Booster Draft Tournaments!

I know what everyone is thinking. "What is wrong with you? Why are you 'blogging' again, we did not even play, and we have not even read the last recap!"
Well, I just happened to have the day off, and in my leisure I was thinking about Sealed Booster Drafting. More specifically I was thinking about the pros and cons of the format, and what everybody can take away from it. It is more than just a tournament. It is more than just getting new cards. I would venture to say that the Sealed Booster Draft is firstly: a way to make opening cards from the booster packs enjoyable and provides a nice way to turn something inevitable into something more than the mundane task it is. Secondly it is a teaching device. Playing Magic straight out of the pack and making Limited constructed decks from draft picks is challenging and forces the use of cards that otherwise do not see play in Standard and Extended constructed.
I recall a conversation with Felix months back about how much more enjoyable it is to be able to open up a pack of cards, not knowing what is inside, and knowing you have to pick from it the card you hope will help you construct the best deck. I had mentioned that a Wizards of the Coast employee had written on their website a similar sentiment, expressing the idea that if you were not playing Magic when opening up a new pack of cards, you were missing an opportunity to learn and challenge yourself with the game. I tend to agree, though I do admit to the over-eager urge to see a pack of new cards and want to tear into it, sliding past each card (from the commons on to the rare, and never in any other order) until I have seen each card and examined each card in detail. Then I pull the cards I am excited about and place them aside. It feels rather ritualistic.
The other side of the draft is what each player can learn. Sure, we can all buy cards and research cards, and tediously play-test and put in proxys until our cheeks turn blue and our eyes fall out, but getting into a draft with cards unfamiliar to you and having to make on the spot choices forces the participants to go outside their comfort zone and try to learn what they can do with what they are given. Even when the cards are familiar, they seem unfamiliar because you may not get a card combination that you are accustomed to and you want to play a card but you need a new companion. Drafting helps you find answers you did not know needed answering.

There are lots of cards out there, and there are lots of ways to combine cards. It can be overwhelming unless there are tools given to us to help sort through them.
Lucky for all of us, we have been turned on to the website www.tappedout.net

The best part about this community website is that it is not simply a deck building website. It is a forum to find out about information, or problems with card rulings. It is a place where your peers will judge your decks and provide you with constructive criticism. It is also a place where you can do mock drafts very quickly and easily.
I mention this because I have recently started trying out this feature, and I think that it is quite useful. The site has a comprehensive list of sets and you can draft from them however you like. The sets all feature full pictures so you can not only learn the cards and how they interact, but the artwork as well, and believe me. It is an extremely helpful ability to develop the knowledge of cards based solely on their image.
The site also allows for drafting with live people as well, and I have participated in some of those too.
I don't find any real advantage to this other than that it is a fair amount more challenging and unpredictable, but for the sake of learning and studying cards I think it is sufficient to use the draft tools to become familiar with the cards and what they do. It's amazing how even after playing and drafting sets how I can come across a card that I never really paid attention to before, or barely knew existed only to realize that I could use it in a deck, or as a sideboard option.
Mirrodin Besieged has just released and we are going to be drafting that a number of times before long, and I know I will be doing some practice runs on tappedout.net before I draft it live. It may not guarantee me success, but it will help me know what I am looking for and what types of strategies to look for.

I know not all of you have the time to do this, as in our old ages time is a commodity, and a precious one at that. I count my lucky stars every time I arrive to a session of Magic Monday knowing that I can put all of my life's responsibilities on hold for a bit.
I strongly urge each of you to use these tools we have at our disposal, because they can make you a better player, and getting better makes the competition get better (and prevents Paul and Chris from losing to tweenagers at FNM).

If you haven't already set up an account at Tappedout.net, you should! It's free. Paul, Felix, and Don are also on the website though, notably, none of them has used the draft function it provides.

There is also Magic: the Gathering Online, which Felix knows more about and uses to help tweak and practice with his decks. It does cost a monetary investment as you have to purchase the cards to use, but Felix has said it has helped him tweak and make decks better.

I want to make this blog not only a celebration of our time spent together, and the fun we have, but also a place where new members to our group like Don, and Xiao can come and easily find the helps and answers they need, or at least be easily direct to the right places.

The last bit of advice about learning about the cards from sets I can give is to use the Wizards of the Coast card database.
The search engine is fantastic for finding specific cards you need because you can search based on the text of the card for key words, such as: islandwalk, or haste.

The Wizards of the Coast website is: http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Multiverse/
and from there simply click on the the "Gatherer" button which reads 'The Magic Card Database'.

I have not heard the latest from Chris, though I am sure that our Mirrodin Besieged order will be arriving soon. I cannot wait. I want to get my hands on some of the new cards! It is very hard to remain patient.