Hey there Kaijudo Duelists, Aiden Thorne here and this week I'll be hitting an interesting topic: Limited play in Kaijudo. For those of you who play other games, you understand how fun the limited format can be; I'm here to tell you that I've found the limited play in Kaijudo to be unrivaled.
What exactly is limited?
Well there are two most common forms, drafting and sealed. Drafting is where you get a certain number of booster packs, open one, choose a card from it, and then pass the remaining cards to the player next to you; you then repeat that process alternating between passing left and right until you are out of cards. After that you'll build decks out of all the cards you selected and play a tournament with those. It's a way to see strategies and game states you wouldn't normally see, and it definitely helps to improve your game.
Sealed is slightly different, you'll still be building decks with the cards you get, but there won't be any drafting this time around. Instead you're given a number of packs, you open all of them, and then you build decks out of all the cards you opened. This is a bit less skill intensive than drafting, but it is definitely fun none the less and still helps improve your game.
How many packs should you be using?
Well this has been subject to debate for quite some time, Kaijudo only has nine cards per pack and that creates issues right there. That means in order to have enough cards to make a viable deck you would need at least five booster packs, and for those of us who aren't blessed with mounds of money this becomes a serious challenge. Generally when drafting, my local suggests five booster packs and 30 card minimums. This gives you more than enough cards to have a concentrated deck, and even allows you to hate draft without hindering yourself all that much. For sealed we had normally done 6 packs, but with the fact we now have multi-civ cards, it is safe to say that sealed can also easily be done with 5 packs and not hurt all that much—I remember at the Clash of the Duel Masters set premiere all the Nature cards I played were multi-civ.
Why bother?
Well the first argument would be that limited play is incredibly fun, but for the more aggressive tournament goers it also helps improve your constructed game play. There are many cards that we just shake our heads at and ignore, but in limited these cards can be staples and literally decide between winning and losing. Seeing cards and game states outside of our linear meta can do wonders in helping you choose techs during deck building and when facing down the infamous rogue decks in big events. There have been notable players who were quoted mentioning that they had lost to specific decks (Megabugs) because they didn't know how to play against them; this is actually something that I, myself have fallen victim to.
What is good in limited?
This is the part that really gives many players a ton of trouble. Cards that are good in constructed aren't necessarily good in limited, and cards that are good in limited aren't necessarily good in constructed. Have you ever wondered when you would ever play a card like [ccProd]Brave Giant[/ccProd]? Well, in a format like limited you are very limited (See what I did there?) on the different bombs you can drop. In a format where removal is limited (beating a dead horse now) creatures with large power are forces to be reckoned with. Cards that generate advantage are even more precious than usual; I would almost always take a card like [ccProd]Meteosaur[/ccProd]. Even cards like [ccProd]Cryptic Worm[/ccProd] and [ccProd]Sniper Mosquito[/ccProd] have a home in this format; one of the most important aspects to remember is that Shield Blasts and draw cards are like gold—I almost always first pick cards like [ccProd]Predict[/ccProd] in order to generate tempo for the rest of the game. Never underestimate how good a vanilla creature can be when you don't have to stare down the staples that dominate constructed, and definitely don't ignore pseudo-removal in cards like [ccProd]Strobe Flash[/ccProd]!
Hate or Money Drafting
This is my favorite part of drafting in general. When you see cards that are really strong but aren't in your colors you can snatch them up so other people who do play those colors can't get them. This is known as hate drafting, and it tends to be absolutely crucial to keep the balance of power in tact. I've won entire tournaments just from someone passing a bomb that I could play to me, and I've knocked people out of winning just by stealing their key removal spells. It takes a lot of strategy and knowledge of what everyone else at the table is playing, but once the first pack rotates around you should have a good idea and can from then on make educated decisions—even color changes if necessary. Money drafting on the other hand is something I rarely do, but there's a time and a place for winning and sometimes my wallet feels we should leave with a profit. When those times arrive I stop worrying about trying to win and I just take every shiny rare card I can, and leave with a wonderful profit. You normally won't see cards like [ccProd]Andromeda of the Citadel[/ccProd] ever hitting the board in limited, but you can sure bet that if I ever open one up I'm taking it!
Well, it looks like that's about it for this article. Maybe if it is well received we can delve into more intricate strategies of limited play. There's still plenty to cover; we're ranging from deck building to an entire first pick list! Also, if you like the idea of cube drafting (Something that wasn't even mentioned in this article), I'd suggest stopping by CVH's youtube channel and looking at their impressive 450 card cube they've set up.
Make sure to stayed tuned for more information to get you guys prepped for the Kaijudo Championships!
Latest posts by Aiden_Thorne (see all)
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