2k Pack Opening Boost Draft

[Rhoda Siket]

Booster Draft is a Limited format of playing Magic: the Gathering where you draft cards, that is, you pick one card from a booster pack and then pass it to your neighbor.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The natural process of design tends to create cards that work well for drafts without having to actually spend a great deal of time focusing on it.[7][8] Booster draft can also be a great way to experience the full flavor of a Magic set.[9]

Booster Draft has its origins back in the early days of playtesting before the actual release of Magic: The Gathering.[10] Many of the original playtesters like Bill Rose and Charlie Catino were big fantasy baseball fans. So drafting, in general, played an important part in the development and playtesting of Magic. Those early drafts were very simple looking, more like what we would call Rochester Draft today than a Booster Draft. Groups of four or more players would lay out all the cards on the table face up and take turns picking them. At some point, drafts evolved into the Booster Draft format we have today, but no one is quite sure who introduced it. Richard Garfield points towards the 'Philly Group' which included Bill Rose and Charlie Catino. However, Bill does not remember his group coming up with it, and Charlie vaguely remembers Richard teaching it to him. Both Skaff Elias and Jim Lin don't believe that their playtest group came up with the idea either. It appeared that the true origins of the booster draft format were lost to the annals of history. However, in a 2022 interview episode of Mark Rosewater's Drive to Work podcast series, Barry Reich claimed that during playtesting he came up with the drafting method which has come to be known as booster draft.[11]

Players are seated randomly at the table. Once everyone has found their seats, each player opens their first booster pack, chooses one card from the pack, and puts it face-down on the table. Once you've done this, pass the rest of the pack to the player on your left. Once everyone has passed their packs, you pick up the next pack (located on your right), pick the best card for your deck from that pack put it in your pile, and again pass it to the neighbor on your left. This process continues until all the cards from the pack have been picked. You then get a review period to look at the cards you have picked and figure out what direction your deck is going (typically this lasts 60 seconds). Once that ends, each player opens their next pack, picks a card, and passes the pack to the right (Packs go left, right, left.). This continues as before until all cards from a pack have been chosen, and then you get another review period before opening the final pack, taking a card, and passing to your left again.

Beginning with Mirrodin Besieged, block booster drafts would begin with the most recent set. This was a change from the previous drafting order, which added new sets to the end of the drafting order as they were released.[12]

After the introduction of Two-Block Paradigm, beginning with Oath of the Gatewatch, the drafting for each second set of a block consisted of two packs of the small set with one of the large (BBA instead of AAB).[13][14]

One of the most important and challenging questions in a booster draft is how and when to choose your colors. When neighboring drafters learn what one another is drafting, they're able to cooperate and will both wind up with better decks. This type of understanding and cooperation can be accomplished through signaling. Signaling comes in the form of what cards you pass, receive, do not pass, and do not receive from your neighbors.[16][17][18]

At most high-level draft events (Players Tours, Grand Prix, etc.), the organizers stamp the cards used in each draft with a unique stamp. This prevents players from cheating by swapping cards from outside the draft into their decks. Different symbols and stamp colors are used for each different draft round. The positions of the stamps on the cards are also significant and allow the organizers to recreate the draft from scratch if necessary.[19]

Commander Draft is a variant of Booster Draft designed for Commander Legends, Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate and Commander Masters.[21] Players draft two cards at a time per pick and build 60 card commander decks. They may include either up to two Faceless One (Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate) or one The Prismatic Piper (Commander Legends, Commander Masters) as a commander without need to draft them. The Singleton rule does not apply to Commander draft decks.

The Play Booster combines the best of two worlds: it takes the Set Booster's fun-to-open experience and weaves in the Draft play that is integral to the Magic ecosystem. Play Boosters pack the value players loved from Set Boosters into each set. Plus, it means you have one less Magic product to advertise to your players, further reducing confusion for those new to Magic in your community.

Starting with Murders at Karlov Manor, the Play Booster will replace the Draft and Set Boosters in our overall product lineup. As you begin thinking about how you'll stock Play Boosters, we encourage you to add orders of Draft and Set Boosters together to get an idea of the quantity of Play Boosters you'll need to support your community. Remember, Play Boosters are for both your Draft Booster and Set Booster audiences.

With a change this big coming to the Magic product lineup, we want to equip you to handle questions and conversations from the community. Keep these takeaways in mind as we share more about Play Boosters in the coming weeks.

The Play Booster was created to retain the fun experience of opening a Set Booster while weaving in the play experience of the Draft Booster. With up to four rares in each pack, the possibility of booster fun in each slot, and exciting updates to The List, Play Boosters are every bit as fun to open as Set Boosters.

Limited format play, especially Draft, is a huge part of the Magic ecosystem. It's an important part of in-store activity, and a big driver for building community. Prerelease is your players' first place to sample a new set, and our data shows that the longer your community plays Magic, the more likely it is that Limited play is part of their experience.

Play Boosters may ease new player confusion by giving players a clear, direct path to playing the set. If they want to play, they can play. If they're more interested in collecting, the Collector Booster continues to feature incredible treatments and is a great recommendation as the shortcut to the coolest cards in the set.

You're able to save valuable merchandising space in your store, and it reduces the amount of information you're communicating to your players regarding what's in each booster, and how each booster is put together.

In the past, The List has mostly been reprints of older cards. Play Boosters are going to tinker with what exactly can be on The List. For example, when Play Boosters premier, The List will include what we call Special Guests, cards that are exciting reprints that we can give new art and will thematically tie into whatever set they are in.

In addition to the Special Guests, there will be 40 cards that are reprints without new art. Of those, 30 will be common or uncommon and 10 will be rare or mythic rare. This is down from the 300 cards that previous iterations of The List had. In addition, Japanese-language products that include cards from The List will now have The List cards printed in Japanese.

We have so much more to share about Play Boosters over the course of the coming weeks; our goal is to help you feel fully equipped for the first set where Play Boosters will be available, Murders at Karlov Manor. Until then, continue to direct your community to Mark Rosewater's announcement on Play Boosters and keep your eyes on this space for additional Play Booster details in the future.

But like any deep Magic format, things can be a little tricky for beginners. If you've never drafted before, you've come to the right place. In this article, I'll break down exactly what a Booster Draft is, how to do it, and how to be successful. Let's get started!

To start the draft, three to eight players sit down at a table (preferably a round one). Each player receives three Magic booster packs. When everyone's ready, open your first pack, select any one card from within, then place that card face down in front of you. This is your first pick.

Though it might seem daunting, the first pick is easier than one might think. You're trying to make the best deck you can, so simply select the best card in the pack. This card and any others you pick during the draft are yours to keep. Pass the rest to the player on your left. The player on your right will pass the rest of their cards to you.

Now take your second pick from among the cards you've been passed. Again, you're usually just taking the highest-quality card from those remaining in the pack. You might want to take something that matches the color of your first pick, but that's not essential at this stage. If you see something good, take it, no matter what color it is. Pass the rest to your left.

For your third pack, take one card and pass the rest to the player on your left once again. When all the cards are taken, each player should have a stack of at least 45 cards before them.* Now onto deck building!

(*Note: You'll usually have exactly 45 cards (three boosters times 15 cards in each), but in some cases you'll have more. That's because some packs include randomly inserted foils, which essentially add an extra card to the pack.)

One of the most satisfying parts of Booster Draft is discovering synergy between cards. That's a fancy way of saying you find cards that function better when paired together. Synergy can come in both obvious and subtle forms.

Let's start with the obvious. In Rivals of Ixalan Draft, imagine you've picked a Legion Lieutenant. The potential synergy here is pretty obvious: If you play a Legion Lieutenant, you probably want as many Vampires in your deck as possible.

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