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Après quelques recherches, je suis tomber sur différents articles/post/discussions des créateurs du jeux et je vais en exposer un résumé, en anglais, puisque ce serait vraiment long à traduire:
Emperor Magic
A Multiplayer Magic Variant
James Ernest
If you've got a large play group, and are looking for an interesting diversion from regular Magic or the chaotic free-for-all, you might want to try a few games of Emperor Magic . Clear off the big table, get plenty of Coke and cheese balls, and get ready for an evening of spell-flinging.
The Emperor variant is a six-player team game, in which one team's goal is to eliminate the opposing team's leader. It was developed during the later stages of Magic playtesting, and has been slowly evolving ever since as new players add insights and find problems. This is the most recent and complete version of the variant; players are encouraged to invent their own changes as circumstances warrant.
Playing the Game
Players sit in a circle, three to a side, with each Emperor seated between two Generals (see figure). You can also apply these rules to a game with five players on each side, with two Lieutenants, two Generals, and one Emperor. In fact, these rules can apply to any similar arrangement, regardless of size.
The battle begins like the basic Magic game. Each player has 20 life points and a deck of at least 40 cards. If you want to play for ante, have each player put one card into a common pool, and after the game the winning team can distribute the spoils by a random draw.
Play proceeds clockwise, with one Emperor's left-hand General playing first. It's usually not very desirable to go first in this game, because the opposing team will have three turns after your team has only one. For example, in the figure below, either C or F will play first, followed by all three players on the opposite team. The team that loses this game may opt to go either first or second in the next duel. In the five-player variant, the left-hand General still goes first, so one team gets two turns before the other team begins. When one Emperor dies, the other team wins.
Basic Rules
Moving Creatures
Creatures may "march" from one allied territory to another to make attacks and assist in defense. (See Moving Your Creatures, below.)
Limiting Range
Creatures can only attack enemies who are directly adjacent to them, and all spells, enchantments, artifacts, etc. have a maximum range of two players in either direction. (Alternatively, in the six-person game you may wish to limit spells, creatures, artifacts, etc. to a range of only one player. Or you might choose to limit spells to one player and everything else to two.)
Redefining "You" and "Your Opponent"
Cards which read "your opponent" can target any single opposing player within two seats; cards which affect "you" cannot be redirected to your teammates. You cannot sacrifice or control your teammates' cards, or exchange mana points. (Well, yes, you can still control their creatures with the appropriate spells, just not as a matter of course.)
Eliminating Players
When one player dies, all of his cards are removed from play. This includes creatures which are in front of other players, or which have been controlled by the enemy. It also includes any enchantments, artifacts, and lands controlled by that player. However, permanent effects, like Thoughtlace, are not reversed.
Moving Your Creatures
Players may "march" creatures into the territories of neighboring allies. Creatures who relocate to another territory remain under the control of their original summoner. They still untap, attack, and recover from summoning sickness on their controller's turn.
Restrictions on Relocation
Players may only move creatures at a time during their turn that they may legally summon a creature. While a player may choose to march creatures at several points during a turn and any number of the player's creatures may march, each creature may only be moved once a turn. Only creatures that are ready to attack may march (although creatures may not march during the attack phase): creatures who are tap-ped, or who have summoning sickness, may not move. Walls also may not move (unless they are animated ... there's an exception to every rule). When a creature does march from one territory to another, it will arrive untapped, but will again suffer from "summoning sickness." The sickness expires when the creature has begun one of its controller's turns in its current location. Creatures may not move more than two territories away from their controller, because of the limited-range rule described above. (This problem does not arise in the six-player game unless you have decided to limit the range to one territory.)
Attacking with Relocated Creatures
If one player's creature is stationed in another player's territory, that creature still attacks only on its controller's turn. Players announce the attack as usual, specifying which creatures are participating, and (if it is not obvious) which player each creature is attacking. For example, an Emperor who has lost both teammates may make a simultaneous attack on both the left and right flank of the opposing team.
Defending with Relocated Creatures
Creatures in other players' territories block only if their controllers tell them to. The controller of the creature and the controller of the territory may confer, but the creature's controller has the final say. When a player is being attacked, the defending player first decides which of his creatures in his territory will block. Other players with creatures in that player's territory may then assign creatures to block.
When a player dies, all creatures in that player's territory die, including those controlled by other players. This includes any creatures which have been magically stolen from the opposing team. These all return to their owners' graveyards, and may not be regenerated.
Forced Movement
If creatures are forced to attack, but have no adjacent enemies, assume that they have been forced to march towards the source of the effect. For example, if General C plays Siren's Call on Emperor E, the creatures in front of the Emperor will be forced to move into General D's territory, one step closer to C. Creatures who cannot move are destroyed as described in the text of the card. (Remember that cards which have just been summoned, or who have just marched into a new territory, are immune to things like Siren's Call.)
Taking Control of Creatures
If you "control" one of your opponents' creatures, it does not teleport to your territory. (This is not the case if you steal a non-creature card, which does go directly into your territory.) Treat the casting of the control spell as a mandatory one-zone march, which works even if the creature is tapped or otherwise unable to move. After that, the creature must march as normal to relocate. The creature still operates under your control, to attack or defend the territory it's in, even if this territory is not allied with you. Once it marches off an enemy territory, it can't go back. Note that by this rule General D may steal a Wall from Emperor B, but it will jump to General C's territory and be unable to move any further. General D will only be able to use it to defend General C.
Limited Range of Effect
As has already been mentioned, players have a limited range of two seats to the left and right for spell-casting, global effects, creature control, etc. In the six-player version of these rules, this means that players seated opposite each other cannot affect each other at all until one player leaves the game. In the ten-player version (and larger games), considerably more players begin the game completely out of each others' range. However, since creatures can move, a player can use them to reach out and touch someone a little farther away.
In other words, if you walk your creatures two places away from your territory, you can use them to attack the player three places over, or to use a fast effect to poke the player four seats away. For example, in the figure above, suppose General F has hiked her Prodigal Sorcerer all the way to General D's territory. She can instruct the Sorcerer to attack General C, or to use its special poking ability to attack any legal target in territories B through F.
However, if General C cast a Control Magic on this Sorcerer, General F would be powerless to retrieve it. Also, if the Sorcerer had any enchantments on it, General F would still technically control them, but would not be within range to activate them. (This means activated enchantments like Blessing, Firebreathing, Regeneration, etc. would be unusable by either player. Plain enchantments like Holy Strength or Red Ward would still function perfectly.)
Global vs. Targeted Effects
Or, Deciding Who "Your Opponent" Is
If an effect is clearly global, or clearly targeted, there isn't much of a problem deciding how it works in a large team game. If one player plays Flashfires then all plains within range are destroyed. If that player casts a Lightning Bolt, it clearly may only be directed at a single, legal target. However, many of the cards in the game were written with only two players in mind. For example, there are times when Demonic Hordes allows your opponent to destroy one of your lands. Which opponent? Or do each of your opponents get to destroy one land? (Yikes!)
The text on a card like this gives you no real clue about how it should be played when you have more than one "opponent." Short of creating an entire list of single vs. multiple effects, you may just have to reach an agreement about each card as it arises. Start by treating each use of a spell with "your opponent" as a single targeted spell, affecting a single "opponent" within your sphere of control. This allows cards like Lifetap and Black Vise to continue affecting each of your opponents, since each application of these cards happens as a separate event. But when you play Mind Twist or Demonic Attorney you must choose an appropriate single target for the spell's effects. When you use cards like Pestilence or Balance which say they affect "both" players, treat them as if they affect "all" players within your limited range.
When you are using a landwalk ability, the particular opponent whom the creature is attacking must have the appropriate land type in play. Cards whose strength is dependent on your lands, or your opponent's, should have this type of logic applied to them. For example, Gaea's Liege will only gain power for the forests controlled by the player whom it is attacking. When not attacking, it will only gain power for the controller's forests (and not necessarily for the forests where it is stationed.
Communication
Players on the same team are only allowed minimal communication. They may confer about strategy before the game, and tune their decks to interact properly. However, once the game begins the players are restricted to discussing cards in play and cards known to all players. In other words, if a General wants to talk about a particular card from his hand, he must show the card to everyone. This restriction allows questions like "wouldn't it be nice if that Prodigal Sorcerer were to suddenly die?" However, it prevents Emperors from looking at their General's hands and mulling over the entire range of possibilities. Even if the Emperor has a Glasses of Urza in play, she can only use it to look at her opponents' cards. For a more challenging variation, you may choose to entirely prohibit communication between team members during the game.
So, set the table, get plenty of snacks, and play a few games of Emperor Magic. You will probably find that the strategy changes immensely in this teamwork oriented configuration. Games are ultimately more involved, more dynamic, and quite a bit more satisfying (for the wizards who survive.) And if you happen to get Fireballed early on you have a great opportunity to retune your deck. In fact, you might want to let the wizard who dies be your next Emperor. Or you could just send him down the street for a bag of cheese balls.
Ça c'était un poste sur le site officiel.
Un autre poste d'un modérateur:
Essentially, Emporer is a six-player game, three on three. Each team is composed of an emporer and two generals. The team wins when the enemy emporer loses the game, whether by decking, damage, or what-have-you.
The players sit in a circle, with each emporer having his generals on the right and left of him. For simplicity's sake, we'll call the general positions east and west, with the emporers being North and South. The layout then looks like this:
N
WE
--
we
s
Creatures can only attack one player away. This means that the east general can only attack the opponent east general; the west can only attack the opponent west general. Once an east general dies, however, the remaining east general can attack the enemy emporer.
Creatures can be moved into friendly territory. Only creatures able to attack may move (and thusly Walls cannot usually move). Moving a creature does not cause it to tap, but does cause it to suffer from summoning sickness. This does mean that creatures with Haste move quite rapidly. When moving into a friendly territory, the controller of that creature retains control. The creature may only attack during its controller's attack phase, as per normal. The creature may block (at its controller's decision) for whoever's territory it's in, basically allowing a loan of a creature for defense.
Spells have a range of two players. This means that each emporer can target himself and all generals, but not the enemy emporer. Likewise, the east guard can't target the enemy west guard, at least until a player has been removed.
Et enfin, un autre poste du site officiel :
I was terrified Wizards was going to ask me to make a turkey deck for this week. So I'm thankful that they didn't. (Some might say I make a turkey deck every week.)
Instead, we have a "writer's choice" week, for which I'm happy to return to a topic that many readers requested a few weeks ago when I asked: emperor format and strategy.
This will likely be occasional series. Today we'll look at the emperor's role and strategy, and in future columns we'll deal with the lieutenant's role and strategies, how to best coordinate your deck with your teammates, different Emperor variants, and so on.
What Is Emperor?
It's perfectly possible there are readers out there who are new enough that they don't know the basics of emperor. I would refer them to my archives here and at starcitygames.com. The latter site has a four-part series (Empire North, South, East, and West) that really gets into the whole thing. (I'm not going to go back and read it just yet, because I'm dying to know how much my perspective on the format has changed and whether I would get into an argument with myself on this or that. Good fun for me, so don't you go spoiling it with an obnoxious email that points out all the differences. There's a good lad.)
To put it in basic terms, emperor is a team format, usually 3x3. Teams sit across the table from each other (so teammates take consecutive turns), and the players sitting in the center seats are the "emperors". The players on the flanks are "lieutenants" (or "lackeys", or "peons", or whatever else you'd like to call them). It is the job of the lieutenants to protect their emperor, at all costs. When an emperor dies, that entire team is out.
Emperors do not engage in direct battle, at least not at the start. Only the lieutenants sitting across from each other may engage in combat – that is, declare attackers and blockers, and they may only do so against each other. Targeted spells have a range of two players. Untargeted spells (e.g., Starstorm) affect the entire board.
As you can imagine, this sets up a situation where the emperor is helping out the lieutenants, who in turn are trying to push through each other to get at the nerve system of the opposition. Once a lieutenant dies, the targeted range of two means everyone can target everyone else – though attacks still can only go to the nearest opponent.
There are variations, of course – some groups restrict targeting to one player for lieutenants, or allow players to share creatures (moving a creature to a teammate cedes control and you "re-sick" the creature, so without haste it must wait a turn before attacking or using a tap-symbol ability). Others restrict untargeted spells to the range of the caster (so if a lieutenant with a range of one cast Wrath of God, it would only kill creatures controlled by himself, his emperor, and the opposing lieutenant). Some groups allow teams to talk to each other as they select decks and/or make plays, and others don't.
That ought to be enough to get you started. Go play the format a few times if you haven't already, and then come back once you have a feel for what's going on. The rest of the article will read easier that way.
The Emperor: Duties And Strategies
The central figure in an emperor format is, unsurprisingly, the emperor. Her twenty life points are the ones that count – an emperor can survive without one or both lieutenants, but the entire team is dead when the emperor goes down. If you're sitting in the center, what do you need to know to win?
It all starts, of course, with the deck you choose. Realize that you are facing the following constraints:
You will not be engaging in early battle. In fact, if your teammates behave, you won't be attacking or blocking at all.
You cannot reach the opposing emperor early on. But you can make life hell for her teammates.
The four players you can all reach are all engaged in battle. Combat phases are very important to you, even if you aren't the one swinging.
Both of your teammates are facing down two opponents. That means they are likely to need your help. Whether you give it to them is a separate issue.
With these points in mind, an emperor deck can take one of at least four approaches:
Approach Option One: The Path-Cutter.
This style of emperor deck will focus on spot removal. It assumes that the lieutenants are using rush decks and that they need a clear road to roll down. The emperor will blow away potential blockers at instant speed and let her lieutenants shine. Global removal is not necessary – far better is repeatable removal through a vehicle like Lightning Rift, Attrition, Masticore, or Flood.
Red and black are the order of the day, more often than not. They just have repeatable spot removal options that other colors dream of. Blue can also play this game a bit, and we shouldn't forget that if clearing a path means removing enchantments and artifacts, green and white may be a smart splash if your deck's strategy allows.
Another variant of a "path-cutter" would be a duel-style deck that uses one of the disruption methods that fail in chaos play: land destruction, discard, and/or countermagic. Back to red, black, and blue! Here, the deck essentially decides to take out one opposing lieutenant completely by really going two-on-one, and let the other side develop however it's going to develop. It's a bit dangerous (not least because the other emperor might decide to do the same), and sometimes a brutal deck can really ruin the fun of the game for an opposing lieutenant who never really gets a chance to play. But the option is there, if you want to try it.
Here’s a deck fragment to illustrate the basic path-cutter approach. It’s based on a creatureless deck I’ve used for nearly two years, with very few changes and a great deal of success. While four Mirari can be hard to get, the deck can work with one or two and some search; and just about every other key card is a common. (The other rares are certainly optional, and are fun stunts through the Mirari.) Certainly, more focus on red damage is also an option.
DoubleShot.deq
Emperor deck fragment
4 Mirari
2 Sapphire Medallion
4 Jilt
4 Capsize
4 Impulse
2 Submerge
1 Bribery
1 Reins of Power
etc.
Approach Option Two: The Protector.
If a path-cutter deck helps a lieutenant focused on rushing, then a protector deck helps a lieutenant focused on control. (Yes, lieutenants can play control decks. Who else can counter an early combo by an opposing emperor?)
Of course, a path-cutter deck can find itself playing "protector" – if early luck is bad, that spot removal will go to killing opposing attackers instead of defenders. But a protector deck aims from the start to take it slow and steady. Its owner relies on trickier cards and interactions – for example, she might play an Ensnaring Bridge, and then carefully time card-drawing and playing so that only her teammates can attack.
White works best here – Master Decoy, Righteousness, Hypochondria, and Kor Haven all make life difficult for opposing teams that need to get through quickly to win. One card I'm dying to use in a protector-style emperor deck is Second Sunrise – I think the team format, in a game where your friends just took a beating and everything looks really bad for a moment, is where a card like that shines.
Blue with its bounce and countermagic, as well as green with its pump, can also play a role here. But don't expect red and black to do much to protect allied creatures.
This sample deck fragment steals from a couple of ideas I’ve had over time, as well as a friend’s deck from our group. (Thank you, Curt.)
PumpAndTap.deq
Emperor Deck Fragment
4 Master Decoy
4 Trap Runner
2 Auramancer
2 Wurmskin Forger
4 Smite
4 Parallax Wave
2 Narcissism
2 Kor Haven
etc.
Approach Option Three: The Speed-Bump Admirer.
Whereas the first two options assume that the emperor will play a part on the battlefields to her left and/or right, there is no rule that states she must get involved at all. Lieutenants are, in essence, twenty-life speed bumps. This is fantastic for the combo player, who just needs that extra time to get the right pieces in play.
Imagine a deck with Land Equilibrium and Armageddon. On turn seven (or earlier, if she's using artifact mana), the emperor blows away all lands and slaps down an enchantment that disallows any recovery. Then she puts down something like Barbed Wire or Worry Beads. The opposition dies a slow death, and what this emperor's lieutenants do really doesn't have much to do with the outcome. If they recover from the Armageddon (Land Equilibrium only affects opponents), great. If they don't, who cares?
While this deck seems to favor blue and/or white, in reality any color can be a speed bump admirer. Red and black both have mass removal options that can disrupt not only opponents' plans, but those of teammates as well. And with enough mana acceleration, green can do a simple life-gain/Hurricane combo that leaves only one player standing.
We can all imagine stupid combo decks, and I’m not a big fan of this approach. If you want to play the game without teammates, seek out your own fragments!
Approach Option Four: The Pessimist.
I'll admit I haven't seen an emperor follow this approach very often – at least not by design. But a couple of people in our play group have wondered idly if something like this might work. If nothing else, it's a nice response to the intense-disruption alternative in option one.
Here's the deal: you expect at least one lieutenant to die. Instead of trying to bolster a lost cause, why not accept the inevitable and prepare a massive army? Let your lieutenants do as much damage as they can do, and then avenge the first one to go down.
There's a couple of problems with this approach that we'd have to work out before I could truly recommend this approach to any of my readers. But I do have a green-white deck ready that I figure might actually work in this role:
SlideToTheFront.deq
Emperor deck fragment
4x Astral Slide
4x Spike Feeder
2x Auramancer
2x Spike Weaver
2x Phantom Nishoba
2x Forgotten Ancient
etc.
Don’t interpret these separate approaches too literally. No deck is a “pure” type of anything. That last deck actually has a strong element of protection in it. One of the most effective decks I’ve seen in emperor was something from my brother-in-law Paul that used the well-known Prosperity – Viseling combo to blow out the other team, while adding in bounce and countermagic to support his own teammates. I also sport a red-black “creatureless” Lightning Rift deck that clears many paths for friendly aggression decks, and then shows a pessimistic side by sporting Dragon Roosts for the late game.
The deck you build will determine your actual game tactics, but there are some broad guidelines you should follow as you lead your team into battle:
1. You’re the one that counts. Do not spend a great deal of early energy stopping minor threats. Unless you are keyed on absolutely shutting down one side, see if your lieutenants can deal with those early Basking Rootwallas and Nantuko Shades. If they take more than one or two hits, you may need to step in. But otherwise, save those Lightning Bolts, Excludes, and Swords to Plowshares for those threats that look like they might actually break through.
2. That other emperor is the other one that counts. Spending all of your ammo to finish off a mere lackey may feel good, but always remember that once the first person dies, you and the other emperor are now in each other’s range. If you depend on countermagic, or removal, or any other spot-style strategy, you’ll need it right away to help your friends’ troops finish the job. It is worth extending a bit to get to the point where it’s a 3-on-2 – that’s an easier game to win – but if you open yourself up to a couple of consecutive Volcanic Geysers before you’re ready, you have ultimately failed. Keep your eye on the prize.
3. Know when to remove permanents, vs. players. This is related to both points above. There are some more recent players in our group who still can’t let go of the idea that a Lightning Bolt burns a hole in your hand. They have to cast it immediately, and hit anyone and anything. More often than not, they just hit a player for 3 damage. That may sound cool – and if it’s the last three damage, it’s certainly worthwhile – but too often, that Bolt has a better target. Let your lieutenant play a reusable 3/3 attacker, and let the Bolt take down whatever’s getting in the way.
4. Know which side needs help. Even the most ridiculous combo decks have a few cards that can be used to support your teammates. When you use however many you have, think carefully about which battlefront is secure, and which may need some help. At some point, you’re going to be facing one threat on each side, and you’ll only have one card to help out. Which lieutenant is most likely to recover? If neither will recover, which one can you do without for longer? And if both are doing fine, what side do you give priority help to?
There was a nice example of this last issue just last week, when our group played a nine-person (3x3x3) emperor. I had two high-performing lieutenants, and before long we were enjoying a 3x2x2, with both emperors exposed to the whims of my Lightning Rift.
Directly opposite me was a fight between the two teams that I couldn’t touch (nor wouldn’t have, even had they been in range): one enemy’s lieutenant had a Mortivore and bounce, and the other enemy’s lieutenant had Goblin Charbelcher. The Charbelcher was very uncooperative toward its controller, providing (I kid you not) five successive activations of two or less damage! Yes, he was playing with mountains! But in any case, it was firmly aimed at the other team, whose emperor was attempting control with Ensnaring Bridge and Subversion, but didn’t have a plan against direct damage.
Instead of going after that emperor, I went after the emperor whose lieutenant had the Charbelcher. When one of my own men protested, I gave him my reasoning: I wanted that fellow down to ten or less, much more than I wanted to try to put Mr. Subversion down there. The Charbelcher was a useful monster – unable to hit me know, but very able to hit me later. I needed a leash on it, and the emperor’s life total was my leash.
This approach could have come back to haunt me – the controller of the Charbelcher could have decided to go out in a blaze by taking out my closest teammate, and then put me in range for a second shot. But that was a long shot for him, and there was already an emperor in range for him. Besides, if he killed that emperor, he could skip over my lieutenants altogether and take a shot at me on the next turn anyway. (This range effect one reason why 3-team emperor is different from simple 3-player chaos; the dynamics are not nearly as close as you’d think. More on that in a future article.)
The other way it could have gone wrong is if that Charbelcher kept sucking it up badly. But a Recruiter finally come out, which set up a nice, finishing slam…and because I had already invested enough damage in the emperor I trusted would survive, our team was able to finish him off before the Charbelcher could untap and burp in my general direction.
5. Never, ever overextend. A lieutenant often has to overextend his board position, just to make sure he slams through one flank before he dies. And it’s a better bet to do so in an emperor game, since (a) fewer players will risk a massive board control deck (e.g., Obliterate) that might hurt their teammates, and (b) he has you as a backup, if things go wrong.
So if you overextend, and your flank collapses after a Pernicious Deed sweeps the board and all of your precious piles of support, do you know whose fault that is? Yours. I mean, go ahead and flog your inept servant in front of everyone else – but somewhere, in the back of your mind, save a few lashes for yourself.
A good rule of thumb is to try to have more cards in your hand than either lieutenant. For that to happen in the mid- to late game, that means you’ll have to really pick and choose critical targets in the early game, as I suggested above.
The only situation where I can think you would want to overextend is if you’re facing a heavy discard deck (so holding back cards isn’t an option, and flooding the fray with permanents has a real chance of crippling the unprepared discard player).
Flaunt Your Virtues
There’s another, shorter way to look all that stuff above: the watchwords of the emperor are patience and analysis. The first is your main emotion, the second is your main motion. You’re going to think a lot more than you act. When you’re done calming down, and you’ve fully assessed the board, your best action will often be…to wait.
In general, your busiest times should be (a) during a lieutenant’s combat and (b) at the end of the last enemy lieutenant’s turn (alternately, you can wait until the end of the turn of your own righthand lieutenant). If you’re not doing the bulk of your work during these times, and you are losing as an emperor, then take this article to heart.
Voilà, Jj'espère que ça en aidera certains, de mon côté, j'ai appris pas mal de ces lectures.
___________________ Le futur de magic: http://www.starcitygames.com/php/news/expandnews.php?Article=422
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Histoire à suivre...
par contre je trouve cela très idiot de créer des deck pour jouer l'empereur...en quelques tours les gardes ne servent plus a rien et le jeu est fini...
ça me dirait bien un bon petit rainbow capi, faudra organiser ça avec les autres 
(jsuis dans ma folie mono color :bleucontrole, stompy, weeny equip...et zombiiiiiiiiiie )
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