Draft Format Rules

This section contains the rules for the Tower of Joy Draft format.

Draft is an alternative game mode in which each player starts with an identical set of starter cards and a number of randomized card packs. Players then pick additional cards from the draft packs to build a deck.

Prerequisites

To play a Tower of Joy Draft, each player needs 1 Draft Starter, 4 Draft Packs, and a full set of 8 faction cards.

The Tower of Joy Draft Starter contains a fixed set of cards that are available to each participating player and can be reused between draft events.

The Draft Starter contains the following cards (Tower of Joy 262-281):

• 1x Sealing the Pact/Unknown and Unknowable
• 1x Pass Beneath the Shadow/Seeking Fortunes
• 1x Join Forces/Desperate Hope
• 3x Faceless Man
• 3x Pentoshi Trader
• 3x Holdfast Village
• 3x Market Square
• 1x Feast or Famine*
• 1x The Pale Mare*
• 1x City Fair
• 1x Manning the City Walls*
• 1x Razed to the Ground
• 1x Bitter Accusation
• 1x Royal Decree
• 1x Jousting Contest*
• 1x Biting Cold
• 1x Secrets of Oldtown

* These cards are slightly modified from their original prints. See “Modified Cards”

Setup

Players are arranged in pods of 5-8 players. The Tower of Joy Draft format is designed for pods of 8 players. When splitting uneven numbers, keep in mind that larger pods mean more cards to pick from during draft. For less than 5 players, alternative draft formats such as Winston draft or Pick-2 draft are recommended.

Make yourself familiar with the Draft Starter to have an idea of the agendas and starter cards available. Then set the Draft Starter and faction cards aside for now.

Draft Process

1. Each player opens the first Draft Pack and looks at the cards inside.
2. Each player picks 1 card from the Draft Pack and sets it aside in a personal face-down pile. Each of these piles is called that player's Draft Pool.
3. Each player passes the remaining cards from their Draft Pack to the next player to their left face-down. The next player may pick up and look at those cards after they have passed their own pack.
4. After each player has picked a card and passed their pack, repeat these steps of picking and passing until there are no remaining cards from the first pack.
5. Between packs, each player may review their Draft Pool and Starter.
6. For the next draft round, each player opens the second Draft Pack. Repeat the previous steps to draft the pack, this time passing remaining cards to the next player on the right instead.
7. Repeat for the third and fourth Draft Pack, passing once more to the left and finally to the right again until all the packs are exhausted.

Deckbuilding

After drafting all the cards from the Draft Packs, each player builds a draw deck of at least 40 cards and a plot deck of exactly 7 plot cards from their combined Draft Pool and Draft Starter.

For deckbuilding in the Tower of Joy Draft format, faction loyalty is ignored. This means that as long as your faction card or agenda allows including cards from a given faction, you may include both loyal and non-loyal cards from that faction in your draw deck and/or plot deck.

Draw deck limits are ignored as well. You may include any number of copies of each card you draft in your draw deck.

Plot deck limits still apply. This means you may include a second copy of a single card in your plot deck, but only if it does not have “Plot deck limit: 1”. (Plots from the Draft Starter implicitly have a limit of 1 since you cannot draft additional copies)

Playing with Drafted Decks

Finally, play a tournament using the drafted decks. The conventional win conditions apply: a player wins when reaching a power total of 15, or when each of their opponents have been eliminated by having no cards left in their draw deck.

Between games, each player may freely adjust their draw deck and plot deck using cards from their Draft Starter and Draft Pool. Even switching factions or agendas is allowed, as long as the deck stays legal according to their faction/agenda combination.

Modified Cards

The Tower of Joy Draft Set contains a subset of cards that are slightly modified variants of the original card.

Modified cards are specific to the draft format and have the “Draft format only” designation. The modified portion of these cards’ text boxes is colored orange to be obvious at a glance. The only exception to this rule is Jousting Contest (ToJ 279) from the Draft Starter, where the changes are limited to the income, initiative, and reserve values while the text box is the same as Jousting Contest (Core Set 14).

For the purposes of Tower of Joy Draft, the original versions of these cards are ignored and the modified versions are the only variants that exist.

Card Rarity

The Tower of Joy Draft Set contains the following rarities from most common to most rare:

• common (C)
• uncommon (U)
• rare (R)
• hidden (H)

Each Tower of Joy Draft Pack contains 15 cards of the following rarities:

• 7 common cards
• 5 uncommon cards
• 2 rare cards
• 1 foil card of any rarity (hidden rares only appear in this slot)

Each card’s rarity is noted on the bottom right, next to the set number (e.g. “R148” for Magister Illyrio (ToJ 148) meaning this is a rare card).

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: Tower of Joy Draft Packs distributed at Stahleck 2025 have faulty rarity collation due to errors on the printer’s side. These packs frequently consist of 14 rare or 14 common cards + 1 foil; rarely contain uncommon cards; and often include repeat copies of the same foil cards within packs in the same display.

To verify that you are playing with packs of the correct composition, check the front of your Draft Packs for the line “2026 Edition”. If your Draft Packs don’t have this line, they are faulty and are ineligible for draft unless all players are aware, all are playing with faulty packs, and the TO explicitly allows using these packs.

Card Legality

Only cards from Tower of Joy Draft Starters and drafted cards from Tower of Joy Draft Packs are legal to use during draft format deckbuilding.

Cards from the Tower of Joy Draft Set that are identical reprints of cards from other sets and do not have the “Draft format only” designation are legal to use in other formats according to those formats’ rules. This includes foil cards.

Unique, “Draft format only” characters without modifications may be chosen as your Hand of the King in the Hand of the King variant format when played at the Tourney of Stahleck.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section provides answers to a number of common questions that are asked about the Tower of Joy Draft format and cards from the Draft Set. The entries are presented in a “question and answer” format, with the newest questions at the end of the list.

General Questions

What do I need for drafting?

Each player needs one Tower of Joy Draft Starter and four Tower of Joy Draft Packs. The Draft Starter is reusable between events whereas new Draft Packs are needed for each draft.

Does loyalty matter for deckbuilding?

No, all agendas provided in the Tower of Joy Draft Starter allow you to include cards independent of loyalty.

Do card limits apply to deckbuilding?

Card limits only apply to the plot deck. Your draw deck may include any number of copies of each card you draft. Your plot deck must include exactly 7 cards, of which one may be included twice unless it has "plot deck limit: 1" or is part of the Draft Starter.

Can I use cards from Tower of Joy Draft Packs in my constructed decks?

Yes. You may use drafted cards, including foils, for constructed formats IF they are also legal in that format anyway. Any card with the "Draft format only" designation is NOT legal in GOT Standard by default. One exception is the Hand of the King variant format when played at the Tourney of Stahleck: here you may use a unique, non-modified, draft format only character from the Tower of Joy draft packs as your Hand of the King.

Can a player lose the game by having no cards left in their draw deck?

Yes.

How many cards should my draft deck include?

The draw deck must have at least 40 cards. The plot deck must have exactly 7 cards.

Card Questions

All Men Must Die (ToJ 201)

Is this just Valar Morghulis?

Yes.

Can I use it in my constructed decks instead of Valar Morghulis?

Ask your Tournament Organizer.

City of Ice (ToJ 232)

Does City of Ice do anything if I don't have a City plot in my used pile?

Without a City plot, City of Ice's Reaction has a "Limit 0", so it cannot be triggered.

Face Mask (ToJ 257)

Does Face Mask do anything during setup?

No. You don't get an opportunity to trigger Face Mask's Reaction, so you cannot name a trait. You can still setup Face Mask to draw an extra card though.

Faceless Man (ToJ 268)

Does Faceless Man do anything during setup?

No, see Face Mask (ToJ 257).

Fighting Pit (ToJ 167)

Can I use Fighting Pit to discard and then immediately put into play the same character?

Yes.

Hot Pie (ToJ 261)

Is it intended for Hot Pie's +1 STR effect to last indefinitely?

Yes.

If a character with a pie token leaves play and later returns, will it still have the +1 STR?

No, the effect will wear off once the character leaves play.

Melisandre's Gambit (ToJ 236)

Can I use Melisandre's Gambit to put into play another copy of the same character I killed?

No, the name of the character put into play has to be different from the one killed.

Quentyn Martell (ToJ 150)

Does Quentyn's Action take STR modifiers into account?

Yes, legal targets to put into play with Quentyn's ability are determined based on his actual STR, not his printed STR.

Sealing the Pact (ToJ 262)

Does “out-of-faction” include neutral cards?

No, out-of-faction specifically means non-neutral cards of a faction different from your faction card.

Seeking Fortunes (ToJ 265)

Can I include out-of-faction locations without bestow?

Yes, Seeking Fortunes allows you to include both cards with bestow, and locations (bestow or not).

Unknown and Unknowable (ToJ 263)

Does it make a difference which of my three factions I choose as the main faction?

No, but for tournament statistics it might be preferable to choose the faction that is most represented in your draw deck as your main faction.

Card Changes

If you haven’t played with Tower of Joy Draft Packs distributed at the Stahleck 2025 tournament, you can ignore this section.

Due to issues on the printer’s side, the first print run of the Tower of Joy Draft Set had faulty pack collation, requiring us to order a second print run. We have used this as a chance to make some minor fixes and changes to “Draft format only” cards.

All Men Must Die (ToJ 201)

Now has flavor text.

All Men Must Serve (ToJ 225)

Now has flavor text.

Arbor Jester (ToJ 188)

Old: “After Arbor Jester comes out of shadows”
New: “After Arbor Jester enters play”

Beneath the Gold, the Bitter Steel (ToJ 160)

Card text was improperly formatted; Item is now properly formatted as a trait.

Cast Me Forth (ToJ 32)

Old: “You may ambush non-unique Drowned God or Raider characters from your dead pile”
New: “You may ambush Drowned God or Raider characters from your dead pile”

Melisandre's Gambit (ToJ 236)

Now has "Plot deck limit: 1".

Myrish Pirates (ToJ 17)

Old: Mercenary. R’hllor. Smuggler. The Seven.
New: Mercenary. Raider. R’hllor. The Seven.

Stony Shore Thrall (ToJ 46)

Old: 1 STR.
New: 2 STR.

Old: “After a card enters play during the challenges phase, kneel Stony Shore Thrall to choose an opponent.”
New: “After a card enters play during the challenges phase, choose an opponent.” and "(Limit once per round.)"

Stormcrows (ToJ 166)

Old: “After Stormcrows comes out of shadows”
New: “After Stormcrows enters play during a challenge”