For this week’s article, I thought I would take a slightly different route and talk about alternate formats. I would wager that any Pokémon fan has probably attempted a few of these with friends after a tournament or at a Prerelease, and if you haven’t then hopefully this article can introduce you to some fun ways to pass the time.
Mental Pokémon
Sam Chen talked a little bit about this format in Raymond Cipoletti’s article from last month, so go check that out if you haven’t.
For those who aren’t aware: Mental Pokémon is based on Mental Magic and, as the name suggests, is all in your head. You start with a normal deck (keep in mind that a random stack of cards works as well) of Pokémon cards, but instead of what’s printed on the card, the cards you draw can be anything of that same classification of card (Basic, Stage 1, Stage 2, Supporter, Item, etc.). The cards have to be cards that exist in print and once a card is played, it can’t be played again (save for an Item Finder effect), but that’s it!
This is a fun, skill-testing format, both in the sense that you have to be able to come up with and execute a winning strategy entirely on the fly, and that you have to remember what each card does, which cards have been played, etc., etc. It may sound a little intense at first, but it is an incredibly deep, rewarding format. Best of all, it requires almost nothing except knowledge!
Note that in Sam Chen’s version, the type of card you’re playing doesn’t matter. Instead, all cards are a blank slate. I’ve never played this version personally, but it seems fun and I would trust Sam’s taste in games.
Pack Wars
Probably the most popular alternate format in Pokémon, Pack Wars is a multiplayer free-for-all format that requires all players to bring one booster pack to the table. Different communities have slight variations on the rules of this particular format, but the rules that I learned from Tyler Ninomura are as follows:
- Each player opens their pack without looking, removes code cards, and shuffles.
- Each player then draws a card and plays it in the Active Spot.
- Every Pokémon is treated as a Basic Pokémon (though evolution can occur).
- Attacks don’t have Energy costs (though Energy can be attached).
- Retreating is free (but can be paid).
- The first player to KO six of their opponents’ Pokémon (any opponent’s Pokémon, as Pack Wars is a multiplayer format) wins!
Beyond that it’s pretty simple. There are a lot of insane/unfair things that happen, such as one player pulling an EX or otherwise absurdly powerful card while the others are left with bulk rares, but you’ll quickly find that the format is deeper than you expect and most everything has an answer in one form or another. Plus, the format is supposed to be a purely fun way to open packs, so don’t worry too much about the fairness.
Pack Wars is run best with 4-6 players who all can bring multiple packs (to play multiple games). Also, there is a gentleman’s agreement (at least in our community) to play sleeveless, and I’d like to see that tradition carried on.
Because of the whacky nature of the format I can’t say which packs are best to Pack War, but I will tell you that Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem/any high HP Pokémon with Outrage can be quite an annoyance. Regardless, just about any set will work well!
Mutant Booster Draft
I’m sure most of you have experienced a booster draft, but for the uninitiated, it’s when 8 players each bring 5 packs. All 8 players simultaneously open their first pack, pick a card to keep (drafting basic Energy is not required), and the remaining contents of the pack to the right. Continue this process, alternating between passing to the left and right for each pack, until each player has 50 cards in front of them. Players then build 40-card decks and play them against each other in a three-round, single-elimination format until a winner is decided.
The issue with Booster Draft, and any Limited (Limited is a format in which players are given cards/packs to build their decks from, as opposed to Constructed, where players build their decks from home and bring them to the tournament) format in Pokémon in general is that the need to evolve and match types can be a frustrating experience. The Mutant format attempts to solve this issue by letting players evolve their Pokémon from any other Pokémon of the same type and proceeding Stage. For example, a few legal Evolution lines in the Mutant format are…
- Oddish > Kakuna > Venusaur
- Pikachu > Eelektrik > Magnezone
- Charmander > Charmeleon > Charizard
This helps alleviate some of the feel bad moments that come with drafting normally and hopefully gives everyone as fair of a shot as possible at constructing a playable deck and winning the draft.
It’s important to note that any sort of draft can be done in Pokémon (if you’re unfamiliar, do a quick Google search on Magic Limited formats for more information) but I’ve found that booster draft is the best mix of efficiency and fun for most play groups.
If you plan on drafting with friends, a “house rule” I like to implement is as follows: Whenever a player opens a secret rare card, that player announces what they’ve opened, and their pack is taken from them and replaced with a leftover pack, from which they draft as normal. This helps to balance things a bit, as no one player will have that insane Pokémon-EX that is widely considered too good in Standard, and also guarantees that the winner(s) of the draft will have a worthy prize pool. Note that this isn’t great for all groups and should be explicitly talked about before collecting entry fees and handing out packs.
Cube Draft
A Cube Draft is the same as a Booster Draft, but instead of drafting from sealed packs of a set, you draft from a pre-determined set (or cube) that you’ve come up with! The process is the same: separate your cube into randomized packs, and draft away.
The advantage of a Cube is that you get to control exactly what is in it. There won’t be any unfun cards or anything that is clearly too good for the format. Building a Cube is the perfect way to ensure a fun draft experience every single time.
I’m working on a bigger, more detailed article about Cubes and Cube design, but for those of you interested in building one, here are some general rules and tips:
- I prefer Mutant Cubes, but it isn’t a necessity. Matthew Chin and Tyler Ninomura both have non-Mutant cubes that are plenty fun. It just requires you to pick an “archetype” for each type, so that players can have consistent, coherent decks. For instance, Typhlosion is the Fire-type Stage 2 in Tyler’s Cube, meaning that if you’re drafting Fire, you’ll be drafting Typhlosion, and most of the other Fire-type Pokémon in the Cube will live to serve the needs of a Typhlosion deck.
- Regardless of which way you go on the Mutant vs. Normal debate, you need to make sure that your Cube is either focused around Evolutions or Basics. If it’s focused around Evolutions, it is very difficult to include most of the newer EX cards, as they are just too overtly powerful. Be very careful when designing and look out for power level issues. The best part about a Cube is that if you make a mistake, you can just take those cards out and start again, so don’t be too worried about experimenting.
- In a typical Magic cube there are no duplicate cards, but I’ve found it necessary in Pokémon versions. There are just too many cards that every deck wants (Rare Candy, Switch), so not including multiples will shift the draft in a strange way.
- I recommend drafting 3 or 4 packs of 15 cards. This guarantees that there will be enough cards for everyone to get a chance to draft their archetype while not taking too long to complete.
Outside of those basic guidelines, go crazy! Like I said, I’m working on a Mutant Cube that spans the history of Pokémon, and I’ve also toyed with the idea of making a Black & White-on Cube, since it’s difficult to include most of the newer, more powerful cards in my current rendition of the Mutant Cube.
Team Unified Constructed
Unified Constructed is a format in which teams of three players each build decks from the same format (Standard, Expanded, or Unlimited). The deck building rules are normal, except that each team only has access to 4-of each card in the format. Meaning that if one player chooses to play 4 Professor Juniper in their deck, there cannot be any Professor Junipers in the other players’ decks. However, if there were 2 Professor Juniper in one player’s deck, each other player on his or her team could play 1 copy of Professor Juniper.
Teams privately choose seats, either A, B, or C. The seating is important because teams are allowed to talk to each other and give help, so it may be wise to put your best player in the B seat, as he or she will be physically sitting between the A and C players, so that he or she can give suggestions easily.
Players play off against another team (A seat playing A seat, B seat playing B seat, and so on) in best-of-three matches. Whichever team wins two matches is the winner!
Team Sealed/Draft
This is like a regular Sealed or Draft event, but players are separated into three-player teams. During a Team Sealed event, players build their decks from a common pool, and can help each other when doing so. Matches are then played out as normal.
Team Draft is the same as a regular Booster Draft, except players are seated next to players from the opposing team, and there are only six players to a draft. For example, a Team Draft table would look like this:
Seat 1: Team 1, Player 1
Seat 2: Team 2, Player 1
Seat 3: Team 1, Player 2
Seat 4: Team 2, Player 2
Seat 5: Team 1, Player 3
Seat 6: Team 2, Player 3
Players may only construct decks from the cards that they personally have drafted, although teammates are allowed to help one another with deck building decisions.
That’s all I’ve got for today! Let me know if any of you decide to try these formats out, or if you’ve got any favorite alternate formats of your own!
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