Drafting may be the most fun way of playing Magic, but not everyone feels ready to take the plunge into the format. In today’s blog post, Stewart takes an introductory look at what drafting is, how to participate in drafts at Gamers Grove, and what beginner friendly resources are out there.
Introduction
Draft is one of my favorite formats and is by far one of the most fun ways to play Magic. It stretches different mental muscles than Commander, teaches you good Magic fundamentals, and is a fun social event! If you’ve ever attended a prerelease event and enjoyed your time with it, then drafting is something you should try out this Halloween season at Gamers Grove.
The Draft
Drafting beings with 6-8 players siting at a table with 3 unopened booster packs each. To start the draft, you should open your first pack and look at all the cards inside of it. You’ll pick one card out of that pack, set it face down in front of you, and then hand the rest of the pack to the player sitting to your left. You’ll then take the pack that the player to your right is passing to you and repeat this process.
This continues until there are no more cards to pick! Then, each player will open their second pack and do the exact same thing (pick a card, pass the rest of the pack) except that this time you’ll pass to your right.
Finally, once the second pack is done, you open the third pack. This pack is just like pack 1; open, pick a card, pass to your left.
The Goal of Drafting
While you’re picking cards during the draft, it’s important to remember your goal: to build a 40 card deck out of the cards you select. This means that you’ll want to take cards from each pack that are in the same colors, follow a similar theme, or work well together. For example, look at this deck that I recently won a Wilds of Eldraine draft event with at Gamers Grove:
Notice how the cards are all Red or Black, share a common theme (making rat tokens), and have good synergies with each other. Mix in a few generically good cards and voila! You have a deck.
Resources
The above is a very introductory explanation of draft. If you want to dig a bit deeper, here are a few of my favorite resources and how I use them:
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Scryfall: With this website you can see the full spoiler for a magic set before you draft it. This can give you an idea of what to expect when you sit down to draft. For example, for the Collector Booster draft we’re having at Gamers Grove on October 28th, you may want to look at the full set contents of Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt.
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Numot: Numot makes a ton of draft content and is always uploading videos or streaming on Twitch. They are a fantastic way to dip your toes into draft without having to play.
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Limited Resources: This is a podcast (and subreddit) focused on drafting and is hosted by two professional level draft players. They do card analysis, give advice for new players, and review new sets in detail.
Upcoming Draft Events
At Gamers Grove we have two upcoming draft events! On Oct 21-22 we’re hosting GroveCon — a convention to celebrate our local community and have a great time with board games, card games, and more! On the 21st one of the events in an MTG Chaos Draft. This is just like a normal draft except… the packs are come from random sets! The event is $6 plus the cost of your packs. Choose to take advantage of our 3 for $11 draft deal or purchase from our selection of older boosters. Feel free to mix and match the sets.
The second event is Oct 28th where we will be doing a $30 Collector Booster draft of Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow. I encourage everyone to join this event because just one of these packs is usually $25. So, for $5 extra dollars you get a full draft experience, 2 more collector packs to draft with, and prizes — a killer discount to celebrate Halloween!
Making a Spooky Exit
Thanks for reading, I hope to see you all come through the store for these awesome draft events! If you have any questions, feel free to join us on Discord where I and the other Gamers Grove staff can answer your questions.
