Fun Times with Adam: Canadian Highlander WRITTEN BY Adam M

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Fun Times with Adam. This week we’ll be having a different kind of fun as I discuss a more competitive format called Canadian Highlander. If you watched the Community Super League you’re already familiar with the format, but if the concept is new to you an extensive overview of the rules can be found here.

Canadian Highlander is a singleton format that uses the vintage card base. However, instead of having a traditional ban list they use a point list that rates and informs how many powerful cards can be in your deck. The minimum deck size is 100 cards and for each 100 cards in your deck you are allowed 10 points of power, which means if you choose to build a 300 card Battle of Wits deck you will be allowed 30 points. As you take a look at the current point list, and see that cards like Jace, the Mind Sculptor aren’t included, you’ll quickly realize that this format is much more powerful than your kitchen table Commander. These decks are competitive and designed to kill one opponent as efficiently as possible. Despite that, I can assure you that it is the most fun I’ve had with a constructed format in a long time thanks to its high level of variance and richly diverse metagame.

Because this format is singleton and utilizes large deck sizes, the way your deck plays out from match to match will vary greatly, and this variance adds to both the challenge and fun of piloting a deck. For instance, even if you build a dedicated reanimator deck, you won’t be able to rely on always having Entomb and Reanimate to combo off. Instead you’ll have to build a deck that can function no matter what kind of hand you’re dealt, and you’ll have to play smart if you want to survive long enough to win.

The main reason I love this format is because of the diverse field of viable and fun decks you’ll find. Unlike Standard where you can expect to see several copies of the top three decks at every tournament, Canadian Highlander has several common archetypes that still leave plenty of room for innovation. Even if several players end up playing artifacts, it won’t feel like a modern tournament where all of your opponents net decked affinity and play their entire hand on turn one. This healthy meta means that all play styles, from complicated combo to goblin tribal, have a fighting chance to be powerful and enjoyable.

Before I built a deck, I started out by looking at the point list to see what cards were most exciting. When I saw that Mind Twist was only one point, I knew I was playing black, and quickly decided to pair it with red to keep my deck cheap and powerful. However as my list came together, I found myself torn in several directions.

I could focus heavily on black removal and disruption to win slowly, or I could throw an endless stream of one drops and burn spells at my opponents until they gave up. Eventually, I decided to build a deck based on the card Blightning that tried to do both, and the results have been absurdly fun. Sometimes, I win games off of a turn four Hero of Oxid Ridge or Hellrider on a board full of one drops. Other times, a turn one Carnophage gets in for 16 points of damage as I systematically pick apart my opponent's hand and destroy all of their creatures. Every game represents a new and fun challenge as I attempt to decipher my best path to victory based on my opening hand. Furthermore, each game is a nightmare for my opponents as they guess if their opening seven needs to be good against an aggro or control deck.

Here is my Black-Red Budget list that I lovingly call BRB because of its tendency to win quickly, giving me time to run out and grab a burrito before the next round. You can breathe easy knowing that when I call my deck budget, it’s because the 10 most expensive cards in my list, like Mox Jet, are written on a Swamp with a Sharpie.

Another thing I love about Canadian Highlander is that it’s a truly eternal format where the cost of entry doesn’t have to be over $1000. To make the game more affordable, the Canadian Highlander Council allows players to use gold-bordered cards in official tournaments dropping the price of a Tropical Island to around $40. However, if you’re like me and still can’t afford that, your local game store may have the answer.

When I talked to my LGS about hosting a Canadian Highlander tournament they were happy to allow players to proxy up to 10 cards, because it isn’t an officially-sanctioned WotC format. This means that new players can jump into the format without having to sell a kidney for a piece of power. This results in tournaments that are well-attended and tons of fun thanks to a diverse playing field of decks.

Canadian Highlander is great because it offers the power of Vintage in the atmosphere of FNM, and there is something to enjoy regardless of your skill level or wealth. To show you just how friendly this format can be to a budget deck builder, I am going to wrap this article up by going over five budget cards in my deck that over-perform in this overpowered format.

Mind Twist



Anytime you manage to cast this card off of fast mana it’s like playing against an opponent who kept all lands on a mulligan to four. It is currently rated as a one-point card and worth less than 300 puca points. If you’re playing black, consider including one of these.

Price of Progress





Speaking of lands, many Canadian Highlander decks spend a lot of money crafting the perfect Vintage mana base. Thanks to the Eternal Masters reprint of this card, you can one shot those decks for around 250 puca points.

Skullclamp





This card allows aggressive decks to beat board stales by exchanging useless creatures for accelerated draws. When you combine it with cards like Young Pyromancer it gets out of hand quickly, but it really goes off with Bloodsoaked Champion’s raid ability turning it into Divination on a stick. For 200 puca points, there is no reason not to have this card on your Wants list.

Gloom Surgeon



This bulk rare from Avacyn Restored is worth 33 puca points, and truly shines in Canadian Highlander. Exiling cards doesn’t hurt as much when you’re playing with 100 cards, and thanks to its combat invulnerability, you’ll see opponents using premium removal to get this hard to deal with card off the board.

Fire Covenant





Ice Age included some of the most powerful commons and uncommons in magic’s history, but this 30 puca point card managed to fly under the radar for several years. It is a one-sided sweeper that can turn the tides of a game in your favor for only three mana.

Adam Melfa is a casual player from Baltimore, MD, who loves limited and has a passion for finding new ways to enjoy the game. With the help of PucaTrade, he has slowly transformed his Magic collection into a more powerful cube. When he is not playing Magic, he is normally at heavy metal concerts, playing ultimate frisbee, or chopping wood.