TCG Heights

MTG Cube Design, Guides, Formats, Templates, and Gear

Rochester Draft

Rochester Draft, A more reasonable way to in-person draft an entire cube faceup than Rotisserie Draft.

At A Glance

  • Players: 4-8
  • Setup Overhead: Moderate
  • Minutes: 120+
  • Core Concept: Players snake draft each pack of cards face-up, with each new pack shifting first pick by 1 seat.

Rochester draft spread of face-up cards on a table

Snake Turn Order or Snaking

Instead of going around in a circle: (1,2,3, 1,2,3, 1,2…), you take turns top to bottom then snake back up bottom to top: (1,2,3, 3,2,1, 1,2…)

Setup Requirements

These are the steps that need to happen before you can start the draft:

  1. Gather enough cards for the desired card-pool size * the number of players (Usually 45 cards * 8 players = 360 cards).
  2. Shuffle the entire cube thoroughly!.
  3. Distribute randomized “packs” of cards to each player, face down (3 packs of 15 cards is most common).
  4. Set aside a large block of time as drafting this way takes the 8 player’s decisions of drafting a single card that normally are happening in parallel for a normal booster draft, and are instead making them happen one at a time in series.

How To Draft

In Rochester Draft, all cards are drafted face-up. Follow these steps:

  1. Player 1 Opens their first pack and lays all 15 cards face-up on the table for everyone to see.
  2. Player 1 Picks a single faceup card to add to their draft pool.
  3. Continue Clockwise around the table with each player picking a single card (Player 2, then 3, etc.).
  4. The Last Player in the draft order (Player 8) takes two cards in a row.
  5. Reverse Direction back around the table counter-clockwise picking until all cards are gone (Some players might not get a second pick)
  6. Next Pack: Once the first pack is empty, Player 2 opens their first pack, and the process repeats with Player 2 getting the first pick.
  7. Rotate: Continue this process, rotating the player who opens the pack and picks first, until all packs have been drafted.

Variations

  • Rotisserie Draft: Wish you could select any card in the cube for your picks while you’re at the office? Try an async Roto-Draft.
0%