Drafting

Drafting allows players to build their own decks at the start of the game. It gives them a chance to pick their favorite beings across the factions and to see them work in unique combinations.

Drafting is designed for players who have already played many games of Tash-Kalar. If this is not your case, you do not need drafting, for two reasons:

• Drafting allows you to create unusual combination of beings, but you will probably not appreciate this until you are really familiar with the standard combinations the decks offer. Thus, it is better to enjoy the thematically composed decks first.
• The decks are balanced, but the particular cards are not. You need good knowledge of the game to recognize stronger and weaker cards. Experience will help you choose the cards faster and more wisely.

Drafting may be used with any game mode (High Form, Duel, Melee, Team game).

Standard Draft

Before the game, choose the decks you will be using. You need the same number of decks as players, or more:

• With two or three players, we recommend Highland, Sylvan and one of the Imperial decks.
• With four players, you need all four decks.

Shuffle all these decks together to make one big deck. Deal 18 cards to each player. If there are some cards left, remove them from the game.

Look at your 18 cards, choose one, and put it face down in front of you, as the base of your player pile. Then send the remaining 17 cards to the player on your left. Once everyone has done this, take a look at these 17 new cards, pick two, put them on top of your player pile, and pass the remaining 15 to the player on your left. This step (pick two, send the rest) repeats, until only one card is passed. Players put these remaining cards on their decks, and the draft is over – each player has 18 cards in his or her player deck.

When setting up the game, shuffle the deck you created. For the rest of the game, treat it as if it were a standard deck.

You also need to choose a set of pieces in one color (which in this case has nothing to do with the color of the beings in your deck).

Multiple Games

If you want to truly enjoy the deck you created (or really know who made the best deck), you may do one drafting and keep the same decks for multiple games. With more players, you can even play a small tournament with the drafted decks. It is all up to you.

High Draft

For a single game, you may also consider High Draft (especially for the High Form, whether two-player or team). High Draft works the same as the Standard Draft, except it takes place at the end of the game setup instead of at its start. That means players already know the four revealed tasks, they already have two legends and one flare in their hands, and they know who will start the game.

To play High Draft, set up everything except player decks. Then do the drafting as described above. Shuffle the decks you created and draw three cards. The game may begin.