Call for Second Singleton Ultimate Draft

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Anyone interested in having a second Singleton Ultimate Draft? Some people who participated in the old one have left and some new people have arrived, so I thought it might be interesting to see what kind of decks come out of it this time...
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
Sure, i'll see if I can find the exact rules, then let you know if I have any questions.

Count me in :)
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
Exact rules? I can tell you in a nutshell - only one of any card except for basic lands, so once a card is drafted it's unavailable. That's pretty much it.
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
Ah, and the total pool is every magic card ever created.
Are there any restrictions, apart from the obvious un-sets?
 
B

Budget Player Cadet

Guest
I don't know about you guys, but after the power nine are gone, it's gonna be a lot harder choosing what to pick... I'm in.
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
Being a budget player, I will forgive you those words :)
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think it's just the "traditional" sets - no Portal sets, Three Kingdoms, or Unglued... just Alpha-10th and all of the expansions and sets in between. Probably Lorwyn and Shadowmoor will be out because they haven't been out a year yet also,
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
I'm pretty sure we didn't have any restrictions on the Portal stuff. I don't remember anyone drafting a Portal-specific card, but they were fair game. Any black or white-bordered card was allowed. And to reiterate, once a card was picked, it was off the board, regardless of how many times it was reprinted.

BPC, if you're looking for cards to pick after the power 9, you take take a moment to sift through the last draft, which is still stickied at the top of this forum.
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
When we starting drafting last time, we included everything that had been released. Dissension just came out and we included it. However, we didn't include any of the newer sets because we were unsure of the fairness of being late in the draft and some random player ending up with a potentially bomb that late.


In retrospect, I don't believe that it would cause too much turmoil to allow newly released cards to be added as the draft goes on. If we're unsure about how powerful some cards REALLY are, then it adds a gamble like "I can take this card that seems GREAT, but isn't proven. Can I take that risk?"

I think we should add new cards this time.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I think the main concern about adding sets when they are released while we are in the middle of the draft was that the next person up suddenly gets access to the set. I think a newly released set should be available once it's released AND the draft is back at the starting person.
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
I'll agree with that idea. It prevents people from "dragging out a pick" when a new set is about to come out.

Scenario: Hmm....... I want THIS card that was previewed, but it's my pick now and the set gets released in 3 days.... I'll stall.


Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Melkor

Well-known member
I'm in, although I would vote to set the card the pool when we draft. It just simplifies things and doesn't add any additional outside elements. Still, it seems like there is support for this so I wouldn't stand in the way.
 

Ransac

CPA Trash Man
Spiderman
Modus
turgy22
BPC
Mooseman
Ransac82
Melkor

That's 7-players. I'd like to strongly suggest that we only have 8 players drafting this time. The whole "9-players thing" just messes things up.

Ransac, cpa trash man
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
I agree. Get in while there's a spot left!

I also am partial to setting the card pool now, but will go with the majority...
 

turgy22

Nothing Special
A couple things:
1) I'm still STRONGLY in favor of fixing the cardpool before this starts, which would probably leave us with everything up to and including Shadowmoor. I don't think waiting until the starting person comes up is much of a fix, either. It just shifts the favor from whoever's turn it is when the set is released to whoever started the draft. So in addition to getting the first overall pick, they also get the first choice of the best cards of 2 or 3 new sets. And any new sets might only contain 1 or 2 cards that would be playable in this format. We should definitely set the cardpool before starting.

2) I forget what we did last time, but we need firmer rules on time limits and what happens if you miss some picks or drop out altogether. The only thing I didn't enjoy about the draft (aside from getting beaten by Ransac) was waiting weeks on end while Homestar and Zigathon went MIA. I thought the missed picks getting made up at the end worked well, but if someone misses so many in a row, we need to replace them.

3) Sort of on the same subject, we also need to be better about finding someone to turn in picks for excused absences (e.g. vacation, etc). If you're going to be away for a week, give your want list to someone arbitrary (TomB, KillerJoe) who can fill in for a day or two. Or else, we'll let Ransac make your picks and you'll end up with Dwarven Pony.
 

Spiderman

Administrator
Staff member
1) Well, so far that's three for setting the card pool (me, turgy, and Melkor). Although I don't see the concern for having the starting person pick; if the set was available from the beginning, he could choose from there as well as if the set was available in the middle. Plus, he only gets 1 pick while the 8th person gets 2 picks in a row, so I don't think it'll be much of a difference.

2) Totally agree. I say something like 4 days (mainly because I'm off the weekend and every other Friday and of course holidays, so worse case scenario I'll be gone from a Thursday to Monday). We all seem to be on every day anyway so this would probably just be for my benefit :)

3) Agree with this one too. Send them either to TomB or KJ and hope they don't post your whole strategy like TomB did with me :)
 
M

Modus Pwnens

Guest
1) Adding cards "on the fly" will create in imbalance, even if it's a minor one, so I disagree on allowing future sets as well. Regardless of who gets to pick the first card from Shadowmore / Eventide, they have access to a lot more information considering what everyone is drafting.
If all cards are available at the start, everyone knows what's in the pool, so it eliminates all risks of people stalling for their own benefit. There are plenty of cards to choose from, so those few extra cards aren't worth the possibility of one person gaining an "unfair" advantage over another.

2) Yea, having seven people waiting is never nice. I don't really mind as long as I know when to expect a pick. As far as I'm concerned, you can take as long as you want, as long as you let us know when you'll be making your pick. If it'll be longer than say a week, give your want-list to the aforementioned people to save us the time (excellent idea), but either way, let us know! (knowlegde is power -8th edition Jayemdae Tome)

3) Don't spoil it, I'm still in doubt whether my first pick should be Gray Ogre of Dwarven Pony. This way I might not even get one of them unless I'm first or second :(
 
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