Hello all, was hoping to get some feedback on a question I have.

Is the UFS CCG good for sealed/draft play?

I've always enjoyed CCGs except that, like most gamers, I have a bit of a obsessive compulsive tendency towards strategy games. With CCGs this is evidenced by my excessive purchasing of cards. I got back into CCGs with VS system during the Infinite Crisis and Heralds sets and what I liked most was both of those sets seemed great for sealed and draft play. I would say I got more enjoyment out of sealed than constructed.

I tried out World of Warcraft sealed play, and it just didn't seem to work as well. It seemed constructed was where the game really shined.

What are people's opinions about sealed play with UFS? Is there any prize support for sealed play?

I'll be attending GenCon Indy and Origins and if sealed play works well, I might try a tourney or two.

Thanks for any feedback.

Tarvaloth said:

Prize support is usually the monthly promos your scout will get.

But to your main question, UFS is alright at sealed, I would say, like WoW, UFS really shines in constructed.

We do booster draft with UFS, and players really enjoy it.

If you know what makes up the sets, and can think ahead on your drafting strategy, you'll find it significantly more rewarding.

It really depends on the expansion.

Release 6 was horrendous for sealed, every card having a block made killing incredibly difficult.

Release 5 - Street Fighter was also horrible for the opposite reason, too few cards had blocks, plus too many attacks checked 2's.

Generally the Street Fighter sets have been pretty poor for sealed, I'd say.

Some of the sets that really stood out to me as being great for sealed to date were Release 5 - SoulCalibur ("Blades of Fury"), Release 7 - Darkstalkers (base set), Release 8 SNK ("Cutting Edge"), Release 9 Darkstalkers ("Realm of Midnight"), Release 11 SNK ("Flames of Fame") . Lots of synergy in all of those sets without too much over the top defensive stuff.

Perhaps you should learn to play UFS yourself first and then kind of decide for yourself how it drafts...

It is fine for Start +3 boosters. In SOME ways it is ok for a 5-6 booster draft event. Here is the complication.

Due to the nature of the rules of the game, you would have to most likely change some significant aspects of teh game.

1.) What happens if you dno't get a character card: A rule needs to be made for this situation.
2.) Character cards have three resource symbols (just symbols from now), and cards you play during every turn (and you play between 1-6 cards every turn) must all match one or more symbols with your character card, and must all match the same symbol with each other. They make a 'chain' of the same symbol from your character card to your most recent card played. Not all packs and/or characters are going to allow for thsi kind of play, so a rule is often made to accomodate this issue.

Other than that, the game plays fine with 6 boosters, 30 card deck minimums. However this TCG is not like other TCGs for tournament structure.

We have two official formats. Standard (certain older sets are no longer legal for standar dkind of thing) and legacy (all sets are legal). Everything else, though it will be supported with the normal prize pool of 6 promotional cards for the tournament organizer to give out as he/she sees fit, is buisiness as usual. FFG has NO official draft rules. Further more it has no official ranking system for its normal tournaments either, so if you're looking for something to get super good at and win money or ratings or something with, UFS Draft format is not the format for you.

If you're just looking for a good time, then yes. game on!

Where are you from? Maybe someone can get together with you and show you how this thing plays?

Great questions.

I think UFS is excellent for Sealed Deck (1 starter + 3 boosters), though STG/FFG have historically not done the best job at balancing starter decks. Hopefully this will change for Set 12 (ShadoWar/SCIV).

Standard rules for Sealed are 40-card decks, and when you cycle your deck, remove 5 cards from the game (not 10). Some scouts may choose to relax the resource restriction rule to the one I use in draft (below).

I think draft is a GREAT format in UFS, despite pack sizes of only 10 cards. But as Verm said, there have to be substantial changes to core rules. I'm including all the rule changes I do for my drafts below, because I've found them to be very successful.

DRAFT

Draft overview : In a booster draft each player should receive 5 boosters from which to draft their construction pool. Each player must then build a deck of at least 30 cards from that construction pool. This format does not require a deck to include a character card. Every player should receive the same type and number of booster packs as every other player. (Tournament organizers may modify this format by adding to the number of packs used, allowing players to pick an individual mix of booster packs, or designating further restrictions. If an organizer wishes to do this, they should include this information in their sanctioning info as well as making it overly clear in any and all advertising done for the event.)

Draft rule 1 : When drafting, players are separated into drafting groups called "pods," consisting of four to six players.

Draft rule 2 : If, during a draft, a player ever opens a "god pack" (a pack consisting entirely or in majority of rares and ultra-rares), they may immediately notify the tournament organizer. The player may then immediately purchase an additional booster pack. If they do, they may pocket the god pack and open the new booster pack for use in draft.

Draft rule 3 : For the first round of drafting, each player opens their first booster and sets aside one rare or ultra-rare card, face-down, in their own "rare draft pile." (It may help to keep this rare draft pile in a booster wrapper.) Each player then selects one card from the remaining cards of the pack, adds that card to their construction pool, and passes the remaining cards to the player on their left. The player then selects one card from the pack they have just been passed, adds that card to their construction pool, and passes the remaining cards left. This process repeats until all cards from these initial packs are either in construction pools (or rare draft piles, in the case of the initial rares and ultra-rares).

Draft rule 4 : The second round of draft follows all steps of the first round, except that each player's second booster pack is used, and cards are passed to the right (not the left). Odd rounds are identical to the first. Even rounds are identical to the second.

Draft rule 5 : When all cards from drafted boosters have been added to construction pools or rare draft piles, each player picks up their rare draft pile and treats it as an additional pack. They begin a new round with these "rare packs." I.e., each player selects a rare from their rare draft pile, and passes the rest to the right or the left (depending on whether this is an even or an odd round). When all cards from the rare draft piles have been added to construction pools, the draft is complete, and each player is free to begin deck construction from their construction pool. (I like this rare draft pile rule because it guarantees that everyone walks away with at least one rare they're happy with.)

Sideboard : All cards in a construction pool not included in that player's deck are considered to be part of the player's sideboard.

Number of Copies : A player may include more than 4 copies of a given card in their deck if they receive such in their product. E.g., if a player opens 7 copies of "Siberian Training" in their boosters, that player may include all 7 copies of "Siberian Training" in their deck.

Universal Fighter Rule : When they would normally choose a character card from their deck, a player may instead choose to play as the "Universal Fighter." The tournament organizer may provide players with copies of the "Universal Fighter" promo card for this purpose, or the player may use any card from their sideboard, face-down, as the Universal Fighter. A Universal Fighter is considered to have the infinity symbol; i.e., the player must choose one resource symbol at the beginning of the game: the Universal Fighter is considered to have that one resource symbol (and only that symbol) for the remainder of the game. A Universal Fighter has a hand size of 6, a maximum vitality of 30, and no abilities. (It is recommended that the player sleeve this card or use a token to mark it as the character.)

Foundation as Character Rule : When they would normally choose a character card from their deck, a player may instead choose a foundation from their deck to serve as their character. If a player chooses a foundation instead of a character in this way, they are considered to be playing a character card with a hand size of 6, a maximum vitality of 26, no abilities, and no name. This character is considered to have all resource symbols printed on the foundation. (It is recommended that the player sleeve this card or use a token to mark it as the character.)

Special Foundation Rule : During play, as a form, a player may play any card their hand face-down as a blank foundation with no name, no abilities, and a difficulty of 3. (While in play, the foundation is considered to have a control of 4.)

Special Resource Rule : When playing a card, the normal resource restriction is lifted. When a player attempts to play a card, that card must simply match a symbol with their character card. (I actually keep all character-only restrictions in place; they make players think harder during draft.)

Special Cycling Rule : When a player cycles their deck in a booster draft game, that player then removes the top 3 cards of the deck from the game, rather than the top 10. (I find this rule works much better for 30-card decks; the 5-card rule is better for 40-card sealed deck formats.)

I've seen Vermillion post a few times and I've tried to see where you guys play since I live in Columbus, but you don't seem to post that :-P

I'd be willing to give sealed or draft a try though.

ufs is good for draft or sealed, if you lift chaining. with chaining it is almost imposible to build a usable deck.

I am located for game play at The Soldiery, on North High Street, north of Clintonville (or is that still Clintonville?) every Friday (now some Saturdays. Next Saturdate slated for end of April) around 6pm.

We WILL be doing a variation of a sealed format for our prerelease on Friday April the 10th at 6pm AS SHARP AS POSSIBLE using one starter, and 3 boosters, with a modified resource restriction rule. Entry fee will be like twenty bucks or so. We'll play as many rounds as possible (probably 3 or 4 depending on attendence), use strength of schedual to determine the top 4 or so, who willl get a bigger cut of the prizes (promotional cards).

I HAVE been wanting to do another sealed thing and would love to do a booster draft of sorts, but my player base is mostly unsupportive of drafting cards. With the addition of new players recently, I will see what we could cook up for, say, the Friday before the last Saturday of April.

Hope to see you this Friday. If you don't have a deck, don't worry. We have plenty. You can email me at alexandernjames AT gmail.com

Hi, I'm Alex.

For the record, there are official rules for sealed/draft play:

100.3.2 Sealed Deck: For sealed deck tournaments players should receive a starter deck of their choice and three booster packs from which to construct a deck of at least forty cards with at least 1 character card. Players may play more than four copies of a card in their deck in this format if they receive such in their product. A player should receive the same type and number of booster packs as all other players. When a player cycles their deck in a sealed deck tournament they should then remove the top 5 cards from the game rather than the top 10. Tournament organizers may modify this format by adding to the number of packs used, restricting which starters a player may choose from, or allowing players to pick an individual mix of booster packs. If an organizer wishes to do this, they should include this information in their sanctioning info as well as making it overly clear in any and all advertising they do for the event.

100.3.3 Booster Draft: In a booster draft each player should receive 5 boosters from which to draft their construction pool from. Each player must then build a minimum of a 30 card deck. This format does not require a player to have a character card in their deck. A player may choose a foundation from their deck at the beginning of the game when they would normally choose a character card this foundation acts as their character card for that game. If a player chooses a foundation instead of a character card they are considered to be playing a character card with a hand size of six and thirty vitality with no name and no abilities. Any card may be played from a players hand face down as a foundation with a difficulty of 3. Character only cards may be played by any character. When playing a card in this format the normal resource restriction is lifted and when a player attempts to play a card that card must simply match a symbol with their character card.

No idea why quotes seem to not work right now...

Those rules were/are interesting. How many do you cycle in draft?

Also yes. I think I was actually aware of those. didn't know if they were still availible somewhere for my viewing.

Still though, FFG doesn't have some uber elite format in which people competetively vie for money and rankings as a result of their sealed/ draft play ability...

LinkN said:

I think you have to put "quote" in capitals.

EDIT: No I'm wrong, just tested it and it didn't work.

Cascade said:

quoting seems to simply fail every once in a while.

Off topic - Quoting has to be done in the original message, and has to have tags generated by the forums.

If you attempt to edit the message and add quote tags, it will cause the tags to fail out.

Antigoth said:

and if you replace the square brackets [ ] with normal ones () that further increases your instance of failed quoting.

Booster drafts suck.

The only sealed events which are actually decent to play in are when a new block drops and the new sets have starter decks.
$20 for a starter deck and 3x booster packs is ballin.

Nah they're ok. I mean its a whole new game Shaneth, with drafting cards, and, like all things, it depends on how you define 'suck'...

Personally, I don't think this game was intended nor suitable for competitive draft. The number of special rules and exceptions involved should attest to that.

From my that experience when drafting with the older sets, it came down to dumb luck as you are forced to play with too many 2 checks. Maybe this has changed in the new sets.

To be honest the only reason I'd play a UFS booster draft is if there was a free Universal Fighter card involved.