Booster Draft Every Expansion?

[emidln]

Would there be any interest in a Magic: the Gathering(tm) "expansion draft" at a major event such as a PT/GP or a SCG P9 event? Because of the format, it would have to be unsanctioned. The idea is the following:

- 1 pack from every core set from Revised through 9th Edition
- 1 pack from every expansion from Arabian Nights to the latest expansion (excluding Antiquities unless I could find a pack)
- 1 pack from Portal, Portal Second Age, Portal Three Kingdoms, Start 1999, Unglued, and Unhinged
- 1 additional pack of Fallen Empires, Homelands, and the Dark to balance out the card pool

16 Players would rochester draft the packs, 1 pack at a time, unless an 8-card booster was selected, then another (not alliances or arabian nights if one or the other was selected). Each player would end up with either three 15 card boosters or two 15 card boosters and two 8 card boosters. Players would then be divided into two tables to draft.

If you would open an 8 card pack you may open your other 8 card pack at the same time, combine the 2 packs, and draft 1 card.

Ideally, each player would end up with about 2 cards from half of the expansions in the history of magic and unlimited basic land with which to construct a deck. As this is a limited format, ante cards would be legal if they are happened upon.

The format of the tournament would be four rounds of Swiss with a cut to Top 4. I don't know what prizes would be. I guess we could do a rare-draft at the endI figured out that the cost (according to SCG's online prices for packs) would be about $30-$35 per person for 16 people. Maybe $3 more or so figuring in sleeves for everyone's deck. Also, drafting the rares at the end according to finish would probably be a good idea to prevent rare-drafting.

How does that sound? Assuming this was held at a GP/PT/other large event that you were thinking about attending, would you sign up for this at $35 (cost)? I'm trying to gauge a response as I'd like to try it out. If we could get 32 people interested, 2 of each pack could be arranged for with four tables. Questions? Ideas? Concerns?

[Harkius]

This is an interesting idea. On the one hand, you have the most divergent card pool that there could be, and a vast majority of these sets were only slightly designed to be playable in Limited formats. On the other, you are talking about Rochester Draft, which is nearly universally considered the most skill-intensive format of MtG. Kind of interesting. You might have better luck on replies if you named a date, though, since people don't want to falsely sign up for an event they may not be able to make it to.

I would be interested in hearing about how it goes, though. I don't really get to travel too much, so I probably couldn't play, but I would like to read about it.

Harkius

[emidln]

This is an interesting idea. On the one hand, you have the most divergent card pool that there could be, and a vast majority of these sets were only slightly designed to be playable in Limited formats. On the other, you are talking about Rochester Draft, which is nearly universally considered the most skill-intensive format of MtG. Kind of interesting. You might have better luck on replies if you named a date, though, since people don't want to falsely sign up for an event they may not be able to make it to.

I would be interested in hearing about how it goes, though. I don't really get to travel too much, so I probably couldn't play, but I would like to read about it.

Harkius

I'd like a date myself, but I'm not sure nough people would be interested in it for me to make the investment. It might be better if I contacted SCG about it. They might be able to do it for cheaper anyway and publicize better.

[Matt]

Rochester Draft is also considered the slowest drafting format.

[emidln]

Rochester Draft is also considered the slowest drafting format.

Rochester would only be used for the initial drafting of packs. After that, drafting would revert to everyone opens one of their packs, picks a card, and passes the pack.

[cosineme]

This is an interesting idea. On the one hand, you have the most divergent card pool that there could be, and a vast majority of these sets were only slightly designed to be playable in Limited formats. On the other, you are talking about Rochester Draft, which is nearly universally considered the most skill-intensive format of MtG. Kind of interesting. You might have better luck on replies if you named a date, though, since people don't want to falsely sign up for an event they may not be able to make it to.

I would be interested in hearing about how it goes, though. I don't really get to travel too much, so I probably couldn't play, but I would like to read about it.

Harkius

i think you got this wrong. rochester is the least skill-intensive draft format specifically because seat and position determine almost every single pick. with full knowledge, everybody knows what they are being passed, and with full knowledge, any off picks are easily retaliated. as such, most people (pros) comply to the norms and aside from the first few picks, most everybody is essentially passed their decks.