Two-Headed Giant together

One team, two decks, 30 life

Two teammates face another team of two. Each team starts at 30 shared life and takes its turns together. Each player has a separate library, hand, graveyard, and mana pool, and controls their own cards on the battlefield. You may discuss plans and look at your teammate’s hand, but you do not gain control of their cards.

For team Sealed, build two decks of at least 40 cards from the shared pool. The Tournament Rules recommend eight boosters per team; check your event’s actual allocation and eligible promos. Do not assume that two tickets mean two full individual Prerelease kits.

Cards left out of both decks form a shared sideboard. A card cannot be in both decks at once. Ordinary basic lands may be added as in other Limited events.

Two-Headed Giant format · Checked Sep 26, 2026 ↗ · Magic Tournament Rules — 7.3 and 9 · Feb 27, 2026 ↗ · Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗

Build two functioning decks before optimizing either

Lay out both decks side by side. Give each a mana plan, early plays, and something useful to do later. One teammate’s large creature does not help if the other deck spends the game unable to cast spells.

Keep cards that require the same controller together. If a payoff says “creatures you control,” only its controller’s creatures qualify. Giving the payoff to one teammate and all its support creatures to the other may break the combination.

1. Sort the entire pool, then sketch two sensible color combinations.
2. Check each deck’s early creatures, answers, support, and finishers.
3. Allocate flexible cards and mana-fixing lands to the deck that needs their job most.
4. Read team-relevant wording: you, target player, each opponent, and creatures you control mean different things.
5. Compare the two completed decks together. Do not divide cards merely to give each person the same number of rares.

Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗ · Reid Duke · Sealed Deck — general Limited deck-building principles · Sep 15, 2014 ↗ · Reid Duke · Building a Mana Base — general mana-building principles · Nov 24, 2014 ↗

Opening hands and the first turn

Each player draws seven cards and makes their own mulligan decision; teammates can discuss those decisions. Each player’s first mulligan is free. When keeping after further mulligans, bottom one card for each mulligan after the first. One player may keep while the other mulligans.

The team playing first skips its first draw step, so neither teammate draws then. On later turns both players draw from their own libraries. Share your plans before spending resources: one of you may have a better answer to a threat.

Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗ · Magic Tournament Rules — 7.3 and 9 · Feb 27, 2026 ↗

Coordinate the turn and combat

You act during the same turn, but each player pays for their own spells. Your teammate cannot tap their lands to pay for your creature unless a card specifically provides a way to share or produce the needed mana.

Attack together. For each attacker, identify the defending player, planeswalker, or eligible battle it is attacking. The defending team can use either teammate’s creatures to block attackers aimed at either player, subject to normal restrictions such as flying.

Before declaring attacks, talk about which creatures you need to keep available for defense. After blockers are chosen, coordinate any tricks before damage; do not both spend a spell fixing the same problem.

Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗ · Two-Headed Giant format · Checked Sep 26, 2026 ↗

Read the exact player words

Life changes happen to individual players and then adjust the team total. A shared life total does not turn two players into one player, or make every effect happen twice.

• Each opponent loses 2 life: both opposing players lose 2, so their team loses 4 total.
• Target opponent loses 2 life: one chosen opponent loses 2, so the team loses 2 total.
• Each player loses 2 life: all four players lose 2, so each team loses 4 total.
• You gain 2 life: your team gains 2, not 4. A teammate’s ability that triggers when they gain life does not trigger just because you gained it.
• Creatures you control get +1/+1: this affects your creatures, not your teammate’s. A spell saying target creature may be able to help theirs if it has no further restriction.

Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗ · Two-Headed Giant format · Checked Sep 26, 2026 ↗

Plan together; win or lose together

You normally lose together if the team reaches 0 life, if either player loses for trying to draw from an empty library, or if another loss condition applies. Watch both libraries and both boards.

Tournament Two-Headed Giant matches normally consist of one game. A drawn game does not count as that game, so another may be played if time permits. Do not save your best plan for a presumed game two.

Between matches, a Limited event may allow continuous construction using the same shared pool. Confirm the organizer’s procedure before swapping cards between decks. During the match, coordinate openly and ask a judge about uncertain interactions.

Comprehensive Rules — 103.5, 805.10, and 810 · Sep 25, 2026 ↗ · Magic Tournament Rules — 7.3 and 9 · Feb 27, 2026 ↗