Now for a slightly different question: how many packs of Magic cards have you opened and never used any of the cards? Isn't that the definition of waste? This is the difference between Limited and Constructed play right here. In the prereleases I played in, I opened six booster packs, and then used at least some cards from each pack. Math-wise, you're playing with 23-25 cards out of the 84 non-basic-land cards you just opened, so you're hitting about 28% of your cards that you just bought. But my prize packs? I pull the rares out, stick them in a binder, then sort and store the rest of the cards into boxes I barely open. If I'm lucky, 1 out of the 14 cards in each pack gets played with, though probably not even that much. That's a terrible rate, less than 7%!
| Like this guy. He's never in my 7%, because he's terrible. I have better things to do with 5 mana, thank you. Unless I'm drafting the Ajani's Pridemate deck... |
Thankfully, there's a much better way to get value out of your whole pack, and that is drafting. When Wizards designs cards, they know that most of these aren't going into decks. Different players have different tastes, play styles and color preferences; and the longer you've played, the less likely you are to use the wearers cards you open. So they design and develop cards to create a specific environment for Limited play. Cards you wouldn't use in a Constructed deck become great cards in a Sealed deck. But you still end up with unplayables in Sealed because you can't use all 5 colors in your deck. Draft helps with this.
When drafting, you start with a group of players, ideally 6-10, even numbers if possible. (Eight is best, for a few reasons, but 6 works well too.) Each of you has three unopened packs of cards. In some cases, they're all from the same set, sometimes they're from a block that was designed to be drafted together. You open one pack, take the card from it that you are most excited to play with, and then pass the pack to the player on your left. You then look at these cards, pick one, and pass again. Repeat as necessary until the packs are depleted. At this point you have the same number of cards that you would normally have if you'd just kept your own pack, but instead of 14 randomly sorted cards in 5 colors, you should now have a grouping of cards that are more color aligned, most from one or two colors, with some synergy among them.
You then repeat the process with packs two and three, but passing pack two to the right instead of the left. This makes it easier for you to get some cards of a different color than the guy who is on your right, since he gets to look at all but one of your packs before you do. Then once you have all 42 of your drafted cards, you pick which 23-25 are going in your deck, add some basic lands, and the duels are on! If we do the math again, this results in 55% of your drafted cards going into your deck. This is the best way to make sure you get the play with your cards that you open before they get shoved into that box that you barely use.
The other benefit I enjoy from drafting is that you get to play colors and deck types you might not play otherwise. I dislike black Constructed play, (okay, dislike may not be strong enough of a word) but there are strategies that include some black cards that show up in my drafted decks, and I enjoy the variety of playing something I wouldn't normally do otherwise. It's also fun to try to fin the types of decks that Wizards has hidden in the set. For instance, in M15 there's a really fun red-blue artifact deck that you can try to draft, with cards like Darksteel Citadel, Ornithopter, Shrapnel Blast and Ensoul Artifact as key pieces. Get some of theses cards, along with the small artifact creatures that tend go get picked last out of the packs and you can have a lot of fun.
Now I know quite a few people that are uneasy not getting to choose to keep all of the cards that they open. And yes, when you open a pack with a foil rare alongside your regular rare and can't choose, or a sweet card you need for a Constructed deck you're building but doesn't work in your draft deck, these decisions do come up from time to time. But in the long run, remember that if you aren't drafting with them, you aren't going to play with 90% or more of the cards in the pack most of the time, anyway. And if you do draft a money card, you can always try to build around it with the rest of your picks and just see what happens. Magic is a game, after all. My solution was to buy a box, then let my friends come over and draft with me for free and I just kept the cards afterwards.
Now there is a lot of complicated strategy that can go into drafting, such as knowing which cards to prioritize picking over others, how to tell what colors the other people at the table are in, and so on. But I recommend getting started and just seeing how the first few times go without worrying too much about it. I'll definitely be talking more about drafting in the future, so just go get your feet wet and see what happens.
When drafting, you start with a group of players, ideally 6-10, even numbers if possible. (Eight is best, for a few reasons, but 6 works well too.) Each of you has three unopened packs of cards. In some cases, they're all from the same set, sometimes they're from a block that was designed to be drafted together. You open one pack, take the card from it that you are most excited to play with, and then pass the pack to the player on your left. You then look at these cards, pick one, and pass again. Repeat as necessary until the packs are depleted. At this point you have the same number of cards that you would normally have if you'd just kept your own pack, but instead of 14 randomly sorted cards in 5 colors, you should now have a grouping of cards that are more color aligned, most from one or two colors, with some synergy among them.
You then repeat the process with packs two and three, but passing pack two to the right instead of the left. This makes it easier for you to get some cards of a different color than the guy who is on your right, since he gets to look at all but one of your packs before you do. Then once you have all 42 of your drafted cards, you pick which 23-25 are going in your deck, add some basic lands, and the duels are on! If we do the math again, this results in 55% of your drafted cards going into your deck. This is the best way to make sure you get the play with your cards that you open before they get shoved into that box that you barely use.
| One of these days, I'll build a Constructed deck around this guy. Or I could build a draft deck the next time I crack a pack. Decisions, decisions... |
| If you need a reason for why I hate black, look no further than this jerk right here. Evil incarnate, I tell you. Of course he is a demon, so I probably should have seen this one coming. |
Now there is a lot of complicated strategy that can go into drafting, such as knowing which cards to prioritize picking over others, how to tell what colors the other people at the table are in, and so on. But I recommend getting started and just seeing how the first few times go without worrying too much about it. I'll definitely be talking more about drafting in the future, so just go get your feet wet and see what happens.
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