Alternative Draft Format

[GodBlessAmerica]

I really like drafting in pokemon, it's a fun way to use cards that otherwise would never see play. With that said, drafting is really awful for some sets. Based on the scans of Dragons Exalted and the set list, this set will be a prime example. In MTG, draft is a competitive format, with the sets released being designed for drafting. In general, pokemon does not have that.

For the reasons above, I propose an improvement to the normal draft format. The title says "alternative draft format", but it's not much more different than the standard one.(Build a deck out of the 50 cards you get from a pass draft, you're provided with basic energies)

The change I am proposing is that not only are you provided with basic energies, but you are also provided with up to 4 trainers and or supporters from past sets to build your deck and make it more consistent. Only certain cards would make up this card pool. The first list I've thought up for what cards to be offered is right below:

Roseanne's Research
Bebe's Search
Cheren
Copycat
Professor Elm's Training Method
Professor Juniper
Level Ball
Heavy Ball
Pokemon Communication

Even in a set like Dark Explorers, getting more than 4 supporters/random receivers is unlikely. So I figured that offering up to 4 of the above supporters/trainers was fair.

This is probably difficult to implement in a huge draft with 20+ players because so many copies of the above cards would be needed, but it still doesn't seem impossible. In small drafts with 8-16 players, this seems really doable. It also seems a lot more fun in theory.

In many drafts for pokemon, whoever runs the hottest wins. It's a lot of top-decking and getting lucky with getting your guys set up. With the set-up I've proposed, getting set up becomes less of a problem and more skill is needed to win.

What do you guys think? Is this idea crazy/dumb or do you think you would enjoy it? Depending on how things go with acquiring a lot of the above cards, I may be able to test this format in a Dragons Exalted draft when the set comes out on the 15th.

Discuss

 

[Jaeger]

I prefer drafting to Prelease to be honest...because at least with Drafts I feel I have a chance to get some of the commons/uncommons I want instead of being forced to "pull them." Plus the format is less random and more skilled based.

 

[SomethingElse]

While the idea is a good one, if anything what you could do is make "Trainer" packs, with supporters, trainers, etc. Let them choose what they want, and mix them well with like 3 random supporters, 4 items, 2 tools, and 2 stadiums per pack. Would definitely allow for a bigger pool for a draft.

 

[bullados]

I love Mutant. Love it, love it, love it. You have the most options out of any type of Limited event, which both makes things easier in terms of deckbuilding, and harder in terms of drafting. It's the closest thing I've found to MTG in terms of the flexibility you have in building your decks. I love it completely.

 

[Cyrus]

^Not to mention there's a surprising amount of added in-game skill. You have to be able to adjust to really weird changes constantly!

Hmmm, trainer packs...Interesting idea.

 

[honchvire]

Trainer packs have been used/reused a few times at my local store. Its usually a mix of old/out of format T/S/S so they dont get mixed in with T/S/S from the set.
Mutant is fun too, but players in my area tend to dislike it for some reason. Some TOs swear by it, others abhor it.

 

[Victory Bell]

I'm beginning to dislike drafts more and more. Trainer packs would help the randomness involved in it. Our TOs in New England are way stricter than they need to be about "table talk" to a point of no longer being fun, and they stack the drafts and group certain people together based on known skill in local events, which I think is hugely unfair. Aside from my personal sour grapes, drafts are the only reason I go to prereleases. Sure, I miss out on the promo and box, but at least their are prizes and there is more skill involved.

Aside from that, I do really like drafting Pokemon. A long time ago I wrote an article on drafting and was surprised at how many people claimed Pokemon doesn't do drafts at all. I guess its not talked about very much. Maybe it could be implemented to become more official some day.

 

[TRAINER HEZ]

It's a shame Pokemon sets aren't designed for Limited play, surely if you're a card company you want to encourage people to buy a new deck every week!

I'd like to take 4 Trainers along to Dragons Exalted Prerelease... might help against the "1 EX and energy" donk decks people realised are the simplest way to victory.

Have you tried Cube drafting? It's something we used to do with Pokemon before we even knew Magic players called it Cube, we just called it Draft box. It's essentially "design your own prerelease". You use several sets to make your own balanced set, so you can have an equal number of Basics, S1 and S2 Pokemon (a few copies of each of course) spread across all Types and try to make them all viable to play. Then add in some Trainers, mix them up and Draft them.
Designing a Draft box is kind of like making a deck list, trying to make each Type have the same number of Pokemon can be quite tough, especially for small types like Fire and Lighting. You can work interesting little combos and synergies into your box for your players to discover or weird things like making Mill viable. There's not many Mill cards in Pokemon's history but you could put them ALL in your box and see if anyone catches on!

Anyway... I went off on one there... just look up Cube Draft and see how in depth the Magic crowd has taken the idea of a customised draft.

 

[Regis_Neo]

Well let's be fair, prereleases were never ever intended to be competitive in nature, they're solely there to offer a first glimpse and chance to play around with some of the new cards.

I like Bullados' ideal however of making it mutant, that would add a lot more fun and suddenly you're not necessarily stuck with dead evolution lines because you didn't get the needed Basic or Stage 1 form.

 

[King Piplup]

I'd like to take 4 Trainers along to Dragons Exalted Prerelease... might help against the "1 EX and energy" donk decks people realised are the simplest way to victory.

Don't insult my Rayquaza EX+39 Energy Combo .

Mutant in Prerelease/Draft would be truly amazing. Mutant Draft is actually more skill intensive then many people think.

 

[GodBlessAmerica]

I like the trainer pack idea. That's the route we're going for the release draft at my local store. I think the added bonus of using trainer packs is that it's possible to do 4 pack drafts instead of needing 5, making the entry fee lower and more affordable. Normally you need 5 packs because you are going to inevitably be stuck with a lot of dead cards and you need the highest chance of drafting a few good pokemon lines since supporters are either scarce or non-existent. If you have an 8 card trainer pack, you don't need as many pokemon lines so you don't need as many packs to draft from

 

[bullados]

I'm beginning to dislike drafts more and more. Trainer packs would help the randomness involved in it. Our TOs in New England are way stricter than they need to be about "table talk" to a point of no longer being fun, and they stack the drafts and group certain people together based on known skill in local events, which I think is hugely unfair. Aside from my personal sour grapes, drafts are the only reason I go to prereleases. Sure, I miss out on the promo and box, but at least their are prizes and there is more skill involved.

If this is true, then it needs to be investigated.

However, if it is NOT true, then you have officially put yourself in the same category as Envoyofduels for his similar post in Jaegar's topic.

 

[raznprince]

If this is true, then it needs to be investigated.

However, if it is NOT true, then you have officially put yourself in the same category as Envoyofduels for his similar post in Jaegar's topic.

I'm not from New England but I actually have played in a PR up there before back in 2010, and I will say that this was something I didn't particularly like about their drafts. I don't know to what degree of special interest does this need to be investigated, but I will leave that judgement to those above my scope of tournament organization...

 

[Victory Bell]

If this is true, then it needs to be investigated.

However, if it is NOT true, then you have officially put yourself in the same category as Envoyofduels for his similar post in Jaegar's topic.

Not to side track the thread, but its true because I've been part of stacked drafts at DEX Prereleases and others before it. Talking to a judge running draft sign ups gave me stated proof that they have discriminated people into "beginners drafts" in the past (all masters in both advanced and beginners, they never mix divisions if they can help it, which is fine), and its not just me putting out a conspiracy theory. I don't think the TO who was running things was truly the one with the experience to be in charge or actually doing the running of the events, and probably didn't think there was anything wrong with setting people up how they did. I don't even know if dividing people based on unofficial judgement of skill is actually against the rules, but it doesn't seem right to me.

This didn't happen at the Dragon's Exalted Pre I went to the other day after I said something.