EDH is designed first and foremost for social players. It cannot be all things to all people.
Nevertheless, many people like to play EDH for prizes or other non-social incentives. Those incentives can help build communities and playgroups, but they can also undermine the social contract which keeps EDH balanced.
When running a competitive EDH event, the recommended list of cards to avoid (under the primary, “social” rules) is one place to start. It is not however, nor is it intended to be, comprehensive. It still allows for a very high level of power, in part because there are many, many two card instant wins in the history of Magic. Additional structure is required to keep degeneracy 1 in check. To that end, a selection of optional rules are provided here for prospective TOs or players who find their playgroup can’t find a balance.
Optional rules for EDH
EDH Sideboards
Rather than filling every deck with banal responses, it is preferable to allow some flexibility in the composition of a deck.
Players may bring a 10 card sideboard in addition to their 99 cards and 1 General.
After generals are announced, players have 3 minutes to make 1-for-1 substitutions to their deck.
Any cards not played as part of the deck may be retrieved by “wishes”.
Reasoning:
Highly tuned threats piloted by skilled opponents mandate efficient answers. The minimum number of response cards required to ensure they are available in the early turns can easily overwhelm the majority of an EDH deck’s building space.
Sideboards allow players to respond to the “best” strategies in a timely fashion . They should be strongly considered as a necessary defense against brokenness and degeneracy in an EDH environment where no gentlemans agreement on style of play exists.
Victory Points
Instead of a “last man standing” win condition, organizers are encouraged to use additional or alternate ways to win. Prizes can be awarded for things like:
Most combat damage dealt in a single turn.
Biggest mana pool.
General Damage kills.
Most mana paid for a General.
etc
By encouraging players to play for disparate, interesting goals everyone has a more rewarding, social experience.
An extensive example can be found here:
Democratic Victory
An organizer who desires a tournament which better approximates normal EDH games should reward players for some balance of winning and social play. One way to achieve this is
When the game is over, each player votes for an opponent whose play they enjoyed most.
Award two points for being the last player alive, and one point for each vote
Prizes can be given out by points awarded.
In addition, some commonly used but more fun-oriented optional rules are presented here for players to consider.
The League Rule
An EDH “League” consists of a regular group of players who frequently play together using the same decks. No two players in a league game may have the same General. Within a given league, Generals are allocated first-come, first-serve and are preserved between meetings/games. No player may have, in his or her deck, the General of any other player in the game; it should be replaced with some other card before the game begins. The Roll Call forum provides a tool for organizing and publicizing EDH leagues and reserved Generals.