When 20 life is not enough

I was reading the latest offerings from magic the gathering online where I happened upon a link to an article about ‘the deck’. Ah the nostelga of those olden days that I recall so well. Nestled in the text was a Gem. Apparantly Brian Wiseman and his friends used to play magic with 50 life each, because 20 life made the games too random.

What an interesting thought! Why not 50 life? That would shake up the environment!

Delving further into this topic, I came up with the following reasons why 50 life is better than 20.

1. You get to overcome bad starts with minimal land.
2. A slow start does not mean being run over by speed decks.
3. You can play a balanced deck, exploring the longer game.
4. A big creature will get to swing for lots of damage.
5. 5+ mana cards will get to see the light of day more often.

There are some issues that need to be thought through.

1. Burn decks will not be as effective – (not that that is a problem in my opinion).
2. 60 cards may not be enough.
3. Combo decks could still win fast.

Balenced out I think that trying out 50 a side life is worth a crack. Lets see how it goes this Friday.