Changelog History: 02/14/2021 – Ver 1.0 formal ruleset published. | 08/14/2024 – Ver 1.1 Optional ‘Gold Border’ commander rules released. 

VDH 93′-03′ “Vintage Dragon Highlander” Rules (Old Frame EDH/Commander)

Come join us for VDH games Friday evenings 7pm Central in our Discord Server Here

Deck Construction Rules:

  1. Players choose a legendary creature as the “commander” for their deck.
    1a. Your group may use the ‘Gold Frame’ commander rule to allow any multi-color creature to be used as your commander except a small list of exceptions down below. If you select a gold border creature to be your commander it is considered “Legendary” for the duration of the game.
  2. A card’s color identity is its color plus the color of any mana symbols in the card’s rules text. A card’s color identity is established before the game begins, and cannot be changed by game effects. The cards in a deck may not have any colors in their color identity which are not in the color identity of the deck’s commander.
  3. A VDH deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the commander.
  4. With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same English name.

Play Rules:

  1. Players begin the game with 40 life.
  2. Commanders begin the game in the Command Zone. While a commander is in the command zone, it may be cast, subject to the normal timing restrictions for casting creatures. Its owner must pay  for each time it was previously cast from the command zone; this is an additional cost.
  3. If a commander is in a graveyard or in exile and that card was put into that zone since the last time state-based actions were checked, its owner may put it into the command zone. If a commander would be put into its owner’s hand or library from anywhere, its owner may put it into the command zone instead. This replacement effect may apply more than once to the same event.
  4. Being a commander is not a characteristic [MTG CR109.3], it is a property of the card and tied directly to the physical card. As such, “commander-ness” cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects. The card retains it’s commander-ness through any status changes, and is still a commander even when controlled by another player.
  5. If a player has been dealt 21 points of combat damage by a particular Commander during the game, that player loses a game.
  6. Commanders are subject to the Legend rule; a player cannot control more than one legend with the same name.
  7. Parts of abilities which bring other card(s) you own from outside the game into the game (such as Living Wish) do not function in Commander.

Included Sets:

Decks may consist of cards from all sets printed from 1993-2003 in any language other than silver border ‘un-set’ cards. Gold border (front or back) are welcomed. This spans Magic sets from Alpha through Scourge. Additionally Promotional cards from 1994 & 1995 are also included: Arena, Sewers of Estark, Nalathni Dragon, and Mana Crypt.

Proxies: Are Allowed
In an effort to maximize creative flexibility and foster a friendly environment in our gatherings and formats, we allow proxies for Vintage Dragon Highlander. This focuses on “the gathering” over ownership of specific assets. We do encourage all players to find and own authentic cards above all others (and love them ourselves) but recognize the value this flexibility offers our fellow friends and hobbyists. If proxies are used we encourage players to either make their own following fair use doctrine or find & source proxies that do NOT infringe WotC, it’s artists, or affiliates. A great example of an good proxy would be an artist alter made by yourself or another by hand.

Artist Proofs: Are Allowed.

Art Alters: Are Allowed.
Art Alters & Proxy Guidelines:
1.) Include a written card name. A clear casting cost, and power/toughness are encouraged where appropriate.
2.) Wherever possible please include the rules text on the card or have a copy with rules text readily available to show your opponent.

The following cards are Banned in VDH – Vintage Dragon Highlander 

  • All cards that refer to the ante mechanic (full list here)
  • All cards that Wizards removed from constructed formats (full list here)
  • Ancestral Recall
  • Balance
  • Biorhythm
  • Braids, Cabal Minion
  • Coalition Victory
  • Karakas
  • Limited Resources
  • Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
  • Shahrazad
  • Time Vault
  • Time Walk
  • Tinker
  • Tolarian Academy
  • Trade Secrets
  • Upheaval
  • Yawgmoth’s Bargain

Excluded ‘Gold Frame’ Multi-Color commanders (if utilizing rule 1a) 

  • Dracoplasm
  • Guiding Spirit
  • Iridescent Angel
  • Marsh Crocodile
  • Meddling Mage
  • Phantom Nishoba
  • Sawtooth Loon
  • Shivan Wurm
  • Soltari Guerrilas
  • Spiritmonger
  • Vampiric Dragon

Other Notable Rules/Differences from Modern Era of Magic

– MANA BURN STILL HAPPENS (as in, players lose 1 point of life for each unused mana in the mana pool at the end of each phase)
– THE FOLLOWING CARDS WILL HAVE THE UPDATED ORACLE TEXT, AS SHOWN BELOW:

Chaos Orb
2
Artifact
1, Tap: Choose a nontoken permanent on the battlefield. If Chaos Orb is on the battlefield, flip Chaos Orb onto the battlefield from a height of at least one foot. If Chaos Orb turns over completely at least 360 degrees during the flip, and lands resting on the chosen permanent, destroy that permanent. Then destroy Chaos Orb.
(Note: because of how Chaos Orb is worded, with it being destroyed after a flip, it can still be Disenchanted or Shattered in response to the activation, which will nullify the ability to flip, since it is no longer on the battlefield. This is consistent with the wording of Chaos Orb not being sacrificed upon activation, as it probably would with modern templating. Also note that Chaos Orb chooses, but does not target.)

Falling Star
2R
Sorcery
Choose any number of non-overlapping creatures on the battlefield. Flip Falling Star from at least a height of one foot. If Falling Star turns over completely at least 360 degrees during the flip, it deals 3 damage to each chosen creature it lands resting on. Any creatures damaged by Falling Star that are not destroyed become tapped.
(Note: Falling Star chooses upon resolution, but does not target.)

VDH is usually played casual multiplayer! Just like EDH.

No Draws in VDH 1-vs-1 Matches (if you are playing cVDH)
In order to encourage the maximum amount of Magic and matches being played (and disincentivize draws and concession for seeding), we enforce a strict no draw policy (intentional or otherwise). After 50 minutes if there was a tied match, the tie breaker will be a sudden death Chaos Orb flipping contest, similar to a hockey or soccer overtime shootout. If both players make or miss the Chaos Orb flip in the same round, repeat the process. The first person to make it while the other person misses will be declared the winner of the match. The point of VDH is to play VDH, so we always encourage everyone to have fun each round, and this structure has worked very well to that end.