09/30/2026
Here are rules for new Commander format we discovered on Monday called Share the Spoils.
Create rules for The Time Vault’s casual Commander variant, “Shared the Spoils,” based on the card Share the Spoils. Use the following rules without adding extra mechanics:
1. Normal Commander rules apply, including deck construction, starting life, commander damage, mulligans, and turn order.
2. One shared Share the Spoils effect is active for the entire game. It is a house-rule effect, has no owner or controller, and cannot be removed or targeted. Players do not need the card in their decks.
3. After opening hands and mulligans, before the first turn begins, exile the top card of each player’s library face up. These cards form the shared spoils pool. Keep each card’s owner identifiable.
4. During their own turn, a player may play lands or cast spells from the shared pool, including cards belonging to other players.
5. Players must follow normal timing rules, pay spell costs, and obey their available land plays. This effect does not grant additional land plays or allow spells to be cast for free.
6. When casting a spell from the shared pool, a player may spend mana as though it were mana of any color. This does not turn colored mana into colorless mana for costs specifically requiring colorless.
7. Whenever a player plays a land or casts a spell using this shared effect, they exile the top card of THEIR OWN library face up into the shared pool. This happens even if the spell is later countered. For a spell, resolve this triggered ability before that spell.
8. There is no once-per-turn limit. A player may continue using the pool during their turn while they have the required mana, legal timing, and available land plays.
9. Whenever a player loses the game, exile the top card of each remaining player’s library into the shared pool. Apply this once per player who loses. This replaces the card’s reference to “an opponent” for this shared house-rule effect.
10. Cards remain in the shared pool until played, moved by another effect, or removed when their owner leaves the game. Only cards exiled by this shared effect belong to this pool.
11. Card ownership never changes. A player normally controls the spell they cast or permanent they play from the pool. Cards that go to a hand, library, or graveyard go to their owner’s corresponding zone. When a player leaves, their cards leave the game under normal multiplayer rules.
12. Exiling from an empty library does not itself cause a player to lose. Normal rules for attempting to draw from an empty library still apply.
Present these as clear, player-friendly rules titled “Shared the Spoils — A Commander Variant by The Time Vault.” Identify it as a casual house-rule format. Include a short example showing one player casting another player’s card and then adding the top card of their own library to the pool.
