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I more meant the "two libraries" rule. When you don't realize you have to get used to mana screw, you might play like that.

Because individual players in our playgroup have 12 decks or more at any given time (I'm up to 26), we've started breaking games down into categories:

• Fun.  Typically the showcase for new decks we create so we can determine their power level, or a chance for us to play some of our less-powerful decks.
• Hate.  Decks make use of some degenerate card or combination of cards.  Chances are good that your opponents don't enjoy playing against the deck you are playing, but the same can be said for their decks.  These are the most competitive matches we have and are a power struggle from beginning to end due to deck consistency and/or power level.  We group Commander matches in this category due to commanders like Merieke Ri Berit , Griselbrand (we don't adhere any banned lists, except for a few choice cards), Olivia Voldaren , and Zur the Enchanter .  Star Magic fits in this category too, especially once our 'white' player started putting lots of black/red hate in his deck.
• Speed.  One-on-one games that generally end within the first four turns.
• Combo.  The games generally play out like chess matches because the only way to interact with each other is through counterspells.

The motivation for this is that games will be more evenly balanced and prevent blow-outs (which none of us find very entertaining / exciting).

We also allow the use of proxies based on the understanding that the player using them has every intention of purchasing a physical copy of the card.

And Planeswalkers are only allowed in Commander.  We tried them in our constructed matchups, but found them to be too swingy if one player dropped one and other people didn't.  At least in Commander they are more answerable due to the higher power-level of individual cards in that format.  And we generally only possess single copies (maybe two) of any given planeswalker anyway due to their mythic rare status.

Oct 13, 2012 -- 2:00PM, Sleeping wrote:

Having a seperate land and spell deck gives an inherent advantage to certain styles of decks like with the Global Fastbond rule someone mentioned earlier. The only time when I play with perfect mana rules like that is when I'm playing mana cost based mental Magic, but both players are using the same deck and essentially playing power Magic, so that's fair.

This reminds me of someone asking me why Fastbond was banned or restricted in any format where a set containing it was legal. (We were specifically speaking of EDH, though.)

My response?

Crucible of Worlds then take your pick: Strip Mine or Squandered Resources .

But the most important skill in Magic might be balancing your lands. I can offer guidelines, but those guidelines can and should be broken in certain decks. A control deck can use 26-28 lands. RDW can get by with 20. Decks like Valakut need a lot of lands.