Learning how to draft in Magic: The Gathering takes one evening. Up to eight players sit around a table, open packs, take one card at a time, and pass the rest along. After three packs, everyone builds a 40-card deck from the cards they picked and plays a few rounds against the others. You do not need a collection, and you do not need to know the set. That is the whole point.
The quick answer: take the strongest card in each pack early, settle into two colors by the middle of pack two, then build 23 spells and 17 lands. Play your rounds, keep your cards, and come back next week.
This guide walks through a first draft night from the moment you sit down. If you already know the basics and want to draft better, the Academy lesson on Magic draft strategy is the next step.
What is a booster draft in Magic?
A booster draft is a limited format: everyone builds a deck at the event from cards they get there, instead of bringing a deck from home. Wizards of the Coast’s Booster Draft page describes it for 2 to 8 players, with three packs each and a deck of at least 40 cards.
Two things make it a great first event:
- Everyone starts even. Nobody can bring a better collection. The best drafter that night is the one who chose well.
- It teaches the whole game. In one evening you judge cards, build a deck, and play it.
If you are still choosing how you want to play, our guide to MTG formats compares draft with Commander, Standard, and the rest.
What do you need for your first MTG draft?
Less than you think:
- The entry fee. The store supplies the packs and basic lands.
- Most of an evening. Drafting, building, and several rounds of play add up.
- Sleeves, optional. Nice to have, not required.
- Something to carry cards home in. A small deck box works.
Find a draft with the Wizards store and event locator, which lists local stores’ events by format. Friday Night Magic is often a draft. The Academy lesson on your first Friday Night Magic covers what a store night feels like and how to tell the organizer you are new. Do tell them. Organizers like new players, and someone will usually help you build.
What’s in a Play Booster?
Store drafts use Play Boosters, which replaced the older Draft Boosters starting with Murders at Karlov Manor in 2024. Each player gets three.
Wizards’ collecting guide for Star Trek, the next set, lists what a Play Booster holds: 14 Magic cards plus a double-sided token. That includes:
- six or seven commons
- three uncommons
- one rare or mythic rare
- one wildcard, which can be any rarity
- one foil, which can be any rarity
- one land
So a pack can hold two or even three rares. Three packs give you 42 picks. You will play 23 of them.
How to draft MTG: how does pick and pass work?
Here is the order of a draft, step by step.
1. Sit in a circle
Players sit around a table, or in a semicircle. Eight is the classic pod size, but a draft works with fewer.
2. Open pack one and take a card
Everyone opens their first pack at the same time. Look through it, choose one card, and put it face down in front of you. Do not show anyone what you took.
3. Pass left
Pass the rest of the pack to the player on your left. You receive a pack from the player on your right, now one card lighter. Take one, pass left again. Keep going until the packs run out.
4. Pack two passes right
Open pack two and do the same, but pass to your right. This switch keeps things fair: the players feeding you cards change.
5. Pack three passes left again
Open pack three and pass left, like pack one. When it is empty, the drafting is done.
A few manners make the table run smoothly. Keep your picks private and do not talk about them while drafting. Pass in time with the table. At competitive events picks are timed, and store drafts often call picks out loud. If you lose track, ask. Everyone has done it.
Which cards should you pick?
Beginners do well with a short rule of thumb for early picks:
- Bombs. A rare that wins the game if your opponent cannot deal with it.
- Removal. Cards that destroy, exile, or deal damage to creatures.
- Good creatures, especially ones that cost 2 or 3 mana.
- Everything else.
In pack one, just take the best card. Do not lock into colors after three picks. By the middle of pack two, start favoring cards in your two best colors, because a solid card you will play beats a great card you will not.
Also, take creatures. The most common first-draft deck is a pile of clever spells with nothing to block on turn three. Limited games are mostly creatures fighting in combat.
What are signals in an MTG draft?
A signal is what the packs tell you about your neighbors. If good red cards keep arriving at your sixth, seventh, and eighth picks, the players passing to you are probably not taking red. That color is open, and moving into it means more good cards come your way in pack three, which passes the same direction as pack one.
One late strong card is luck. A pattern is a signal. For a first draft, noticing “this color keeps coming” is plenty. The card drafting explainer goes further, and the draft strategy lesson shows how to use signals with a set’s two-color archetypes.
How do you build a 40-card draft deck?
When the drafting ends, spread your cards out and build. Here is the beginner recipe.
Sort by color
Make a pile for each color, plus one for multicolor and one for colorless cards. Count the creatures and removal in each.
Pick your two colors
Choose the two colors with the most good creatures and removal together. Two colors is the safe choice. A third color for one card usually makes your mana worse than the card is good.
Count to 23 spells
From those two colors, choose 23 playable cards. A good target is about 15 or more creatures, plus your removal and a few other spells. Lay them out by mana cost and check that you have several plays at 2 and 3 mana. The Academy lesson on mana curve and land count shows the shape to aim for.
Add 17 lands
Seventeen lands and 23 spells is the standard starting point for a 40-card deck. The store provides basic lands, so you never need to draft them. Split the lands by how many colored mana symbols each color has. If most of your symbols are green, play more Forests: 9 Forests and 8 Mountains, for example.
Keep the rest as your sideboard
Every card you drafted but did not play is your sideboard. In most limited events you can swap sideboard cards into your deck between games of a match, which helps against a deck that has, say, a lot of flyers.
What happens when you play the rounds?
Once decks are built, the organizer pairs players. Store drafts often run three rounds, and a round is usually a best-of-three match: the first to win two games wins the round. After each round you are paired again, typically against someone with the same record.
A few tips for your first rounds:
- Shuffle well and present your deck. Let your opponent cut or shuffle it. That is normal.
- Count before you attack. Look at both boards and think about which blocks your opponent can make.
- Save removal for the threat that matters. Not the first creature you see.
- Ask a judge or the organizer if a rule confuses you. Store events at this level are relaxed, and questions are welcome.
Win or lose, you will learn more from three rounds than from a month of reading.
What do you keep after a draft?
At a store draft, the cards you drafted are yours to take home, including every rare you opened or picked. Many stores also give prizes, often packs, based on records. Prizes vary by store, so ask.
That pile is useful. Many players start their collections from draft cards, and some keep their favorites for a Commander deck later.
Can you draft without a store?
Yes, two ways.
At the kitchen table. Wizards’ Pick-Two Draft rules let four players draft by taking two cards from each pack instead of one. Recent sets sell a Draft Night box with enough Play Boosters for four players, plus basic lands.
Online. MTG Arena runs drafts every day. In Quick Draft you pick against bots at your own pace; in Premier Draft you draft live with seven other players. Both are good practice before your first paper draft.
Cube draft: the no-cost alternative
If buying packs every week does not appeal to you, try a cube. A cube is a hand-picked collection of cards, usually 360 to 540 of them, that a friend or store owns and the group drafts again and again. The draft works the same way, but nobody opens new packs, so drafting is free. Our guide to what an MTG cube is explains how it works, and the cube draft guide for new players is a one-page cheat sheet for your first cube night. The Academy’s Cube Draft course goes deeper.
FAQ
How many lands should you play in a Magic draft deck?
Seventeen in a 40-card deck is the standard. Very fast, low-cost decks sometimes play 16.
How many cards do you draft in an MTG draft?
Three Play Boosters of 14 Magic cards each, so about 42 cards. Wizards says to expect about 45.
Is MTG draft good for beginners?
Yes. Everyone starts even, the store supplies the cards, and the format teaches card evaluation, deckbuilding, and combat in one night. Tell the organizer it is your first time.
Do you keep the cards after a Magic draft?
At a store or kitchen-table draft, yes. The cards you draft are yours. In a cube draft the cards go back to the cube’s owner.
Can you draft Magic with fewer than eight players?
Yes. Wizards lists booster draft for 2 to 8 players, and Pick-Two Draft is built for four. With two players, try one of the two-player cube formats.
Your next draft
Your first draft is about finishing with a playable deck. Your second is about noticing signals. When you want more, go to the draft strategy lesson in the free Magic course. Ludarium Letters, just below, sends new Magic and cube guides as they publish.
The game is the reason. The people are the point.
Sources
- Booster Draft (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Collecting Star Trek (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Prerelease and Play Boosters Explained (Wizards Play Network, 2023)
- Pick-Two Draft (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- Store and Event Locator (Wizards of the Coast, 2026)
- MTG Arena Quick Draft vs Premier Draft (Draftsim, 2025)
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