Can thieves auction drafts be sanctioned? I wouldn't think so, but I would like verification.

You mean drafting the rares at the conclusion of the rounds? There isn't anything specifically barring them from being sanctioned.

I think 90% of the FNMs I've played in the last 10 years have had some form of redraft.

Yeah basically taking all the rares from everyone and having the 1st place player get the first pick and so on down the line. To me this doesn't seem like something that can be sanctioned and enforced. If a player drops they own the cards they drafted (it states it in the MTR). Also when the tournament is finished the players would then own the cards in their pool. I don't see how it could be enforced for the players to give up their cards in either circumstance to pass out after the tournament concludes.

I must admit, I've never heard it called that before; can't say I like the implications of that name, either.

But it is perfectly legal to do “picks” from the draft pool as a method of prize distribution.

As for enforcement, that's simple. If someone leaves early with the rares they drafted, they aren't welcome to return. At least, that's how some stores handle it.

I was worried until I realized it's a card.

You can sanction it, but it is a horrible idea if you even have to
consider the enforcement. This is something that works well with
friends, especially if everyone is bringing their own packs or has
enough cards that they don't really want anything other than the true
money rares. Experienced drafters like it, because it incentivizes
“good” drafting.

For a new player, it is often insult to injury. They lose the draft
and lose the cards as well.

As Uncle Scott said, the only real option to enforcement is to ban the
person from the shop. That is something that only works with someone
who wants to return to the shop. In other words, someone who is
drafting with friends.

We've done this in my area for as long as I lived here. Enforcing it has never been a problem, but that is maily because the community is rather small and everyone knows everyone else. If someone wants or has to leave early, he gives his rares to *random person xyz* and has him make his rare-picks for him. So far, we haven't had much problems with that, and the players prefer it that way (including new players, since it makes the draft cheaper - no price pool packs needed), so I've never seen a problem in this as long as all players agree on rare-picking over rare-keeping (as we call it) before the draft starts.

We redraft rares in our store every week at our Tuesday night drafts. Typically we'll ask the table if everyone is ok with it before opening the boosters. If someone isn't ok with it (or even hesitates enough because they don't want to go against the crowd) we just offer to let them keep what they open. One of the staff takes a minute to open that persons 3 boosters and note the rares and they are returned to them after the draft. The other 7 redraft the other 21 rares

Redrafting rares will keep new players away from the location.
Yes, they might not object when it's explained. But at the same time they won't return either.

Additionally, it makes the tournament go longer. When I'm done with the draft and rounds, it's usually 11 PM or so. I don't want to stay until midnight only to pick those rares (Wait until all rares are there, 20 players take their time at picks..)

On another note, I don't see the need as TO/Judge to impose an unnecessary risk for the tournament. Raredrafting does encourage theft more than “rarekeep” does. There is this store in my area where not 1 Liliana/Snapcaster Mage was opened during ISD. The other day it was “too few rares” of ISD, “too many rares” of DKA. At that time I stopped playing there as the TO wasn't willing to change to “keep the rares you pick”. (Among other problems)

It may be useful for rather closed groups of experienced players, but I highly discourage it for a normal draft/FNM in a store.

I'm going to echo some of the other posts here. We've been doing rare
redrafts pretty much exclusively at my store since before I started. Yes,
we're a smaller community, but we're by no means exclusive.

We have a very constant rate of new players joining the draft and I can say
that with the exception of people who don't live here, we've not had
someone turn up and then never turn up again for drafts.

Older players go home happy because they did well and get the cards they
want. Newer players are happy because they get an awesome foil and mind
less what rares they pick and are usually eyeing picks that go later
anyway. The hungriest group are the middle players who are working to do
well enough to make it into the top group of players likely to win a draft.

Around here as well, I find that the players are pretty good at managing
their own rare draft because a) they want to go home and b) they want their
stuff. They're also pretty well trained in the procedure so they know how
it's all handled.

Obviously it's not a practice for every community if you feel people are
untrustworthy or your players may be uncomfortable with the idea because
they're used to a drafters-keepers situation, but I wouldn't discount it
totally based on players being upset because in my experience most players
are pretty easy going as long as they're given a heads up beforehand.

Additionally, it makes the tournament go longer. When I'm done with the draft and rounds, it's usually 11 PM or so. I don't want to stay until midnight only to pick those rares (Wait until all rares are there, 20 players take their time at picks..)

For reference, the longest that redrafts take is about 10 minutes, and that's when someone forgot that the have in their sideboard. Most redrafts take 3-5 minutes.

Additionally, note that I'm referring to drafts where there aren't inter-pod pairings, thus the redrafts are just by the pods; I think most who do redrafts would agree that inter-pod pairings + redrafting is not a good idea. (I'm of the opinion that inter-pod pairings period aren't a good idea)

On another note, I don't see the need as TO/Judge to impose an unnecessary risk for the tournament. Raredrafting does encourage theft more than “rarekeep” does. There is this store in my area where not 1 Liliana/Snapcaster Mage was opened during ISD. The other day it was “too few rares” of ISD, “too many rares” of DKA. At that time I stopped playing there as the TO wasn't willing to change to “keep the rares you pick”. (Among other problems)

Locally, there are stores which have changed between raredrafting and keeping picks a few times over the past ~12 years I've been drafting; most of the time, they move the moment what you describe above begins to be a problem, while other times it's just due to what the majority of the shop wants to do. It really depends on the community.

My area also does thieves auctions for the FNM drafts. It's a good way to keep the costs down, but still offer a good prize payout. In addition, it helps everyone get a higher quality draft deck as people are less likely to rare draft out of their colors.

As for enforcing it, it's very much a community effort. If you lose round 1 and leave with the chase rare of the set, you're pretty much going to be shunned.

I've noticed that it's usually not the newer players who dislike rare redrafting. They seem to like it as they get their pick of 24 rares (plus foils), and they usually are pretty excited to get some random card for their deck(s) that goes late. On top of that, a lot of experienced players often will just take their first pick and leave if there aren't enough money cards to get back to them. So instead of walking out with 3 rares (and maybe a foil), the new players often walk out with 4+ rares/foils. Finally, in most sets, everyone walks out with a card worth something, which is more than you can expect from just opening 3 packs.

I also think that making a policy that states certain events can't be sanctioned because of the prize support would be counterproductive. Why should policy dictate prize support for events?

In summary, I don't see a problem with it as long as everyone is aware of it and it is run smoothly. If there are problems with the player base stealing the cards (either just by leaving or replacing them), talk with the TO about no longer running redraft events.

Edited Andy Moore (Aug. 10, 2013 01:50:54 AM)

Originally posted by Philip Böhm:

Redrafting rares will keep new players away from the location.
Yes, they might not object when it's explained. But at the same time they won't return either.

This.

I strongly urge anyone TOing/judging rare re-draft events to (1) consider whether you really want to do it and (2) make certain you make it clear to everyone as they sign-up that you're doing it. I also support the method Mark mentioned of allowing people to opt-out as a distant second to having players keep what they open.

It's really disheartening for new players to do badly in the tournament and then also have to give up their rares, doubly so if they didn't know that it was the custom.

Edited Thomas Ralph (Aug. 10, 2013 08:00:41 AM)

Almost all of our stores do re-drafts. Most players here prefer it. During
release weekends, one of the stores offers both box drafts and pick drafts,
and the pick drafts usually fire faster.

With a set with a lot of money in in, you could do something like one of
our stores did for MMA pick drafts: a store employee walked around as each
pack was opened and marked down the rare and the foil rare, along with the
initials of who opened it.

I think we are just repeating here and everyone is in agreement.

It works well with small, tight-knit communities. More experienced
players prefer it.

You can run into problems if it is not a small, tight-knit community.
New players should be allowed to make an informed choice and given a
genuine choice to opt out.