Magical Notes Academy: Drafting 101

Hello and Welcome to the Magical Notes Academy. Jed asked me to whip up a little intro to draft for those participating in his 12th birthday party this weekend. There are a million guides on drafting that you can find but you don't know what the quality is, caveat emptor. here is some safe and sound advice:

Let's start with the basics, how does a draft work: from the mothership: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/format226b

For those who don't want to read to much, draft is just what it sounds like. There are three steps:

1. get some cards
2. build your deck
3. battle

Step 1: You open a booster pack and take any card you like. Then you pass the pack to your left and get a pack from your right. Repeat until the pack is gone. You do this three times alternating directions each time until you have acquired 42 cards. You don't have to grab basic lands here, we'll provide as many of whatever kinds you like.

Step 2: Now you have to build a deck. The only restriction is that it must have at least 40 cards. You can play all 8 of your Fireball's if you were lucky enough to get them. Don't worry about lands. There will be a box provided. But you should worry about the number of lands you play. It should be 17 or 18 (for an intense discussion download this podcast and jump to the 34 min mark).

Step 3: Battle! This is magic as it was meant to be. 5/5 Flying Dragons rule the battlefield, and removal spells like terror are few and far between. The majority of the cards in the set are relevant and games tend to go a little longer than in constructed. Don't worry about playing that 7 drop, you will have the time to get there.

If you want to read some theory here is a popular personality:
http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/fundamentals/12549_Learning_How_To_Draft.html  -- evan irwin

If you would like to practice wizards has a draft simulator for you to try out: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/resources.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/resources/boosterdraftsimulator
(they drop a new one every week so you can go back and find old ones if you want to practice more).

Hit up the comments if you have any questions.



Think you're a rockstar and ready for more? Then head over hear to here from the best: http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/stark-reality-drafting-the-hard-way/





As an aside: I decided to name the blog post "drafting 101", as it turns out that is a pretty popular idea. See

• http://gatheringmagic.tumblr.com/post/35967022715/drafting-101
• http://www.gatheringmagic.com/chrismascioli-051412-drafting-theory-101/
• https://mtgshops.com/posts/-booster-draft-101-b-r-e-a-d-/6
• http://mtgnomad.blogspot.com/2011/02/magic-drafting-101.html

I haven't vetted these articles, they may be crap.