Limited Tournaments

Drafting

Some sets of Grand Archive are meant to be draftable. For tournaments where players draft decks to play, there is first a drafting period before pairings and round matches. In the drafting period, (recommended: 8) players are seated circularly (or in an arrangement where each player has a player to their right and their left) and randomly. Depending on the structure of the draft, players will receive a combination of sealed draft packs or regular packs which are meant to be drafted in the draft process. Sealed draft packs are not meant to have draft picks and are instead opened by players with their entire contents kept for construction. Aside from the sealed draft pack, other packs in the draft are randomly distributed to each player for the drafting portion. Of note, sealed draft packs are typically given to TOs to support drafting and are not organically available in products. Formats that do not require a draft pack may be organically drafted with the entire contents of the draft deck stemming from drafted packs.

Recommended Timing: Set a 60-minute timer and start it as soon as drafting can get underway. The draft itself can proceed untimed but it is recommended for all picks to be finished within 40 minutes. Deckbuilding is allowed the remaining time of the 60 minute timer. If all players are ready, the timer may be ended prematurely for round 1 pairings. Only products/cards received from the tournament officials may be used for these tournaments.

For the drafted packs, each player starts by opening their first pack, sets the cards facing down, and counts the cards to ensure the proper number of cards in the pack. If players open an error pack, they must notify a judge. Any token cards, rules cards, or other non-game cards are removed. Any cards with multiple faces must be announced to the table prior to selection. If there are no issues, the draft can start with each player picking one card to be set aside face-down. Players pass the rest of the pack contents to the right. Each player will then receive cards from the player to the left and must pick one card, and pass the remaining cards to the right, again. This process will continue until no cards are left to choose from. Players open another pack after each player has finished picking from cards in the first pack. They will do the same process, except cards will be passed to the left instead of the right, alternating directions after each pack that is drafted.

Cards that have been picked and set aside cannot be returned to the pack after the remaining cards in the pack have been passed to the next player. Players cannot reveal their card selections to other players and must do their best to ensure the face of their cards, selected or pending passing, is not revealed to the other players. Players are not permitted to reveal any hidden information regarding their picks, cards they are passing, cards they wish to pick, or cards they wish others to pick. Players are allowed to look at cards they have previously drafted and set aside at any time.

Each player can add Spirit of Fire, Spirit of Water, or Spirit of Wind to their draft material deck for free. Tournament Organizers are encouraged to have plenty of spare copies of these spirits to hand out to players for draft tournaments and otherwise should announce if they will not have them provided. Sealed draft packs will often have necessary champions for deck construction.

Players can leave or drop from a draft tournament at any time during the draft process. If they do so, any cards they have drafted and any of their unopened packs are in their possession. Additionally, if a player can’t or does not wish to continue with a draft, but wishes to participate n the tournament, they will not be allowed to draft any further and must try constructing a valid deck from their currently drafted cards. The players remaining in the draft will continue drafting with one fewer player and that missing player’s picks are skipped.

Current draft formats available:

Dawn of Ashes 1st Edition - 6 packs per player, no sealed draft pack

Dawn of Ashes Alter Edition - 6 packs per player, no sealed draft pack

Mortal Ambition - 3 packs per player, 1 sealed draft pack.

No specific distribution or frequency of card rarity is guaranteed in a single pack of Grand Archive. If an abnormal pack or product is opened, players must first notify a judge and it is at the discretion of tournament judges and the tournament organizer to allow or replace the product.