The Guide To Winston Draft | 2 Player Magic: The Gathering

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Drafting is probably the most fun I've had playing Magic.

[@CrosswaIk]

Has there ever been a Josh/Prof crossover video?

[@jdazzani]

@@CrosswaIk would pay to see it

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

@@CrosswaIk I'd be scared id win so hard he'd never play magic again

[@Dyingwood.]

@@JoshStrifeHayes just think of the video line. “Worst MTG Card Ever? #420”

[@ginatruiolo]

I totally agree I love drafting, sealed drafting. Full of fun and chaos!!

[@Attivian]

I've been winston drafting with my girlfriend over the past two years since I introduced her to MTG. She loves to draft. We split the cost of a box every new set and draft our weekends away. Best two out of three before we move on to the next.

[@muscleNflow]

Whoa. After seeing this, I wanted to try it out. A nearby friend and I Winston drafted from a "for a rainy day" MH2 box I put away and had a blast. Now realizing I've wasted so much time waiting for the full group to get together and draft... thank you so much for introducing us to this Prof! The cube is about to get a lot more love.

[@GoodRogue]

It should be probably noted that the format is named after Winston D. Raft, a scholar, a gunslinger, a gentleman and a time mage, who once defeated a notorious outlaw by challenging him to a Magic duel.

[@dogdriver70]

janklord!

[@davidwright8094]

Quest for the Janklord is a youtube channel that did a very good commedy skit about Winston draft in case anyone doesn't get it

[@JANKLORD]

*sheds a single tear*

[@fkylw]

I wish life was actually like this.

[@dogdriver70]

@@fkylw would you sell your soul for endless magic booster packs?

[@GTheepicguy]

Just the other day I was trying to figure out how to organize a two player draft. Somehow your video timing is always on point, thanks a ton professor!

[@dylan8670]

My wife and I made a small cube of 360 cards, but we Winston draft it all the time. Winston is a great 2 player draft experience.

[@bensaylor9093]

I super recommend this style of drafting. My girl and I do this all the time and it's a good way of enjoying your booster boxes for longer and getting some milage out of your cards before they mostly end up in the chaff box.

[@bensaylor9093]

@@dylan8670

[@CharlotteMimic]

My friend maintains a proxied Vintage Cube, and recently we've had a lot of fun Winston drafting it, as well as grid drafting.

[@prosamis]

This sounds like such a cool format I'd LOVE to see a Winston cube guide

[@WarpsmithAdam]

Someone posted an article on Starcitygames a while ago about a grixis cube that was designed with 2 player draft in mind. I don't have the link, sorry.

[@blim8777]

If you want to draft this way with a friend of yours, you probably should consider to have a 90 cards mini-cube and play with it. It will be balanced in colors and power levels, it won't have terrible picks and you can easily build it up even without rares and mythics. Spending much less and having the tool to play a lot of times!

[@erik19borgnia]

I love this idea. But I would use like 120 cards cube, to add some variety in the draft :)

[@icntfndaname]

@@erik19borgnia Winston drafts take a lot longer because it goes 1 card at a time through all 90, so there are a lot of choices made, going past 90 would probably be a time issue.

[@erik19borgnia]

@@icntfndaname i was actually saying that you can have a 120 cards cube, and remove 30 random ones each time you play, so the 90 that you are playing aren't always the same :P

[@llikeafoxx]

Winston drafting is great, super happy to see you highlight it to your audience, and doubly more so to see you reference 2 player micro cubes!

[@williamsimkulet7832]

7:00 I'd like to see such a video. A Winston cube sounds fun and relatively inexpensive.

[@jimbones5621]

I've actually had a good time doing a normal draft with 3 people total. We get 4 drafts in per box, makes for a great day or two. We play it multiplayer, which i know isn't the norm but it is really fun.

[@jamesehlenfeldt7132]

That's how I usally fraft if I can only get 3 or 4 people.

[@Lyes669]

My first draft was a 3 player one and multiplayer. It was really fun!

[@Nananki]

Me and my friend have been enthusiastically playing duel decks since they were introduced. We only have a few hours a couple times a month to get together and the premade mostly balanced decks built around the ongoing story have been a fantastic way to keep up with the lore and enjoy the game I've loved since I was a kid. Since WOTC abandoned them we've been playing whatever random decks strike our fancy that week. We'll have to try some two player drafting for a change. Thanks for this guide!

[@zeradox1901]

„Only you and ONE other friend!😊“ *Looking into the mirror:“AWESOME! Ready for a little game bud?“*

[@dogdriver70]

Man in the Mirror: "I will crush you!"

[@gamerbear84]

@@dogdriver70 I'm gettin' pubstomped by the man in the mirror...

[@RubenSmithZempel]

I would also highly, highly love to see a 90 card Winston draft cube video. I've had a great deal of difficulty making my own and would love to see that. I'd also love to see a 180 card 4 player version video. Please!

[@cinnamonhenke2143]

Yes, please do a video on a 90 card cube for Winston draft. I would love that!

[@piralos1329]

This is absolutely amazing, and exactly what I was needing, thank you!! This will be so helpful for both learning how to draft, and getting more fun out of sealed product, as well as opening up a whole new way to play! Thank you so much for this Professor!

[@seanfsmith]

I'd love a video on a 90 card Winston cube!!

[@Ophiegasm]

All these years of Magic and I had no clue about this form of drafting. It's a lot simpler and easier to schedule a draft with one other person as opposed to six. I definitely look forward to having numerous Winston drafts in the future from this point forward. Thank you, Professor! Side note, I'd love to see a video on building cubes for Winston drafts as well as what your favorite sets are for Winston drafting. Thank you again, Professor, have a great day!

[@joefanno9180]

My wife and I love playing sealed together can’t wait to try out two player draft! Thanks for the video prof!

[@WarriorZ676]

I would LOVE to see a video on Winston Draft Cube, Professor! Would make Magic feel a bit like a board game, which sounds fun and interesting.

[@ukaszbylica3261]

I've been winston drafting my cube a bunch recently and enjoyed it a fair bit. Would be very much interested in a video specifically about building a small, two-player cube!

[@dylan8670]

Thanks for sharing this Professor! My wife and I LOVE to draft, and we usually take our cube and Winston draft it. It's a great way to get the draft experience with just 2 people.

[@shipsoftheline4305]

Limited is my favorite way to play, love the decision making and the power level draft formats cater too, but it is tough to get pods assembled outside of LGS events. This seems like an awesome way to jam with friends! I’m looking forward to the Winston cube video, Prof!

[@auggiesunflower2159]

This was fantastic! I tried to play Winston many years ago when I just started, but couldn’t get my head around the rules. This was really clear and I’m really excited to try with my partner this weekend

[@dougystyle79]

I really enjoy your educational introductory content on MtG formats. So many times my playgroup gets together and sometimes we don't want to go into a 4th Commander game or we don't have enough to fire off a regular-styled draft. It's great to learn that when some of us want to do one format, two of us can just go: 'Wanna draft?'.

[@Vex-MTG]

I've always loved limited. The power levels make for more interesting games, and you never have the same experience twice - what's not to love? Especially now, with FIRE design principles still causing havoc in constructed formats, it's nice to know that I can play with the cards that I open.

[@almogdov]

Is it weird, that I've done many many Winston drafts and yet still watched the video? XD Sometimes we used 8 boosters BTW, in some sets it's better, depends how deep the colors and themes are

[@philcolton5933]

Love cube and cube content. Would be glad to see that Winston cube tutorial.

[@calebrobbins6406]

That's actually super fun! My friend and I have wanted to figure out a way to 2-player draft, so I'll definitely share this video!

[@DeathHydraZ]

Until recently, I had only played ever played constructed throughout my mtghood, save one draft with a good friend of mine during Ixilan. However, my wife and I have played sealed recently and it was a lot of fun. Watching her win with a deck she had made all her own was a fantastic experience and it has inspired her to build new constructed decks as well. While I prefer constructed, I wholly endorse everyone to try sealed in some way, shape, or form at least once, especially for newer players who may not have an extensive collection yet!

[@okanut]

My friend and I just started doing this a few months ago! It's been a great way to get small games since we're both busy.

[@robinett74]

I'll be first to admit that I did not watch this video before you called it out in your other video about the solution for alchemy. And I do not regret it. This sounds like a really cool relaxed format for when you're just hanging out with a friend. I'll start to suggest this every time I see a friend that is intending to just crack packs because he can't get a full draft group going.

[@ZachHayesRB]

Woah this is wild. I was literally just scouring my junk pile to find the Magic insert card describing this draft format because I wanted to try it. Thanks for saving me the dumpster dive, Professor!

[@KingRarecrazy]

I love building cubes I need to see how to build a cube with only 90 cards! As for drafting I have been developing alternate 1v1 drafting methods. Never really understood Winston draft, do now, great video!

[@ENAPO_35]

I only knew grid-draft for 2 players. This looks pretty fun - and the idea of only having to make a 180 card cube (in order to create variety) is appealing as well. Great video, prof!

[@fkylw]

This is great! My spouse and I have been thinking of a way to do 2 person draft! We didn't know this existed so now we're going to have a weekly night where we do this. We're going to buy 1 box, draft 4 times in a month and save 12 for a "mixed" winston draft in the future. Proff! You helped start a long tradition in my family! Thank you!

[@mitchellbender7876]

I think it's really interesting you highlight the secrecy and surprise elements as positives of this format, because those are the very reasons my friends and I have been moving away from Winston Draft as far as two-person draft formats go. (I wouldn't say we hate Winston draft by any means, but we find certain aspects of it very frustrating.) The first thing is that secrecy hasn't been a positive for us. When we're hanging out playing Magic, one of the things we want is for the game to spark conversation. The secrecy element of Winston actively fights us on this: most of the time we find ourselves saying things like "oh wow, I have something interesting to say about this but I shouldn't" and then we'll forget by the time the draft round is over. It reminds me of Maro's issues with the Gotcha mechanic: games aren't as good a social experience when they actively penalise talking. As such, we've moved to formats with 100% public information, so we can talk about the game with impunity. (Winston draft also isn't a great spectator format for this reason, IMO.) The second is that we've found the surprise/hidden information aspect leads to bomb cards having an even more disproportionate effect on the game than they usually would. We prefer when games are interactive and close, versus decided by one player resolving an unbeatable card, and to the extent there are power outliers, we'd prefer the opponent know about them and have an opportunity to prepare. This may not be a problem for everyone, but it takes us long enough to draft that we don't want to have a non-game at the end of it. (Our solution to this was, largely, assembling piles of commons and uncommons to draft from rather than using fresh boosters, but this is very much an area where tastes may vary.) I haven't perfected the idea yet, but we've been playtesting various formats inspired by Fact or Fiction (e.g. take turns drawing five cards and making piles for the other player to choose between), and having a lot of fun with it.f

[@delm0nte]

I have never drafted before as the pandemic hit just after I got back into Magic. Being able to draft 1-on-1 with a close friend turned out to be just what I needed. Thank you for this.

[@jakobvindelbo8723]

although these videos are not entirely something I need now that I'm a more experienced player, I'm here because I appreciated this so much as a beginning player. thank you for making these types of instructive videos!

[@jcrouse7461]

This video is so helpful! My friends and I all have really busy schedules so getting a full draft group together is usually impossible - this is just the solution we’ve needed!

[@frayacedare5246]

I hope you do a video on the 90 card cube, that seems really neat

[@blackfang500]

This couldn't have come at a better time. I've been trying to learn about

[@ColasTeam]

I checked this video out after you giving it a shout-out in your latest video, and it's probably one of the best and most interesting ones so far! I tend to draft with my girlfriend a lot, and we usually do it the regular way which isn't ideal when only 2 people are around, but this sounds like a perfect fit for my situation, and I'd absolutely adore to get a video on how to build a 90 card cube (can you imagine?! A draft cube that fits in a deck box!)

[@sirmegallot3276]

I Winston draft more than I traditional draft; I recently moved to a new city and only personally know one person who plays magic. Playing at the card store is fun, but I guess I have more fun when I'm not playing with strangers outside my home... I'm so happy someone developed this method because I can continue to play my favorite mtg format: drafts!

[@bd35mtg28]

Love a good Winston draft. Pretty low-stakes casual way to rip open some boosters.

[@Zigsquiddly]

Awesome production in this video. It is so nice to have a reference for this format that isn't an 8+ year old Wizards article XD. I do this all the time, as I refuse to open boosters without getting at least some value. And we even run it chaos style using random bulk packs sold at our local game store

[@artenox7579]

this is awesome! I never thought I could play my fav magic format with just other person, gonna try to draft a cube with other 3 to see what will happen :O thanks for the knowledge prof!

[@twizzicles23]

Glad to see more of a light shone on this! I like making 2-player draft boxes ("cubelets" I call them) containing 120 cards and 80 basic lands. Usually they are cards from a given set or block, like my Modern Horizons 2 cubelet or my Shadows block cubelet. It's kinda like preserving some form of the draft experience/limited experience from history, and I have more cubelets than I do commander decks!

[@mobilejamfran]

I usually don't comment on videos but this is awesome to have to share with newer players. The first time I taught a friend how to draft this way, they thought I made it up.

[@josiahleis6574]

Excellent video, I love limited and limited content from the Professor! Limited is by far my preferred way of playing Magic. I look forward to the Winston Cube video!

[@JanusSanoRicardi]

Winston Cube video? Yes please! I loved doing a small Pai Gow Cube, it played nice but too different. A 90 card cube sounds fantastic! And would probably be a good start into cubing.

[@RubenSmithZempel]

Since the pandemic my friends and I have been Winston drafting every new set. Even with 4-5 people. It's still the format we use even when we could even do an actual draft with 4 people. Because it's way more fun and we love it. Thanks so very much for doing this video, because Winston draft is love.

[@RubenSmithZempel]

To add, with four people and Winston you can easily make a booster box last almost a month.

[@starnik]

Really interesting video! I've always heard of the name Winston Draft, but never actually had it explained to me. Very clear and concise video, I appreciate it Professor!

[@stix1388]

Saw your video on Alchemy sry I hadnt gotten to this one sooner. This and your other content is amazing as I love limited and had just heard about "grid" drafting and wanna try these as well!!! thanks for the great content. (currently building a cube with your help)

[@artstsym]

Hey! I only saw this because you called out its low views in the Alchemy video. I've been playing Winston for years, it's one of my favorite ways to play because it's so low energy. I don't have to worry about making something viable for 3 matches or holding up 7 other players with my slow picks, and picking up batches of cards makes the decisions so much more interesting IMO.

[@PeterTarkulich]

This is great! I've been looking for a way to teach my 10-year-old about drafting, and I think he'll love this. Thanks!

[@moralessanchezoscarelias6412]

Would love to see more videos about cube, differenr ways to draft one, or creative ways to build one. Maybe get a Cube content creator/curator invited to your podcast when their cube is about to be featured online?

[@Eckendenker]

I love winston drafts. My favorite winston draft is grabbing a fist full of commons out of my scraps case (always picking up leftovers at events) and just have a go at it.

[@teslabolts9904]

Love Winston drafting! Honestly didn't even think about the fact that you could build a cube around this unique way of drafting...so I guess I know what I'm doing for the next couple months now...

[@auggiesunflower2159]

Hi Prof! I picked up a couple packs to try out Winston this weekend and had a blast, thank you ^_^

[@Robshi]

I shall definitely have to try this as I usually end up playing Magic with one close school friend at a local club where the other Magic players usually drop by on a different day we aren't free. This certainly looks like a fun alternative to sealed, and uses less packs too!

[@keeplatts108]

My wife loves commander, I've been trying to find a way to get her into draft but with covid it's been difficult. We are going to give this a try, thanks prof!

[@Gowdy591]

Limited (sealed or drafts) is always my favorite for in person play. It's nice having some casual games just hanging out and opening packs without having to worry about constructing something in advance and if it's competitive enough or too strong and not actually fun to play against. I'll second everyone else and say I'd love a 90 card cube video, as well!

[@DrenKillfree]

to be fair to your statement in your alchemy video, the one that lead me here. I'm only vaguely aware of your channel. That said I'm glad I came, I've been looking to get more drafting play in. Its been hard the last few years, and I do miss pocketing cash after selling the cards I won. I'm curious what the intended prize format is though, I cant imagine an ante going well. Hope to find more I like from you in the future and keep up the good work.

[@guilainlepiouffle8029]

As a limited player only this is absolutely fantastic! Glad to know it exists. Will definitely be trying it.

[@YellowFraggle]

My friends and I have had lots of fun playing with a jumpstart cube I made. Smash 2 of the themed boosters together (blind, you only see the theme), make 3 decks and play a best of x depending on time. Choosing whichever deck you think best/try counter

[@MakeVarahHappen]

I think another important aspect to bring up in comparison to typical draft is the trade-off between rough equality in card power versus rough equality in card number. The idea is because people will reject piles that don't have powerful enough cards, when people finally take piles it's because it's roughly as powerful they ignored. Player 2 might take five cards all at once but it's because four of those cards were deemed not powerful enough by player one.

[@PeterWolfgram]

Great video! I love limited in paper but have a limited pool of folks at any one time. This was a great explanation!

[@nickbnash]

Thank you for the excellent refresher on Winston drafting!

[@gnoxvobis3731]

Thank you! My friend and I tried so much to find a way to draft just the 2 of us!

[@martinab.1773]

It would be a joy to hear about your ideas for a 90 cards cube draft. :) PS: Your videos help perfectly over the pandemic period to replace the missing "gathering" in Magic. ;)

[@tinahubbartt6411]

I’m excited to play a game of Winston Draft with my son. Thank you for the great new information. I’m a huge fan.

[@kurtmuhr5178]

Definitely a yes to the video about the 90 card winston cube!!! Great Video as Always, now I can finally draft with friends 🥳

[@leewright492]

Drafting cube is my favourite type of magic. I made a 5 player Hidden alliance cube because there is always 5 of us who cube together. I like doing pick 1 burn 1 or Quilt draft. We also came up with a new draft style where you can only draft two colours but you can draft any card of those colours and you alternate between which colour you choose (all Multicolour cards are removed and you automatically gain each two colour card that you can draft)

[@jake82491]

Some of my favorite drafts are Chaos Winston drafts. Thanks for the great video Prof!

[@NightChime]

The 1v1 draft variant my partner and I prefer: Sort 6 packs into a pile for each color, temporarily setting aside the rest (and setting aside the basics and tokens until the match is over). The first player picks one color, then the second player picks two. Any multi-color cards that cost the two colors picked by the second player go to that player. Then the first player gets the rest of the cards. Then, after the match is over, we draft the cards into our collections. We speed up the collection draft by each sifting through the cards and sorting them between wanted and unwanted. Then we draft the cards we both selected as wanted (winner picks first), take the uncontested wants, and divvy up the chaff such that we ultimately get the same number of cards. I like that this gives one player the selection power of picking the color containing potential powerhouse rares or a strong solo-color lineup, while the other player gets to pick their specific color combo and/or prevent the first player from getting too powerful a multi-color plan underway. But players aren't stuck with too few cards of a color to consider running it. Sometimes we change it up and pick 1, 2, 1, and draft the cards from the last color, or we just select our colors at random, or select each player's first color at random (and pick 1, 2). We also sometimes change up the collection draft by randomly revealing about 1/3 of the cards at a time before each pick, to lower the match stakes a bit more. I know this variant removes a lot of the process of drafting, but it's partly because I'm more competitive than my partner, especially in drafting, and we want to keep it lighter, fun, and more fair for them. We also don't have much time in the week to play together, so we'd rather just get more games in.

[@nlnrose]

Thank you for this. My roommate and I have been wanting to do some draft, but don't have 6 others to play with. This would be amazing and so much cheaper.

[@Toroslim]

This is really cool I want to try it out right away but I’d also be interested in the cube building for a Winston draft

[@KingKhudd]

I really appreciate this video. I haven't played draft before, only sealed, because I haven't been able to get enough people together. This looks fun

[@dylan8670]

Winston is a great 2 player experience. You still build 40 card decks, counting basic lands, so you'll still have cards that you won't have to play in your deck.

[@williamguillemette29]

Genuinely something I'd try to build a cube around with a friend or two! Sounds cool!

[@GimpasaurusRex]

I very much want a design guide for a 90 card winston draft cube! Limited is king and this sounds like the perfect way to use all the midling cards I've collected from drafts over the years

[@musichq8477]

This is really the video I needed. Thank you for thinking about everyone!

[@bc6292]

I'm more excited to try Winchester draft. A hybrid between Winston and Rochester. Tom LaPille had a good argument for the format on the WOTC site.

[@ourdarklordpan]

I've done a few Winston drafts in recent memory. 2 were commander legends (an odd one I know) and the last was a 3-player DnD: AFR draft; the latter was a blast and I can attest to adhering to the rule of picking up piles of commons/uncommons just to make a finer tuned deck. Granted, we played 1v1v1 and the other players teamed up on me for those finer tunings so I didn't win at all haha.

[@bengregorash]

This is brilliant! I'll be picking up 6 packs to stuff in my kids stocking and playing some Winston Draft!

[@nathanramos3542]

Here's my vote for a guide on building a 90 card tinycube for winston drafting! sounds like the perfect casual format and would love to keep it in my bag whenever I go to my LGS

[@marshdarsh8]

Thank you professor. I was thinking of playing sealed with my brother on Christmas, but now I have another option as well!

[@spiderhaz_]

Winston draft is by far one of the best ways to play Magic, doesn't cost too much if you play with the same packs a few times.

[@FrenchTroll]

With such a limited amount of cards don't you end up with the same decks over and over ? Just asking because I played my first winston draft out of 6 AFR draft boosters today and it felt like one deck was the right one to play and the other deck was really bad.

[@Elucidarian]

Alternatively, I highly recommend the Dark Draft (which I discovered through the Epic Card Game, creators of Star Realms). Follow these steps: 1. Randomize a set of 150 cards. Deal 5 to each player. 2. Each player drafts 1 card from their hand and then passes the remaining 4. 3. Each player drafts 2 cards of the 4 passed to them, then discards the remaining 2 into a shared face-down discard pile. Both players now have drafted 3 cards. Do this 15 times, resulting in a 45 card pool for each player. We use this method with my Cube. This method allows for some mystery of which cards are kept after that second half of each draft.

[@plumokin5535]

Wow this is amazing! Knowing that Garfield intended it to be this way increases my confidence in it a ton. I usually only have 1-2 friends to play magic with, so this is honestly perfect. I would love this added to arena as well to play with friends

[@gregjoker]

Winston drafting got me and my wife through a few lockdowns! She'd never played before, but loves it now. Glad to see you do a video on this under loved format Prof.

[@nightlord531]

Thanks for the info, trying it out at my 2nd FNM after having a lot of fun last time round!

[@erichunt5207]

The ONLY draft I have ever participated in was for the Throne of Eldraine expansion. It's the same place where I fell in love with Torbrann :3

[@evanorie535]

Prof, your tease of a potential future video about creating a cube for Winston draft piqued my interest. Please make that dream video into a reality!

[@masterofthepaint]

Always done this with a cube with my brother. I didn’t realize you could use normal boosters (silly mistake). I’d love a video on a Winston draft cube

[@sliferslacker5743]

Just stopped by to say I love the video, the more attention on Winston Drafting the better. I dont always want to carry a commander deck with high value cards, but bulk loose packs? Not a sweat

[@durge12]

i actually put together a 90 card winston draft cube during lockdown 2 to keep games with my mum (who learnt to play to keep me occupied, since i couldnt go out for games) fresh- its a really underrated format and can be pretty cheap to put together too!

[@fallwoodcentral7991]

This video has convinced me to build my first ever cube. Thank you, Professor.

[@KingRarecrazy]

This has become my favorite way to play magic, it’s only been a month since I started.

[@davidpoelman6152]

I've always loved Winston drafting! My favorite form of 2-player drafts.