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2 years ago ::
Sep 01, 2011 - 5:48AM
#1
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2011
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Hi all, I have a mixed gaming group, some of whom have played MTG verrry casually on and off for the past decade or so, and some who know the rules but don't have decks of their own and don't really want to spend loads to get into MTG. I am planning an MTG day where everyone chips in for some booster packs and we do a group draft and play some multiplayer games together. This seems like a good way of ensuring everyone gets a fair chance at a good deck. I was particularly inspired by this article, and we will probably use the scheme outlined: www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.a...To summarise, there are 4 to 6 players, everyone gets 4 boosters each and we do a group draft. In games, when you have caused your opponents to take a total of 20 points of damage you can play a sideboard card without paying its mana cost. I know that drafting is a fairly standard thing for experienced players and collectors to do, but we have never done it before and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for the casual player, specifically: Does anyone have any suggestions for drafting? Trying out the standard methods for the first time may be enough of a challenge for us, but if anyone can recommend something fun we'll give it a go! What boosters to get? I was thinking that of solely getting 12th Ed boosters - will this be suitable, or do you recommend giving everyone the same mix of boosters from different blocks? If so, which blocks? What sort of land/creature/other spell ratio should I advise the less-experienced players to go for? Considering that we will play several games, can anyone suggest ways to mix things up as the day goes on? I want to introduce a competitive element of some sort and/or enable some sort of card swapping, so that people can improve their decks as they win games. Team games would be nice too. EDIT: Planechase ( www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/Article.a...) and Cycling ( www.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/Article.a...) also look like cool games. Is there a freely available list of Planechase effects anywhere? The prices for Planechase decks are ridiculous :s I am also interested in the Star format (5 players, each playing one colour) - is there a way I could set this up as cheaply as the booster draft, while still allowing people to have some choice in their cards? If you have any suggestions on other ways to make this a success, or links to relevant articles that would be really sweet. Thanks all 
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2 years ago ::
Sep 02, 2011 - 7:24AM
#2
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Date Joined:
Feb 26, 2009
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I would go with M12 boosters for he draft. The core sets are designed to be simple for beginners so that there aren't any complex mechanics to worry about. Though if all of your friends know the rules well enough, using a variety of boosters can make games more exciting.
Well an interesting way to play limited star would be having everyone choose a colour and crack a bunch of packs, probably around 4 - 5 per player I imagine. And then have all the cards divided into their colours and going to their respective players. The colourless (and multicolour cards, though they arent applicapble to M12) would be distributed such that the card pool of each colour is similar in card count and rare count. Then build a 40 card deck and play some star.
Or you could build a set of very basic decks which are balanced against each other and show case each colour. Then play star that way. These decks can be as cheap as $10 each. Or using intro packs, though they are slightly more expensive, you have to worry less about the reletive power levels.
Hope this helps. Sounds like a you're organising very interesting and fun event.
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2 years ago ::
Sep 02, 2011 - 11:29AM
#3
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2011
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Thanks ddong! Maybe it could start off as a Star-style thing, and then people could begin to splash other colours by swapping with each other or something....hmmm!
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 2:21AM
#4
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2011
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I've just realised that M12 boosters sometimes include planeswalkers - if we get one or two of these in our boosters will they mean that the decks they are in are overpowered?
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 11:41AM
#5
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Not entirely, but that is part of the fun of a draft. The luck of the draw is what draws a lot of players to compete in drafts. If they draw Planewalkers, lucky them. If they don't, it isn't going to kill them. No one planewalker from M12 is going to dominate play entirely.
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 11:54AM
#6
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Date Joined:
Sep 14, 2011
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Your gaming group should start off with normal drafts (3 packs per person, normal Limited game rules) so that you can hold your own whenever you draft outside of your group. After all, variants, multiplayer, custom games, etc. are special because they deviate from the "normal" way to do it. If you aren't used to what is "normal" to start off with, then how will you judge whether you like one of the variants? The other thing is you guys should definitely start your own Cube. Start slowly as you draft together normally and develop it together: www.cubedrafting.com/what-is-the-cube/
 ah~ bang!
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2 years ago ::
Sep 14, 2011 - 12:32PM
#7
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Date Joined:
Aug 29, 2011
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Interesting ideas floating around here. One problem I see you might run into early on is the availability of M12 boosters. In my area, when they arrive in my closest store, they get sold out within 2 hours, and you have to wait a week for a new shipment. However, if you're lucky/don't live in my area, you won't have this problem. Star sounds like a very cool idea, and it could also get very interesting if you have fewer or greater than 5 players facing in your group. For instance: If you have less than 5, the first person to lose in each multiplayer match gets to mix in cards from the unused color; or if you have greater than 5, you can have players team up together based on having the same color, and maybe have the option later on to betray their partner mid-game and join forces with an opposing colored player. Might be a little complicated (especially with betrayal as a option), but these ideas might spice up/mix up the games a little. You could also play a version (which I shall nickname Spinning Star) in which after each match the players have to switch decks with someone else. This could be to the person on your left/right, or people choose starting with the first loser and working your way done until the winner is stuck with whatever color is leftover. You could even turn the decks upsidown and mix up their placement so the person playing doesn't know which color they got until they draw (though you might want to save that one for the last match, once the new players have a grasp on the game). If you think switching entire decks will be too confusing for new players, you could also just allow trading in between matches, so people can try splashes of different colors or non-color cards to see what they like. With this idea, however, and perhaps regardless of how you do this, you should consider buying an abundance of each land type in order to make mixing more viable.
So many ideas! I'll stop here, though I could write a good deal more. The most important thing, if you want this to be the most successful event possible, is to think about the people who are playing. How many know the rules, how many do not? What kindof colors/playstyles are yur friends attracted to? If they all like Blue and White (as an example), then it may feel like a chore for them to play Star. On the other hand, forcing them to use colors they aren't immeadiatly attracted might allow them to fall in love with something they thought they wouldn't like, or if they discover the color they were first attracted to is not for them, there will be other options for them to try. Just think about them. None of us know you're friends, so I'm afraid this part of the plan is up to you. :-).
~M
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2 years ago ::
Sep 15, 2011 - 1:23AM
#8
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Date Joined:
Aug 30, 2011
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Thanks again guys I came across Cube in my initial research, but didn't find any threads that explained it clearly enough to make it appealing, so thanks BAS for your link - it looks pretty friendly and I'll sit down and read it as soon as I have some quiet time. Thanks to you too MM, the variants you have suggested sound like just the sort of thing to spice things up. I'm based in the UK and there is a fairly well-known shop in a small town here that does a lot of business over the internet, so I'm fairly confident we can get enough M12 boosters from there by mail order....perhaps with some eBay-age to get a few boosters from a different block for flavour. I hadn't considered Star with more than 5 people, but don't see any reason why it won't work. The only issue I have with Star is that the novel element for us will be doing the draft, rather than playing with pre-made decks from people's collections, so I want people to try and make strategic decisions about which cards they pick, rather than being forced to just take a card because it is of their colour. I've practised a few drafts using an online tool and noticed that most decks quickly fall into one or two colours anyway - in my case my preconceptions about the colours I like to play often skew my picks towards certain colours too. The idea of colour alliances could replace the Star element, perhaps with people drafting whatever combination they want, but only being able to ally with players who are using colours adjacent to theirs in the star, or being prohibited from allying with people using non-adjacent colours. I'm considering a half-way house where we do a closed draft, so only the person who's turn it is to pick a card can see the cards, so no-one knows what to expect in the games, but when people draw a card they have to declare what colour it is, so that everyone gets a sense of which colours are being taken and they can adapt accordingly....or even negotiate colour sharing. But would this work? If we're doing a closed draft, one booster at a time, then people who get first pick will have a stronger idea of what colours they are aiming for. People later in the drafting sequence could already have a few random commons by the time they get their first chance to get first pick from a booster and may have a weaker deck. Or does it even out as you wheel around? The alternative is for everyone to open a booster at once and we all do a simultaneous closed draft. Thanks again for your input everyone. I'll have a think and post a more definite scheme of how the day will work here before I place any orders. Any more comments and ideas are welcome!!
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2 years ago ::
Sep 15, 2011 - 3:17PM
#9
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Well I don't like draft too much, I prefer seals. I just don't like the fact you can open a pack and like almost all the cards in it, but you can't keep them all for your deck. Seals you can, you get the 6 packs and then make a deck with what you pulled. You also don't run into the problem of someone having 3 or more copies of good uncommons/rares in their deck. Also I've found in booster drafts that I end up pulling all my cards for a specific color(s) and then during round change up if I wanted to revamp my deck I can't. Seals you can. if you find that your   deck is doing awful then you can take the time between rounds to look through your cards and possibly make a great   deck. I've also been to several boosterdrafts where you can't keep the rares you drafted. After everything is over the rares are placed out and people pick for which ones they want, the higher place you got then the more picks you get, I didn't like this. I like that during the New Phyrexia pre-release I pulled a Sword of War and Peace  and it was mine, even after the event... The only problem I've found with seals is that most places don't do them anymore. The place I usually go to used to do them every Wednesday. Now they're primarily done only for game-days, pre-releases and launch parties. If you like sealed events then an easy way to do one at home is to take a boosterbox of a set that you and 3 of your friends have agreed upon. Divie out 6 packs each and leave the remaining 12 for prizes. Take 20-30 min to deck build and then play 2 rounds to determine 1st and 2nd place. The losers of the 1st round can face each other to establish 3rd and 4th. When all said and done you can give 7 packs to the winner, 4 packs to second and 1 pack to 3rd. Or you can give 6 to 1st, 4 to 2nd and 1 to each 3rd and 4th. The second option makes it so everyone gets to open a pack in the end, yay However you want to distribute prizes is up to you, but remember an at home seal doesn't need to only be 4 players, you can include more, just know that you would need to buy more packs you wanted everyone to play and still have prizes. Boxes can be found online for cheaper than some shops. If everyone chips in 20-25 you should be able to get a box from the most recent sets. If you're willing to chip in more then you and your friends can get boxes of older sets that you all liked better than the current ones. My fiends prefer to do seals from Lorwyn, they like the tribalness of it. Plus the idea of possibly getting any of the 5 original planeswalkers, Cryptic Command  and/or Thoughtseize  is nice.
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