Are you a Quiet Speculation member?
If not, now is a perfect time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking-news analysis, and exclusive Discord channel will make sure you stay up to date and ahead of the curve.
When expensive cards are features of a sealed deck environment, players inevitably drop to keep their pool to avoid the dreaded deck swap. Today, a new procedure was announced to allow players to keep the cards they open AND play in the tournament.
Each player is distributed six booster packs. The boosters will be marked in a way that distinguishes they came from the tournament organizer for that event.
Players on one side of each table open their boosters (Player A). The player directly across (Player B) observes this. Both players will observe and verify the contents of those boosters. After this process, the opened cards are stacked face down in a single pile and placed near Player B.
Player B will now open their boosters. Player A observes. Both players will observe and verify the contents. After this process, the opened cards are stacked face down in a single pile and placed near Player A.
Player A then registers the contents of Player B's pool, and vice versa.
After registration, each player returns the registered card pool to the player who originally opened the pool.
Players build and record decks as normal.
Two players seated near me at a PPTQ last weekend dropped to keep their pools, and they were definitely bummed about missing the tournament. I think this change is great, and really any change that encourages players to play more Magic is definitely a good one.
This is great.
Next step is to change how Expeditions are handled in drafts.
My proposal:
If you open an Expedition you have two choices:
1) You may draft it as normal and pass the remaining 14 cards. It is part of your pool and playable in your deck.
2) You may reveal it to the table (gloating optional), set it aside face-up (in 100000 layers of sleeves), and make your first pick as normal. The Expedition is not permitted to be included in your pool. You forfeit your final pick in that pack (since you already have your “15th card”.
Thoughts?
I like both proposals here, option 2 seems to be the better for the sake of drafting a legit deck though.
Yeah, I feel like you should just lose your first pick…especially since getting a premium land is quite good in limited formats instead of a card that made it around the table to be picked last.
Actually, I agree with this reasoning. No matter what, an Expedition will likely be more usable than the last card in a pack.
Enjoy this, but I’m wondering how many TOs will actually mark boosters “in a way that distinguishes”. Depending on the size of the event, that can be a significant pre-distribution task for judges/staff. If–as I suspect–many TOs will not mark the packs, then we’ve the potential for abuse.