zzzzz ATTACK THE PILE (EDH / Commander)

This is alternate way to spice up and accelerate Commander games with your friends (I don't know about playing this way with strangers).

The game is played the same as any EDH game, same rules for cards (timing restrictions, one land per turn, etc.), except you have this pile of cards in the middle, which any player may attack to gain the right to play the first card on top, which is always turned face up. You must pay it's mana cost, if any, and have until end of turn to play it (it's never put into your hand, and is not considered being played from exile). You must deal at least one point of damage to the pile (non combat damage is fine), which is immortal (it won't go away at any point in the game).

If you chose not to play it, the card is put on the bottom of the pile at the beginning of the next end step (this doesn't happen if you didn't attack the pile). If the card is played and is not a permanent, it is also put on the bottom of the pile (there is no graveyard for it). You may want to attack the pile even if you're not interested in the card simply to deprieve your opponents of it.

On the other hand, if the current revealed card is of no interest to you, you may pay 5 life once per turn to put it on the bottom of the pile. Then, you flip over the next card, and may attack the pile to play it, if you want to. And that's it! Have fun!

My pile contains 90 cards (84 regular cards + 6 tokens), and its content can change, of course. Here, I put things like mana-fixing lands, tokens (no mana cost = free to cast!), the Monarch, and a few Group Hug-like cards, to have players draw more cards or get more mana. Otherwise, most cards are mana-acceleration, draw, threats or cards that change one player's board significantly. I prefer cards that have an immediate impact on the game instead of long-term value cards (but there are some of these in there as well). No true boardwipes, and removal is kept to a minimum, as those usually slow down games. There are several staples here, and some of your friends might enjoy playing cards they don't own. Likewise. you should proxy expensive cards, if you don't own them, but also because they will be played on your opponent's battlefields and might get shuffled and taken away.