Limited

There are two forms of sanctioned Limited tournaments:  Booster Draft and Standard Sealed Deck.  All Limited games are played using normal tournament rules, except where noted below.

Booster Draft

In Booster Draft tournaments, each player will be ‘drafting’ three booster packs. Drafting is a process where a pack is passed around a small group of players with each player removing one card and then passing it on to the next person (see Drafting Procedure below).  These cards will be used to build a deck for use at the tournament.

Player Distribution

The Tournament Director will assemble the participants randomly into drafting groups of roughly equal size (see Suggested Draft Groups below). Groups should have an even number of players if possible, and eight players is the best number. A tournament official then distributes three booster packs to each player in the group. Each player receives the same configuration of packs.

Suggested Draft Groups

The number of drafting groups in the tournament will depend on the number of participants.  Here is a suggested breakdown for drafting groups:

• 36 players = five groups (8,8,8,6,6)
• 35 players = five groups (8,8,7,6,6)
• 34 players = five groups (8,8,6,6,6)
• 33 players = five groups (8,7,6,6,6)
• 32 players = four groups (8,8,8,8)
• 31 players = four groups (8,8,8,7)
• 30 players = four groups (8,8,8,6)
• 29 players = four groups (8,8,7,6)
• 28 players = four groups (8,8,6,6)
• 27 players = four groups (8,7,6,6)
• 26 players = four groups (8,6,6,6)
• 25 players = four groups (7,6,6,6)
• 24 players = three groups (8,8,8)
• 23 players = three groups (8,8,7)
• 22 players = three groups (8,8,6)
• 21 players = three groups (8,7,6)
• 20 players = three groups (8,6,6)
• 19 players = three groups (7,6,6)
• 18 players = three groups (6,6,6)
• 17 players = two groups (9,8)
• 16 players = two groups (8,8)
• 15 players = two groups (8,7)
• 14 players = two groups (8,6)
• 13 players = two groups (7,6)
• 12 players = two groups (6,6)
• 8 to 11 players = one group with all players

Drafting Procedure

At a signal from a tournament official, each player opens the booster pack specified by the official (all players must be drafting from the same set) and counts the cards. If a player does not have the appropriate number of cards in his or her booster pack, he must immediately notify the judge, who will replace the pack. The player chooses one card from the booster pack, and then passes the remaining cards face down to the player on his left. The opened packs are passed around the drafting group with each player taking one card each before passing until all cards are drafted.  Once a player has removed a card from the pack and placed it face down in front of him, that card may not be returned to the pack.  All drafted cards should be placed into one neat stack in front of each player.

After each player’s first pack is drafted, a tournament official will specify a pack and instruct players to open it and draft in the same fashion, except that the direction of drafting is reversed and now proceeds to the right. This process is repeated until all cards in all booster packs are drafted. The first and third packs are drafted clockwise (to each player’s left), and the second pack is drafted counterclockwise (to each player’s right).

Players may not take any notes during a draft or during deck construction. Players may not show their card selections or the contents of their current packs to other participants in the draft. Players may not send signals of any kind to other participants in the draft regarding any information about their own picks or what they would like others to pick.  Players may not review the cards they have drafted or the cards in their draft packs until the drafting procedure is complete and they are building decks.

Deck Construction

Once drafting is complete, players have 30 minutes to build a deck. Players may add any number of locations with the Unlimited keyword from their own collection (or a community collection) to their drafted cards.   Booster Draft decks must be exactly 40 cards.

Players may have any number of cards of each card title in their deck. Players are not limited to four copies of each card title in their deck.  Between rounds, players may alter their deck using the cards they drafted.

Tournament Procedure

Booster draft tournaments may be run using swiss pairings (like a normal constructed tournament) or using Championship Booster Draft Rules (see below). The tournament director determines pairings. Sanctioned booster draft tournaments consist of at least three rounds of play. Normal tournament rules and time limits apply.

Championship Booster Draft Rules

When running this type of tournament, players will be paired ONLY against players in their draft group.  For larger tournaments run in this way, it may be necessary to draft multiple times during the tournament to determine placement.  When a second (or third) draft is performed in a tournament, all decks and cards from previous drafts should no longer be used. Championship Booster Draft Rules should be used at all Level 2 and higher (see Tournament Levels) Booster Draft tournaments.

Standard Sealed Deck

Players are given an equal amount of unopened product by the tournament director and then construct a deck using only these cards.  Although one starter and any number of boosters will work, a suggested amount of cards for a sealed deck tournament is one starter and three boosters.  This gives participants enough cards to customize their starter decks.

Sealed Deck Construction

As soon as all players have been given the appropriate amount of product for the tournament, the tournament director should announce a deck construction time period.  We suggest giving players 30 minutes to construct their decks using only the cards that were in the sealed product given out at the beginning of the tournament.

Decks must comply with the normal deck construction guidelines (exactly 60 cards, no more than four of any individual card).  Any cards that do not go into this deck should be set aside.  They may be used to alter the deck between rounds if desired.