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Format: Pack Wars (AKA "MiniMaster")

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Format: Pack Wars (AKA "MiniMaster")

Postby LordMalekTheRedKnight » Sun Nov 23, 2008 8:38 pm

Hey all :)

Kate and I normally buy a booster of MTG cards every weekend, open them while still in town, then get home and share them out before adding any new ones to our decks. however, i read this article on the MTG website...
That New Card Smell
...and decided to try something new.

this weekend we bought 2 boosters (Eventide, FYI), instead of buying any next week. we took them home without opening them, and used them for Pack Wars:

Format: Pack Wars
In Brief: Each player opens a booster and adds lands, making a 30-card, five-color deck to battle with.

Rules Rundown: Each player needs one booster pack and three of each basic land. It doesn't matter who owns each booster pack; they're not going to be mixed, so everyone will be able to take their own cards at the end.

Open your pack, but—and this is important—don't look at it! Half the fun of Pack Wars is not having any idea what you might pull off the top. Add the 15 lands to your booster pack and shuffle thoroughly. You and your opponent now each have a 30-card deck that's ready to go.

Many groups disallow mulligans during Pack Wars, again because of the fun to be had in not knowing what might come out of your deck. But not being able to play spells is no fun at all, so there's still reason to allow mulligans. Decide with your opponent whether you're allowing mulligans before looking at your opening hands.

After that, it's normal Magic. Pack Wars is usually played with two players, because it's generally a pick-up game, but there's nothing saying it couldn't be a quick multiplayer format if there are more packs that need opening.

There's no rule that says how many games to play, but if I'm playing with one other person, I usually make it a best-of-three match.

Pros: You can play Pack Wars anytime you've got at least one other player, with one unopened booster pack and three of each basic land for each player. This makes it more or less the perfect format when you have packs you want to open and are looking to play a quick few games of Magic. It's better for this than most Limited formats because of the small number of packs and quick game time.

The fact that your deck is random and unknown is most of the fun of Pack Wars. It's exciting to draw that perfect card you didn't even know was in your deck! Pack Wars can also get you playing with cards or combinations of cards that you wouldn't ordinarily use, and seeing them in action can really change your perspective.

Cons: With five-color decks assembled randomly, mana problems are pretty frequent. You've just got to accept them in the spirit of random fun that inspired the format. If that's going to frustrate you, Pack Wars may not be your game.

And, of course, like any Limited format, you've got to open packs to play. But if you're opening packs anyway...


we each took a pack and added 15 basic land to it (3 of each type), then shuffled these mini decks without looking through them.

we decided not to allow Mulligans in the first game (so as not to spoil the suprises!), but to allow them after that.

we have played 2 games so far, and they have been a lot of fun (trying out cards we wouldnt normally ever get to use, and making do with card combinations that werent designed to work together, making the most of what we had and being constantly suprised). once we have played 3 games, we are going to swap decks and play 3 more, before taking the new cards and adding them (as desired) to our proper decks, to resume normal play.

so far we have seen some familiar faces as well as some brand new cards. we have worked out new combos, and even learnt some new rules. :)

we will do the same thing again in 2 weeks, and then again at Christmas (although we also have the Jace vs Chandradeck put by as an Xmas present for eachother).

if any of you havent played this way before, why not give it a try? also, we could give it a go at future AoS meetups.

thoughts?

cheers :)

~ Tim
8O :D OMG - Im a Dad - of THREE!! :D 8O
:) I am "LMTRK" on The Wizards Community and MTG Salvation
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Postby Angelwing » Mon Nov 24, 2008 4:02 pm

Sounds like a cynical marketing ploy to make you buy more cards! ;)

Naw, sounds like a new way to play and maintain interest.
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Postby Culven » Mon Nov 24, 2008 8:50 pm

Sounds like it could be fun. It might be better with two packs and 6 of each basic land. This would also (eventually) eliminate any mana issues. Nothing worse than holding a spell that costs 4 of a colour and knowing there are only 3 in the deck.
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Postby LordMalekTheRedKnight » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:16 pm

Culven wrote:Sounds like it could be fun. It might be better with two packs and 6 of each basic land.

i was thinking of doing that, but the problem there would be the costs involved (thats 1 month's booster budget for Kate and I, just in 1 day). :(

we also dont actually have any Swamps yet (we are using black bordered plains with dark artwork as proxies in these mini-decks). im thinking about getting a 10th ed starter set (which might remedy this), but the links on the site arent working at the moment so i cant see what you get in them. :?

Culven wrote:Nothing worse than holding a spell that costs 4 of a colour and knowing there are only 3 in the deck.

this is where swapping decks after every few games should balance things out a bit. also, with Eventide/Shadowmoor, you get a lot of hybrid mana costs, which should make getting bigger cards into play easier.

turns out, we havent swapped decks yet, and we have played 5 games already. :!:
Kate has a card in her pack that she hasnt been able to get into play yet (she has enough land in the deck, but it relies her getting the card and all 3 of the required matching lands, and me not playing Drain the Well on one of them first :P) and she wont tell me what it is or let me us the deck until she has gotten a chance to use it first. :lol:

once she has played it, we will swap decks for a few more games, and then get back to building our proper decks. :)

we are definately going to use this format the next time we buy boosters - you have to open them somehow anyway, so why not do it like this? :D

cheers

~ Tim
8O :D OMG - Im a Dad - of THREE!! :D 8O
:) I am "LMTRK" on The Wizards Community and MTG Salvation
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Postby Culven » Mon Nov 24, 2008 9:47 pm

Tournament packs include a fair amount of basic land of each colour, so that may be the way to go. They are almost like buying 3 boosters (though with one less uncommon) and having some extra land added. The preconstructed/theme decks will, as you know, have set land for the deck, so will not be useful in filling out your supply of basic lands.
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