Sanctioning Rare Redraft
Hi guys! This topic just recently came up in my local judge group, and I was wondering about hearing some opinions on it from the community at large. Here's the statement:
Let it be resolved that Rare Redrafts should(/should not) be sanctionable as a tournament structure.
For those unfamiliar with what a “rare redraft” is, it's a draft where the draft and play procedures proceed as a normal draft, but then at the end all players put their rares (and usually foils as well) into a large pool, and those cards are drafted again in order of finish, so the 1st place player gets the best rare, 2nd place gets 2nd best, and so on. Procedures on what to do after the 8th player vary by playgroup.
Pros:
- Lots of players like this structure for various reasons, including:
– It provides a cheaper way to draft while still having a decent prize structure
– It is a more “pure” draft experience by mitigating “money drafting” (choosing a card based on its dollar value rather than its tournament playability)
– (usually) everyone at the table leaves with at least one rare that they're happy with so it reduces “my packs sucked” feel-bads
Cons:
- Enforcement of rare redraft procedure using tournament policy methods directly violates MTR 2.10: “Players who drop during limited events own the cards that they correctly have in their possession at that time. This includes any unopened or partially drafted boosters.”
- Enforcement of rare redraft procedure outside tournament procedure (e.g. “if you don't follow this procedure you're banned from our store/playgroup/etc”) is kind of an awkward workaround.
(Full disclosure: I'm on the “pro” side, so I may have mischaracterized the “con” side a bit; if I did, I apologize)
Argument point 1: Should rare redrafts be sanctionable at all?
Argument point 2: If they should be sanctionable, should wording be added to MTR somewhere to handle the case in which rare redraft procedure is violated to protect the structure of the tournament?
Discuss!