play one.

Dragonlover

[darrenhabib]

We never split into separate pods. Six players is the most we go with a "normal free for all" though. At 7+ players we will almost always switch to "Kingdom" format, which speeds games up with the victory conditions involved. Six players we will either do Free For All or Kingdom (often switching up throughout the night).

Most of us have been playing for a while, so a six player game really doesn't take terribly long usually unless there are a lot of slow value building grindy decks for some reason.

I picked "6" in the poll.

Interesting, so you consistently play with 6 players! Do you find that you've altered your decks to work better with more players?

[Ruiner]

We never split into separate pods. Six players is the most we go with a "normal free for all" though. At 7+ players we will almost always switch to "Kingdom" format, which speeds games up with the victory conditions involved. Six players we will either do Free For All or Kingdom (often switching up throughout the night).

Most of us have been playing for a while, so a six player game really doesn't take terribly long usually unless there are a lot of slow value building grindy decks for some reason.

I picked "6" in the poll.

Interesting, so you consistently play with 6 players! Do you find that you've altered your decks to work better with more players?

Not really. I just accept a deck will do a bit worse (Voltron in 6 player free for all games is bit more challenging) and some will do much better like decks that do AOE effects or "each player" type of things. My decks running Cut a Deal definitely appreciate the extra players.

I already tend towards running a healthy amount of interaction, and you definitely gotta pick your moments a bit more carefully sometimes.

As someone who generally (not always) runs more aggressive decks, it does tend to be a bit different since you don't want to "poke too many bears".

Alliances and such things can get a little more complex with more players involved which is fun too.

It probably helps that my playgroup tends to play more tuned up decks overall. We may use weird jank win conditions at times, but we aren't embroiled in battle cruiser staring matches with no one able to punch through big armies just sitting there. We do have plenty of games decided by turning sideways, as well as combos.

[Moxnix]

3-7

[RxPhantom]

Four is obviously the sweet spot. I'll begrudgingly do five if the alternative is leaving someone out. If the only option is three, I'll do it and try to use my horde deck - OR - I'll advocate scrapping the game entirely if a fourth shows up early enough.

[Haman]

Normally 4 player game.
If there are 5 players, we do role games.
If 6 players, we do a 3 v 3 game called " random seating emperor "
If anyone is interested, below is the ruling

Randomly decide 1 archangel & 2 angel, 1 demonking & 2 minion
Starting life of archangel= 50 demonking = 50. Rest is 40 life.
Demon king determine which direction of the game.

Special rule 1: put a basic land in command zone.
Instead of the draw phase, you can declare to take land from command zone.

Special rule 2:: all creatures of the angel/ minion players gained:
Deploy: " tapped this creature , your leader gain control of this creature tapped" (Use deploy after creatures loses summoning sickness)

The game is generally fast as usually there is only 2 lifetotal that matters, there is no politics, just strategies to destroy the other side.

[Dunadain]

Normally 4 player game.
If there are 5 players, we do role games.
If 6 players, we do a 3 v 3 game called " random seating emperor "
If anyone is interested, below is the ruling

Randomly decide 1 archangel & 2 angel, 1 demonking & 2 minion
Starting life of archangel= 50 demonking = 50. Rest is 40 life.
Demon king determine which direction of the game.

Special rule 1: put a basic land in command zone.
Instead of the draw phase, you can declare to take land from command zone.

Special rule 2:: all creatures of the angel/ minion players gained:
Deploy: " tapped this creature , your leader gain control of this creature tapped"

The game is generally fast as usually there is only 2 lifetotal that matters, there is no politics, just strategies to destroy the other side.

That actually sounds really fun, lol. Probably helps solve a lot of the problems with infinite combos as well.

[Haman]

If you ever try this format, do share your experiences.
There are 2 things i forget in the last post.
Deploy: only happen after creatures loses summoning sickness

The last optional special rule is :
Both archangel and demon king must be defeated..
( does not make much sense if someone thassa oracle and win)