Booster Drafts: What is it? Where Do They Occur? JCS drafts daily!!

[Worlock]

What is a Booster Draft?

Usually a draft consists of 8 players. Each player at the table starts with three unopened booster packs. Instead of just opening your cards and building a deck, you and the other players at the table have to draft the cards for your decks.

At the start of a Booster Draft, each player opens a pack and picks the card he or she wants from it. (You can’t see the cards that the other players draft.) Then each player passes the rest of the pack to his or her left. You pick up the pack that was passed to you, select a card, and pass the rest to your left. This process continues until all the cards have been drafted.

Next, each player opens a second pack, but this time, you pass the pack to your right. After all those cards are drafted, you open the third pack and pass to the left again. At the end of the draft, each player has forty-five cards-and unlimited basic lands-to build a deck with.

Read more about strategies behind booster drafting here.

Booster drafts in the Jacksonville area occurs as follows:

JCS booster drafts everyday with 8 interested players! However, Wednesdays the number of drafts surges to 2-7. We draft all day!!

JAX CARD SINGLES hosts sanctioned booster drafts everyday and is located at The Old Book Shop. $12 Entry, Single Elimination Tournament. 1.5 packs per player for prizes.  1st place gets 8 packs, second place gets 4 packs with no promos. It fires whenever there is 8 players interested.

Wednesdays starting after 330P JAX CARD SINGLES hosts sanctioned booster drafts at our shop located at The Old Book Shop. 1.5 packs per player for prizes. $12 Entry, Single Elimination Tournament, 1st place gets 8 packs, second place gets 4 packs with no promos. We hold multiple drafts starting as early as 3:30 pm and running as late as 9 PM! Drafts are available on a first come first serve basis. The second draft that you personally enter into each day is $10, while supplies last. We hold an average of four booster drafts every Wednesday!

Thursdays at 7P there is a MTG booster draft at Dan's Gameroom on Blanding Blvd (904-777-4548).

Fridays Jax Card Singles hosts a $12 single elimination booster draft at 330 pm, at 630 pm and a $15 Friday Night Magic booster draft at 930pm. We also host a $12 booster draft at midnight. 1.5 packs per player. The Friday Night Magic draft is ran at 3 rounds of Swiss. Top 4 get prizes (5-3-2-2) and the FNM promo.

Universe of Superheroes at Jacksonville Beach hosts a Friday Night Magic Booster Draft at 8:30 pm.

Saturdays at 1:00 pm Jax Card Singles hosts $12 booster drafts of the latest set at at our shop located at The Old Book Shop (3142 Beach Boulevard). One and 1/2 packs per player will go into the prize pool or store credit will be given. We have lots of seats and an awesome game room so we hope you will join us. Single Elimination, 1st place gets 8 packs, second place gets 4 packs with no promos. There are several drafts held on this day and are available on a first come first serve basis. The second draft that you personally enter into each day is $10, while supplies last.

Saturdays at 7:30 PM there is a booster draft run at Alter Egos at 400 Madison Avenue, Suite 6 Orange Park, 32065. (904) 213-4007. There is also a booster draft on Saturdays at Red Beards and Wizards in St. Augustine at 6:30 pm.

To learn more about what booster drafting is and how can you booster draft, please read this article here.

For a list of the upcoming Magic the Gathering events check out our schedule here.

At any time you can Go Infinite in our 1v1 Go Infinite Magic 2013 League. $12 per person entry. Two people then receive three booster packs each, draft 1 versus 1, then build their own 40 card decks and compete with each other. Basic lands are provided. They then play the best out of 5 games. The winner gets three booster packs or a free 1v1 entrance certificate! Earn 3 points for a win and 1 point for a loss in our league and accumulate points to compete for a booster box of the latest product distributed to the winner of the monthly league!

The Magic 2013 Core League will also include the M13 goblin tokens to the finalists with the top 10 most points in our 1v1 league at the end of each month. League days are Sundays and Tuesdays but if you can catch a game with someone on any given day it still counts!

If you want to wrack up points get then you're best bet is ANY day! Just come down and find someone to 1v1 with and you'll draft all the new cards you need for your deck! But of course we can help you flesh out your deck as well!

Want to make big money playing booster drafts?   JCS now is hosting High Roller Booster Draft Tournaments on Tuesdays and Saturdays. For $27 entry 8 players booster draft in a single elimination tournament. Winner receives $100 in store credit and second place receives $50 store credit.

[Worlock]

Yeah we're pretty much going to be up for drafting MTG everyday from now on. We're looking into discounted drafts!

 

[Worlock]

Can’t find enough people for that 8-person booster draft? Try our new 1v1 Go Infinite League! $12 per person. Two players each receive 3 booster packs. They then draft one-on-one and play best out of five games. The winner earns 3 points and a free 1v1 entrance. The loser gets 1 point. Each month the winner with the most points gets a free booster box of product! Jean-Luc Blanchet was January’s winner! Chris Mahaffay and Chad Rosenberg split March's booster box. John Fryza was April's winner.

[Worlock]

By: Chad Rosenberg (7/22/2011)

      Breaking Bad Habits: Philosophy 101                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

         Hello folks and welcome to the first installment of Breaking Bad Habits, a series where I’m going to try and explain my sometimes unorthodox thought process for limited Magic the Gathering. For those of you who don’t know me I’ve been playing Magic for almost 14 years now, most of that time spent figuring out which 22 to 24 cards to play out of my draft pool. Don’t get me wrong ill occasionally pick up a 60 cards and play in fnm, but I’m the guy who will show up at nationals just for the side drafts (As a side note this is article my opinion, and is by no means the only way to be successful at limited or a do this not that guide).

          When I first started drafting I used an acronym for pick order that most players adhere to, BREAD. Bombs, Removal, Efficient cards, Aggressive threats, and Dregs. While this is a great basis to be consistent, I’ve found that picking cards that fit deck synergy, curve, and play style almost always mesh together as a better deck.  What I mean is just because you open fireball doesn’t mean you should automatically take it because it’s the best removal spell in the pack, sometimes the cudgel troll is just better in your red green aggressive deck. In all honesty, most removal spells are overrated.

         The thing about limited is under all of the subtle combos and combat tricks it comes down to who can play the most threats. Creatures put pressure and make your opponent make decisions, whereas removal is extremely reactive. Picking Chandra’s Outrage over Sengir Vampire is not uncommon or particularly bad, because the outrage removes most threats including the vampire. But what if you draw the outrage and they don’t have him in play? Do you cast it on a random 2/2 flier putting you on a clock just to have them slam the sengir down the next turn? What if they on the curve play the 4/4 vamp and you are stuck with the doom blade you took over Serra Angel pick one and the outrage is nowhere to be found? What if the sengir player is black white and has been representing Stave Off all game? Do you call his bluff and end up cold if he actually has it? That’s a really bad spot to be in, and it’s always better to have the opponent making difficult decisions, because sometimes they just make the wrong ones.

        I’ll say it again; being proactive is how you win. Recently I was going over pick orders with a few people for M12, and the pack I opened had Day of Judgment and Overrun as the only notable first picks. To me the obvious pick here is Overrun, but to almost everyone else it was Day of Judgment. Why? Granted board sweepers can just blow out your opponent, especially when they don’t know you have it, casting Overrun just wins the game where Day of Judgment stops you from losing. Obviously if you have zero board presence you will be wishing that you picked DoJ, but that is a very polarized situation where even casting the card may not be enough to win. In a core set, where both sides tend to build up creatures more often, Overrun just breaks the stalemate either killing them or forcing them to lose almost everything blocking your guys.

        Efficient utility spells are also often picked after removal when the utility is just better.  An example is the aforementioned Stave Off, which I feel is extremely underrated. If its 4th or 5th pick and the pack has Shock and Stave Off left, most players take the shock there, but I’m taking the protection spell most of the time. While there are certainly situations where shock is an all star, like when you need to get rid of that pesky Merfolk Looter or Gideon’s Lawkeeper, past that you usually have to make an obvious block or 2 for 1 yourself to get value from the card late in the game. Stave Off on the other hand protects from just about every removal spell, can save an attacking or blocking guy from a combat trick, and can sometimes just give protection to swing for the win. Cards like Act of Treason and from scars block; Quicksilver Geyser can also be way more devastating than strict removal. Generating huge amounts of tempo by end of turn bouncing 2 4 cost guys or taking the 5 drop they cast to try and stabilize can just end the game.

         Whatever you do, don’t go to your local shop and draft 18 creatures with no removal spells after reading this. Removal is still necessary and still has to be picked high, since everyone else at the table will be snatching it all up quickly. Just make sure to consider your deck and the quality of the removal spell before making the pick. Mind Control, Doom Blade, and Oblivion Ring should still be almost always picked first, since they will always be able to remove threats. Maybe pass on that Sorin’s Thirst, Arachnus Web, and Shock (which all can be unspectacular at times) to fill your curve out.

       For what it’s worth, hopefully this helped shed some light on a different way to look at picks and will make you think more abstractly. Tune in next week where I’ll be going over reading and sending signals, along with what creatures to pick over others.

Until then                                     

Chad Rosenberg

[Worlock]

At any time you can Go Infinite in our 1v1 Go Infinite Magic 2013 League. $12 per person entry. Two people then receive three booster packs each, draft 1 versus 1, then build their own 40 card decks and compete with each other. Basic lands are provided. They then play the best out of 5 games. The winner gets three booster packs or a free 1v1 entrance certificate! Earn 3 points for a win and 1 point for a loss in our league and accumulate points to compete for a booster box of the latest product distributed to the winner of the monthly league!

The Magic 2013 Core League will also include the M13 goblin tokens to the finalists with the top 10 most points in our 1v1 league at the end of each month. League days are Sundays and Tuesdays but if you can catch a game with someone on any given day it still counts!

If you want to wrack up points get then you're best bet is ANY day! Just come down and find someone to 1v1 with and you'll draft all the new cards you need for your deck! But of course we can help you flesh out your deck as well!