MTG Salvation

These draft formats are not, properly speaking, drafting at all. You don’t compete with other players for a shared card pool; instead, you’re dealt a chunk of cards, and make do with what you got. If drafting is two captains taking turns to choose kids for their kickball teams, sealed and its variants start with the coach numbering everyone off: One, Two, One, Two. The choices that make drafting so interesting are totally absent. On the other hand - as with the motley crew of Team Two - assembling your squad of randos into a dominating kickball machine - or in our case, deckbuilding - is more valued, and skill testing, than in other draft formats.

Sealed goes way back in Magic history. Its advantages are obvious: it’s simple, it’s quick, it’s scalable, it requires very little set-up. For otherwise experienced players new to cube, the mechanics and strategies will be old hat. Of course, the tradeoff is a greatly diminished power level - decks simply do not have the consistency found in other formats - and much less player choice in terms of color preference/archetypes. Decks tend towards midrange; aggro is hard to pull off.

Sealed also lends itself to hybridity. Though not discussed in detail here, there are plenty of variants possible. Like, say, a 30 card Sealed deck supplemented by 60 cards of Winston draft.


Sealed
In a Nutshell: Deal each player 90 cards. Done.
Inventor: ?
Total Cards: 180
Player’s Draft Pool: 90
Information: Hidden
Skill Testing: Yes (Entirely in deck building)
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: Low
Works for 3: Yes

Macrosealed
In a Nutshell: Deal each player 180 (/120) cards. Each player uses that pool to build 3 (/2) decks. Play each deck against each opposing deck.
Inventor: ?
Total Cards: 360/240
Player’s Draft Pool: 180/120
Information: Hidden
Skill Testing: Yes (Entirely in deck building)
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: Moderate to High
Works for 3: Larger Cubes

Microsealed
In a Nutshell: Deal each player 90 cards, as well as custom-made lands (see link). Players build 15 card decks, play with a unique ruleset, then discard and rebuild as they lose.
Inventor: Jason Waddell
Total Cards: 180
Player’s Draft Pool: 90
Information: None (initially)
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: Very High
Works for 3: Yes

Poker Draft
In a Nutshell: Players cycle their sealed pools in real time: first ten hands of 5, each "redrawn" twice in the fashion of draw poker, then the whole pool, twice more.
Inventor: Zetsu_Sensei
Total Cards: 150-175 per player
Player’s Draft Pool: 50
Information: None
Skill Testing: Medium
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: High
Works for 3: Yes

This category, which includes some of the oldest established formats for two-man booster drafts (anteceding the Cube itself), substitutes the large “hands” of orthodox pod drafting for a small number of piles, generally with multiple cards each. Pile drafting, in other words, features a comparatively smaller number of more complex decisions. Hate drafting is certainly possible here - more difficult in Winston, the sole face-down variant - but the fact that multiple cards are drafted with most picks makes reading your opponent’s intentions more skill-testing than elsewhere.

Unlike with sealed and geometrical drafting, these formats tend to begin with only a small handful of cards to choose among, and grow in complexity slowly; newer players will rarely be paralysed by gross information, although the choices themselves may be quite difficult (especially true with Solomon). Archetypes tend to be fairly chaseable and decks fairly powerful. These are, in other words, formats that tend to appeal to a wide range of players, that reward skilled drafting without locking out the less experienced, and that lead to the sorts of Magic decks Magic players like to play. Little wonder their longevity.


Solomon (AKA Fact or Fiction)
In a Nutshell: Player A splits a pack into two face-up piles of any size. Player B chooses either pile, Play A gets the other. Roles switch.
Inventor: ?
Total Cards: 80 (10 rounds of 8); 90 (18 rounds of 5); 84 (12 rounds of 7); etc.
Player’s Draft Pool: Varies
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: Not really
Hate Drafting: Sort of (“hate splitting”)
Deck Power Level: Moderate
Works for 3: ?

Winston
In a Nutshell: Three cards are dealt face-down in three piles. The active player always starts by looking at Pile 1. They may pick it up - in which case play moves to Player B - or pass on to Pile 2; either way, a(nother) card is always added to a pile after it has been looked at. Likewise for Pile 2 and 3. If active player doesn’t take Pile 3, they must take the top card off the deck, after which play switches.
Inventor: Richard Garfield!
Total Cards: 90 (dealt out 1 at a time over 3 piles, plus occasional picks off the top)
Player’s Draft Pool: Varies
Information: Hidden
Skill Testing: Medium
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: Moderate to High
Works for 3: ?

Winchester
In a Nutshell: Four cards are dealt in four face-up piles. Player A takes one. Another card is dealt onto all piles. Roles switch.
Inventor: Gabriel Nassif
Total Cards: 80 (dealt out in 20 rounds over 4 piles)
Player’s Draft Pool: Varies
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: Yes
Deck Power Level: High
Works for 3: ?

Long Island 64
In a Nutshell: Player A draws 6 cards, takes one, makes 5 face-up piles, and deals one random card (“long”) on each. Player B takes a pile, then makes a new one (“island”) the same size. Repeat with same roles until Player B chooses between two 5-card piles. Discard the remainder, switch roles. Four rounds total.
Inventor: Leelue
Total Cards: 116
Player’s Draft Pool: 48
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: Moderate
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Low
Deck Power Level:
Works for 3: ?

Probably the most interesting development in two-person drafting in recent years, these formats take the shaggy piles of early formats and turn them into neat rows and columns. For the first time, draftable picks on the table form something like a game board, where a card’s position in proximity to its neighbors affects its own value. That, and they’re just neat to look at all laid out face-up like that. So colorful!

These draft styles can take some getting used to. They’re a lot of information all at once. Decks can be very strong, but hate drafting also plays a major part of the fun.


Grid
In a Nutshell: Nine cards are dealt face up in a 3x3 grid. Player A chooses a row or column. Player B chooses a row or column of remaining 6 cards. Leftovers are discarded, new grid is made, roles switch.
Inventor: Trunkers
Total Cards: 162 (18 rounds of 9)
Player’s Draft Pool: 45-54
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Medium
Newbie Friendly: Not really
Hate Drafting: High
Deck Power Level: Fairly High
Works for 3: ?

Quilt
In a Nutshell: Cards are dealt face-up in 8x8 grid, each rotated 90 degrees from those adjacent. Players take turns picking one card with a short edge “open.” After half are picked, the rest are discarded and a second quilt is made. This time Player B goes first.
Inventor: tomchaps
Total Cards: 136
Player’s Draft Pool: 36
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: Somewhat
Speed: Medium
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Yes (plus “hate blocking”)
Deck Power Level: Moderate to High
Works for 3: ?

Memory Magic (AKA Squid Drafting)
In a Nutshell: 45 cards are placed face down in a shape or pattern. Players take turns looking at 3 cards, then taking 1 card from anywhere. Each player has a marker that can be placed anywhere on the table each turn. After each player has 15 cards, reveal and exile the remaining 15. Repeat 2 more times for 45 card pools.
Inventor: Mergatroid_Jones
Total Cards: 135
Player's Draft Pool: 45
Information: Limited
Skill Testing: Somewhat
Speed: Medium
Newbie Friendly: Somewhat
Hate Drafting: Yes
Deck Power Level: Moderate
Works for 3: ?

Pyramid Drafting
In a Nutshell: Build a face-up pyramid of 15 cards, with 5 at base and 1 at top, plus a stack of 85 additional cards. Players take turns choosing 1 card from the base. The pyramid then "crumbles" downward. Cards on the edge are simply replaced by the card above (repeated on each higher level); players taking center cards choose which of the 2 above to crumble down. Replace vacated top space with top card from stack; repeat until all cards are drafted.
Inventor: TRK27
Total Cards: 100
Player's Draft Pool: 50
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: Not really
Hate Drafting: High
Deck Power Level: Moderate
Works for 3? No

The newest - and, so far, smallest - of the draft categories, hand drafting seems poised to fulfill our long-held wish that two-man drafting could play like “regular” pod drafting. Indeed, here we get fifteen card hands, we take one card, and pass it to our opponents. Just like FNM!

Information, consequently, is much less perfect than in the other true draft formats (aside from Winston); hate drafting, likewise, is harder to do.

Schizochester is a bit of an odd fit here, with both perfect information and cards on the table, rather than in the hand; it seems even less appropriate in Pile Drafting, however, so here we have it.


Pancake
In a Nutshell: Both players start with 11 card packs, take one card, and switch. Players then take two and discard two, switch again, take two, and discard the last four. A total of 18 packs are used.
Inventor: Joost
Total Cards: 198
Player’s Draft Pool: 45
Information: Moderate
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Moderate
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Sort of
Deck Power Level: High
Works for 3: ?

Burnfour
In a Nutshell: Both players start with 15 card packs. Each takes 1 card and “burns” (discards) 4, then swap packs, repeat again, swap, and take a final card each (so 3 total). Repeat with fresh packs, twelves times total.
Inventor: ColbyCube
Total Cards: 360
Player’s Draft Pool: 36
Information: Low
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Sort of
Deck Power Level: Very High
Works for 3: ?

Glimpse
In a Nutshell: Like Burnfour, but only burning 2 cards at a time, and nine packs total.
Inventor: wtwlf123
Total Cards: 270
Player’s Draft Pool: 45
Information: Moderate
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Slow
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Sort of
Deck Power Level: Very High
Works for 3: ?

Schizochester
In a Nutshell: Do a basic Rochester Draft – each player choosing 1 cards at a time from a face-up pack – while pretending to be four different people, ending up with 4 decks each.
Inventor: Hicham
Total Cards: 360
Player’s Draft Pool: 45 x 4
Information: Perfect
Skill Testing: High
Speed: Very Slow
Newbie Friendly: No
Hate Drafting: Rare
Deck Power Level: High
Works for 3: No

The draft variant below was just recently brought to my attention, but it resonates with what I've been thinking for a while; namely, that one of the great unexplored arenas of drafting involves using cards to pay for other cards, that is, bidding or negotiation. I suspect that there are a lot more to be found, some perhaps quite different from anything we're playing today. Readers - the ball's in your court.


Lawyer
In a Nutshell: Over 8 rounds of 5 turns, players take turns picking one of six face-up cards or a random one from the deck. Within each round, players can also trade a card in hand for one on the table, plus a random draw from the deck.
Inventor: Sawler (via Oppen)
Total Cards: 128+
Player’s Draft Pool: 40
Information: High
Skill Testing: Moderate
Speed: Fast
Newbie Friendly: Fairly
Hate Drafting: Some
Deck Power Level: High
Works for 3: ?

Sometimes, drafting is too much of a hassle. Sometimes, deckbuilding is too much like work. What to do?

Why not just play?

These are the fastest formats there are, great for cubing in a hurry or between rounds of something bigger. They're also great for new players (notable exception: Mental Magic) who might be intimidated by the subtleties of archetypes, mana curves, fixing, and all that tricksy deckbuilding stuff that experienced cubers know and love and domineer with. Expect crazy, super-swingy games where anything can happen. If Cube, generally, is that primo Bolivian white - uncut, unadulterated - these formats are straight up crack.

Try it. You'll like it.


Wizard's Tower
In a Nutshell: Shuffle 135 cards and 16 of each basic land into a huge tower - a shared library. Players draw three cards each and can discard and redraw once. Seven cards are laid face up. During each players draw, they choose one face-up card and draw one off the top. When the last face-up card is drawn, deal another seven. Library and graveyard are shared.
Inventor: Ryan Miller?
Total Cards: 215
Player's Draft Pool: N/A
Information: Little
Skill Testing: Low
Speed: Very Fast
Newbie Friendly: Yes
Hate Drafting: Possible
Deck Power Level: Low
Works for 3: Yes

DC10
In a Nutshell: Unlimited mana, activated abilities once a turn, X costs are enough to kill things in play (Earthquake can be for the highest toughness creature in play) but can only be 1 or 0 when targeting a player (You can Devil's Play a 4/4 for 4, but you can't Devil's Play a player for 20), starting hand size is zero.
Inventor: ?
Total Cards: Any number
Player's Draft Pool: N/A
Information: None
Skill Testing: Low
Speed: Very Fast
Newbie Friendly: Yes
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: N/A
Works for 3: Yes

Type 4
In a Nutshell: Unlimited mana, one spell per turn, roll a d6 for starting hand size
Inventor: Antknee42
Total Cards: Any number
Player's Draft Pool: N/A
Information: None
Skill Testing: Low
Speed: Very Fast
Newbie Friendly: Yes
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: N/A
Works for 3: Yes

Windfall
In a Nutshell: No limits on lands per turn, cards from hand face-down are 5-color lands, draw 2 cards each turn (unless you’re going first, then 1), starting hand size is seven.
Inventor: Travis Woo?
Total Cards: Any number
Player's Draft Pool: N/A
Information: None
Skill Testing: Low
Speed: Very Fast
Newbie Friendly: Yes
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: N/A
Works for 3: Yes

Mental Magic
In a Nutshell: Seven card hands, cards played face-down as 5-color lands or as any spell with same mana cost other than the spell it is, or another spell already named. See link for more rules. (Note that this isn't really a cube format, but it could certainly be played by using one's cube – even if the cards named are all outside it.)
Inventor: Richard Garfield
Total Cards: Any number
Player's Draft Pool: N/A
Information: None
Skill Testing: Extremely High
Speed: Depends on Your Powers of Recall
Newbie Friendly: Absolutely Not
Hate Drafting: No
Deck Power Level: Super High
Works for 3: Yes