Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Draftstravaganza!: The Metalcraft Yule Log Edition

I'm planning another Christmas Draftstravaganza this year. CBG is probably not going to make it, which is sad, but I will try to do some documentation myself to post up on this here site. I feel like the formats were somewhat uninspired this year, but I am going to try to spice things up with some smaller prizes that should hopefully make things more interesting. I'll spoil one of the contests to give you an idea of the flavor of what I want to do; I'm going to give a prize immediately after drafting Scars of Mirrodin to the player who drafted the least number of artifacts and Infect cards combined. The idea is that it's sort of a "pre-event" consolation prize, because the field is so dominated by those two strategies, and everyone knows it. But because I will announce the prize prior to drafting, the prize itself may affect the draft. I expect to see more last pick Golden Urns and Vector Asps instead of Assault Strobes and Turn Asides. Also, there are some tier 2 strategies (e.g. Furnace Celebration.dec and G/x "Dinosaurs") that don't buy into Infect or artifact cards, and I'd like to see if people push those archetypes more. Ultimately I'm trying to make things a touch less competitive and more a touch more unique.

Here's the schedule of events, if anyone is interested.

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Three drafts. One day. DCI tiebreaks, timed rounds.

Prizes! Each draft will have a 1 pack ante in addition to any packs drafted. As long as there are at least 8 people, prize packs will pay down to 3rd. For drafts where packs are opened, Mythics/Rares/foils can be drafted afterward, assuming there is enough time to do so (So, TBD prior to each draft, you'll know before drafting). A draft set will be awarded to the drafter with the best record over all three events! Other prizes may be awarded throughout the day as the TO sees fit!

Food! Free brunch will be provided at about 11 AM! We can then order food and split the cost around 4 or 5 for dinner. Free snacks and beverages will be available throughout!

Formats!

Draft 1: Scars of Mirrodin Draft
Time: A noon HARD START will be enforced for this event. Sorry guys, but with three events we've got to start the day on time or we'll never finish! I suggest coming at 11 AM and eating some FREE BRUNCH! At 12 PM seating will assigned and at 12:05 PM the draft will begin. For realz.
Cost: $12 OR a draft set of Scars and one pack ante.

Draft 2: Chaos! Draft
Time: Roughly 5 PM. We may be willing to hold the draft a little to accommodate drafters coming from work.
Cost: $12 OR 4 tournament legal packs (3 packs for drafting, one pack for ante). Players choosing to pay $ will get three pulls at random from a bag containing packs from Magic's history!

Draft 3: Cube Draft (16 person max)
Time: Roughly 10 PM. The start time on this draft could be significantly earlier if there are fewer than 9 people at the other drafts. I HOPE this will be the latest start time likely for the final draft!
Cost: $3 OR 1 pack ante.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Pirate Draft League

Hey all! We've had two new drafts on the pirate ship One Eye so let's go to the updated standings.
NameRecordPoints/Event
Jacob B
Tim N
Jonathan B
Thomas C
Greg O
Brendan H
Alexis R
Matt R
Rob B
Caleb R
Ash O
8-1
9-3
7-4
3-2-1
6-7-2
3-4-2
3-5-1
5-12
2-5
1-5
1-4
7.62
6.75
5.50
5.00
4.34
4.00
4.00
3.22
3.00
2.22
1.57


Some notes: I had made a mistake in the tiebreakers for the December 1st event, so Alexis R and Chris W both lost a point from that event and Greg O gained 2. The latest RGD draft was awesome, though a Madison player came in and pwned (boo! (actually, just kidding, he was a very nice houseguest)). While I am still keeping complete standings, the only draft league standings shown are from players with at least 2 events, to simplify things and try to keep the data a little less outlier prone. Finally, my ship was referred to as the HMS One Eye in the last Pirate post, which is obviously incorrect, as it implies my ship is in the Royal Navy, which it is not. We fly a pirate flag around here, and the sea is our home, you salty dogs, er, cats.