Avacyn Restored Post-Release THIS SATURDAY! Details Included Here

Hey all!

This upcoming weekend is the weekend many of us have been waiting for: The local Avacyn Restored Post-Release!

Since I tend to ramble a lot and put stuff willy-nilly in my posts, I'll instead break everything down so anyone who's interested only in certain details can find it with ease (if you've never drafted with us or need a refresher, though, I'd suggest you read the whole blog post).

EVENT: Avacyn Restored Post-Release Draft

TIME: Doors open at 10:30 AM. We'll do announcements around 11:00 AM. After announcements, we'll draft. As you come in, try to go ahead and pay me the entry fee and then get 3 packs of Avacyn Restored. This will reduce the set-up time we'll need before we draft. We expect to be done around 3:30 PM, but we'll try and get done before that.

ENTRY FEE: $9  ($8.25 for the 3 packs you'll use for drafting + $.75 to go into a prize pool for more prizes from packs of Avacyn Restored).

WILL LOOSE PACKS BE SOLD? I'll have 2 boxes of Avacyn Restored for drafting and regular pack buying. Regular pack purchases are $2.75 per pack. I'll start selling loose packs after I'm sure I'll have enough packs to let anyone who wants to draft to do so.

 

DRAFT PROCEDURE: In case you've never drafted with the Saturday Morning Magic clan, here's how it works: 

1) Actual drafting works just like you'd expect. Open your first pack, pick a card, and pass to the left. You keep passing cards until everyone has 15 cards. Then open the 2nd pack, pass to the right and continue until all 15 of those are gone. Then open the 3rd pack, pass to the left, and continue until all the cards are gone. 

2) Deck minimum is 40 cards, and we'll have basic land piles for you to use.

3) Here's where our drafts are different: We don't keep all the Rares/foils we draft. That's right! Part of the low cost for the draft is that we use the Rares/foils from the packs as part of the prizes. "But what if I open a Tamiyo or Avacyn? I want to keep it!" That's the beauty of our system! Read into the next section to find out how we use the Rares/foils.

PRIZES: When you open a pack in the draft, write down any Rares and foils you open. Then draft as normal until the 2nd pack. On the 2nd pack, again write down any Rares and foils you open. Same for the 3rd pack.

When the tournament is over, everyone may pick 1 (ONE) Rare/foil they opened and choose to keep it out of the prize pool and keep it. This is referred to as "reserving" a card. So yes, if you open a Tamiyo and want to keep it, it's yours with no worries! :) The only time you'll run into problems is if you open 2 cards you really want to keep. :(

The option to reserve a Rare/foil is optional, so if you do this it'll be considered your first pick from the prize pool. 

After anyone who wanted to "reserve" a Rare/foil has theirs, anyone who did NOT "reserve" gets first pick of what's left (in finishing order) but only 1 prize per person. Then, once everyone has one prize picked out, we start with the winner and go down the finishing order for a 2nd round of picks from the prize pool. Then we'll do a 3rd and a 4th pass until either everyone's done or all the prizes are picked out.

TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE: It's a double elimination system in a way.

1) The first round is paired randomly among all players.

2) When the first round ends, all winners will be put into one bracket and all the losers will be put into another bracket. The winners run for 1st - whatever half the field would be (so if we get 10 players, the winner's bracket is for 1st - 5th). The losers bracket is for the bottom half of positions (6th - 10th, in our example).

3) After each round, a new "losers" bracket will be put in to determine the bottom half of the placings left after that round. For example, in our 10-person tournament, after the 2nd round 3 players get to advance on. They're playing for 1st - 3rd. That leaves 4th and 5th to be determined by the 2 losers Round 2.

4) The overall winner, after all reserves are picked and everyone has picked up 1 prize, gets 1st pick of prizes. 2nd gets 2nd pick, and so on.

5) We have a document outlining what happens with match rounds and what happens with overtime rules. Please refer to it here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1m5i_x-BI3n78sCbdpwCc6HBAu77uyibTceOyRL-Wprw/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

6) Match rounds will be 30 minutes in an attempt to finish as soon as possible.

I think that's most of what needs to be said. If there's anything else, I'll cover it in the announcements or, if you want to post a question here, I'll answer it here.

I'll put up another post this week outlining a few specific rulings issues related to Avacyn Restored, especially regarding Miracles and Soulbond as those issues have come up a bit from stories I've read and heard.

Until then or Saturday, have a good week! We hope to see you for the draft. :)