This is the start of a minor sideprojects I was inspired to think about by some friends on discord. A Pai Gow cube that is entirely focused on maximizing its powerlevel.

But first, what is Pai Gow Magic? It is a format based on Pai Gow Poker, where two players are given a single pack each (or just 15 random cards here) and tasked to group them into 5 decks of 3 cards. Then players play five 1v1 matches with the decks in some random order. A couple special rules apply:

  • You start with all 3 cards in your hand.
  • You don’t lose due to having an empty library.
  • Your starting life total is 5.
  • You have infinite mana of any type.

Now that the format is explained, a quick word on my rules for the cube itself.

  • “Powermaxing” will be restricted to cards that are legal in vintage.
  • The cube will be singleton.
  • The cube will consist of 150 cards, this lets players play a best-of-5 match with the entire cube.

Ok let’s start by considering the level 1 optimal strategy. Kill the opponent at instant speed on turn 1. This is easiest to do by simply dealing 5 damage to them, for example using Breath of Malfegor. (Full list I’ve found here, note, these are only the unconditional ones.1) Breath of Malfegor

Well, we’ve won on turn 1, what now? We now need to figure out how to beat this strategy. I see many ways to do this:

  • Gain enough life to be out of reach
  • Prevent the damage
  • Counter the spell
  • Just win in response

The last option here just requires having the same level 1 cards as the opponent, but the other three all require unique cards, which all also have their own level 3 counters. These level 2 spells have an advantage over level 1 spells in that they both stop a level 1 and present a threat themselves, for example: New Way Forward. New Way Forward

This card both stops a damage-based win attempt and also presents its own win condition. Most answers of this group still lose to some specific level 1 wins, as they specifically exclude their angle of interactions. (Some say damage can’t be prevented, or that they can’t be countered.)

What I expect to be the strongest set of level 2 cards are the counterspells. If you just add the cards mentioned above to a cube, I expect Smirking Spelljacker to be the strongest card is the cube. Smirking Spelljacker It gets around “can’t be countered” and presents a threat that can win on its own if not stopped. So the level 3 question becomes, how do I beat counterspells? Well, just win without casting a spell. The main ways to do this are manlands and other lands that slowly win the game. (Full list I’ve found here)

I think adding specific counters to manlands is probably not worthwhile, as they are weak to the level 1 strategies. So in the end you get a complex version of rock, paper, scissors, where you throw three signs and also all signs have 50 variants.

I’ll be interested in seeing how this format will play out in actual testing, but that’ll have to wait until I have the time to assemble a list instead of just speculating. I expect it to broadly match up with my speculation here, although some cards not mentioned here may be so strong they warp the format in unexpected ways.

One final worry: I have a suspicion the optimal strategy for this format will end up being to play chicken with your opponent, because if both players have 3 “I win” cards, whoever plays one first loses. If this ends up being an issue, I’d suggest a rule that makes it so the starting player is forced to make the first move. Although the exact wording of that rule may be hard to make work.

Overall this is an interesting exercise and I’ll probably work on it further.

  1. For example, Mindswipe requires there to be a spell on the stack to work. ↩