Assassin is a Magic the Gathering (MTG) multiplayer variant that attempts to remove some of the politics from MTG multiplayer games. Assassin rules are able to be applied to any MTG play format: Commander (EDH), Highlander, Pauper, Standard, Extended and Legacy formats.
One of the biggest issues in free for all multiplayer MTG is favoritism where players feel that other players are unfairly ganging up on them. In Assassin players are given a target at the start of the game and their goal is to defeat or “assassinate” their target. Following are the rules for the assassin game:
Setup
At the start of a game each player writes their name on the back of a common land card. These cards are referred to as “target” cards for the rest of the game. The goal of assassin is to “assassinate” the target player you have been assigned; doing so scores you a single “hit” point, at the end of the game the player with the most “hit” points wins. The target cards are shuffled and dealt out to each player. Players then look at the “target” card they have been dealt; if a player has been dealt a target card with their own name all target cards are reshuffled and re-dealt, until all players have a valid target. In order to keep things fun and interesting and in-line with the assassin theme players don’t reveal who their targets are. Play then proceeds as usual with players rolling a die to see who goes first and the turn sequence moving in clockwise direction.
Play
Initially players may only attack their assigned targets. The initial attack a player makes on their target opponent is known as first-blood. The following constitute a first-blood attack:
· The player attacks their target opponent or a plainswalker that opponent controls with any number of creatures they have in play.
· The player cast a spell that targets their assigned opponent or a permanent they control at any point in the game. Note sacrifice and destroy all type spells that do not specifically target a player are not considered a first-blood attack.
When a player makes a first-blood attack they must immediately reveal their assigned target card to all players.
Once a player has been attacked they may then attack their attacker from that point forward, but only after they have been attacked. However although a player may attack their attacker they do not score a “hit” point unless that attacker is their assigned target. This essentially means that any player in the game will only ever have to defend against two opponents. Players may not cast spells that target a player other than their assigned target or the player who has made a first-blood attack on them.
New Targets
The final rule of assassin is that the moment an opponent has been defeated new targets are assigned, immediately. Remaining players hand back their target cards and those cards are re-dealt to each of the remaining players. As at the start of the game target cards are re-shuffled and re-dealt until each player has a valid target, not themselves. This is very important as although players may not have a second attack phase they may be able to cast spells that target their new target in their second main phase of their turn if they wish to. Of course new targets do not need to be chosen when only two players remain in the game.
Assistance
A player may only ever cast spells against their assigned target or the player who has already attacked then, first-blood. It is therefore NOT possible for another player to directly assist or attack a player more than 2 players at any point in the game. Global effects that do not target a specific player, such as “howling mine” still apply to all players.
Winning
Once all players have been eliminated the player with the highest number of hit points is declared the winner. This means that its also possible that the game will conclude in a draw.
Example Play
TechnoBabel 