Editor: Michael Mason. Friday 29th October 2004.
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Editor: Michael Mason. Friday 29th October 2004.
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The Sydney gaming scene has a strong history of drafting the limited format for a number of different games. Magic the Gathering being the most predominant, with anywhere from 6 to 12 weekly drafts going on in my local gaming store (Sydney Games Centre) alone, as well as Star Wars, Pokemon, Yugioh, Warcry, etc. going on, Sydney definitely loves to draft. But who doesn't. It seems the best way to test your skills with a wider variety of the cards is definitely the limited format. When I say a wider variety, what I mean to say is that we get to play with utter power houses like No Fear, Alley-Oop! and Supernova, cards which by all rights should not make a constructed deck, where otherwise we wouldn't. I know if it weren't for limited, I would never play with cards like Prodigy, Hornet, Dusk, Black Cat (4), Lizard, etc., etc. I could go on forever. I also get bored very quickly playing the same deck over and over again (I will usually never play the same deck in two different tournaments) and drafting allows you to have a different deck each time. So right now between normal drafting and limited hobby league (thank you UDE) I play upwards of 4 drafts a week.
...So getting on with things.... In those three or four drafts I've played in before writing this article, I have discovered some useful tips on drafting triple WOS that may help you in your local comps, as well as at higher level tournaments. Plot twists are paramount. Forget Marvel drafting where if you saw a 6 drop you took it automatically and thought nothing of the rest of the pack, plot twists in triple WOS are just as important as they were in DC Draft. Heres my list of first picks for commons No Fear is easily the best as it allows bashing up the curve on offence and defence. Alley-Oop! is second because of the lack of range in the set means this is easily telegraphed. Crushing Blow will increase in the list depending on the number of Doc Ock 4s you've got or if you're a lover of Sonic Gun like I am. I am not a big fan of Hired Goons but a few of the people in my local area say its awesome and would more than likely up it in their list. Big Bully is a joke, but then again better to have crappy plot twists than crappy characters. The uncommon plot twists in this set are huge and hard to evaluate, but here it goes.
There are more on the list but it is too long and the others are not worth printing. A good draft deck will have 1 affiliation period. There are too many affiliation oriented plot twists which makes drafting more than one a risky move. You have to rely too heavily on one or two cards, and if you don't draw them, you've got problems. Supernova tops the list due to not being team oriented but also because it allows you to bash infinitely up the curve. I love No Fear, but Supernova I want to marry. The rest are pretty standard but a case can be made for switching here and there depending on whether one has worked better for you in the past or not. Tragic Loss seems like it would be better than Spider Slayers, but I have drafted Spider Slayers before, and they are moi tight. Going My Way? may seem a little higher than what you'd expect but making an extra attack on you opponents initiative, or flying over the top of a particularly big guy, can mean the difference between winning and losing sometimes. As for the rare plot twists don't bother. I have seen cards like Bamf! And Nice Try! played but the best one would probably be Rise from the Grave. Nice Try! is a nice trick but too narrow in this format. As far as characters go curve is very important. There are different strategies, like a weenie rush, but it relies too heavily on specific cards. I was recently housed by 4 Wild Packs, Silver Sable and Spider-Man, regardless of what curve I got but I tend to have more success with limited curve decks than with limited weenie rushes. Heres the pick order for common spider friends Ok you're wondering why I only went to 4. So am I. I tried to list the rest but it was so hard. Your curve is very important. I would normally put Daredevil above Spider-Man 3 and Black Cat 4, but if you have a couple of Human Torches (who I'm not too crazy about) and like only 1 Prodigy, then I would be more inclined to take the Spider-Man. Same goes for Black Cat and her awesome ability. As for the four that are there - large men are still in need and Ezekiel is the biggest (common). Puma is at 2 because I would run him in SS also, he's that good, and for lack of a better 7 drop he's a 14/14 - also if you get hit by a 15/15 on the 7th turn you lose 5. Good bargain. I have Iceman over Scarlet Spider, but this will change if you are drafting Spider-Man 3 and weenies, as well as if you have a few Spider-Men of your own. Uncommon Spider-Friends (btw, isn't Spider Friends just the gayest name for a team?) I would take Ezekiel over Mattie Franklin I believe (despite just how good she is) but Mattie would definitely be next. Her ability to almost always be the biggest on the table on turn 6 with flight and range makes her insane in the limited format. Nova would come in next, due to flight being just a highly valued commodity and the fact he has the potential to beat up the curve. Not so hot on defence but he can be a huge attacker, like 6 drop Hulk huge, and that makes him awesome. The rare characters in this set are either insanely powerful or overly crap. 7 drop Spider-Man and Doc Ock are by far and away the best characters in the set, and there should be absolutely no reason not take either in any pack that comes along. I would never in a billion years pass either of these two, even if I'm drafting, oh, I don't know, Mono Doom. Despite my deck being absolutely crap I'm not going to give my next door neighbour a prize this sweet. Spider-Man 8 and Will O' The Wisp get honourable mentions, but I'm not a huge fan of 8 drops in draft, even though they may be Silver Surfer, Terrax (who is probably better) or Apocalypse (although 8 drop Ra's was the bomb). As for Syndicate characters heres a nice little list Here I've come up with the same problem. Who's to say which is better: Silvermane or Beetle, Scorpion or Rhino. These will depend on how your deck shapes up. You might have noticed the weirdness of the order of things. Kaine is no.1 for both of his awesome abilities. Green Goblin is a flight range 5 to cost character who has common pumps in the 7 drop. Doc Ock makes Crushing Blow insane as well as takes out a big attacker who might want to swing back at you. I find it harder to get Vultures than it is to get Hobgoblins and Green Goblin (7), and a first turn Vulture Jetpack/Doc Ock's Lab is often enough to pull you out of most situations. (Life gain in VS isn't as bad as it is in magic). Uncommon characters are tricky but heres a try ... that's it there are only 3 of them. The list isn't hard at all as Shriek is a tricky character to play, and Electro's ability to beat up the curve (with his abilities) is retarded, but Venom (6) takes the prize for best uncommon Syndicate character because his game text is for both offence and defence... hot hot hot. Rare characters are not as easy as there are more playable ones than Spider Friends Doc Ock is Obv. Venom 4 is a house. Almost always a 10/10 for 4, he's probably going to be bigger than your 5 drop... and he has evasion! Sandman is the biggest 6 drop in the game (bigger than Tri-Sentinel which is 7..and bad..) and he wont be stunned all too often. A lot of people don't like Carnage but I find him insane. There are a lot of life loss abilities for Syndicate which makes Morbius not too bad. The fact he has flight as well as the fact his ability works on Defence, means I'd take him over Scorpion for the 5. A little note on Mysterio. I have run the Mysterio gambit twice and hit once. It was awesome and worth doing if you feel lucky. Now for locations. I have written a couple of very short articles on common and uncommon locations, and I was going to write one on rare locations but they're all soooo bad in both formats I decided to write this instead. With that said the uncommon and even some of the common locations in the set are the bomb. Here's my list and please note that depending on which affiliation you are these will change. These are for both common and uncommon.
The rest are not worth mentioning. Syndicate get the two best locations in the game for limited. Doc Ock's Lab is a permanent curve jumper, and allows you to have a back up pump if your opponent has a defensive trick. Things to watch out for are if you Mojoverse first you wont be able to use it later... same goes for Hired Goons and using Mojoverse first. Osborne Industries are pretty obvious as trading in your crappy 1s and 2s later on in the game or even for fixing up your curve early makes for an awesome location. Mojoverse is a fantastic location. Some of the tricks to using this are if your opponent has one and you use it your attacking character will get +2+2 and if their Kaine tries to KO one of your bigger Syndicate dudes you reinforce first then use this to save him. Duh, but I've seen many people miss this. Overall what started out as a fun and interesting new format has quickly turned boring and teetering on monotonous. More than 2 viable affiliations are required for a fresh limited format, but I will continue to play it as I am practicing for PC Socal in December. For those of you still reading heres a look at my top 5 favourite picks in order. These do not include rares. Note that these are all plot twists and locations. That is how important they are to your draft. Good luck drafting WOS, just don't over do it like I am.
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