Draft

This page is about all draft formats. For the most common draft format, see Booster Draft.

Draft or Card drafting is the process where players pick cards from a limited subset, such as a common pool, to gain some immediate advantage or to assemble hands of cards that are used to meet objectives within the game. With the introduction of the Designed-for-digital Spellbook mechanic in Alchemy: Innistrad, Draft became a nominal keyword action.

Description

Games where cards are simply drawn from a pile are not card drafting games - drafting implies that players have some sort of choice.

The most commonly known draft format in Magic: The Gathering is Booster Draft. But there are many casual variants, as well. Examples are Auction Draft Flavor Draft and Chaos Draft.

Draft matters

Conspiracy Draft has a "draft matters" theme.

Draft stamps

At most high level draft events (Players Tours, Grand Prix, etc.), the organizers stamp the cards used in each draft with a unique stamp. This prevents players from cheating by swapping cards from outside the draft into their decks. Different symbols and stamp colors are used for each different draft round. The positions of the stamps on the cards are also significant, and allow the organizers to recreate the draft from scratch if necessary.

External links

• Gavin Verhey (July 28, 2016). "Don't Hate Draft!". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Gavin Verhey (October 5, 2017). "The Butterfly Effect". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.