I'd like to preface this by saying that I love to think outside the box on issues that probably nobody cares about, such as this. I know this idea will never be implemented, but I think it's fun to think about and theorize around. I was inspired by learning that the greatest players in the Chess world prefer Chess960 to the normal game, as it solves the obscure problem of the game being about memorizing openings.
The player who goes first in a cEDH game inherently has an advantage on mana and a card. It's not a big enough issue to make the game unplayable, but I think there's a very easy solution that I haven't heard brought up before. Is it flawed, yes, but that's what reddit is for- discussion.
simultaneous turns
-----Everyone shares phases, and the next phase isn't reached until everyone passes priority.
-----Everyone draws their card for turn at the same time.
-----As soon as 1 player plays a land, each other player may play a land as well (MTG burgeoning).
-----The turns still move in turn order (P1 -> P2 -> P3 -> P4), and every time the collective turn would end, the starting player is shifted clockwise (P2 -> P3 -> P4 -> P1), etc.
-----Combat starts with P1, atk and blk declared, then all damage is removed and P2 begins combat.
Cards like Gemstone Caverns still works, because there is still technically a "first player".
Another issue would be cards like "each upkeep", but if upkeeps went in turn order, then 1 particular effect would just happen 4 times in a row. Definitely janky, but not unplayable.
Then there's cards like Obeka that end the turn. Not common in cEDH, but a workaround could be that only THAT particular player's turn ends, and the other 3 continue their turn.
I'm sure that there is plenty more jank, but I'd love to hear how stupid of an idea it is. Love y'all π₯°