Booster Draft
Limited · Pick, Pass, Build
In Booster Draft you build your deck at the event. Everyone opens boosters, keeps one card at a time, and passes the rest around the table. Reading the packs and building well matter as much as playing well, and that’s the fun of it.
The Rules
- 40 card minimum deck, built only from the cards you drafted plus basic lands. (CR 100.2b)
- No copy limit. Draft three of the same card and you can play all three. (CR 100.2b)
- Everything you drafted but didn’t play is your sideboard, and you can rebuild your deck between games of a match. (CR 100.4b)
- 20 starting life, matches usually best of three within your pod. (CR 103.4)
- Basic lands are provided, usually by the store. They don’t come out of the boosters.
How A Draft Runs
- Sit 6 to 8 players in a circle, three unopened boosters each.
- Everyone opens booster one, quietly picks one card to keep, and passes the rest to the left.
- Keep taking one card from each pack that arrives until the packs are empty.
- Booster two: same thing, pass right. Booster three: left again.
- Build your deck: 40 cards minimum from your picks, plus as many basic lands as you like.
- Play your matches against the rest of the pod.
Deck Makeup
- The classic build is 17 lands and 23 spells, exactly 40.
- Stay in two colors unless the packs hand you a reason not to. Around 14 to 16 creatures plus removal and a trick or two is a healthy shape.
- Curve beats power. A smooth run of two and three mana plays wins more games than a pile of expensive bombs.
Tips
For your first few picks, take efficient removal and standout rares. They’re great in whatever deck you end up building.
If strong cards in one color keep showing up late in the pack, the players ahead of you aren’t taking it. Sliding into an open color mid draft is how great drafts happen.
Marrying your first pick’s colors is a trap. Let the first several picks tell you what’s open.
Watch Out For
The deck is 40, not 45. Every extra card waters down your best draws, so trim to exactly 40.
Draft picks happen silently. Talking about what’s in the packs is against the rules of the draft.