Hey guys. We're preparing to do an 8 person Rotisserie draft in a few weeks & I wanted to post here for several reasons. First I wanted to get some feedback on my letter/post I'm going to send to everyone who is participating. Second I wanted to discuss some strategies and get some thoughts on people who have done Roto drafts before. I've done google searches & MTGS searches and haven't seen any recent/relevant results as far as strategy and pre-draft planning.
First, here is the letter I'm sending to my group:
(Note if you want to skip right to actual discussion then you can to skip this)
Hey guys! On December 12 we will do a Rotisserie Draft of the entire Cube. A brief description of what a Rotisserie Draft is can be found here: http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Rotisserie_Draft . We will do a snake draft (giggity) where whoever picks last in one draft round will then pick first in the next round (example: player 8 drafts last in round 1 but drafts first in round 2). My updated Cube list can be found here: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/131
Some logistics: Everyone should arrive by 6:45 PM to help setup and also so we can start promptly at 7. I’ve spoken with David about staying until the tournament is over. My goal is to start the actual matches at 10 PM and be completely done with the tournament by 1 AM. I have to work the next morning so I’ll make sure we’re keeping things moving If you’re not able to commit to arriving by 7 at the latest & staying until 1 AM then you shouldn’t participate in this draft. Not trying to be heartless but rather realistic. The draft portion is going to take a significant amount of time so starting on time is important. At this point I’m planning on 30 seconds per draft pick. This means you will typically have 2-6 minutes between picks which should be enough time to plan your next selection. I’m working on specifics to keep a timer on with each pick as well as an “official” way to track the picks.
After the draft is complete we will do a three round free-for-all swiss tournament. There will not be a team draft with the Rotisserie Draft. The swiss tournament will end with three people at 2-1 & the winner will finish 3-0. Even if you don’t win any matches you’ll still get to play three opponents. The first round opponents will be chosen at random after the draft is complete.
The draft order will be chosen at random in advance of the draft once the eight players have been finalized.
The entry fee for the tournament is $5 which means $40 in the prize pool. This will be given out as store credit. If you finish 2-1 you will receive $8 and if you are the winner you will receive $16. Let’s not make this all about the money. To me the whole purpose of the buy-in is to ensure that everyone shows up for the draft on time and is committed to staying through all three rounds. I’m hoping to make the Roto draft something we do a few times a year and having everyone stay for the entire draft will be an important precedent to ensure this will be a recurring event.
We will play with all the cards in the Cube except for these five: Agent of Acquisitions, Lore Seeker, Canal Dredger, Cogwork Librarian and Paliano, the High City. Lurking Automaton will stay in the draft pool and the entire draft will count as one “draft round” for determining how many counters he has (example would be drafting him in the 13th round would make him a 13/13).
Really excited to do our first Cube Rotisserie draft and I can’t wait to see what decks we’ll come up with. Feel free to message me with questions before the event as I want to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Good luck!
Our current group of 8 has only 2 people that I know have done a Cube Rotisserie draft before. This means many mistakes will be made but I feel like more than half the group is capable of going 3-0 because there are several really strong players.
Anyway, does anyone have an article they've written or some strategies they'd like to share about a Roto draft they've done? I'm curious about how soon people establish archetypes, how high lands should be drafted, the benefits of staying open & reading signals, pre-draft preparation, the benefits of making a pre-draft ranking list & anything else you think is relevant. I'm also open to ideas on how to keep the draft portion moving so the draft doesn't take 4 hours (we have a 6 hour window to be completely done).
Never done one of these before, but some random comments:
- Rather than giving a link to MTGS, I'd just explain in the email what the format is (it's pretty simple after all). Something like this: "A Rotisserie draft works like this: the entire Cube is laid out on the table. The first player drafts any card of his choice, then the second player, the third, and so on. After everyone has drafted a card, the order reverses. This means that the 8th player drafts twice in a row. The draft ends when everyone has drafted 45 cards (or maybe a lower number?). Deckbuilding is done as usual."
- It probably goes without saying, but lay out the Cube in a logical way beforehand, e.g. according to CubeTutor classification. This will save some time during the draft.
- If it's feasible, consider giving slightly more time for the first few picks, and less for the later ones. I don't expect people to need 30 seconds to decide which marginal card they will spend their 30th pick on.
First, here is the letter I'm sending to my group:
(Note if you want to skip right to actual discussion then you can to skip this)
Hey guys! On December 12 we will do a Rotisserie Draft of the entire Cube. A brief description of what a Rotisserie Draft is can be found here: http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Rotisserie_Draft . We will do a snake draft (giggity) where whoever picks last in one draft round will then pick first in the next round (example: player 8 drafts last in round 1 but drafts first in round 2). My updated Cube list can be found here: http://www.cubetutor.com/viewcube/131
Some logistics: Everyone should arrive by 6:45 PM to help setup and also so we can start promptly at 7. I’ve spoken with David about staying until the tournament is over. My goal is to start the actual matches at 10 PM and be completely done with the tournament by 1 AM. I have to work the next morning so I’ll make sure we’re keeping things moving If you’re not able to commit to arriving by 7 at the latest & staying until 1 AM then you shouldn’t participate in this draft. Not trying to be heartless but rather realistic. The draft portion is going to take a significant amount of time so starting on time is important. At this point I’m planning on 30 seconds per draft pick. This means you will typically have 2-6 minutes between picks which should be enough time to plan your next selection. I’m working on specifics to keep a timer on with each pick as well as an “official” way to track the picks.
After the draft is complete we will do a three round free-for-all swiss tournament. There will not be a team draft with the Rotisserie Draft. The swiss tournament will end with three people at 2-1 & the winner will finish 3-0. Even if you don’t win any matches you’ll still get to play three opponents. The first round opponents will be chosen at random after the draft is complete.
The draft order will be chosen at random in advance of the draft once the eight players have been finalized.
The entry fee for the tournament is $5 which means $40 in the prize pool. This will be given out as store credit. If you finish 2-1 you will receive $8 and if you are the winner you will receive $16. Let’s not make this all about the money. To me the whole purpose of the buy-in is to ensure that everyone shows up for the draft on time and is committed to staying through all three rounds. I’m hoping to make the Roto draft something we do a few times a year and having everyone stay for the entire draft will be an important precedent to ensure this will be a recurring event.
We will play with all the cards in the Cube except for these five: Agent of Acquisitions, Lore Seeker, Canal Dredger, Cogwork Librarian and Paliano, the High City. Lurking Automaton will stay in the draft pool and the entire draft will count as one “draft round” for determining how many counters he has (example would be drafting him in the 13th round would make him a 13/13).
Really excited to do our first Cube Rotisserie draft and I can’t wait to see what decks we’ll come up with. Feel free to message me with questions before the event as I want to make sure we’re all on the same page.
Good luck!
Our current group of 8 has only 2 people that I know have done a Cube Rotisserie draft before. This means many mistakes will be made but I feel like more than half the group is capable of going 3-0 because there are several really strong players.
Anyway, does anyone have an article they've written or some strategies they'd like to share about a Roto draft they've done? I'm curious about how soon people establish archetypes, how high lands should be drafted, the benefits of staying open & reading signals, pre-draft preparation, the benefits of making a pre-draft ranking list & anything else you think is relevant. I'm also open to ideas on how to keep the draft portion moving so the draft doesn't take 4 hours (we have a 6 hour window to be completely done).
Thanks!
My 540 card Powered Cube last updated March 2022
- Rather than giving a link to MTGS, I'd just explain in the email what the format is (it's pretty simple after all). Something like this: "A Rotisserie draft works like this: the entire Cube is laid out on the table. The first player drafts any card of his choice, then the second player, the third, and so on. After everyone has drafted a card, the order reverses. This means that the 8th player drafts twice in a row. The draft ends when everyone has drafted 45 cards (or maybe a lower number?). Deckbuilding is done as usual."
- It probably goes without saying, but lay out the Cube in a logical way beforehand, e.g. according to CubeTutor classification. This will save some time during the draft.
- If it's feasible, consider giving slightly more time for the first few picks, and less for the later ones. I don't expect people to need 30 seconds to decide which marginal card they will spend their 30th pick on.
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