I had a brilliant idea today, and I just had to put it into this week's article. But first, a bit of background information.

For anyone who hasn't noticed yet, I'm a total advocate for Magic's storyline. Currently, it has to do with the Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria and Dominaria's races allying against the inhuman insurgents. However, back in "the day," the storyline was quite a bit different. Basically, you and your opponent were two sorcerers who dueled each other for supremacy. You did this by "tapping" the land for power with which to summon creatures or to cast spells. All of today's mixed-up rules and texts have definitely dulled this aspect of the game. However, Crag Saurian has allowed me to see the light. "How?" you ask. Read on.

I was looking through my trade binder, looking for some huge creatures that I had lying around that I might be able to throw into my Sneak Attack deck (which I just can't bear to take apart, so I'm making it Extended). My eyes fell upon Crag Saurian, which reads:

Crag Saurian RRR
Creature - Lizard (Mercadian Masques rare)
Whenever Crag Saurian is dealt damage, the controller of that damage's source gains control of Crag Saurian.
4/4

When I saw this card, I said to myself, "Why doesn't it just say, 'The source of the damage gains control of Crag Saurian?'" Immediately, I understood that the player didn't deal the damage; the player's source did. That got me to thinking: "Wouldn't it be interesting if players COULD deal damage?" And that's when it all began.

The idea that I present to you is a radical one that most likely will not take hold in tournament-level Magic (though I'll be talking about it as if it might, because the idea is really intriguing). However, it would be very simple to incorporate this idea into a casual playgroup. Here's what I'm talking about: We can go back to our roots. Richard Garfield's original dream was to represent two powerful wizards going at it. Well, wouldn't it be amazing if that were still the case? Sure, we can pretend that we're sorcerers: "I summon a Ramosian Sergeant." "I'll cast Barrin's Unmaking to send it back to where it came from." However, that doesn't sound very real. Now, what about this: "I summon a Ramosian Sergeant." "Hah! From the powers of the mountain, I summon forth a mighty blast to scour your minion from existence."

"That sounds cool!" you exclaim. "But what card does that?" My answer: There is no card. The player in the above example destroyed the Sergeant. And, in my plan, the same situation can occur.

I propose that Magic players be given the ability to influence each game once during its duration. Now, naturally, it wouldn't be things like: "Shuffle your graveyard into your library and draw seven cards. Untap six lands." It'd be simple things revolving around the colors. Of course, in order to have a power of a certain color, you'd have to practice magic of that color. Therefore, a player could only use the green ability if he were a proven green player. How would this be accomplished? Well, upon deck registration, it would be recorded what colors the deck was. Only mono-colored decks would count towards establishing the base color of a "mage."

After playing a mono-colored deck five times in sanctioned tournaments, a player would become an Apprentice. During the course of the game, an Apprentice would be able to do the following:

Black: Destroy target creature with power less than two.
Red: Deal one damage to a player.
Blue: Look at the top card of your library and your opponent's library.
Green: Target creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
White: Gain one life, or prevent one damage to a creature or player.

Once an Apprentice, twenty more sanctioned tournaments playing the same-colored deck would make you a Wizard. A Wizard would have the following abilities:

Black: Destroy target creature.
Red: Deal 4 damage to target creature or player.
Blue: Counter target spell unless the caster of that spell pays 2.
Green: Target creature gets +3/+3 until end of turn.
White: Prevent all the damage that would be dealt to you or a creature you control from one source.

A Wizard would have to play a color twenty-five more times in order to become a Mage that can:

Black: Put a creature from any graveyard into play under your control.
Red: Sacrifice a land: Destroy two target lands.
Blue: Return two permanents to owner's hand.
Green: Add two mana of any color to your mana pool.
White: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

Once a Mage, the amount of sanctioned matches won is what would count towards advancement, not tournaments played in. Two hundred wins would be necessary to become a Sorcerer with the following abilities:

Black: Look at target player's hand. Put a creature card from their hand into play on your side, or force opponent to discard a card from his hand.
Red: Deal three damage to all creatures and players; creatures damaged in this way cannot regenerate.
Blue: Counter target spell.
Green: All creatures you control get +2/+2 until end of turn.
White: Destroy all creatures.

A Sorcerer could only find advancement when winning two hundred matches against a player with a higher rank (either a Sorcerer with more wins or a Planeswalker) in sanctioned play. Once this condition has been met, the rank of Planeswalker would be gained with the following abilities:

Black: Remove all creatures you don't control from the game.
Red: Deal ten damage to any number of targets, split any way you choose.
Blue: Return all permanents of one type (artifact, creature, land, or enchantment) target opponent controls to his or her hand. Use only when you could use a sorcery.
Green: All creatures you control get +4/+4 and trample until end of turn, and can tap to add any color of mana to your pool until end of turn.
White: Gain 20 life or prevent 20 damage to any number of target creatures or players.

If a Planeswalker wins twenty-five tournaments with a perfect win record and defeats at least one Planeswalker per tournament, then he can use his ability one more time each match.

Also, one final word. "IT'S SO BROKEN!" you're screaming at me. (Yes! - The Ferrett, while if not screaming, is at least raising his voice.) Calm yourselves. First of all, you must realize that any advantage you have, your opponent might also have. Also, you have to play mono-colored decks to advance (and the deck you're playing with has to be at least 70% of that color, not counting lands), and this is generally difficult (especially in today's environment). Finally, when a player uses his innate ability, his opponent can sacrifice his right to use his ability in order to counter the ability. That puts the game right back where it started: On entirely even ground. So, if Random Newbie is playing against Top-Ranked Planeswalker, the following conversation could go on:

"During your first upkeep, I'll gain 20 life, putting me at 40."
"I'll give up my ability to deal you one damage in order to counter that ability."
"Curse you foul Apprentices."

However, if you sacrifice your ability in order to counter your opponents, and you win, it doesn't count toward your record of wins as a Mage, Sorcerer, or Planeswalker. And, if Random Newbie goes up against a Planeswalker who's won the right to use his ability twice in a match, the following conversation could be heard:

"During your first upkeep, I'll gain 20 life, putting me at 40."
"I'll give up my ability to deal you one damage in order to counter that ability."
"Very well. I'll do it again."
"Curse you foul Planeswalkers."

This keeps things real: If a three thousand year-old Planeswalker were to oppose a newly-initiated Apprentice, there's no doubt who'd win the contention.

Also, multi-colored abilities could be used. Basically, you could be two different ranks of two different colors, e.g., a green Wizard and a white Apprentice. Instead of having two powers, if you were to play with a green/white deck, you'd have a power based upon your green and white experience. If you were to play a white deck, you'd have the white Apprentice power, and if you were to play a green deck, you'd have the green Wizard power. An extensive chart would have to be made up containing somewhere around 800 (?) blocks, but I'm sure that WotC would co-operate! An example would be a Blue Planeswalker/Green Mage could search his or her library for a creature and put it into play. First turn Skyshroud Behemoth is some good, I hear.

"I'll attack you for the second time with this Skyshroud Behemoth on turn two."
"I'll prevent one damage to me."*
"Lousy white players . . ."

No doubt this would revamp the rules - but, as my title infers, rules are meant to be broken, aren't they? However, this new ability would put a lot more strategy into the game with so many more possibilities. More importantly, players would really have a sense of what Richard Garfield wanted people to feel when playing his game. Personally, I'd love to see this put into place. Special "Apprentice" tournaments could take place for newbies, and the Invitation could be replaced (or amended with) with Planeswalkers' Arena. Overall, I urge Wizards to consider my idea.** And when they're done laughing, we can all smile while thinking about dealing ten damage before the first land is played.

-Daniel Crane
-Xanathar13@aol.com

* - No, I don't know why the Apprentice didn't counter the other guy's ability.

** - Yes, I do know what the word "futility" means.