I’m working on building three chaos draft boxes for the MTGpupathon event in September and there are a ton of discussions I’m having with people who want to donate a random booster pack but are unsure what to include. To start things off, a chaos draft is a draft with the normal rules of drafting in the Limited format, with the *chaos* part being random packs. Your three packs to open should never be the same, and surely should be from any set in over twenty years of options.

I’ve been weighing out options, and the basic concept is that you want to open uncommons that were utterly incredible in their respective time. Commons are also great, knowing about Lightning Bolt, but you want the uncommons that can both win you the draft and be valuable. With that in mind, I’ve listed the top ten sets you want to open in Chaos Drafts from people’s recommendations and from remembering playing a lot of them.

Let’s go!

Packs that are incredible to open:

1. New Phyrexia

Act of Aggression is a Threaten effect as an uncommon and can be in any color. The same argument could be had for Dismember and Porcelain Legionnaire!

The mythic rares of this set are cube level staples, from a Sword of War and Peace to all five Praetors (Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite, Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur, Sheoldred, Whispering One, Urabrask the Hidden, Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger) and Batterskull. The value is all there for those cards and while all expensive in cost, the slightly slower chaos draft format allows for massive pay offs for the high rares there.

2. Avacyn Restored

If you open this as your second pack, check for the White bombs. Basically any angel you open is immediately making you final forty cards. Seraph of Dawn, Emancipation Angel, and Goldnight Redeemer are all playable in decks that are creature dominant.

3. Shadowmoor

It has the Lieges at rare! There are no mythic rares here!

It finally has weird valuable cards like Fulminator Mage, Greater Auramancy, Mana Reflection, Prismatic Omen, and Rhys the Redeemed because of Commander.

4. Darksteel

5. Modern Masters 2013

At Common, Red decks get a huge boost with Rift Bolt, Lava Spike, and Mogg War Marshall. Uncommons have some of the best modern playables with Kitchen Finks, Path to Exile, Spell Snare, Lightning Helix, and Eternal Witness, amongst others. There are incredible additions to a Chaos draft deck in here to supplement the mythic lottery ticket.

6. Worldwake

The instants are stellar from Searing Blaze and Groundswell to Nature's Claim and Explore. Dropping a Leatherback Baloth turn two or a Kor Firewalker with a Loam Lion is fun Magic.

Did you forget about Death's Shadow? Basilisk Collar? Avenger of Zendikar? Dragonmaster Outcast? There’s a ton of value at the top of the pack as well.

7. Ravnica, City of Guilds

The double costed cards shouldn’t be opened first, as Glimpse the Unthinkable can be awkward to force but opening a Dark Confidant or Doubling Season can make a deck rather quickly. Lightning Helix, Muddle the Mixture and Remand can also be a boon to many chaos decks needing that last spell to smooth their curve.

It has shocklands like Overgrown Tomb, Sacred Foundry, Temple Garden, and Watery Grave for an easy ten dollar bill and cards people love to open for commander. There’s something about opening an earlier art version of a reprinted card in Chaos drafts that people love.

8. Alara Block all foil pack

I remember when these were on clearance because the price point was so high on them. Stores couldn’t draft them because finding eight people to draft for $45, for Alara block, was unheard of. I think they just released it too early. Now, people would jump at the opportunity because commons and uncommons have finally risen enough in price.

I just love the Shards of Alara block and I can’t choose one pack, so I choose them all. Alara Reborn, if you do ever use it, must be drafted last for fixing. It also is basically a commander set in itself for $1 foils. With a foil land in every pack, I’d try to find the Chippy Island that looks amazing in foil:

Island by Chippy

I’d look for its planeswalkers of course, followed by tri-lands in foil, anything commander playable from Ranger of Eos to Sen Triplets, and, finally, with Esper artifacts helping your other artifact creatures from the past become significantly better.

9. Magic 2011

At the higher rarities, there are tons of bombs that outright can win you the game: the titans (Frost Titan, Grave Titan, Inferno Titan, Primeval Titan, Sun Titan), the original five planeswalkers (Garruk Wildspeaker, Jace Beleren, Liliana Vess, Ajani Goldmane, Chandra Nalaar), and Baneslayer Angel.

To fill it out finally, it has weird little value cards like Leyline of Sanctity. It’s not New Phyrexia, but if you need to take a core set, absolutely grab Magic 2011.

10. Chronicles

You’re hoping to open a Blood Moon or a City of Brass to help your draft. There isn’t much value other than Blood Moon, but they are oddly cheap for giving you a Legends experience without Legends money being paid. Opening a Mana Drain would be great, but in a gigantic 310 cards in an expansion set, you open a lot of two or three colored craw wurms. Go for the feel and get chronicles, and mix with a set with higher percentages of valuable cards instead.

There are a few “watch list” sets I have on the list like Battle for Zendikar/Oath of the Gatewatch for Expeditions, but the allies theme makes it hard to include them yet. Once their commons and uncommons rise in value, the thrill of opening an Expedition and finding some marquee cards at lower rarities will make them worth it. I’d be stockpiling them for the next decade if I were you! Getting a prize pack? Grab these and hold them.

Good luck in your next chaos draft and remember, bring your own lands presleeved! It speeds up deck-building, which you’ll need, and you’ll be happier with your own!

—Mike