We recently organised a Booster Draft Armory and cracked a box of Tales of Aria in the store which was shared out between 8 people. In case you haven’t played Draft before here’s what happens:
- Each person gets 3 packs each
- The first pack is opened and Tokens are pooled
- Then each person picks one card before passing the remainder cards to the person on the left; cards are placed face down
- This goes on till all the cards have been picked out
- Pack two is opened and the same thing happens except this time the remainder cards are circled to the person on the right
- Once all the cards from pack two have been distributed out then all players get some time to look at the cards they have collected so far to determine which character they want to play
- The final pack is then opened and the cards are then circled to the person on the left
- Once all packs have been opened everyone is given an opportunity to assemble their decks with a minimum of 30 cards
- Tokens from the pool are distributed with additional Character Tokens provided by the store if needed
For more detailed instructions as to how Booster Draft is played; check out the Official FAB website here.
As it was my first time playing Booster Draft it was quite an experience so here are 3 tips for beginners.
Generic cards first
Take the Generic / Element type cards first so you’ll have useable cards regardless of what Character you end up picking
When do I specialise?
You can start specialising cards early if you’re fairly certain from the get go what Character you’d be piloting. If not, specialisation can happen when pack two is being circulated.
Deny your opponents
Sometimes; taking that Majestic or Rare card is a good idea even if you don’t need it as taking possession of said cards denies your opponents powerful cards to use against you (plus it doesn’t hurt that you add a powerful card to your own collection). Also, if you understand how other Characters work it makes sense to take even the Common cards that’d give your opponents an advantage. For e.g. Ball Lightning is a pretty powerful card and denying a Briar or Lexi player of that card could be instrumental in your strategy.
All in all it was a fun experience and one that I’d definitely take part in again. Also, the experienced thought me some fundamentals that allowed me to build a deck list of my own for Blitz which I am particularly proud of. Look out for a future post on it.
Till next time, happy hobbying!
Storm Gate Games 