House rules are great

PleasantKenobi published a clickbaity video titled “House Rules Don’t Work For Magic” in which he argues that people should not do house rules. It’s clickbaity because in the video he lists some house rules that he actually likes. More about that later.

I commented on the video with “My hot take on house rules: if you don't like them, don't use them.” I wanted to expand on my thoughts and comment on a bunch of points he made in his video.

House rules in tabletop gaming

Let’s start by talking about house rules in tabletop games in general and then touch on the topic of Magic.

House rule is a rule that’s not part of the official rules of a game but that a group playing a game has agreed to introduce — usually to increase their enjoyment of the game.

Some games, like UNO, are taught through tradition and are so riddled with house rules that you usually need to have a discussion every time before you start playing to make sure everyone’s on the same page with how the game works this time. UNO even encourages house rules by often introducing a few options in the rule book.

House rules can be problematic if players are not careful. If you don’t know that some rule is a house rule and learn it thinking it’s the actual rules, it can be difficult to play with other groups.

I think house rules are essentially a wonderful tool: if you like playing a game but there are some bits that make the game way less enjoyable to you and your friends, don’t waste your limited time worrying about it and come up with rules that make it better for you.

There are two crucially important parts to house rules: clarity and consent. Everyone in the group should understand the house rules and they should agree to them before hand. Nobody else’s opinion matters but those who are playing at that game with those rules.

Different people enjoy different things and if you own a game that with small changes can become even better for you and your group, please do so!

House rules in Magic the Gathering

PleasantKenobi is very clear in his video that not only does he not like house rules but he thinks nobody should play with them. His main argument is that Magic the Gathering is designed by good game designers and players making changes to the rules and balances of the game are worse. I don’t disagree on that.

He says

The other problem I have with house rules is that a lot of them are fucking shit and they kind of fuck the game up.

I do disagree on that though: even if a house rule would “objectively” (in quotes because I’m not sure if it’s possible to measure) worse or less balanced but it creates a better gaming experience for people at the kitchen table, it does make it better.

Of course bad house rules are bad, I don’t think anyone argues against that. The point of house rules is that they are for the group that is playing with them and if they work for them, then they are good.

He also argues that problem with house rules in Magic the Gathering is that you might play with players outside of your house rule group in local game stores or tournaments. I’d argue it’s not a problem as long as you don’t try to enforce your own rules to others.

One house rule he mentions that our Commander play group occasionally follows is a “draw 10, put 3 back” rule. A casual bracket 3 game of Commander usually takes around 60-90 minutes in our group. We play to have a good time and I think it’s great if everyone gets an opportunity to participate in a game that long.

Having house rules on mulligans is not good for competitive gaming for sure but for a casual, “let’s hang out with friends and play a game or two”, I don’t think it’s worthy of one player missing out a full game because they bricked early on.

Another argument of his is that you just need to “get good”. He makes a good point — which I agree on — that some things you might want to house rule become less of an issue once you become better at the game: building decks, understanding complex interactions, making better decisions. However, that’s not a good reason to tell other people, who might just play in their casual kitchen table environment and never plan to play competitively, that changes they make that make the game more enjoyable to them is wrong or bad.

A big part of Magic the Gathering is house rules

One house rule that PleasantKenobi agrees on is playing custom formats but I think he makes the general mistake of “what I like is good and doesn’t count”.

Commander is one of the most popular Magic the Gathering formats and even though it has rules of its own, it’s a massive house rule to the original official sanctioned rules of the game. It turns two player 60 card duels into 4 player multiplayer singleton 100 card battles.

So are the other community made formats. Cubes, Dandân, Battle box and Party box are all house rules. They prove that house rules indeed do work in Magic the Gathering and often create the most enjoyable experiences to many players.

At the end — after 15 minutes of bashing people for making house rules — he says

And I'm not saying you can't change the rules of magic to create a new thing that you and your play group really enjoy.

Once again, he actually argues that “house rules I enjoy are good but ones that others enjoy are not if I don’t like them”. Maybe it’s because Youtube rewards clickbait and ragebait content over good discussion but I’m holding people accountable for participating in that and make my comments based on what I see and hear.

I’ll finish off by saying that PleasantKenobi’s videos are great and if you’re into Magic, I recommend checking his channel out.