HOLDER'S HEROES

Maybe you’re reading this article because you’ve never played Booster Draft before. Maybe you’ve played before, but you want to get better. Maybe you’re a veteran, and you want to see what other people have to say about it. Whatever your reason, I’m going to do my best to take you through a category of Booster Draft, what to bring, what to draft, etc. Study carefully, there will be a test.

1. What Is Booster Draft?
Booster Draft is a category of play in Redemption Tournaments that replaced Sealed Deck Multiplayer a few years ago. Almost everyone agrees that it’s definitely an improvement. The idea came around because several other CCGs/TCGs had had great success with Booster Draft at tournaments. Basically you and 2-4 other people have 7 packs each (1 each of Unlimited, Prophets, Apostles, Patriarchs, Kings, Angel Wars, and Priests) and the cards are passed around, each player taking one card, until that current expansion is finished. Each of the packs is gone through in this manner, until finished. I will explain more about this in detail later.

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2. Before You Begin Playing
Ok, a few details about pre-drafting. Usually Booster Draft occurs later in the average tournament day, normally after Type-1 2-player. Booster Draft costs around $10 dollars to play, which is actually a really great deal, considering that you’re getting $18 worth of packs! Plus, you’re already 7/10 of the way to getting a free pack with UPC’s. The tournament host will probably tell you to fill your name out on a provided card, check the Booster Draft category. Then go get 7-9 GENERIC (important) lost souls with no marks on the back, bends, etc. Also bring 50-70 empty sleeves, if you want to sleeve your cards. (You’ll look like a Booster Draft Pro if you do this by the way) When the Host calls all Booster Draft players, go find your card, and sit down in the EXACT spot you’re told to sit. In my experience, the host will want you to keep your $10 fee until you’re seated, then he/she goes around and collects everyone’s fee. The booster packs are distributed, and drafting begins when the host says to begin.

3. The Draft
Here it is, the moment of truth, The Draft. You’ll probably sitting at a table with 3-5 people at it. Each will have their own stack of seven packs. Your table might want to appoint a leader to help make sure drafting goes quickly and smoothly. When the host tells you to, everyone opens the Limited (Blue) pack. You look at the 8 cards, pick one, put it facedown (important), and wait for everyone else to do the same. Try to do this within 5 seconds as a courtesy to the other players. No one likes to wait for 30 seconds while one person carefully examines everything on every card. After you’ve picked your card, take the stack of remaining cards, and put it facedown by your opponent facedown. I like to leave my hand on the pile so the piles don’t get all mixed up and confused. After everyone’s finished, you take the stack of cards that the person to your right handed you. Note that in the first pack round, the packs are passed clockwise (left), in the second they’re passed counter-clockwise, and it alternates for every set until the end. Anyway, after you get cards passed to you, pick another card, put it facedown in the same pile, pass the remaining cards in the same direction, and all players continue this until everyone has eight cards in their facedown pile. Then you open the next pack (Prophets, Green) Pick one card, add it to your pile facedown, and this time pass to the right. Continue this process with all of the packs. At the end, everyone should have 66 cards drafted. Note that you are NOT allowed to look at cards once you have drafted them.

4. Building Your Deck
After all players have drafted their cards, players then build their Booster Draft Decks. You may choose to do it at the Draft table, or go somewhere else so no one sees what cards you got. The rules for deck building are simple. You build a deck just like in Type 1, except that double, even triple of the same card is allowed, and weapons do not stick to warriors. If you drafted a Special Ability Lost Soul, you can put it in your deck, but otherwise just put in the appropriate number of generic lost soul cards for the amount of cards in your deck. When you have your deck ready to go, sleeve your cards if you have sleeves, and get your deck checked by the host or a judge. You generally have 15-20 minutes to build your deck.

5. The Game
This is pretty much a standard multiplayer game. The person who draws the most amount of lost souls gets to go first, play proceeds to the left. First person to obtain 5 redeemed souls wins 3 points; the player with the second most gets 1 point. After the first game of booster draft, players get assigned different spots; winners will generally play winners from other tables. Same decks used for the first game will be used. At the end of all the games, the person with the most points wins first place, second most, second place, etc.

6. Conclusion
So that was my guide to Booster Draft, I might write a strategy guide later. If there are any comments, suggestions, props, etc. please let me know. I hope that my guide informed you in a small way, and that you will know how to better play Booster Draft!