Experienced Magic: Arena players know that drafting or playing sealed can be extremely valuable when it comes to fishing for cards. Not only do these formats allow players to fish for specific cards (drafts are awesome for that), but players will often earn enough gems to roll right into another draft or sealed. With skill (and a little bit of luck), you might be able to keep going for a while, earning a lot of free packs in the process.

 

Needless to say, these two formats are very popular within the Magic: Arena community. Some players will almost exclusively reserve their playing time to drafting or running sealed, forgoing constructed almost altogether. You feel somewhat of a rush each time you play either format, as you never know what you will end up playing. Which brings us back to our question: which of these two formats is your favorite?

 

 

Drafting can be seen as playing a game within the game. Let’s be honest, drafting your cards is almost as exciting as playing your deck (if not more). Every time you sign up to draft, you get that little buzz of excitement that has you thinking “What am I going to get?” (same goes for sealed, but in a very different way). In a draft, your first pick can often be crucial, as it will determine where your focus lies as far as colors and strategy go. It’s possible to change course later on, but every experienced player will tell you that it’s a little tricky to change plans in the middle of a draft.

 

For those unfamiliar with drafting: each player starts with 3 booster packs. All players open their first pack, pick one card then pass the remaining cards to the player to their left. They then select a card from the pack that was passed to them, passing again to their left once they are done with their selection. Play proceeds until all the cards have been drafted. You repeat the process for the 2nd pack, going to the right this time, then you go back to passing to the left for the 3rd pack. Each player ends up having 45 cards from which they build a deck of 40 cards.

 

 

There are 2 types of draft formats in Magic: Arena - Quick and Premier. In a Quick draft, each player drafts on their own, selecting cards from a private pool of cards. The AI acts as “ghosts” and removes cards from the pool as if packs were rotating around a table of 8 players. In a Premier draft, 8 active players select cards from the same pool of cards. Although this format is a bit more expensive and requires a little more time, it’s more accurate when it comes to reenacting a real MtG draft.

 

Drafting requires good analytical skills, as you will sometimes be hard pressed to quickly judge which card is the most helpful (drafting each card is timed). You also need to be on the lookout for good splash cards, since those often end up being game changers (splash cards are cards that are not in your predominant colors). In drafts, the excitement comes from not being completely in charge. The deck you’ll be playing depends on the choices you make, but also on the decisions of the other players. Remember, players are competing for cards here.

 

 

Playing a sealed is as exciting as competing in a draft, yet the challenges are completely different. Whereas drafting requires you to pick cards strategically in order to find good synergy, you have to optimize when playing sealed. You might end up having more cards in the end (you get 6 boosters in a sealed, for a total of 90 cards), but your options are a bit more limited since you never get to see cards from the other players’ pools. In other words, you open your 6 booster packs, and you deal with what you’re given.

 

A good sealed player will be able to look at his or her cards and see the best deck available. It’s almost like solving a puzzle (there’s obviously a little bit of that in drafts but it’s much more important when playing sealed). Also, players will be more open to changing strategy, as there might be another deck that turns out to be optimal once you’ve seen what the other players are playing. I often see 2 possible deck solutions when I play sealed. And since matchups are key when playing Magic, you might want to adapt to your opponents if you have cards that could counter their strategy.

 

 

As you can see, both formats have their own little twists that give them their own identity. Both are fun and exciting, you really can’t go wrong playing either. This said, I do prefer drafting. I always get a kick out of the draft itself, not only from selecting my cards, but from trying to read what the other players are drafting. If you read well, you can sometimes tell what the others are playing and you can adjust your decisions accordingly.

 

What do you think? Do you have a favorite format? And what are the reasons?

 

Until next time fellow gamers!