Last updated on January 22, 2024

Onward // Victory - Illustration by Grzegorz Rutkowski

Onward // Victory | Illustration by Grzegorz Rutkowski

WotC had this idea to branch out its main product in 2020, offering different booster experiences to different players.

Say you want to pick up some foils and cards with altered art. You’re not going to find that in your usual boosters. Maybe you’re a new player that digs mono red. In this case you should look for a product with a higher concentration of red cards, and maybe a red rare that fits your deck.

Today I’m not talking about these specific booster packs, but the old booster that you know and love. What we simply refer to as… the “draft booster.”

What's a Draft Booster? What's the Purpose?

Unity of Purpose - Illustration by Jason Felix

Unity of Purpose | Illustration by Jason Felix

Simply put, a draft booster was a pack highly recommended for the players that like to draft. Since the rarities are balanced with only one rare, the packs are designed to be drafted with. Before play boosters, it was the main way to play Limited.

What Comes in a Draft Booster?

A draft booster has 10 commons, 3 uncommons, 1 rare/mythic rare, and 1 token/marketing card. Sometimes one of the commons will be replaced with a foil card of any given rarity, usually common but they can be of a higher rarity if you're lucky.

#12. Innistrad: Crimson Vow

Crimson Vow draft booster

Crimson Vow introduced us to the Blood mechanic, which is basically another way to discard cards you don’t need to try to find better ones (like cycling). This feature makes Limited play very nice and Crimson Vow draft boosters a decent buy.

And aside from some game-breaking bombs like Toxrill, the Corrosive and Avabruck Caretaker, the gameplay is very good. Cards you want to look out for are the hunt lands, Sorin the Mirthless, Chandra, Dressed to Kill, Olivia, Crimson Bride, and control staple Hullbreaker Horror.

Magic The Gathering - Innistrad Crimson Vow Draft Booster Packet Multicoloured C90600000
  • Become what you fear in a gothic horror set overrun with werewolves, warlocks, and spooky mechanics.
  • Cards with a new stylised art and frames.
  • 15 x Cards Per Pack
  • English (Publication Language)

#11. Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths

Ikoria 3-pack draft boosters

The set that brought us companions. There are still reasons to go after Ikoria boosters even though most of the companions are banned. The cycle of Ultimatums along with companions like Kaheera, the Orphanguard and Jegantha, the Wellspring among others.

For those who like Limited, Ikoria: Lair of the Behemoths Draft is one of the most interesting experiences out there. You can draft a deck around a mechanic like vigilance or trample, some different versions of a cycling deck, and there are also 10 different companions to build around, not to mention mutate decks.

#10. Streets of New Capenna

Streets of New Capenna 3-pack draft boosters

Cards like Ledger Shredder and Raffine, Scheming Seer are all the hype, and the New Capenna tri-lands are the most sought-after cards from the set. If you need to practice for a Sealed or Draft event, go after those Streets of New Capenna boosters.

Sale
Magic: The Gathering Streets of New Capenna 3-Booster Draft Pack | 45 Magic Cards
  • 3 Streets of New Capenna MTG Draft Boosters—the best SNC packs for booster draft play
  • 15 Magic cards per Draft Booster
  • 1 Rare or Mythic Rare card in every pack
  • Metropolis Full-Art Land in 33% of boosters
  • Just draft, add lands, and play

#9. Strixhaven: School of Mages

Strixhaven draft booster

Each Strixhaven booster has a guaranteed card from the Mystical Archive since it’s on-theme with the set, and they’re all reprints of instants and sorceries with special art treatment, like Electrolyze, Lightning Bolt, Duress, and even Mind's Desire. The Limited experience is okay, but unfortunately the power level isn’t that high if you’re looking to boost up a Standard or Commander deck.

#8. Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

Midnight Hunt 3-pack draft boosters

If you like to draft Dimir () zombies, the Midnight Hunt boosters are the packs to get. Midnight Hunt’s Draft is very interesting, but it clearly has a best deck and isn’t short of nice cards to collect from all-star werewolves Arlinn, the Pack's Hope and Tovolar, Dire Overlord to other Constructed staples like The Celestus, the hunt dual lands, and Graveyard Trespasser.

Magic: The Gathering Innistrad: Midnight Hunt 3-Booster Draft Pack | 45 Magic Cards
  • Includes 3 Magic: The Gathering Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Draft Boosters.
  • Each pack contains 15 Magic cards (45 Magic cards total).
  • 2 double-faced cards in every booster.
  • 1 Eternal Night full-art basic land in every pack.
  • Just draft, add lands, and let the hunt begin..Become what you fear in a gothic horror set overrun with werewolves, warlocks, and spooky mechanics.

#7. Zendikar Rising

Zendikar Rising 3-pack draft boosters

Zendikar Rising was the set that introduced modal double-faced cards, which are double-faced cards with a land site and a spell side. This adds loads of flexibility in what you can put in your deck. Plus there are full-art lands available in each Zendikar Rising pack (even foil full-art lands), which are usually desired by a lot of players.

Powerful cards you’re looking for here are Skyclave Apparition, Emeria's Call, Omnath, Locus of Creation, and the cycle of Pathways.

Magic The Gathering Zendikar Rising 3-Booster Draft Pack
  • WHAT’S INCLUDED: The Zendikar Rising Draft Booster Pack includes 3 draft booster packs each containing 15 cards.
  • FULL-ART LANDS AND DOUBLE-FACED CARDS IN EVERY PACK. Zendikar Rising brings a special kind of double-faced card to MTG: play the spell on one side or flip it over and play it as a land instead.
  • INTRODUCING "PARTY." Assemble a party from four adventuring classes (Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, Wizard) and become stronger together with rewards for each class joining you on the battlefield.
  • LANDFALL AND KICKER RETURN. Two of Magic's most popular mechanics are back! Landfall rewards you for playing land cards, and Kicker makes your spells more powerful—if you have enough mana.
  • PERILOUS RISKS AND PRICELESS REWARDS. On Zendikar, danger is the norm: wild terrain, cunning predators, and "the Roil"—violent ripples of change—all make life precarious and full of adventure.

#6. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty

Neon Dynasty draft booster

One of the latest Standard sets released, Neon Dynasty is especially interesting if you’re building a Standard deck since it offers a bunch to the format. The Limited experience is also one of the most interesting in recent years.

You can draft powerful sagas even at common, and decks that care about enchantments, artifacts, or both work great here. Eternal format players would like to open multi-format star The Wandering Emperor, Greasefang, or the cycle of rare channel lands, including Boseiju, Who Endures.

Card Game Magic: The Gathering - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty Draft Booster Pack
  • This booster pack contains 15 cards
  • Made in the USA
  • May contain these NEO cards: 1-416. Includes 1 card of rarity Rare or higher and 3-4 Uncommon, 9-10 Common, and 1 Land cards
  • Traditional Foil Mythic Borderless Planeswalker in <1% of boosters.
  • Traditional Foil of any rarity replaces a Common in 33% of boosters.

#5. Commander Legends

Commander Legends draft booster

Commander Legends was a set designed with the Commander experience in mind. So this isn’t your average MTG collection since cards were designed or reprinted specifically for EDH.

This set has important staples for Commander like Hullbreacher and Opposition Agent alongside lots of legendary creatures for your commander. Rounding up the set are powerful reprints like Vampiric Tutor, Austere Command, Mana Drain, and Rings of Brighthearth.

#4. Time Spiral Remastered

Time Spiral Remastered draft booster

Time Spiral Remastered brought a cool novelty: that each booster would have a reprinted card with MTG’s old frame. So you can have versions of cards like Rakdos Charm, Ponder, and Eternal Witness in old frames to customize your EDH decks or Cubes.

There are several interesting cards in the Time Spiral block, like Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth, Living End, and Pact of Negation. You might even find a foil card inside the booster sometimes.

The Time Spiral Remastered Limited experience is one of the best, and folks that drafted the Time Spiral block usually refer to this as one of the best set Drafts ever.

BE Good pany Magic: The Gathering Time Spiral Remaered Draft Booer Pack | 1 Pack
  • 1 card with a retro Magic frame in every pack
  • Reprints of the most memorable cards from Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight
  • 15 Magic cards per pack
  • Reintroducing the fan-favorite block, now refined into a singular MTG Draft experience

#3. Throne of Eldraine

Throne of Eldraine draft booster

Throne of Eldraine was a spike in power level. Lots of cards from this set see play in various formats like Pioneer and Modern. Plenty of cards have been banned too, like Oko, Thief of Crowns and Once Upon a Time.

The Draft format is very solid, with lots of viable strategies and a weird incentive to draft mono-color decks, which isn’t something that happens every day. The interesting part about this set is that a lot of uncommons and commons are powerful too, not just the rares.

#2. Double Masters

Double Masters draft booster

Double Masters boosters have two rares per pack instead of one, and it’s a set of reprints aimed at Eternal formats. Double the rares, double the fun!

There are lots of premium cards for Commander and Cube Draft in Double Masters, like Breya, Etherium Shaper, Blightsteel Colossus, and Atraxa, Praetors' Voice. There’s also Dark Confidant, Force of Will, and Jace, the Mind Sculptor for 60-card Constructed decks.

The experience of Draft may not be your cup of tea if you don’t like powerful strategies, but getting two rares from each pack and two picks in Draft is certainly exciting.

Sale
Magic: The Gathering Double Masters 2020 Draft Booster Pack | 15 Magic Cards | 2 Rares | 2 Foils
  • WHAT'S INSIDE: 15 Magic cards and 1 token (8 commons, 3 uncommons, 2 rares or mythic rares, 2 foil Magic cards that can be any rarity)
  • THINK YOU'RE SEEING DOUBLE? Look again. Double Masters draft booster packs really do give you all the best parts of an MTG booster—twice.
  • TWO RARES. Each Double Masters Draft Booster Pack contains not 1 but 2 rare or mythic rare Magic cards—at least.
  • TWO FOILS. Every pack has twice the shine, with two foils in each booster.
  • TWO FIRST PICKS. Every pack of Double Masters has two rares—and when you booster draft, you can pick them both..TOO POWERFUL. Full of high-powered reprints and fan favourites, Double Masters contains the some of the most beloved - and feared - Magic: The Gathering cards ever created.

#1. Modern Horizons 2

No products found.

Modern Horizons 2 is one of the most powerful sets in Magic, and a set that changed the landscape of Modern (and other formats). The reprint of the Zendikar enemy-color fetch lands is a huge boost to this set, not to mention the introduction of Modern staples like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and the cycle of elementals.

The MH2 Draft experience is top notch, with draft-able archetypes like reanimator, storm, and discard matters/madness, which are usually fun and interactive with lots of overlap between color pairs. Another crazy archetype to draft is “tokens matters” in Simic (), which cares about cards that produce creature tokens, as well as Treasure and Clue tokens.

Although the price of a No products found. is higher, it’s worth it for the Limited experience and the possibility to crack powerful and expensive rares and mythics.

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What's the Difference Between a “Regular” MTG Booster and a Draft Booster?

WotC rebranded the “regular” MTG booster into a draft booster some time ago to differentiate from other products like the set booster and the collector booster. Aside from the name it’s the same thing.

How Many Packs Are in a Draft Booster Box?

A draft booster box contains 36 packs. Although you’ll only need 24 boosters or less if you want to fire an 8-player draft, you can join up to 12 drafts (with three boosters each time) with your friends or at your local game store if you bring the boosters with you. And you could even host a 12-player booster draft with all 36 booster packs if you have enough players.

Are Draft Booster Boxes Worth It in General?

I’d only recommend buying a draft booster box if you’re a Limited fan and enjoy drafting a specific set. They’re worth it for the value of the rares and mythics that can be opened, as well as the experience of cracking packs, or just drafting with your friends. If you like Limited at all and draft or play Sealed, then the value of those draft boosters (and the draft booster boxes) goes up.

Nowadays, Collector Boosters provide the ultimate value when it comes to cracking packs for the heck of it.

Are Draft Boosters Discontinued?

Wizards of the Coast announced in October 2023 that, with the release of Murders at Karlov Manor, Draft and Set Boosters would be combined into one new booster type: the Play Booster. These boosters have all of the fun and exciting cards from your average Set Booster, but are assembled in a way that can be played in Limited. It is intended to completely replace both booster types.

How Many Rares Are in a Draft Booster Box?

Each draft booster has a rare or mythic rare card and a 33% to have a foil card. MTG sets also have a buy-a-box promo card nowadays, which is usually a mythic rare. So you should get an average of 40 rares/mythics from a draft booster box. You can get some extra rares and mythics in some sets that have special configurations like Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive.

How Many Mythics Are in a Draft Booster Box?

There’s a 1 in 7 chance that your draft booster will contain a mythic rare, so you can expect four or five mythics in a draft booster box.

Are Draft Boosters Limited Release?

Draft boosters were supplied to stores as long as there was demand. They used to be the most sought-after products from a given set and the most sold, not to mention that they were also the cheapest.

Do Draft Boosters Have Cards from The List?

Cards from The List are an addition in set and play boosters only and weren’t a part of draft boosters.

How Many Draft Booster Boxes Are in a Case?

A draft booster box case contains six boxes with 36 boosters each, totaling 216 draft boosters. It’s usually how stores handle the product, buying directly from the distributor.

Wrap Up

Dramatic Finale - Illustration by Steve Argyle

Dramatic Finale | Illustration by Steve Argyle

WotC offers us many ways to buy Magic products nowadays. They need to sell boosters to make a profit, and the main way that they sell is to players looking for Draft.

What do you think of my draft booster rankings? Do you have a favorite set to draft with? Let me know in the comments below or join the discussion in Draftsim’s official Discord.

May you crack plenty of boosters and find your expensive foil mythic rares!


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