How To Play dEDH (v1.0)
This is Ruleset 1.0. As dEDH evolves older version of the rules will be kept on this site.
You play dEDH by playing EDH, but with a shared dungeon that all players can interact with. The dungeon can be printed out on paper, printed as a playmat, or handled in any other manner you like.
You play using Commander decks and using the rules for Commander. You may attack your opponents during combat and you may win the game by killing your opponents. The dEDH format simply introduces an alternative wincon to the game.
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Moving Through The Dungeon
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You can only move into another room in the shared dungeon once per turn cycle, with a turn cycle starting at the beginning of your turn. Even if you take extra turns, you still may not move through more than one room until each other player has had a turn in the table turn progression.
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Each room in the dungeon has a "power" level that should be clearly marked on the map.
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To move into a room, you have to devote enough power worth of attackers to the room. Those attackers are attacking the dungeon and cannot also be attacking another player during that combat. If those attacking creatures reach the damage step of combat and do as much or more damage than the power level of the room, the attacking player enters the room.
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If damage is prevented or attackers are removed before the damage step, the attempt to move into the room fails.
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If you have cards with the "venture" keyword, those venture triggers can be used on a dungeon card or they can be used to move to the next room of the shared dungeon. You may still only move in the shared dungeon once per turn cycle. You may not move into any room in the dungeon that will put a "win the game" effect on the stack by using a venture trigger.
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If you successfully move into a room, you trigger that room's effects.
Static Dungeon Effects
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If the room you are moving into has an effect written on it, that represents a static effect that happens every time a player moves into the room. This is a triggered ability of the dungeon room, is put on the stack like any other triggered ability, and can be interacted with.
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Dungeon map rooms don't offer up a lot of room for text, so maps may have abbreviated effects. The active player should always be the subject of the room's effects, so if a room reads "Draw 1 card", "Scry 2" or "Surveil 3", the active player is the one who will do that.
If a room creates a token of some sort, it will create that token under the active player's control. "1 Food Token", "2 Treasures" or even "Get a Clue" would give the active player those tokens. A room with text reading "1/1 Goblin" will probably create a 1/1 Red Goblin Creature Token because that is the most common token card available in the game. Use your common sense, and aim for consistency. If you had a room work one way at the start of the game, it should work that way throughout the game.
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The reason abbreviations are encouraged is that printing on a fabric playmat is less forgiving than printing on paper, so if you are interested in going the playmat route you should be able to have large enough text for your dungeon room effects to be readable. That means less room for details, so you're not going to be writing "Active player creates three (3) 1/1 Red Goblin Creature Tokens". Having a printed "legend" for a full explanation of each room in your dungeon is something you might want to do depending upon how detailed your dungeon rooms effects are.
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The Dungeon Deck
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Your dungeon deck can be any size you like. You can include any type of card in any quantity. It should be singleton, with no more than 1 of any card. It can have any type of card in it. The way those cards are handled is detailed below under "Dungeon Deck Effects".
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Building up a friendly dungeon deck with a lot of effects that will help the active player will result in shorter games or might position a player to be able to pivot from exploring the dungeon to instead eliminating their opponents in combat. Building a challenging dungeon deck might result in players not wanting to bother with the shared dungeon and instead just playing a more traditional game of EDH. The sweet spot is probably somewhere in the middle, where players are tempted by the loot the dungeon might contain, but also wary of flopping into creatures or cards that could really set them back.
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You can load up your dungeon deck with any type or any rarity of Magic card you like. You could proxy the Power 9 and have a dungeon deck with all the greatest loot one could ever imagine or just use your dungeon deck to highlight all of your favorite spells and creatures from the history of the game. My personal sense is that it is a great place to put cards that have been rendered unplayable by our format's endless power creep. Do you have a spare Sisay's Ring lying around? Not only is it on par with the format's most iconic mana rock, Sol Ring, but it also looks like the kind of treasure you might find when exploring a dungeon. Dust off those old, unplayable but still well loved cards and give them new life by putting them into your next dungeon deck.
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While many dungeons you might sketch out for dEDH will have their own built-in flavor, you can also use dungeon decks to add to your dEDH experience. If you want your playgroup to explore a goblin lair, load your deck up with goblins and goblin-flavored cards like Goblin Charbelcher. If you want the experience to be as challenging as possible, load that dungeon deck with deathtouch creatures, boardwipes and other cards that will really ratchet up the difficulty. If you want your games short, build a Den of Pirates dungeon deck and load up on cards that give players Gold and Treasure tokens. The ability to create unique experiences is very much in your hands in the way you design your dungeon deck, and it's one of my favorite things about this new format.
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Dungeon Deck Effects
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If you are playing with a dungeon deck, you will need a map with symbols in each room representing how many cards are revealed off the top of the dungeon deck, who will pick the cards that get played and how many of those cards will get picked.
The Ogre Lair shown to the right would tap 2 creatures you control, chosen randomly. While you might want to be able to tap your opponent's creatures, the intention when designing this dungeon was for it to be a negative effect. You would want to establish your map's room effects in a separate dungeon reference guide so you can be sure to play your map consistently every time you play it.
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I'm showing you the Ogre Lair because it illustrates the symbols for picking cards from the dungeon deck. This room would have you flop 4 cards, with you (white) choosing one and putting it on the stack, and then an opponent of your choice (black) also choosing one and putting it on the stack.
When cards are revealed from the top of the dungeon deck and then a card is chosen, it is immediately cast by the active player. If that card would go into exile or into a player's graveyard, instead it is put on the bottom of the dungeon deck.
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Creatures
Creature cards are put onto the battlefield under the active player's control.
The creature will immediately fight a randomly chosen creature under the active player's control. If the player attacked the dungeon, the fight target is chosen from among the creatures that were involved in the attack. If the player used a "venture" trigger, the fight target is chosen from among all of the creatures they control. If the target chosen cannot be targeted, the fight trigger fizzles. The fight trigger is put on the stack and is handled like any other triggered ability.
If the creature has additional enter-the-battlefield abilities, the creature is considered to be under the active player's control, so they will get the benefits of those abilities.
Upon resolving the fight trigger, the creature will wander off. They are exiled and put on the bottom of the dungeon deck. If htey had any leave-the-battlefield effects, those will trigger. If they are killed in the fight and have death triggers, those will also trigger and be put on the stack.
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Instants and Sorceries
Any instant or sorcery is immediately cast by the active player.
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Artifacts, Enchantments and Lands
Any artifacts, enchantments or lands will be placed on the battlefield under the active player's control.
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Planeswalkers
A dungeon deck Planeswalker card will enter the battlefield, will use a randomly chosen loyalty ability from among they loyalty abilities they would be able to use, and will then immediately wander off. This means a player with Doubling Season might see a dungeon deck Planeswalker able to hit more of their possible loyalty abilities, but they have no control over which one gets chosen.
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As new card types are introduced, feel free to handle them in a way that works for your dEDH playgroup. Be consistent about how you interpret the rules and feel free to adjust this ruleset so your playgroup's dEDH games are fun and engaging.
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The Final Room
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The final room of any dEDH dungeon should put a "win the game" trigger on the stack.
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You cannot move into a room that would win you the game by using a venture trigger.
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The "win the game" trigger is like any other trigger and can be interacted with.
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Advanced Rules
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As of this version, there are no advanced rules, but I could imagine playtesting dungeons with all manner of interesting variations. Some ideas worth playtesting might include things like the following:
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You cannot use a secret passage to move to another room if you have any creatures with power 5 or greater.
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You cannot use a water passage to move to another room if you do not have any creatures that are water-based (merfolk, fish, crab, etc...)
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If your life total is reduced to zero, you are removed from the shared dungeon, your graveyard, hand, battlefield and cards in exile are shuffled together and become your library, you draw 7 cards and your life total becomes your starting life total.
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Are these good ideas? Maybe, but some playgroups will want shorter games, some will want longer games, and ultimately you want to be having fun. Every player and every playgroup has their own idea of what fun is, so you should absolutely feel empowered to try out different rules and variations of dEDH that you think might work well in your games.
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Changelog
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This version of the rules reflect the following changes from the previous ruleset (0.0).
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The original guidelines for having the dungeon cast spells, but having the creatures put onto the battlefield under the dungeon's control - BUT also having those creatures have ETB affects that affected / benefitted the active player was all too confusing in actual play. Having everything under the control of the active player but just adding the fight trigger will hopefully simplify things a lot and make dEDH easier to play.
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The original guidelines only had instants, sorceries and creatures in the dungeon deck, though artifacts and enchantments were added at the last minute as something of a side note. This version has them clearly included in the range of possible dungeon deck cards, though it should be noted that loading a dungeon deck up with "loot" will likely result in a shorter game.
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