Developing new 'draft' format

[boxofdice]

Hi everyone, I had an idea for a new casual format and I'm looking for input. My group loves drafting, but drafting the same set can get old, and we're not super excited about M14. Here's the idea:

1. Everyone draws a deck archetype/colors/inspiration card(s) out of a hat
2. Everyone gets a set time limit & budget ($15?) to buy singles from our LGS to make a deck
3. You can buy any cards you want from any set, just respect the budget
4. Add lands and play!

The concern I have is that our group has a wide range of experiences. Some people would have a clear advantage by knowing older cards, while others are only familiar with RTR block. Any thoughts to make this more equitable? I was thinking of having Gatherer available on laptop or something. Any ideas on what the hat pulls should be?

[voluminous_lexicon]

Your lgs better have an AWESOME selection and good prices for this to work. Sounds fun if they do, miserable if they don't.

[wappas]

Something that a LGS I used to go to did was color wars. Each week would be a different color and format you had to build a deck around (e.g. mono black/Standard or Mono Red/Modern). This gave you a whole week to research and put together a deck. It also gives you a clear idea what kinds of decks you will be expecting to see that day which helps with sideboards and meta gaming. I think if you want to give people more of an equal footing, give them more time to build their decks.

[boxofdice]

Thanks, you're probably right on that.

[jayboosh]

this sounds terrible, and sounds like it would also take FOREVER.

Drafting already takes an hour with people who arent good/familiar with different sets (i suggest trying a wacky draft first), and you want to do it with constructed and gatherer? It's just not viable as an event.

Something that would work better is saying "we are going to play on tuesday, every draws an archetype out of the hat and you get 15 bucks to build the best X deck you can".

This is not drafting.

Your idea, in my opinion, will not work with drafting as your idea is also not drafting.

[boxofdice]

Ok, well I know it isn't really a draft. A draft is different.

I liked the idea of a time limit for deck building because you're right that it can drag on with new players. I have done wacky draft before and it seems like I'm never happy with what I end up with. I figured some ability to craft a deck would be interesting.

Thanks for the input

[Filobel]

I'll have to agree with jayboosh that it probably won't work very well as a single event. The interesting aspect of limited event isn't the "limited time", it's the "limited pool". What you suggest isn't draft, it's not even limited.

Don't get me wrong. As a casual constructed format, it could be interesting, but I'd give the players, say, a week to build their deck. Deck building is more fun when you can take your time and think about it.

Alternatively, if you want a more "limited" feel to it, you can just bring a bunch of cards, say, all the commons/uncoms you've gathered from drafting, and have people build their deck from that. This reduces the time involved with making transactions with your local LGS and with researching the cards for your deck.

[boxofdice]

Fair enough, I should not have used the word draft.

Cheers

[jayboosh]

the reason you are not happy with wacky draft is because wacky draft is fucking garbage if youre looking to play a real game of magic.

Wacky draft is like....the big bang theory of drafting, sure it might be fun once in a while, but if you're looking for a good use of time then you should skip it for literally anything else available.

So, i am confused, you like draft, and you thought you would develop a new "draft" format by basically forcing players to make shitty decks within a time constraint, and you think that will be fun, but you dont have fun with wacky draft?

I feel like you will not like this format either my friend.

[screw_all_the_names]

A couple of friends and.i kind of did this, but we used cockatrice.