Draft (keyword action)
- For the limited format, see Draft.
| Draft | |
|---|---|
| Keyword Action | |
| Introduced | Alchemy: Innistrad |
| Last used | Alchemy: Ixalan |
| Reminder Text | Draft (Select one of three random cards from the card’s spellbook and add it to your hand.) |
| Statistics |
32 cards  3.1%  9.4%  6.3%  15.6%  12.5%  25%  3.1%  3.1%  3.1%  3.1%  9.4%  3.1%  3.1% |
| Scryfall Search | |
| fulloracle:"draft a card from" | |
Draft is a designed-for-digital, MTG Arena-specific keyword action introduced in Alchemy: Innistrad.[1][2] It is paired exclusively with the spellbook mechanic and allows players to create a card in their hand from a choice of three random cards which were not originally in the player's deck or sideboard. Similar to conjure, the cards are created from the action itself, but behave like normal cards thereafter.
Description
Each card that can perform the draft action has a predefined spellbook, a curated list of up to 15 flavor-resonant cards. When a card's abilities cause it to draft from its spellbook, its controller is presented with three cards chosen at random from the spellbook list, then selects one of those three to put into their hand.[2]
Drafted cards are created from nothing: they don't actually exist before the action happens, and they aren't moved out of the spellbook or from anywhere else when they're drafted. That card could therefore be randomly selected from the same spellbook again, and if it is, the player could select it again to get more instances of the same card.[3]
Related mechanics
Conjured cards behave just like drafted ones - that is, they're just like any other card other than the fact they didn't exist before being created. However, the two designed-for-digital mechanics share no terminology, in-game relationship, or game rules. Unlike conjure, draft is tied exclusively to the spellbook mechanic, although a few cards blend the two ideas by conjuring from a spellbook rather than drafting from it.[a]
Drafting and conjuring are similar to effects that access cards from outside the game: the game doesn't recognize those cards as existing before being brought in, they behave like normal cards once brought in, and they don't remain in a deck once the game ends. It's also likely that the spellbook size of fifteen was inspired by the typical size of the sideboard that "outside the game" effects choose from. However, drafted cards don't need to be collected and legally owned by players, and they don't need to be legal in the format being played.
History
Prior to the introduction of draft, Davriel, Soul Broker's conditions and offers had a prototypical version where one drafted positive and negative emblems out of his contracts. The choices were of a selection of eight rather than fifteen.
Drafting from a spellbook was introduced in Alchemy: Innistrad.[2] Break Expectations from the same set is unique in that it is the only draft card that allows an opponent to draft from its spellbook.
Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate introduced The Hourglass Coven, the first card to allow more than one spellbook draft at a time.
Rules
Draft is not included as part of the Comprehensive Rules.[4] It operates according to the programmed rules of Magic: The Gathering Arena.
Example
Example
Ishkanah, Broodmother 
Legendary Creature — Spider
3/5
Reach
Other Spiders you control get +1/+2
, Exile two cards from your graveyard: Draft a card from Ishkanah, Broodmother's spellbook.
- Ishkanah's spellbook
Notes
- ↑ Scryfall search: o:/conjure[^.]*from[^.]*spellbook/
References
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (December 2, 2021). "MTG Arena: State - Alchemy". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c David Humpherys (December 8, 2021). "Designing for Alchemy". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Blake Rasmussen (December 4, 2021). "We talked about it on stream.". Twitter.
- ↑ Matt Tabak (August 2, 2021). "The Comp Rules aren’t being updated to explicitly support the Arena-only cards at this time.". Twitter.