Wizard's Tower Format (Tips and Q&A)

Since WotC announced the Wizard's Tower casual format, my family and friends have been playing it every week.  I'd like to know if anyone else is playing, and what you in the format and have any questions, go ahead and ask them here.  I'm no expert, but I'm sure the community can help out.  If you have any tips or best practices from your experiences, post them here, too. If particularly responses seem valuable to the community, I'll add them to this original post.

For those unfamiliar with the format, you can read about it here: Wizard's Tower: A Magic Format

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WIZARD'S TOWER TIPS

- Constructing the Tower -
    You have two options: Buy a Fat Pack or buy Boosters (singles, or as a box). Each has benefits and drawbacks.
   
    Fat Pack: A Fat Packgives you everything you need to play Wizard's Tower right away.  The mix of land and packs (9) are all you need.  The additional materials (the box, the Player's guide, the Spin Down Life Counter, and the small boxes all can be used as prizes.  Splitting the cost is simple.  Deciding who gets to keep the packs can be challenging with any number of players other than three.

    Boosters: Buying boosters (nine of them) is slightly cheaper than buying a fat pack ($36 vs. $40, using MSRP), but you need to provide 80 basic land (16 of each).  If you can get boosters for less from your LGS or by going in on a booster box, you save even more.

- Shuffling -
    Shuffling 215 cards can be a challenge.  Try group shuffling to make things easier. Split the cards evenly amongst all players.  Ask them to shuffle the piles they were given.  Then, each player passes half of the cards to their left.  Repeat this two or three times. Then, pass piles across or to the right (your option). Do it that way two or three times.  When done, stack all the cards and you have a shuffled library.

- Prevent Library Tipping -
   If you use those sleeves that have that little silver logo spot (you know the brand), they tend to tip if using new sleeves in a tall stack.  If a tipping stack is a problem, just put the top forty or so cards out for the library. Leave the rest nearby in one or more piles (as necessary), and just keep refreshing the active library (the top of the library) as needed.  Effects that let players search the library still let them search the entire library (all the stacks).  Similarly, when the library needs to get shuffled, it's the entire library.

- Life Total -
    The official life total is that for multiplayer free-for-all rules (20 life).  This works well if you want to keep games short (typically under one hour).  In my house, we don't mind playing a bit longer.  Thirty life made the games drag on pretty long.  We've found that 25 is a decent starting total (at least under the M14 set).  We have found that different sets (the cards in those sets) can significantly impact play time (e.g., Jace, Memory Adept {mill}, Elixir or Immortality {life gain and shuffle the graveyard back into the library}).

- Modifying the Tower Size -
    While the official rules for the Wizard's Tower format call for nine packs, as a casual format you can adopt some "house rules" for kitchen table play, so long as all players are aware of them before you begin.  If playing with two (2) or five (5) players, we add a tenth booster pack to make dividing the cards easier when we are done. This brings the library size up too 230 cards.  Since most boosters add a basic land to the pool, the extra pack seems to have no ill effect on game play.

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WIZARD'S TOWER Q&A

Q) We split the cost of the cards for the tower. How do we decide who gets to keep what?
A) There are a number of ways you can split the ownership of the cards in a tower.  The following are some suggestions, but you may divide things any way you and your co-contributors find appropriate. Some require you to agree to how costs are split before you play. The following are presented as options, in no particular order:

• Before play, stamp or mark the cards contributed by each player. For the collector, this is the least desirable option.  It may be possible to mark the cards by using Post-It flags or scarps of paper in the card sleeves.
  

• Before play, list the contents of each pack contributed by each player.  After play, each player gathers the cards that match his/her list.
  

• After play, remove all the basic land (except foils), shuffle the remaining cards, and deal them out to each player until all area gone.  Once you get to the point where there are less cards than players, give the remaining cards to the person who won.
  

• After play, remove all the basic land (except foils). Separate the remaining cards into piles based on rarity: common, uncommon, and rare/mythic (as one group). Then, deal each rarity to each player.  When you get to the point where there are less cards in the common and uncommon rarities than there are players, give the remaining cards to the person who won.  Do the same for the rare/mythic rare pile.  When you get to the point where there are less rares/mythics than there are players, give the remaining cards to the winner. If playing with five players, there will be four rares/mythic rares left.  In that case, distribute them to the top three players: two for first place, and one each for second and third place.
  

• Before the game, each person who helped pay for the tower provides sleeves (of a distinct  color/design) enough to sleeve their share of the tower [2 players = 108; 3 players = 72; 4 players = 54; 5 players = 43]. When playing with three players, the packs split evenly.  For any other number of players, either some players will need to pay for (and sleeve) multiple packs, or the remaining packs can be made part of the prize pool.  If made part of the prize pool, they still need to be sleeved, but the cards can be "marked" using Post-It flags, or tiny pieces of paper in the sleeve with the card (typically on the back side). Alternately, prize packs could be sleeved with yet another color of sleeves (though this makes counting uncommons and rares easier).
  

• If you plan to play tower regularly, you might want to invest in nine (9) different sets of sleeves, sleeving one pack and sixteen randomized land in each set of sleeves. After play, use dice or another random method to assign ownership according to each player's contribution. If playing with three players, the packs will split evenly.  For any other number of players, the remaining pack(s) can be assigned to the prize pool using the same random selection process.
  

• Agree to play tower multiple times, matching the number of players.  Each player takes a turn buying the fat pack or supplying the boosters and land required for the Tower.
  

• Split all costs evenly, and award the boosters to the winners [2 players = 5/4; 3 players = 4/3/2; 4 players = 4/3/1/1; 5 players = 4/2/1/1/1]
  

Q) Can I play my tower more than once with a set of cards, or do I need to buy new cards each time?
A) Absolutely! I look at the Wizard's Tower format as the UNO-fication of Magic: the Gathering (referring to the popular card game, UNO, that uses the same deck every time you play). It's a great way to introduce people to the game.  Theoretically, it's highly unlikely that any two games from the same Tower will be very similar.  We often play tower multiple times with the same batch of cards.

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