How to Team Draft – Winning Strategies

By
Roberto Castro-Mahoney (pRoberto)
– May 25, 2010Posted in: Articles

This is a Rise of the Eldrazi booster box. It is full of PACKS.

For me, one of the best parts of attending a PTQ is the opportunity to team-draft, and many players I know actually attend major events entirely so that they can play this format.  For those of you who don’t know, Team-drafting is similar to a normal draft, except you don’t have random seating or random opponents.  Instead, three players on Team A will sit staggered in between Team B’s players (ABABAB) and after the draft you play a 3-round event where Team B faces off against A. First team to five takes home the prize, which is often the entirety of the card pool opened for both teams.

When Team-Drafting, there’s a few things you need to know and be ready for:

  • All your opponents will likely be good.  It doesn’t matter how good you are, the first rule is to assume that your opponents are trying to find an easy win.  Many players see Team-Drafting as a business where they can rake in prize against weaker foes.  Make sure you want to actually compete, and that you have the skills to do so.
  • Your opponents will know each other and respect each other’s drafting tendencies. You should be doing the same for your teammates. If my teammate Kevin is prone to drafting Allies, I’m going to let a few allies slide to my left but also make sure that I’m keeping his daddy far away from the archetype.  Know your teammates well, something that will let you can increase the power of all of your decks when you hate-draft (and sluff) appropriately.
  • Hate-drafting is a big deal.  This isn’t an 8-man queue on Modo.  Two of your teammates/friends are going to have to play against whatever bombs you pass.  You simply cannot pass a powerful card like Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief or Gideon Jura unless you are absolutely POSITIVE that the opponent you pass it to will not play it (a call you should really only make in pack three).
  • Feeding is another relevant skill.  If you are passing a red fight to your left, your teammate will likely only get the dregs that the villain between you chooses to pass.  Make sure that red cards go by you in two-somes so that your teammate doesn’t get cut out.  The best way to manage this is to either play red yourself or to splash it.  When you see Heat Ray and Flame Slash in the same pack, pass it through, as you know one of the spells will reach your teammate.  When it’s a single burn spell by itself, snatch it up so that the villain gets nothing.
  • Bait-and-Switch.  A Bait-and-Switch is when you pass a bomb to your left in pack-1 to signal the color’s availability and then switch into that color to cut the villain off.  It is best to do it with hard-to-cast bombs.  A good example would be to pass Sphinx of Magosi while taking Domestication and then forcing blue.  When you do it right you leak one or two more blue cards through (enough to tantalize them) and then in pack three, squeeze the color hard, making it less than playable for your opponent.  My favorite example of this is a time that I took Pestermite over Cryptic Command and then Lash Out over Pestermite #2.  Pick-3 was Silvergill Douser over Tarfire.  To my left I can almost guarantee he took CC, then Pestermite, then Tarfire.  This put us both chasing the same UR combo, with me taking the spoils and feeding him junk.  I went 3-0 and he went 0-3.  (Sorry Pat!). Utilize this strategy when possible, though watch for signals your opponent is trying to  run a similar trick on you.
  • Green is too deep to trick anyone.  If you pass Pelakka Wurm for a Kozileks Predator, you will have to keep passing green ramp while taking Aura Gnarlid or Nest Invader.  Passing Student of Warfare while grabbing Knight of Cliffhaven is the easiest way to yank on someone’s strings.

So next time you find yourself at a PTQ or other event with a few skilled buddies, get a Team-Draft going. With the right combination of players and a little luck, you’ll be cleaning up in no time. Have fun!

-Roberto

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About Roberto Castro-Mahoney (pRoberto)

Tired of beating through multiple Top 8's without a PTQ win, Berto has finally dropped his Heroes of Newerth habit to start grinding and testing. Sadly, he has a man-crush on Pili-Pala so probably won't win one this season...