Our Normal Draft Rules: SMM's M11 Draft Primer

Hey everyone!

Next week we have our M11 "Release" Draft! But I'm hoping for new people to show up, and those people aren't up to speed on our Draft rules.

Don't worry! It's mostly the same as normal drafts, just a few exceptions to how we draft Rares and foils.

So without further ado...Saturday Morning Magic's Draft Rules!

1. We start as normal, with 3 sealed booster packs ready to be drafted.
2. Open the first pack, but note the Rare (and any foils) you open on a separate sheet of paper.
3. Draft as your normally would draft, passing cards to the left after each pick.
4. Repeat for Pack 2, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the right.
5. Repeat for Pack 3, writing down the Rare (and any foils) you open. This time, though, pass to the left.

Now you ask, "Why did I write down those Rares and foils?"

Easy. They're mostly our prizes.

When we started drafting here, we didn't have the luxury of $2.50 packs. We had to spend ~$4.40 per pack, making our drafts over $13! I couldn't add any more to that fee, so we wouldn't have prizes if we did a normal draft.

So I got this idea: "Let's use the Rares and foils as our prizes! That way we'll have something to give out and people won't draft money cards just to get money cards."

But there was a problem with that: What if the person who came in last opened a $15-$20 card in their booster? If they finish last, chances are they won't get a comparably-valued card to pick in the prize pool.

Thus, our draft prize tradition started.

Draft Prize Pool Rules
1. When you are out of the tournament, put all Rares and Foils you drafted into the Prize Pool.
2. After the tournament ends, starting with the winner and going in finishing order, each player may reserve 1 (one) Rare or Foil card they had opened from their 3 booster packs and take that as their first pick. (For example, if you opened a Baneslayer Angel, Dark Tutelage, foil Llanowar Elves, and Birds of Paradise in the 3 packs you opened, you may take one of those 4 and only among those 4 as your first pick.)
3. Anyone who did not reserve a Rare or Foil will then pick from the remaining cards in tournament finish order for their first pick.
4. After everyone has picked up one Rare or Foil card, starting with the winner and moving down the finishing order, each player gets to select one remaining Rare or Foil card in the pile.

The hope in these rules was to protect the players' investment: If the person who ends up dead last opened a $10 Rare, I want them to be able to keep that Rare and make back their money (and keep playing, but shh! You didn't hear that from me. ;)  ). If they didn't open something that nice but someone else opened a $5 Mythic Rare they didn't want (maybe they reserved the $10 Rare they opened instead), that gives the last place player a chance to recoup a vast majority of their $8 entry fee.


But overall, it's about the fun and excitement of playing with new cards no more than a week after their release...and on the cheap, too! Just sit down and enjoy some new cards with a great group of players.

And remember, we'll have Sun Titan and Ancient Hellkite promos to give out (you can see the promo images in the post below this) courtesy of Organized Play in Knoxville. If you win, you're guaranteed one copy of each, whereas everyone else will be at the mercy of the "While Supplies Last" fine print: If I don't have enough to go around, I'll randomly award promos so that everyone has a chance at getting at least one of the promos.

I hope to see some first-timers next weekend! If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment here or E-mail me at CardGameNut@gmail.com .