My New favorite limited format.
Limited forum
Posted on July 17, 2017, 4:36 p.m. by Dracoson
So, this last weekend my LGS did a limited event, firing typical drafts for as long as people were willing to play, with all participants getting the promo Ramunap Excavator while supplies lasted. Towards the end of the day, when it became clear that one more pod wasn't going to go, people cut, leaving basically just me and the TO/Owner while the finals of the last pod played it out.
Knowing I am always down for playing, the TO asks if I've ever played a Winston Draft. I hadn't. While I've played magic for a long time, most of that time was spent isolated from the larger magic community (lived in a small town with no LGS, playing mostly freeform kitchen table magic with whatever we had on hand). He offered to teach me, assuring me it was simple enough. I agreed, and I had a blast.
It's perfect. A one vs one draft format that's fair and fun, so I figured that I would share the rules here, so without further ado:
1. Start with a randomized pile of 90 cards face down between the two players. In our case we each supplied a draft set, removed the token, and shuffled all together without looking at any of the cards, but you could just as easily do this with more of a cube approach.
2. Place 3 cards onto the table face down. For simplicity sake, we will call them piles A, B, and C, in addition to the main pile.
3. Choose a player to draft first. The player whose turn it is will look at pile A, and will have the option to take that pile or pass on it. If they take, they get all the cards in that pile and adds it to their pool (face down) and it becomes the next players turn. If they pass, put a card from the main pile on top of it face down, and then they look at Pile B. Again, they may take or pass, ending their turn if they take and adding a card to the pile if they pass and moving onto Pile C. Once again, they can either take the pile (ending their turn) or pass (adding a card), but on a pass, they must take the card on top of the main pile. You can look at your own pool at any point.
4. The draft continues until all cards have been selected. Then, just like a typical limited format each player builds a 40 card deck, adding basic lands, and then play.
It's that simple. Any fun stories about Winston Draft, or questions, post them up!
EmblemMan says... #2
This is how me and my friend draft his cube when its just us two. Theres another way called grid drafting but i kind of prefer the pile drafting (winston as you call it). The most keks and lels I have from pile drafting is when you and the other guy just arent drafting a certain archetype or color and so one pile gets really high and you end up taking that pile and changing your colors.
July 17, 2017 5:31 p.m.