Draft Mode

Draft was added early 2022 as a new game mode which, unlike Brawl, is made for everyone by putting every player on a level-playing field, regardless of their Fortress Level or card collection.

Brewed Sages Guide

The Brewed Sages have released their own guide for the Draft mode, which I recommend you check out as it gives good tips!

In a nutshell, the draft mode is an event where players compete in a series of matches with a unique deck that gets “drafted” specifically for the event. Cards may get swapped or upgraded after every match, leading to previously unseen decks and hopefully some different strategies from your typical ladder gameplay.

The draft runs weekly from Monday to Wednesday (therefore without overlap with the Brawl). Each player is able to play up to 3 draft “sessions” in order to get rewards during that timeframe. After which, it is still possible to play draft mode until the event ends, but without rewards — just for fun (while still earning coins for victories, as usual).

A session ends when the player wins 6 matches or loses 3 times, which ever comes first, leading to sessions lasting between 3 and 8 matches.

Screenshot of the main Stormbound menu showcasing a “Draft” button to enter Draft mode, and a locked “Brawl” button
Screenshot of the main Draft mode screen showcasing the current status of the Draft session
Screenshot of the loss screen showing that the player lost a life and that they only have 2 lives left
  • Session: A series of up to 8 matches ending with the player having lost 3 times, or the player having won 6 matches, based on the same drafted deck.
  • Entry card: A special resource enabling the player to start a draft session.

Only players with at least 11 base health can participate in the draft mode.

A draft session costs 1 “entry card”. Entry cards are special resources which are necessary to start a draft session. A player can have a maximum of 3 entry cards at a given time — that’s the upper cap for that resource and they do not expire so they can be saved from one week to the next. Entry cards can be obtained the following ways:

  • An entry card can be collected freely once a week by watching an ad in the card shop tab.
  • Entry cards can be bought for a few dollars. One entry card + coin 100 coins costs $2.99, two entry cards + coin 300 coins for $4.99.
  • An entry card can be skipped altogether by paying coin 600 coins to start a draft session.
Screenshot of the shop interface showcasing the ability to watch an ad to receive an entry card for the Draft mode
Screenshot of the entry dialog for the Draft mode asking for an entry card or 600 coins

The content of the chest retrieved at the end of a draft session depends on how many matches the player won, between 0 and 6 (as well as whether or not they own the Premium Pass). Here is the content of the 7 different chests:

  • 0 win: common card 2 common cards + rare card 1 rare card (+ coin 50 coinsfusion stone 1 fusion stones with Premium Pass)
  • 1 win: common card 3 common cardsrare card 2 rare cardsepic card 1 epic cardfusion stone 1 fusion stones (+ coin 100 coinsfusion stone 1 fusion stones with Premium Pass)
  • 2 wins: rare card 4 rare cardsepic card 2 epic cardsfusion stone 2 fusion stones (+ coin 100 coinsfusion stone 1 fusion stones with Premium Pass)
  • 3 wins: rare card 4 rare cardsepic card 2 epic cardsfusion stone 3 fusion stonescoin 150 coins (+ coin 100 coinsfusion stone 1 fusion stonesepic card 1 epic card with Premium Pass)
  • 4 wins: epic card 4 epic cardslegendary card 2 legendary cardsfusion stone 4 fusion stones (+ coin 150 coinsfusion stone 1 fusion stonesepic card 1 epic card with Premium Pass)
  • 5 wins: epic card 5 epic cardslegendary card 2 legendary cardsfusion stone 5 fusion stonescoin 250 coins (+ coin 250 coinsfusion stone 2 fusion stoneslegendary card 1 legendary card with Premium Pass)
  • 6 wins: epic card 4 epic cardslegendary card 3 legendary cardsfusion stone 6 fusion stonescoin 600 coins (+ coin 400 coinsfusion stone 3 fusion stoneslegendary card 1 legendary card with Premium Pass)

Additionally, it is worth noting that victories will yield coin 10 coins + an additional coin 10 coins for watching an ad or for having the Premium Pass, regardless of the league of the player.

Players are matched based on the amount of battles they have done within their session. So players having fought 1 time will be matched with other players having fought only 1 match so far.

The pools widen for higher number of matches to make sure players can find opponents: so players played 5, 6 or 7 times are all in the same matchmaking pool.

This is important because the base health grows throughout matches (regardless of their outcome). All players start at 10 base health, and every match increases it by 1. This means the base health can never go above 17 (for the last match).

Screenshot of the base health increase screen after a match

Drafting a deck is done at the beginning of the draft session and consists of picking a total of 12 cards, each time from a set of 3 different options.

Cards are always drafted at level 1, and all cards from the game can be drafted, regardless whether the player owns them or not. This truly puts all players on a level-playing field.

The draws happen in that order:

  1. legendary card 3 legendary cards from different factions, resulting in a faction choice
  2. epic card 3 epic cards from your faction, resulting in an archetype choice
  3. rare card 3 rare cards with a mana cost of 3- from faction + neutral
  4. rare card 3 rare cards with a mana cost of 4- from faction + neutral
  5. rare card 3 rare cards from faction + neutral
  6. rare card 3 rare cards from faction + neutral
  7. common card 3 common cards with a mana cost of 3- from faction + neutral
  8. common card 3 common cards with a mana cost of 4- from faction + neutral
  9. common card 3 common cards from faction + neutral
  10. common card 3 common cards from faction + neutral
  11. epic card 3 epic cards from faction + neutral
  12. legendary card 3 legendary cards from the neutral faction

Note that for all rolls where the pool of cards is the current faction + the neutral faction, there will be at least one card from your faction, and at least one neutral card amongst the 3. This makes sure a roll doesn’t offer 3 neutral or 3 faction cards.

Screenshot of the deck building interface, offering a choice between 3 different cards for the 1st pick
Screenshot of the deck building interface, offering a choice between 3 different cards for the 6th pick, with the incomplete deck shown at the bottom
Screenshot of the deck building interface when the deck is complete, indicating so

With every match, it is possible to refine the deck to make it more competitive. Regardless of the outcome of a match, it offers the ability to level up 3 cards from the deck.

Which cards can be upgraded is also drafted. That means each upgrade gets picked amongst 3 cards. There is also some logic to avoid the same card being upgraded on a loop while all other cards stay level 1. So all in all, the deck should improve somewhat uniformly throughout a session.

Losing a match also provides the ability to replace a card from the deck. Because of the 3 loss limit, it is only possible to replace 2 cards in total.

Which card to replace is entirely up to the player, so any of the 12 cards can be discarded. In exchange, 3 level 1 cards from the same rarity get offered as options. This means replacing a leveled-up card will still yield a level 1 card.

Screenshot of the card replacement interface, offering to pick a card to replace
Screenshot of the card replacement interface, displaying the selected card to replace with a “Remove” button to confirm