Hey, TCGplayer blog community.

So this is my first post here. I wanted to talk about the upcoming Feast of Winter Veil gift set in a slightly different light than its possible effect on the meta at the upcoming worlds.

Casual or competitive, it's a safe wager to say most every WoW TCG player's going to pick up at least one of these boxed sets. With all honesty, 10+2 unique new cards, a deck box and 3 boosters isn't all that bad of a deal at $20 and the new Feast of Winter Veil cards promise a lot of possibly drastically new and interesting card interactions at most any level of WoW TCG play: casual, raid, or - as has been the talk of the boards lately - competitive.

So, let's say, if everyone and their friend's going to be buying one at some point, why not coordinate a little with your local gaming group or gaming store and turn what would normally be a purchase-and-open into an opportunity for some casual drafting gameplay?

Here's how it would work: if everyone's already planning getting a Winter Veil box, if each player throws down an extra $4 and change for another booster, you've suddenly got 4 booster packs a person! Which happens to be the standard number for drafting with.

So, everyone open their box, pull out the 3 boosters inside, add the fourth and start drafting! But what about those new Winter Veil cards? Well, those form an individual pool of ten for each player that they can add to their drafted cards to make their final 30+ card deck.

This changes the drafting process slightly, of course, because you'll want to be watching for any cards passed your way that may combo nicely with the new Winter Veil wonders, so you may want to open those and give everyone a chance to read through them thoroughly first.

Drafting's a great way to play with underutilized cards, try new decks and new card combinations that wouldn't find their way into your regular constructed decks, and to get playing with your purchases right out of the package.

Looking at the boosters just for their rares, or wanting to avoid one player amassing an unequal share of blues while another player's left with one or zero? You can always stipulate a rare-draft pool at the end if one or another player feels shafted out of those three important blues, the winning player choosing first and so on.

Really, if you're going to be buying a Winter Veil set anyway and you've got some time to spare playing, there's no reason you and some friends shouldn't break out your packs with an extra booster each and have an afternoon playing a different format of the WoW TCG. Try talking with your local organizer/store owner. Maybe he or she might be willing to turn the whole deal into an official store event, sponsor prizes, discount the extra boosters or what-have-you.

So, hey, anyway, that's my first foray into posting for the perusal of others. I'll be back again come the end of the week to talk Sneak Preview talk and a little bit about the new set. 'til then.

-Madj