Regarding booster pack contents
Asked by MagnorCriol 13 years ago
So let's just say that I have a bunch of cards from an expansion lying around. Let's also say that my friends and I have a desire to practice drafting, and while this site's simulator is good, there's just something about the tactile satisfaction of handling physical cards.
If I gather my cards up, separate them into rarity-based piles (combining rares and mythics, and putting foils in with the commons) and shuffle each pile, can I then take 10 commons, 3 uncommons, and 1 rare and make myself a homemade booster pack?
More precisely, I imagine it's not actually this simple, but I don't know what I'm missing. Is there any way to make this work, or does it require computers and machines not found outside the cardboard foundries of WotC?
KrazyCaley says... #2
This format is really one of the most fun because it's so random (and cheap).
December 11, 2010 5:19 a.m.
MagnorCriol says... #3
Well, pretty isn't something we're really concerned about. This would be just for us, and since the "packs" only need to last for a session, we'll probably just do rubber bands around the pack of 14, or something along those lines. And honestly we'll prolly not bother with the token and (non-foil) basic land; they get dumped out of the pack anyhow.
What I'm really wondering, though (and half the reason of this question - since it's as much a curiosity as it is a practical real-life "how-do-I" question) is how to avoid the doubles.
Real magic boosters, of course, don't have doubles of cards, at least not that I've ever seen. How can a person at home skirt that? Is there any way, or is that something managed by the computers at the printing/packaging departments that somehow track things like that (presumably through monitoring the print sheets, maybe...)?
December 11, 2010 5:24 a.m.
If you want to draft cheaply, some card shops also sell "repack" boosters, which are basically what you described up the top (10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare) packed together in a cheap plastic or paper sleeve. These can vary from shop to shop in several ways, some will mix a few sets into each booster, for the most part the rares will be EXTREMELY average, but for one dollar ($1) per booster, you can still have some good fun.
December 11, 2010 7:04 a.m.
Jarrod_0067 says... #5
I did this not long ago. Only problem is you need enough cards from a single set. If you want to do this, I would suggest looking at your cards. If you have enough cards to make 24 boosters (336 total, 240 common, 72 uncommon, about 20 rares and 4 mythics).
Get together two of each common in the set that you can find, then shuffle the remaining commons together and add cards singly until you have 240.
For uncommons you should have 1 of each you can find from that set. Repeat the above steps until you have 72. Finally, get together all the rares you want to use and deal out 24 of them.
Randomize the commons, 21 pile shuffle usually works good (since it is a multiple of 7, the "sweet" number according to most sites). Then repeat, dealing into the 24 piles, or "boosters". Repeat with the uncommons and lastly put the rares on top.
This I found made very similar decks to normal drafting.
Hope this helps
December 11, 2010 8:28 a.m.
I assume it's computer controlled in order to not get duplicates within a rarity (foils counting separately from everything else, but replacing a common). The best way I can think of is to have another person who won't be in the draft (and can keep their mouth shut :P ) just run through the packs afterwards to make sure there's no duplicates.
If you wanted to be cool, you could put 11 commons in, and actually have a 15-card booster, unlike these crap 14-card ones that Wizards is giving us now.
December 11, 2010 11:31 a.m.
MagnorCriol says... #7
Thanks, guys. I'll think I might just use your "impartial pack-checker" idea, sporkife. Barring that, eh, we might just forget it and accept that packs may have doubles and just run with it that way.
It wouldn't be an exact simulation of an official draft, but that wouldn't stop it from being fun, and it doesn't change the main principles of drafting so it'd still be reasonable practice too.
Jarrod_0067, number of cards isn't really a problem; I've got a lot of cards sitting around, and if my friends want to do this they'll pitch in their extras as well so we should have plenty.
December 11, 2010 12:41 p.m.
mistergreen527 says... #8
Also, if you plan on including mythic rares, about one in every eight packs has a mythic instead of a normal rare.
hamburgers says... Accepted answer #1
Nothing is really stopping you from doing so, as a casual thing with your friends. It won't look pretty, but all you have to do is take some kind of small container, it could be anything from a washed out altoids tin to a ziploc bag, or whatever really, to hold the cards together, and sit down roun' them there kitchen table and practice draft. Just make sure to put a land and token in each pack, and no doubles! :D
December 11, 2010 4:47 a.m.