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Kong Man
Basic Drafting: X-Men Draft
James Kong
April 17, 2005
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Hellfire Club

The Hellfire Club's theme revolves around having only one character in your visible area, which you can achieve through the use of many Concealed-Optional characters, and the various KO characters effects. Once you manage to accomplish this, many of your plot twists' and locations' effects come online. Offensively, you have the benefit of being able to choose your targets, with most of your characters being able to attack back. Defensively, you have more tricks than any other team out there, so use this to your advantage. Characters' abilities also let you achieve and benefit from your one visible character theme. Cards such as Empath and Madelyn Pryor, allow you to clear your visible area, while cards like Shinobi Shaw and Donald Pierce give you stat benefits. Using these cards, you should be able to stifle your opponent's initiative by cutting down his options, and then wreak havoc on his characters with your dominant board. So here's what you need to go into Hellfire.

 

Signal Picks

The Hellfire Club

This card is integral to achieving your theme. Letting you slide characters in and out of your hidden area allows you to soak up some of the endurance loss that you might take from having too many concealed characters. Moving characters in and out of the hidden area is a rare ability in the game, which is why the card is specifically stamped to Hellfire and the character has to be concealed. When used in conjunction with Shinobi Shaw and Donald Pierce, your opponent will be staring down defensive walls that seem impossible to breach. As an added bonus your hidden attackers get +1 ATK, which, while it may seem minor, has been a crucial in allowing you to attack successfully up the curve.

Shaw Industries

When I initially saw this card, I thought it was good, but nothing that was insane until it destroyed me in two drafts. Your opponent can almost never play around Shaw Industries if you flip it at the right moment. Remember back to the days of X-Statix draft when X-Statix Café was awesome? Well think of this card as X-Statix Café on crack. It is a souped up version and when it works, it's brutal. +2/+2 on attack and defense means that most of your characters, while visible, become one up on the curve. Also remember that this card is not stamped to Hellfire. You can give ANY visible character the +1/+1 and you get the additional +1/+1 for having two Hellfire characters.

Shinobi Shaw

Shinobi's above average stats already make him a good character, as his 10 ATK allows him to attack any 5 drop without a pump, and trade stuns with any 5 drop that is attacking him. His ability to generate counters on himself is an ability that should not be overlooked. Because you are playing for the one visible character, it should be easy to make him an 11/10 on the first attack. If you successfully attack down the curve and don't trade, your opponent is looking at a 12/11 wall when he attacks back. When you add Shaw Industries to the picture, your opponent is going to have a tough time dealing with him. I have made Shinobi Shaw a signal as other players playing Concealed Hellfire will take him highly. Jetstream and Firestar are good but probably better suited to being played in a Trait deck rather than the Concealed deck.

Sage

I don't know what I could say about Sage that could do her justice. Taking those Mental cards is important. Madelyn Pryor, Emma Frost, Tarot, hell even take those good Concealed Mental guys like Annalee. Mathematically it works out that if you discard a Mental card every turn you will go through your whole deck by turn 7. Sage allows not only deck thinning but guarantees card quality. If someone passes this to you, take it and don't look back. Since she is concealed she is hard to deal with, unless your opponent is running Sewer System, and even then System can't be flipped until turn 4. I would first pick Sage any day. Even if you don't go Hellfire or Mental, she is a 3/2 two drop in a format where they are scarce.

Strong Picks

Massachusetts Academy

I really like Massachusetts Academy mainly because it does three things for you. Firstly, it helps to get you down to one visible character. Secondly, +1/+1 counters are never bad. And lastly you draw a card. Unfortunately, unless no one else on the table is Hellfire, you will be forced to play visible characters in your deck. Since The Hellfire Club lets you only move Concealed characters, there will be times when you cannot get rid of your visible characters. Losing because you have too many characters, when you have the plot twists and locations to save you, is the worst feeling in the world. Having enablers such as this help to smooth out your game. This card is an uncommon but because it is so heavily stamped, it can wheel. Take it about mid pack.

Deadly Game

The best part about Deadly Game is that no one plays around it. The worst part is that it's rare. You can't first pick first pack this card, but once you know you are Hellfire, slam it down. It is the ability to swap characters that is insane. Imagine playing Donald Pierce in the hidden area, and your opponent wastes pumps to take down a massive Shinobi Shaw. As he is about to swing for the win, you Deadly Game Donald out, and Shinobi in. GG. It happened to me and I lost from there even though I was 20 endurance ahead.

Join The Club!

This set has an uncommon tutor for every team bar X-Men. The best part about these tutors is that while their discard is stamped, you can search out any character with a certain keyword on it. So Join The Club! Lets you search out any Concealed guy. I have used the card on many occasions to search out Sage, even when I don't have a 4 or 5 drop in hand, and my discard is a 2 drop. Versatile and powerful, the card is underdrafted and can come around late in the picks. Take it high but if there is a good character in the pack, shift it along and hope it wheels.

Hellfire Club Initiate

These little guys help you to set up plot twists such as Raising Hell, Cardinal Law and Absolute Power. Their alternate recruit cost means you can play them later in the game to allow you to get the benefits for having more hidden characters. You probably need only a couple in the deck, but Hellfire has so many cards that involve KOing characters, or having more characters in the hidden area, that playing the Initiate for the cost of a card is never bad. This card will come around, but you will probably need to be getting it at about 8th or 9 th pick in the pack

Honourable Mentions

Power Play

While I have never played the card, or seen it used, I have been told of amazing stories where it has been insane. You take evens and proceed to demolish your opponent on turn 6 and 7 when they can't do anything. The no plot twists drawback is largely irrelevant as you should just bash down the curve on the 7 th turn. Be careful to keep your hidden characters alive.

Madelyn Pryor

I probably should have put her in the Strong Picks area but I am too lazy to change my article and she comes around late and often. Remember that she can KO anyone on your board. Her weak stats mean she is often overlooked and you can grab power-ups for her. Also she is a Mental Mutant, and Sage discards are always good.

Teaming up

Obviously you want to try and go as mono as possible but that cannot always happen. So what teams do you want to go for if you are stuck for characters? There are really only two good team up you can go with and you will want to take those Evil Alliances, for the team up.

The first are the Morlocks hidden characters for the obvious reasons. Annalee, Erg, Piper, and Cybelle are all hidden and have decent stats and good abilities. But the best part of their abilities is that the cost of them is to move them out to the visible area. This can allow you to KO visible guys and then use these abilities to make the Morlocks your only visible character. Erg and Cybelle allow you to stall to a nice late game, while Annalee and Piper help to reduce your opponents board. Unfortunately you don't gain too much out of the Morlocks plot twists, as hopefully, you don't have too many stunned characters. However Morlocks Justice and Neutralised can be useful in ending the game quicker.

The other team to look for is X-men. More specifically, Mental X-Men. With some of the best Mental commons and rares, X-Men are a natural choice to help out Hellfire. The mental cards are there to fuel Sage and allow you to get through your deck, and search for the answer to beat your opponent. Understandably, X-Men have no Concealed characters, so you will have to work slightly harder to stay true to your theme. However they have some awesome plot twists and location that you can use, such as Harry's Hideaway, and Turnabout. Many times you will recruit your higher drop in the hidden area, leaving your lower drop, out in the visible area by himself. This is when a Turnabout comes into its own, when they swing down the curve hoping to not trade. If you are lucky enough, you might even be able to avoid a stun! So take those X-men Mental guys and shove them in the deck and take the insanity of the plot twists that belong to the X-Men.

So that wraps up Basic Drafting for the Hellfire Club. Up next is Morlocks.

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