I was trying to introduce MTG to my friends who had never played in their lives before. I went through several variant formats to teach them the basics without having them to fork out money to buy any cards. It was then I chanced upon Battle Box (Danger Room). I was intrigued by the simpler choices of cards found inside as there were no tutors, land destroys, etc. Furthermore, it utilizes the Hearthstone mana system which would minimize the chances of mana flood and screws. It certainly made the gameplay smoother for my friends.
However, we felt that there was a lack of theme in the Battle Box format as players drew a bunch of random color cards from the communal library after playing a few rounds. I then tried to incorporate drafting with the Battle Box cards with my friends to have a feel of consistent color decks. We ran into another problem as too much time was spent on figuring out what is the right ratio of spells and lands. Although I taught them the basics of 60:40 ratio, the entire drafting and deckbuilding process still took very long to complete.
To streamline the game play more, I introduced the Magic 2.0 mana system so that we do not have to spent time figuring out the correct ratio and can thus get into the actual game faster. We ended up building decks of 40 cards and cards with corresponding color can be set down at the land zone (figurative) to be tapped for mana. Artifacts can be tapped for colorless mana and multicolored cards have to be declared on its color before setting down. We played several rounds with this format and found it to be quite enjoyable due to the consistency in mono/dual colored decks or sometimes even a splash in the third color.
What do you guys think about this format? What can be incorporated to make the game play more interesting? I'm currently looking at ways to introduce various archetypes into the "cube". What sort of archetypes is good for beginners to identify and draft?
However, we felt that there was a lack of theme in the Battle Box format as players drew a bunch of random color cards from the communal library after playing a few rounds. I then tried to incorporate drafting with the Battle Box cards with my friends to have a feel of consistent color decks. We ran into another problem as too much time was spent on figuring out what is the right ratio of spells and lands. Although I taught them the basics of 60:40 ratio, the entire drafting and deckbuilding process still took very long to complete.
To streamline the game play more, I introduced the Magic 2.0 mana system so that we do not have to spent time figuring out the correct ratio and can thus get into the actual game faster. We ended up building decks of 40 cards and cards with corresponding color can be set down at the land zone (figurative) to be tapped for mana. Artifacts can be tapped for colorless mana and multicolored cards have to be declared on its color before setting down. We played several rounds with this format and found it to be quite enjoyable due to the consistency in mono/dual colored decks or sometimes even a splash in the third color.
What do you guys think about this format? What can be incorporated to make the game play more interesting? I'm currently looking at ways to introduce various archetypes into the "cube". What sort of archetypes is good for beginners to identify and draft?
Links:
Battle Box
Danger Room
Magic 2.0