This weekend I cracked some of the new boosters with some friends, and played a mini Achroma sealed event. We each got 6 boosters, and used the 36 cards drawn to build a 30 card deck. This was different from draft, in which you pass cards. In this format, you stick with what you get, which kept each of us completely in the dark about when the opponent had in their palettes.

It was fun opening up the boosters, and I was pleasantly surprised by 8 of the cards I pulled:

Needless to say, the cards I pulled had a power level above curve, so all I had to do was actually draw them in the games. Each game I was able to get a power card down, and despite in one game only getting Sprat out and my opponent playing 3(!) Velvet Worms (each of which having prevent 2), I won comfortably, in no small part thanks to a handy bit of control in the form of Pixie Prison and Curdle Woods (which Cara Curdle got lost in).

Here’s my complete palette:

It was fun to see underplayed cards have a chance to shine. I think this was literally the first time I’ve ever actually played the card Loose Shards, let alone include it in a deck.

Thoughts on sealed
Playing in this format does enormously lower the power level of a palette. In 30 cards, I had 6 with a resolve. And if I hadn’t been lucky enough to get Sprat or Ray, or my opponent had just a couple of control cards, I could easily have been looking at a max total resolve of +3 and -2. This makes games slower, and much harder to come back from if you end up on the back foot. It also makes trading more powerful. A few cards with a high shard value in your hand and there won’t be much your opponent can do to catch up. I also noticed there were a plethora of cards with prevent compared to the meagre number of drain or steal cards.

Objects on the canvas
We played the rule that objects could deploy directly to the canvas, and resolve, but not attack. This was essential given the high object:character ratio in boosters. We also played the rule that on playing a character, you could equip that character with one of your canvas objects, but you didn’t have to. I think it worked well enough, and is a good solution in the absence of characters.

Next time
I think when I next open some boosters, I’ll be drafting rather than doing a sealed tournament. I also won’t want to draft a pack at a time, but rather open maybe 2 or 3 packs at a time, picking 1 favourite card, and passing along. This will make the palettes much more evenly matched. I also like the idea of building palettes with just 20 cards. It’ll increase the chance of hitting key cards, and mean I can draft with just 4 boosters. However I think I would add the rule that if you run out of palette, you should just flip over your dregs, shuffle, and replace your palette.

Future steps
I have considered using a collection of cards to support sealed formats. Here is a proposal for such a set of cards, to add some much needed characters, locations, and control to the format. The idea is every player would have access to this card pool, and I would suggest that they can select, say, 5 cards (in pairs) from the draft pack that they can then include in their palette.

I’ve chosen 2 characters, 2 locations, and 1 action from each realm in chapter 1. I’ve stuck with commons, and I’ve tried to balance control, achrom, and chroma, as well as a cheeky bit of object tech from Lost Property. There are many options for this sort of support, and really anything with a few cards that can resolve, especially characters, would be welcome.

The problem with this idea, is it requires access to a large variety of existing Achroma cards, while the great thing about boosters is that they should be playable by new players without such a requirement.

What I would really love to see is Achroma produce a product to support draft with a few simple and cheap realmless cards, that riff off the idea of this being a Realmless format. For example:

• Lost Realm Runner
• Type: Character – Realm Runner
• Rarity: common
• Shard value: 2, Strength: 2
• Ability:
  +1 or -1. If you have cards from 2 or more different realms on your canvas, +2 or -2 instead.

• Hidden Realm Rift
• Type: Location – Realm Rift
• Rarity: common
• Shard value: 2
• Resolve: +1
• Ability:
  ACTION: Choose a Realm (Salum, Draco, Spirata, or Norso). REVEAL a card from the chosen Realm.

• Storm
• Type: Action – Spell
• Rarity: common
• Shard value: 3
• Ability:
  Choose a card from any canvas, or two cards instead if those cards are from different Realms. Return the chosen cards to their owners’ hands.

Final thoughts
I enjoyed this fresh new way of playing Achroma. However, I do feel like the object:character balance is off, meaning an “objects direct to canvas” rule is essential for play to function. Also, the relatively low power level of cards from boosters means that I believe a draft support pack (either homemade, or preferably Achroma produced) would be an excellent way to support this product for future tournament use.

If you’re interested in buying booster packs yourself, these can be purchased from the Five Realms webstore, and please do use the dracotemple code to get yourself 10% off, supporting me in the process as I earn a small commission on sales made this way. Thank you.

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Next time you’re ordering achroma products, please use the discount code dracotemple at checkout on the achroma webstore for 10% off all orders, including pre-orders. By using this code, you are also supporting me, as I also earn commission on any sales made using this code.