We hold a games club night every Wednesday at the Old Ship Pub, King Street Richmond. TW9 1ND.

Every 1st Wednesday of the month is a Magic the Gathering booster draft tournament and every 3rd Wednesday of the month is another tournament, either standard, two-headed giant, teams or some other fun variation. If you wish to participate in these you must be at the pub by 7.00pm.

Booster Draft tournaments cost £12 to enter, other constructed tournaments cost £5  to enter.
Otherwise enterance to the club is free.

Though you must be over 14 years old

You can get to Richmond on the District line of the tube,  or by buses 33, 65, 190, 337, 371, 391, 419, 490, 493, H22, H37, R68, R70.

For more help planning your journey go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/?borough=richmond.

If you are driving it is free to park on the parking meters after 6.30 pm.

When players pay and register, they are given 3 booster packs from the current block. Each player then sits around a table (if there are more than 8, the draft may be split into two and players seated at two different tables). Each player opens at the same time their first booster (players must all open the same pack as agreed) and then after examining the cards, chooses one and then passes the pack to the player on their left. A pack will similarly be received from the player on their right, less one card. The player examines these cards, chooses another, passes to the left… This continues until all cards have taken. A check is then made  to ensure that all players have 15  cards. You are only allowed to review the cards you have chosen in between packs, so it is a good idea to try and memorise the cards you pick as you choose them. Players now open the second booster, and the process is repeated, except this time players now pass to the right and receive from the left. Drafting goes on again until all cards are drafted. Now the last pack is opened, with players going back to passing to the left and receiving from the right once more. Once all three packs have been drafted, players split off onto their own to build a deck with the 45 cards they have chosen. Usually there is approximately 30 minutes to do this. The decks have to be a minimum of 40 cards. Land is available free from the organiser, but must be returned at the end of the tournament. The remaining cards that you drafted but didn’t use in your main deck automatically become your sideboard, and can be used after the first game. For anyone new to booster drafting, here are some tips

1. Two colours are usually best – it is unlikely you will be able to build a single-color deck, whilst going for four or five is likely to cause you mana problems. When drafting, try and make a firm choice early on as to two colours you want to play from the cards you have chosen, and stick to those. If you happen to have picked up a really good card that you really cannot pass up on, then splash for that third color, especially if the block has cards which let you seek out lands.
2. It doesn’t matter if you have managed to build a single colour deck, but another good rule is to avoid too many spells with a double color requirement.
3. Try and stick to building decks that are close to the 40-card minimum – you will have many cards which are not game winners, and by including more of them, you are effectively decreasing your chances of drawing one of the best ones. Between 16 and 18 lands, and 22 to 24 creatures and spells is a good ratio (usually you will be looking for 40% land)
4. Creatures with evasion are very effective, flying fear, trample, landwalk, that kind of thing - sometimes the cheap common flyer will be far more effective than the expensive rare…