Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there a white bar blocking the bottom of the screen or the buttons in the draft simulator?

Some ad blockers directly interfere with the code on the site. If you disable your ad blocker (or make an exception for draftsim.com), it will fix the problem.

Doing this will also support my work and help me keep building free tools for you!

Hey! I’m noticing a bunch of duplicates of a particular (rare, uncommon, common…) Are you sure Draftsim isn’t broken? That’s not random!

Draftsim fills up your packs by picking a random card from each rarity and putting it in the appropriate slot in the pack. There is some checking within the pack to prevent duplicates or having zero cards of one color. But from pack-to-pack, there isn’t anything preventing the same card from being “opened” many times.

This is confusing, because the result is actually random. Even though your brain doesn’t believe it. If you flip a coin 100 times in a row, you are going to get clusters where you have 8-10 heads in a row, even though it’s “very unlikely.”

Real Magic packs are not random because they use a deterministic sequence to populate the packs – print runs. Not only might having real print runs in Draftsim raise the ire of WotC (because print runs are a trade secret), we also don’t have that data. It’s possible in the future that I will implement some kind of homegrown print run system for Draftsim, but it's not in the cards for now….

Why does the autobuild (or draft suggestions) want me to put this tribal card in my deck? I don’t have any cards of that tribe.

At the moment, Draftsim doesn’t explicitly take synergy into account for its picks and deck building. This is a pretty complex problem, but I am working on it and hopefully we’ll see that in the future. If you want to learn more about the current drafting decision methodology, have a look here.

Why did this (expensive mythic rare) go fourth pick? That’s TOTALLY unrealistic!

Yes, although at your local store or FNM someone may take a bad card because it is worth $15, Draftsim is intended to simulate a competitive draft environment as closely as possible. The goal is for all of us to get better at drafting the best deck we can, isn't it? A good draft simulator should give you a feel for what draft archetypes are possible in a set and should help you build card evaluation skills.

Card values change all the time and today's chase mythic rare is often tomorrow's $1 bulk card.

Plus you do realize these aren’t real cards right? They’re not worth anything 😉

For Masters sets I have implemented a “bots raredraft” button to better simulate drafts with an even higher number of expensive cards in them.

Why are there two rares in my pack? What is this shiny thing?

If you've only drafted before on MTGA — which I must admit, there are an increasing number of people for whom this is true — you may wonder why some cards have a shiny graphic on them. These are foils, which appear in 1/3 packs in “real life” (paper) and MTGO drafts. The foil replaces the last common in the pack and can be any rarity. This is how you can get two rares in the same pack.

What in the world? Why is there a pack of (this set) as the last pack of my (different set) draft?

Depending on how long you’ve been around Magic, this is actually very typical. There have been many blocks (series of sets) where the later, smaller set makes up the first 2 packs of the draft and the earlier, bigger set is the final pack. If you’re unsure what the draft format should be, just do a quick Google search for the name of your set and “draft format”.

How do you get the ratings for the cards so dang fast? Don’t you need data to do this? Or professional reviews to base them on?

All the ratings are manually assigned by me (Dan) or one of our on staff limited experts. I play a lot of limited, including traveling to limited Grand Prix tournaments, so I have a good idea what’s up.

I scramble to rate all the cards ASAP as soon as Wizards reveals the full set, usually the Friday of the week before the prerelease. I want you to be able to practice as soon as possible!

Later, I update the ratings every few weeks as the format evolves. You can see the ratings at any time by visiting the ratings page.

How do I export my sealed/draft decklist?

At the bottom of the deckbuilding screen there is a “More” button – hover over or tap on this button and you will see an “Export” button. After choosing that, your main deck and sideboard will be copied to your clipboard.

How do I look at the bot decks?

Any time during the draft (including after your last pick) there are arrows next to your name — “Player” — on the drafted cards sidebar. Just click the left or right arrow to so what the bots have drafted.

How does the “redraft” button work?

The redraft button lets you replay the same draft — over, and over, and over again. This allows you to see what would happen if you make different picks. You'll be really surprised! One pick can change the entire draft.

Wish you'd tried drafting different colors? Now you can and find out what would have happened.

Drafting a different seat

We now have a new function that lets you draft from a different position in the very same draft! When you copy your redraft URL, it will look like this:

https://draftsim.com/draft.php?mode=Draft_VOW&redraft_id=Y7yXxkX4Y&seat=1

Change the number after seat to any number 1 to 8. Then you can move over and draft the bot's seat!

Seat 1: human (originally)

Seat 2 – “Bot 1”

…

Seat 8 – “Bot 7”

What's up with Double Masters and Commander Legends?

Double Masters and Double Masters 2022 are crazy sets! Each pack has two rares or mythics and two foils.

Because of this, the draft format is slightly different. Every time you open a new pack in the draft, you're allowed to make two picks. I've adjusted Draftsim to allow for this.

Commander Legends and Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate have extra large packs. Each comes with 20 cards. Not only that, but you make two picks from every pack.

Draftsim is awesome! Is there any way I can show my support?

Thanks! If you want to give appreciation for the site, you can do so via Patreon. And if you can’t support Draftsim financially, you can always follow on Facebook and Twitter. And be sure to tell your friends about the site too!

Finally, if you are a software dev who loves Magic, I’m always looking for help with the site. Feel free to drop me a line via the contact form and let me know what you’re interested in.