Game Cycle

## Summary

The Game Cycle is a five-card cycle of single color sorceries. The cycle was started all the way back in Planeshift, but was completed in Commander: Last Tower.

Each of the five sorceries share a similar, sometimes controversial gimmick. Designed for multiplayer play, each player at the table must secretly hide one or more objects from their opponents, before each player reveals how many objects they hid. Each player will then suffer a negative consequence for each object hidden this way, before the player or players who hid the most or tied for the most objects hidden this way suffer a (usually) much larger negative effect. Each of these effects are symmetrical, and hurt the user, though they are unlikely to be played in a context where the user is unprepared for their negative effects.

## Goblin Game

Goblin Game is the red card in the cycle, representing the Goblin tribe.

Upon reveal, each player loses life equal to the number of objects they revealed, then each player who revealed the fewest objects lose half their life total, rounded up.

While being the first in the cycle (by a couple of decades), Goblin Game is easily the worst card in the cycle, and did not see play in burn decks, as was likely intended, for two primary reasons;

First, the spell didn't actually deal damage. Using it with damage booster to break the symmetry, flashing one in to make opponents overcommit, or pairing with Firesong and Sunspeaker to gain back all of your committed life could have worked, but uncharacteristically for Red, it caused life loss, and not damage.

Second, the order of the card is completely off. Dealing damage, and then halving the already reduced number is significantly less impactful than halving a life total, then dealing a heap of damage, which could have elevated it to wincon status.

The card is still featured in the Burn Down the Skies precon, as the deck's ramp can easily attain it and often still let it do massive damage, but it lost out on the competitive spotlight it could have had.

## Angel Game

Angel Game is the white card in the cycle, representing the Angel tribe.

Upon reveal, the next time each player would cast a spell, that spell is countered unless they pay an amount of mana equal to the number of objects they hid, then each players who revealed the fewest objects exiles the permanent they control with the greatest mana value among permanents they control.

Angel Game is an interesting card, working as potentially both a counterspell and a removal piece in white, at the expense of potentially backfiring.

One common strategy was to use it as a counterspell in white, and even Boros control decks, basically forcing an opponent to choose between their best spell and a permanent. With extra card draw in spliced decks, effectively any number could be named, as countering your own spell wasn't a big deal.

It also, at times, saw play as a supporting wincon in Selesnya decks. Effectively, once your board would be fully developed, and had active value engines running, it could be used to simultaneously reduce your vulnerability to combat tricks, and destroy an opponent's biggest blocker, right before a big with a massive creature.

It was featured in the Wings of Authority precon, and was popular as a counterspell in a color combination that was often a stranger to them, but had the fuel to toss a weenie late game to make it work.

## Merfolk Game

Merfolk Game is the blue card in the cycle, representing the Merfolk tribe.

Upon reveal, each player puts a number of cards equal to the number of objects revealed from their hand on top of their library in any order, then the players who hid the fewest objects discards their hand.

Merfolk Game was by far the most competitively successful card of the cycle, often acting as an oppressive control piece that allowed the player with the most cards in hand to force other players to dump their hand(s). While it was released in a commander set, it saw great amounts of play in both 1v1 and multiplayer games, as it could force significantly more hand reduction in multiplayer, but could guarantee a hand dump against an opponent with a smaller hand in single player.

This card also saw play in dredge and madness decks, effectively being the "fixed" version of One with Nothing, allowing you to dump your hand in the same way, but also force opponents to lose hand advantage simultaneously, getting all of the same benefit with none of the crippling hand disadvantage.

Perhaps most effectively, and in theme with its commander deck, Deadly Divination, it was a powerful piece in Miracle decks.

## Zombie Game

Zombie Game is the black card in the cycle, representing the Zombie tribe.

Before revealing, each player chooses a creature they control. Upon reveal, each player puts a number of -1/-1 counters on that creature equal to the number of objects they revealed. Then, each player who revealed the fewest objects this way sacrifices their chosen creature.

Zombie Game is typically considered a sidegrade to Innocent Blood, giving an opponent a little more control, in exchange for being able to better capitalize on your situation, and get an edict at a discounted cost if you controlled a creature with a higher power. Some wrote it off as a win more card for this reason, while others found flexibility in this give and take, especially if willing to give on a creature entirely by hiding hundreds of objects. The ability to place a theoretically infinite number of counters on one creature also made it a viable combo piece in certain counters decks.

Weirdly enough, the card was significantly worse in multiplayer than in single player, giving up significantly more control for the same amount of benefit. While the tradeoff was almost always better on sheer value, there was simply no reason to use it over Innocent Blood, even within its original deck, Reaching Through the Night (Which also contained Innocent Blood.)

## Snake Game

Snake Game is the green card in the cycle, representing the Snake tribe.

Upon reveal, each player taps a number of lands they control equal to the number of objects they revealed. Those lands don't untap during their controllers next untap step. Then, each player who revealed the fewest objects this way puts a stun counter on each land they control.

Notably, players cannot hide or reveal more objects than the number of lands they control, though they can hide or reveal more objects than the number of untapped lands they control.

The obvious strategy off the bat with Snake Game, and the reason it's in mono green is to simply have way more lands than each of your opponents, which is fairly obtainable in its color and in its preconstructed deck.

Other popular strategies included using an untap engine, counter removal engines, or pairing with Vorinclex to effectively double the effects of the spell.