Chaos is Magic

Disambiguation: Did you mean Chaos is Magic Theme Deck?

The Chaos is Magic format is an official variant of the normal rules (the normal rules are referred to as the "Harmony" format).

Chaos is Magic tournaments follow the same rules as Harmony tournaments (including the shared Ban List), but have a zany new rule for each month. The rules are announced in 3-month blocks (a quarter of the year), on the official EnterPlay Facebook page and in the official MLP CCG Rules Facebook Group.

Chaos Rules:

• 1st quarter 2015, rules announced on Jan 22 2015:
  • January 2015: None announced, even though Chaos is Magic began on Jan 30 2015 (so Chaos is Magic events could be held on Jan 30-31 2015 but there was no variant rule to use).
  • February 2015: To celebrate Hearts and Hooves Day, Chaos is Magic will allow players to build decks with two Mane Characters. Each player will start with two Mane Character cards in play!
  • March 2015: Troublemakers can only be played as Friends! When played as a Friend they enter play face up, their cost is equal to their power, they provide colorless power, and they cannot be challenged like a normal Troublemaker. Clarified on Feb 11.
• 2nd quarter 2015, rules announced on Mar 23 2015:
  • April 2015: Color Blind: Friends, Resources, and Events do not have play requirements, just costs. Treat all confront requirements on Problems as wild (any power can confront wild requirements).
  • May 2015: Two Bits: All Friends, Resources, and Events cost 2 action tokens. Playing a Troublemaker costs 2 action tokens. These costs cannot be changed.
  • June 2015: Highlander: Your draw deck may only contain one copy of each card. Your Problem deck may only contain one copy of each card.
• 3rd quarter 2015, rules announced Jun 22 2015:
  • July 2015: Lower Decks: Only Common and Uncommon cards can be added to your draw deck and Problem deck.
  • August 2015: Discord Deck: You may put as many copies of each Friend, Resource, Event, and Troublemaker card as you'd like into your draw deck.
  • September 2015: The Mane Event: Mane Character cards can be added to your draw deck, up to three of each. Mane Character cards that start the game in a draw deck count as Friend cards for the duration of the game, and do NOT count as Mane Character cards. These special "Mane Character Friends" cost 3 action tokens to play, have no color requirements to play, are NOT unique, and can NOT be frightened. Any other effects such as dismiss, banish, being put into hand, etc, are still effective. They enter play on their Start side, and can be Boosted as normal.
• 4th quarter 2015,rules announced Sep 25 2015:
  • October 2015: Go Big and Go Home: At the start of their turns, players lose all action tokens that weren't gained this turn. Players get 3 additional action tokens during the action step, along with their normal action tokens for the turn. Players need 20 points to win.
  • November 2015: My Little What Now?: Cards that have card art without a pony cost 1 fewer action tokens, to a minimum of 1 action token. Specific rulings: 1) "Ponies" are earth ponies, unicorns, pegasi, alicorns, and crystal ponies only. 2) Any fraction of a pony visible within the art counts as "a pony."
  • December 2015: Season Finale: At the start of your turn, if you control at least one Troublemaker, and at least six characters with at least three different traits between those characters, you win the game.
• 1st quarter 2016, rules announced Jan 11 2016:
  • January & February 2016: In celebration of Hearts and Hooves Day, and thanks to the fan response to this very successful Chaos Rule, we're bringing back the love and allowing players to build decks with two Mane Characters again! Each player starts with two Mane Character cards in play.
  • March 2016: The action point scale is reversed, so make your big plays early and squeak out a victory at the last second! When the highest scoring player in a game has the following number of points, all players gain the following number of action tokens at the start of their turn -
    • 0-1 points: 5 action tokens
    • 2-5 points: 4 action tokens
    • 6-10 points: 3 action tokens
    • 11-14 points: 2 action tokens
    • 15+ points: someone already won!
• 2nd quarter 2016, rules announced Mar 6 2016:
  • April 2016: April Tools - Whenever you play a Friend, the next Resource you play that turn with equal or lower cost has a cost of 0 and no color requirements.
  • May 2016: Choose Wisely - Your draw deck may include a maximum of just 12 cards... make them count!
  • June 2016: Search & Deploy - Play with your deck face-up. When you would draw a card, you may search your deck for a card and put it into your hand instead; don't shuffle your deck when you do this action.
• 3rd quarter 2016, rules announced Jul 15 2016:
  • July 2016: Burying the Mirror Pool - Every card has the Unique trait!
  • August 2016: Cutie Pox Epidemic - All characters can be Cutie Marked, and Cutie Marked characters can still be Cutie Marked again, and again, and again...
  • September 2016: We're All Shufflin' Now - Players may not draw cards outside of the draw step. During the draw step, the turn player discards their hand and draws 6 cards. If the turn player cannot draw 6 cards during their draw step, they discard their hand, shuffle their discard pile into their draw deck, and then draw 6 cards.
• 4th quarter 2016, rules announced Oct 10 2016:
  • October 2016: It's Nightmare Night, Darling! - Cards with the Accessory trait cost exactly 1 action token and have no color requirements. Nothing can reduce or increase the cost or color requirements of cards with the Accessory trait except this rule.
  • November 2016: Case in Point - Players have the following new action: "Main Phase: spend 1 point to gain 1 Action Token."
  • December 2016: One Pony's Trash... - Players can play cards in opponent discard piles as if they were in their hand and had no color requirements; when a card played this way would go to the discard pile, banish it instead.
• 1st quarter 2017, rules announced Jan 5 2017:
  • January 2017: Trample Stampede - At the end of Problem faceoffs, the faceoff winner scores points equal to their total power in the faceoff minus their opponent's total power in the faceoff; once a player has reached 11 points, this is the only way that player can score points. The game does not end until a player has 30 or more points.
  • February 2017: Pony Puzzler - At the start of the game, players draw their entire draw deck. Draw decks may not be larger than 10 cards, and players have no maximum hand size. Cards that would enter a discard pile are banished instead. Premiere #210 Nightmare Moon is banned from Chaos is Magic this month. If the game reaches a state where all players agree that no more points can be earned by any player, then the player with the most points wins; if no player has the most points, then the game is a draw.
  • March 2017: Straight to Victory - All players have this ability: Main Phase: Retire a Friend with 1 power, retire a Friend with 2 power, retire a Friend with 3 power, retire a Friend with 4 power, and retire a Friend with 5 power. If you do, gain 5 points.
• 2nd quarter 2017, rules announced April 13 2017:
  • April 2017: Hoof, Paper, Scissors, Shoot! - All faceoffs are resolved via Rock, Paper, Scissors. When a player wins a faceoff, it is considered to have been won by 1 power. Players should agree on Rock, Paper, Scissors rules before they begin the game.
  • May 2017: A New Leaf - All Friends have the Redeem keyword. (Redeem is a new keyword being introduced in Defenders of Equestria: Redeem: As an additional cost to play this card, you may retire a Friend or Troublemaker with the same title. If you do, this card's cost is reduced by 3.)
  • June 2017: Pony Posse - Before the game starts, players create a Pony Posse deck containing ten Friend cards. This deck stays face-up and is public information. During your turn, you may use this action once: Main Phase: Discard two cards from your hand to choose one card from your Pony Posse deck and put it into your hand.
• 3rd quarter 2017, rules announced July 11 2017:
  • July 2017: Animal Sanctuary - When you play a Resource, you may put a Critter from your hand with cost less than or equal to that Resource's cost into play for free.
  • August 2017: Parental Guidance - Character cards of the following characters gain the Parent keyword: Princess Cadance, Shining Armor, Granny Smith, Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, Filthy Rich, Spoiled Rich, and the Mane Six's parents. The Parent keyword is, "This card has +2 power in all zones and costs 1 less action token to play, to a minimum of 1."
  • September 2017: Rational Choices - Each player starts the game with 10 action tokens. Players may not gain action tokens through any other means. Players cannot lose action tokens except by paying costs. The game ends when both players are Out of Action tokens. The player with the most points when the game ends wins. If no player has the most points, then the game is a draw.