[Kungsgeten]

So there's a thread on Magic Diamond, and the main complaints about that system seems to be the catch-all 1C opening. The best part of the system is the 1M opening showing 8--11 with 4+ major, possibly canapé. This got me thinking about how to implement this major opening without the catch-all 1C (and without a forcing pass).

1C = 11--13 balanced or 17+
1D = 5+ major, 12--16
1M = 4+ major, may have longer minor, 8--11
1NT = 14--16
2m = 6+ minor or 5-4 minors, no major, (11)12--16
2M = 4 card major and a 5+ minor, 12--16
2NT = 20--21

So the system borrows ideas from Swedish Club (1C and 1NT), Turnip Diamond (1D), Magic (1M) and Bertheau-Nyström style strong club (2m). The 2M openings has been seen before too. So obviously this structure has flaws too, just sharing ideas

[whereagles]

hmmm... a 1♦ "multicolor" opening?

There is definitely some sense of adventuring to it

[straube]

I really dislike this. I think little clubs are losing because the responses you would give to 11-13 balanced are so much different than those you would give for 17+. I dislike that you can't show which 5-cd major you have until the second round of bidding. The 2M opening is too high and responder doesn't even know which minor opener has. The 1M will win sometimes and go down a lot, too. You're catering to the 8-11 4M/5m I suppose and I wonder how frequent they are if you eliminate the 5M hands from them. Also how do you disentangle opener's 5S/4H, 4S/5H and 5S/5H hands?

[Kungsgeten]

I think that we're looking at things from different perspectives straube. The main system to compare this to would be Magic Diamond, and perhaps other systems playing weak and limited openings. In order to even consider using a system like this, you'd have to think that the 1M opening is a winner.

Using a multi club ala Swedish Club or Polish Club is ofcourse different from a strong club. Personally I like this style, but I think the structure above could be modified to a weakisk strong club, like 15+ or 16+ (you only get one balanced range, so 1NT would have to be 11--14, 12--15 or similar).

So, the 1D opening:

In Magic Diamond 1C shows 12--16 ANY unbalanced hand or 15--17 balanced. That covers a lot of hands. This system uses a multi 1D instead, only including hands with a 5+ major, and if balanced will be 12--13 hcp. So I think opening 1D here is less of a problem than opening 1C in Magic Diamond, especially when contested. The 1D opening here is inspired by Turnip Diamond, which is a system where 1D shows 5+ major and 8--15 hcp, but not 13--15 hands with a 4+ minor.

To me the biggest flaw with the system is the 2M opening. I've played these as preemptive (same distribution but about 6--10 hcp) and liked it, but sometimes you just do not have a fit.

[whereagles]

2M is the "velociraptor" two-suiter. So defined because of the "speed" to which you get to the 3 level.

I've played those extensively back in my younger years. They are certainly ok NV, but V I wouldn't advise a preemptive hcp range.

[steve2005]

what do u bid with 4-4 in majors and a 5 card minor 12-16 pts? 2♥?

the 2M bid gonna cost a lot of bad boards.