Final Fantasy: Our First Reader Draft Meetup

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Guildmage’s Forum Is Actually Hosting an Event?

A set named Final Fantasy has officially launched, and it’s also the very first reader draft meetup from Guildmage’s Forum.

Isn’t that too good to be true? You read an article and get a chance to join a draft? For this we of course have to thank 睿卡潮玩, who saw the work Guildmage’s Forum has been putting in and decided to partner with us to promote the game, providing booster packs for hosting offline events. In the future we will have the chance to let more newbies experience the joy of draft.

Without further ado, let’s look at the highlights from the day! Veteran players are also welcome to reminisce about every Friday of the past. Perhaps a wave of draft is about to sweep in. Are you ready to play to your heart’s content?

If You Still Don’t Know What Draft Is

Since Guildmage’s Forum is a site for both the refined and the casual, XD, please allow us to first briefly introduce what “draft” is although we believe our longtime readers all know .

Getting straight to the point in one sentence: Magic: The Gathering draft is insanely fun. You get to crack packs, pick cards from them, snag the good stuff nobody else took (usually because they aren’t playing that color this time and reluctantly pass it to you), build a deck, play matches, take home souvenirs provided by the store, and relax and trash-talk with a few friends. Or you can play seriously, so seriously that you can carry on to the Pro Tour…

No doubt about it, it’s that great a game! After the draft, the cards you picked are of course yours, and you can take them home and add them to your constructed decks, which makes for a perfect experience. In particular, Magic’s draft design is full of depth and fun, and I believe veteran players still can’t forget it or are still deeply hooked.

Please allow me to be lazy for a moment and cite an earlier article, How Newbies Can Improve in Limited: The Draft Edition. Newbies and advanced players who want a deeper understanding afterward are welcome to head over after reading this record.

The Event Begins

Friday, June 13, 2025 Friday the 13th, no less . Thanks to 遊戲平方 for generously providing the venue, which let us hold this offline reader gathering. The event officially started at 18:30~

First, a group photo while we happened to be waiting for two members stuck in traffic . Taking the chance to give special thanks to cephille, ZHAN, and faintmama for their efforts, which made the gathering run smoothly.

Everyone’s here and the draft officially begins! The eight players each open their first Play Booster and fall into the struggle and thrill of “Hmm, which card should I take…”

I’m not sure what Chennel picked, but it was definitely good stuff. He was beaming, which also drew onlookers over to join in the fun.

After making a decision, the newbie uses the spare time to watch the signals from across the table… This is indeed how the game is played. Could this person have the potential to become a top player?

If you need translation or even detailed rules explanations during the process, there are apps that provide support now so even presbyopia can’t stop you from playing this game .

The excitement, agony, and racking of brains during deckbuilding are classic joys of the Magic draft format. Picking valuable cards is one thing, but can you build well? We’ll see the truth soon.

Hey friend, aren’t you taking this a bit too seriously? The cards got bent from your squeezing thanks to Peter’s long, slender hands for the assist .

“Hahaha, I’ve already finished building, and you still dare to skip dinner and wolf it down on the spot?” (scripted dialogue)
Trash-talking with like-minded friends on a Friday night is definitely another big charm of this format.

The author would like to share something special here. About ten to twenty years ago, social attitudes were much more conservative than today. Some people loved TCGs but couldn’t get resonance from family and friends, and many veteran players came to the card store alone and found like-minded friends there. Besides playing cards together, they gradually shared their lives and supported each other, which looking back is a truly precious journey.
Things are much better today. Feel free to invite your friends, or muster the courage to go to a nearby card store alone, and I believe you’ll get a very good experience.
Maybe the next person playing cards with us will be you?

Battle! Open the phone app and you can see your first-round seat, your opponent, and report results super easily after the match.

Running out of jokes! Anyway, it’s a row of players who have all picked their valuable cards and built seriously, starting their battles!

In the first round, T1BloodMoon faced Jru, who hadn’t brought sleeves if I’d known, I wouldn’t have lent him any, hmph .

Facing Peter’s turn-one Cecil, Dark Knight onslaught, Chennel smiled helplessly being handsome is great, even awkwardness looks good .

Wrap-Up

The off-table winner of the day was definitely Chennel! He not only opened the Bahamut Summon: Bahamut, but also Akroma’s Will and Yoshitaka Amano’s Dark Ritual that’s outrageous, is he driving an armored truck of luck? . Congratulations to everyone for spending an enjoyable evening, and we’re also glad to get together with old friends and new ones.
As a member of Guildmage’s Forum, I’m very glad to have had this opportunity to try leading newcomers to understand and enjoy draft more deeply. Magic’s strengths are definitely its depth and its irreplaceable interactivity, and it’s precisely because of these qualities that after falling into the pit, we’ve been squatting deep inside it for ages, XD. Likewise, we understand how much guidance is needed during the beginner phase, so once again thanks to 睿卡潮玩 for exploring with us, as we try to share the joy and logic of this game with an ever wider world through repeated online and offline interactions.
That’s the event record for Final Fantasy: Our First Reader Draft Meetup. If you’re curious about how the picks went that day, please read the players’ sharing that follows.

Player Feedback

Chennel’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Definitely seeing the super bomb Summon: Bahamut right away in my first pack and taking it without a second thought. After that I started worrying about how to build a deck that could summon Bahamut. After the first round of picks, I found that the Landfall-related pieces had all been taken, so a Blue-Green ramp theme probably wouldn’t work. After taking Syr Konrad, the Grim with the fourth pick of the first pack, I started thinking about going Black-Green, but judging by the cards passed from the first pack, black removal was very rare, so starting in pack two I chose to add blue to fill out the deck’s removal, and ended up with a Sultai-colored control deck.

How did the key turns of today go?

In game two against Peter, he mulliganed twice to start, and in the meantime I cast Diamond Weapon and Syr Konrad, the Grim in a row, and he drew two Sephiroth’s Intervention in a row to clear them both. After that my topdecks were terrible and I got pushed to death by the opponent. This game is so fun, XD.

Do you like draft? Any draft memories worth looking back on?

In one MH3 match I had a hand disaster and mulliganed three times, starting with only four cards in hand, definitely a huge disadvantage. But luckily on turn four I used Phyrexian Tower to sacrifice a creature for two mana of acceleration and summoned Shilgengar, Sire of Famine, then hit the opponent with it for three turns in a row and beat them to death, XD.

How would you recommend draft?

Draft is the most convenient and affordable format. Just come to the card store empty-handed, buy sleeves and three booster packs, and you can start playing right away. Every match feels very different, and after playing you can take the deck you built home, which is great value.
The process of picking cards in draft is also very fun: while building the color pair you want to play, you also take away strong cards others might use. It’s very suitable for learning how to build a good deck and getting familiar with how each color plays.

Chennel’s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

Chennel’s deck for the day.

Peter’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Perhaps this will surprise everyone, but the most important pick was actually Brainstorm at the end of pack two. The general impression of Brainstorm is that it’s a card that struggles to be effective in limited: since there’s no land-fetching, intuitively Brainstorm just rearranges the order of your upcoming draws, letting you find and use the next three cards first, but if your hand or the top of your library isn’t good, it can’t change anything. However, in my deck that day there were actually quite a few ways to remove the two cards put back (the unwanted ones), including two creatures that surveil, two creatures that mill on entering, two cards that cycle to find basic lands, and a World Map, which made my Brainstorm skyrocket in strength, and it saved me more than once in matches.

How did the key turns of today go?

The most critical turns today were nothing other than the first game of Round 2: against Red-White Equipment. For nearly ten turns with my life down to single digits, I blocked with small creatures while continuously building board and hand advantage, and finally found an answer and successfully turned the game around. After the match I chatted with my opponent: that’s just how this game is, as long as you haven’t truly lost, you can’t give up.

Do you like draft? Any draft memories worth looking back on?

I remember one time going to Taoyuan to play a sealed-draft MITQ, and in one round I was paired against cephille. In the last two turns of game two, he used Treasures to make two mana of a third color, and in a deck mostly Red-Blue he cast the two-black-mana Gisa, the Hellraiser and reaped the win directly. To this day I still have a vivid memory of that match.

How would you recommend draft?

To me, draft is the best medium for building the basic logic of this game, because besides the most basic combat it cares about very limited resource management and deckbuilding. In this format you must know your 40 cards inside out, and every decision has a big effect on winning or losing.

Peter’s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

Peter’s deck for the day.

T1BloodMoon’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

The king Kenrith, the Returned King, my first pick of the first pack, helped me gain life like crazy in matches, and his blue ability let me draw the opponent out. Afterward, not many people took the Blue-White artifact route, so I got all of those, including two White Auracite, a very strong artifact removal spell.

How did the key turns of today go?

In the last five turns, I was sure I couldn’t kill the opponent with creatures, so I went all in on using the king to make the opponent draw out their library to win, XD.

Do you like draft? Any draft memories worth looking back on?

Occasionally rounding up friends for a draft is one of my leisure activities in the Magic sphere. I’ve played drafts of special sets like Planeshift and Mystery Booster 2 with friends, and they were all great fun.

How would you recommend draft?

Although it doesn’t have the higher bomb-count ceiling that sealed does, draft’s selling point is that your deck theme gets clearer because of your picks, and it’s also the format that major tournaments always include, so it’s very suitable for newbies to try and practice often.

T1BloodMoon’s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

T1BloodMoon’s deck for the day.

Jru’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

All the removal cards.
Removal was extremely scarce for the White-Black pair this time. I took every removal spell as soon as I saw it (even giving up bombs for it), and even so I couldn’t reach eight, and in black I padded the count with weaker cards like Cornered by Black Mages. Fortunately, this time I chose to play Equipment aggro, and the life-stealing ability of the 0/1 Mage is passable.

How did the key turns of today go?

No particular key turns. I just quickly spread out some creatures and rammed people to death, winning both matches 2-0.
How did this control addict become so ruthless?

Do you like draft? Any draft memories worth looking back on?

Memory A: In an Aether Revolt draft, I got finished off by an opponent’s turn-four Felidar Guardian.
Memory B: During Hour of Devastation, for three Friday drafts in a row, the rare in my first pack was Nimble Obstructionist.

Jru’s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

Jru’s deck for the day.

關東煮師爺（子懷）‘s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Choco, Seeker of Paradise. In this draft I deliberately chose to play a Chocobo deck, and the multicolor Chocobo can gain lots of resources when there are many Chocobos on the board. Putting lands onto the battlefield from the top of the library can pump up the Chocobos to attack and let you turn a losing game around.

How did the key turns of today go?

The Chocobo deck needs to accumulate Chocobos on the board, and in the first few turns it takes a lot of patience to wait for the right moment. In the late turns, after accumulating a certain amount of resources, I happened to draw Bartz and Boko. By coming down with the cost reduction and damaging the opponent’s big creature, and finally attacking with the Chocobos combined with Choco, Seeker of Paradise’s putting lands from the top of the library onto the battlefield to pump up the Chocobos’ attacks, I got the final victory!

Please share your feelings about taking part in the draft

Invited to play draft this time, I got to share the fun of picking cards and building decks with other newbies and veteran players. From the very first pick you can start thinking about the deck direction, and once the deck is done you can play matches to show off your build, which is very fun!
During matches you can observe the opponent’s deck logic and make use of your own card skills to try to find the way to victory, and the moment of winning really gives a sense of accomplishment! Draft is a format very suitable for going from newbie to regular player, opening packs and exchanging ideas with friends, enjoying the charm of constructed-style building. My personal suggestion when playing draft is to be sure to first understand how the deck’s theme plays and its details, so that during picking and building you can better grasp the direction of play and experience the draft happily.

關東煮師爺（子懷）‘s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

關東煮師爺（子懷）‘s deck for the day.

怎麼喝都不夠’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Gilgamesh, Master-at-Arms. Thanks to this card’s enter and attack abilities, I could call an Equipment with Hero onto the battlefield with a high probability every turn.

How did the key turns of today go?

When playing against Chennel, he summoned Summon: Shiva and started the first chapter of the Saga, keeping my Jecht, Reluctant Guardian in a tapped + stunned state (and the second chapter was also tap + stun… what a headache). This kept me from attacking with Jecht, Reluctant Guardian and transforming it, so the game couldn’t be turned around and I lost in the end.

Please share your feelings about taking part in the draft

As a rookie who’s been in the game for half a year, I can count the number of drafts I’ve played on one hand… I’m very happy to have joined this draft, and thanks also to Guildmage’s Forum for the careful explanations and the suggestions from the sidelines. The overall play experience was great!

怎麼喝都不夠’s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.

怎麼喝都不夠’s deck for the day.

mm’s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Firion, Wild Rose Warrior. The main reason I chose this card is that when the deck’s core has Equipment, it can quickly provide attack opportunities and generate lots of damage. Seeing him as the first card of the first pack basically decided that I’d play the Red-White theme.

How did the key turns of today go?

The fatal flaw of my Red-White aggro deck: no trample. Because of no trample, even though Barret Wallace had a weapon and other Equipment to reach a painful 7/4 double strike body, I couldn’t stop the opponent from continuously feeding me small creatures to attack into. If possible, I should not have stopped attacking midway, and should have kept consuming Peter’s creatures to put pressure on him. In the end I let Peter make a big creature and lost the match.

Please share your feelings about taking part in the draft

Anyway, I found this limited format really fun. The deckbuilding logic isn’t too complicated: basically you just start from the powerful single cards in your opening picks as the core and build around them. I hope I’ll have more chances to find limited events to play.

mm’s draft picks and pants , left to right, top to bottom.

玉皇 daddy（弘正）‘s Sharing:

What do you think was the most important pick today, and why? Please name the card.

Gladiolus Amicitia pulls a land onto the battlefield, and that turn you can make a +4/+4 trample big creature.
In an eight-player draft you can pick the cards you want and quickly build a deck. I’d always wanted to try a Landfall deck, so in a sense I got my wish, and I’m very happy 👍👍👍.
(That a land is not a spell is very important! I picked a few cards wrong, but as a rookie that’s normal, right, haha)

How did the key turns of today go?

Basically there were no key turns. The Landfall deck is on the slow side, and all three matches I played were very mild.
If I had to name a key turn, it would be a turn in the match against mm, when the opponent still had 2 mana unspent, and I attacked with a lucky-gamble mentality only to get tricked, and without trading off a single creature, I quickly headed toward defeat.

玉皇 daddy（弘正）‘s draft picks, left to right, top to bottom.