Editor: Staff. Sunday 15th October 2005.
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Editor: Staff. Sunday 15th October 2005.
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Learning to Love the Nuke Drafting Squadron Supreme Part 2 Last time I wrote about my recent experiences drafting the Avengers set and, in particular, my success with Squadron Supreme teamed with Avengers reservists. In this installment, I'll be examining the common and uncommon cards available to the SS/av (with Avengers playing a relatively minor role) draft deck and talk about prioritising picks as the draft progresses. My strategy has been to try to focus on the better Avengers reservist characters and general plot twists early in the draft and wait to see if the best SS cards flow my way. My reasoning for this is that Avengers are easier to team-up and I can keep my options open if SS cards simply do not hit my mitt. The exception to the above rule is that I'd be very tempted to take a first or second pick Nuke on speculation, so as not to send an SS signal down the line if I do end up going that way. Nuke is a more than adequate splash for a five-drop, which has led me to wish he had loyalty at least once. I've even read online that some players rate him in the Faces of Evil deck, since they often empty their hand in the mid to late game. As with any examination of sealed deck strategy, I'm only going to discuss common and uncommon cards. Rares are a lot less likely to present in the course of the draft and therefore can't be reasonably hoped for or counted on. The cards listed are presented in a rough pick order. I've separated them into sub-categories (such as generic and team-stamped or narrow plot twists). Which sub-category the card is in might affect its placing in the pick order, especially as you're more likely to pick generic twists early in the first pack and so on. Characters will be listed by recruit cost (with the favoured picks listed first). A final pick order (comprising all types of cards) will be provided at the bottom of the characters list. Onto the cards NON-CHARACTER CARDS Good generic plot twists and similar non-character cards are the most popular cards to pick early in a draft and you shouldn't be afraid to take the best of these cards early in the first pack. In the second and third packs, they will hang around a little longer, so you don't have to take them ahead of either team-stamped or more narrow cards that support your strategy. Call to Arms , Windstorm , and Repulsor Ray Generic ATK pumps are always valued in a draft deck and all of these are worthy of early to early-ish picks. They also help you to keep your options open in case SS turns out to be a bad option at your draft table. Shrink Similarly, this uncommon is one of the very few DEF pumps and is worthy of a relatively early pick. Heroes in Reserve HiR is a lot like Eldritch Power (mentioned below) in that it's good on attack and defence and is an easy way to reduce your hand size. It can be worth taking earlier than some of the SS team-stamped twists because it is generic. I prefer HiR to Call Down the Lightning, because I don't particularly like replacing my reservists. Prismatic Shield While far from necessary, PS is rarely bad either. I also like knowing that I've got it in my draft pile (even if I don't play it) so that I know that one of my opponent's didn't get it. It can be very annoying. While you are less likely to pick them early in the draft there are a number of non-character cards that are essential to the SS/av deck. If you draft carefully to avoid encouraging people to your left to venture into SS then these cards are likely to come around a bit later. That said, leaving them too long might be taken as a cue that SS is not being adequately drafted by one of the other players, so it's best not to plan to get them last or second last. Answer the Call You'll notice that many of the top constructed decks pack four of their team's character tutor. Generally these tutors are rare or, at best, uncommon (like Bat-Signal and Mountain Stronghold). This one, though, is common. You should aim to have at least one of these in your deck and two copies are in no way unwelcome. The drawback of AtC means that you will rarely use it before turn five, but if it ensures you hit Nuke or the best of your six or seven drops then you'll be doing pretty well. In emergency cases you can sometimes dump your hand before your recruit on turn four to fetch the very valuable Blue Eagle. Eldritch Power There's nothing bad about EP. I generally play it on my defenders to ensure return stuns (often when my opponent thinks he's safely swinging down), which gets around the card's drawback. Having a stronger board than your opponent as you go into turn five hopefully with an engorged Nuke is a recipe for success, so I will also use EP to enable one of my smaller characters to swing up for the first attack, allowing me to swing down with the rest. Drawback be damned. I drafted three once and didn't play the third. I regretted it and won't make the same mistake again. Pancea Potion This uncommon can be a bit narrow and I rarely play it more than once in a game, even if I have multiples. While I'd still be inclined to play two if I had them, I'd be willing to cut one if I thought another card would be more likely to get used as the 30 th card. The worst thing with PP is that I find that I need to put it in the resource row, which I also want to pack up with reservists. Hibernaculum This is a bit like another tutor for SS and allows you to pitch an important character early to empty your hand and get it back when you need it. It's particularly good for getting Skymax into your KO Pile, from which he can recur himself on turn six or seven. There are few non-character cards that I have found useful but not essential in this draft archetype. These are cards that you'll be happy to pick up very late in the packs and they might never make the cut for the deck you play. Airskimmer Everyone knows that equipment hurts your hand size, which is obviously a plus in a deck that would rather not have a hand. Airskimmer is a fine recruit if you have to under-drop on one of the early turns, but more often than not you'll be playing it like a pseudo-Windstorm, discarding it from hand. I wouldn't pick it early, but neither will anyone else. Thunder Jet is similar but not as good either because it doesn't act as a pseudo-twist. Supreme Sanction/Behavior Modification Device The former is better since it affects your deck and KO Pile as well as those cards in play, but both cards' additional text can be useful at different times. That said, though, I often find that this deck doesn't really care if it teams up at all. Supply Line This uncommon seems pretty good in theory, but its drawback usually requires that you put it in your resource row. I've drafted it a few times and had it in my deck, but I've never successfully played it. Nor have I missed it. Might Makes Right Here's another card that might be good, but I just haven't been able to get it to work. It provides a way to get rid of pesky character cards that might otherwise get stuck in your hand, but I fear that I'll draw it after I've dumped my hand and will not be able to pay the additional cost.
CHARACTERS Rick Jones Running more one-drops than normal helps to empty your hand and this little uncommon dude helps you even more with his alternate cost. Thermite I'm pretty happy to run this little guy as well. Like most of the other characters in the list, he has the all-important reservist keyword in his textbox. His alternate breakthrough power can be useful, especially against off-curve decks that can't afford to lose hand size. Beast, Blue Furry Scientist Not essential in any way, Beast is far from a bad later pick. I don't like running more than one team-up in the deck (especially if I'm predominantly SS with only a splash of Avengers), so he can help dig that out straight away. Quagmire is playable, but I've found him to be less than stellar as a pseudo-twist. Sometimes I pitch him to give my own attacker -2 DEF (when a trade is going to happen anyway) just to help strip my hand which is far from efficient. Shape This uncommon is my preferred two-drop. His only fault is that he's not a reservist, which can be especially difficult later in the game if you draw him. You might end up rowing him knowing that he'll be a dead card. His ever-growing butt and excellent ATK once you empty your hand are very helpful. On D your opponent is usually forced to swing down on him or blow a pump. If you hit your curve of Shape, Black Panther and Blue Eagle, it's common to have two 6/5s and a 7/6 on turn four which is some good. Haywire While easily stunned on D, Haywire is an adequate reservist two-drop on attack with his 4 ATK and decent alternate breakthrough text. Dane Whitman <> Black Knight His main use is as a 3/3 with reservist, although you'll occasionally be willing to pay to boost him up to a 6/6 when you're stuck under-dropping on a later turn (assuming he's still on the board). Natasha Romanov and Falcon are two other two-drop reservists which are decent. The biggest factor counting against them is that they are Avengers and you'd prefer to have a greater number of SS characters. Black Panther I have learned to pick this guy good and early. He is rarely smaller than a 6/5 on three and being concealed helps you to maintain board presence. Inertia Inertia is my next pick for a three drop. I don't like her 3 DEF, but her power helps to empty your hand and can play merry heck with formations, especially those involving leaders. Moonglow There's not much separating Inertia and Moonglow in my book, with this character being a bit more defensive and conservative. She can fetch out your team-up and her 5 DEF is handy. Lady Lark and Quicksilver are also reasonable three-drop reservists for the deck, but I wouldn't go out of my way to play them. A case could maybe be made to draft Quicksilver just so that someone else doesn't have the powerful Mutant Avenger in their deck. Blue Eagle One of the very few non-reservists in this deck, his power is so ridiculous that he's worth the risk of having to uselessly discard him or waste him in the resource row after turn four. As a key card, multiples of this guy are desirable. This means I'll take him over most of the other cards on this list and consider him a reasonably strong SS signal (although obviously not as strong as Nuke). I hope to draw him by turn four but would be willing to either use Hibernaculum or Answer the Call (emptying my hand any way I can) to get him assuming that I'm already set up to recruit Nuke. Hawkeye, Clinton Barton I'll never really be happy recruiting a four-drop other than Blue Eagle, but Hawkeye is potentially the next best, if for no other reason than because of the FoE off-curve strategy. Carol Danvers <> Warbird Potentially more powerful than Hawkeye, Carol requires you to have someone to team attack with her to get the most out of her. If that someone is Black Panther you're probably missing out on the big beats he can lay down to achieve the bounce. When and if she does get to bounce a five-drop, though, it will usually be well worthwhile. Golden Archer is another serviceable four drop, but I don't really rate him above these others. Albert Gaines <> Nuke The bomb. If you like this archetype, he's a potential first pick just so you don't send that strong SS signal downstream. I rarely have a problem emptying my hand by turn five with six and seven drop options ready for the next two turns. Just as Black Panther can give you a four-drop on turn three, Nuke is usually a six-drop on turn five. Back up either or both of those plays with on-curve recruits on the subsequent turns and you will be a long way ahead in your game. Nighthawk This is one of the weak points of the deck. You don't want to play any character other than Nuke on turn five and this slightly disappointing dude is probably you're next best option. Wonderman Although this uncommon materialises too infrequently, he is a prefect fit for this deck. On curve stats, free stuns and reservist everything you could want. The six-drop slot is the hardest to fill, as Dr Spectrum is rare and besides Skymax all of the other options are utter crap. For this reason, I'd take Wonderman very, very early if I saw him. Skymax Although he's not a reservist, he does allow you to empty your hand without totally screwing yourself. He can always be an Answer the Call target, but otherwise all you have to do is get him into your KO Pile and simply bring him back with his text on turn six. Hibernaculum is one of the best ways to get him there, although there are plenty of others. His text is tasty, especially if you can stun a seven drop on turn seven without stunning in return. Arcanna I originally thought Arcanna was the bomb but have found her to be less than super amazing. That said, she's still very good and if you get odds, she is good for free stuns. Hercules This uncommon brute is also decent on turn seven. I'm a bit terrified of his loyalty, especially as I like to run a fairly small number of Avengers characters and often don't bother to team-up. If you do get Black Panther and Wonderman (both uncommon unfortunately) then he's a safer play. I probably wouldn't pick him until the third pack and just grabbing two copies of Arcanna is safer.
PICK ORDER Albert Gaines <> Nuke Wonderman Black Panther Blue Eagle Call to Arms/Windstorm/Repulsor Ray Answer the Call Skymax Eldritch Power Shrink Shape Pancea Potion Hawkeye, Clinton Barton Carol Danvers <> Warbird Arcanna Rick Jones Hibernaculum Nighthawk Heroes in Reserve Inertia Thermite Haywire Prismatic Shield Airskimmer Supreme Sanction/Behavior Modification Device Moonglow Beast, Blue Furry Scientist Supply Line Dane Whitman <> Black Knight Might Makes Right Hercules
I generally want odds for the following reasons * Getting the most out of Black Panther in the early game; * Hopefully KOing your opponent's five-drop with Blue Eagle (after hopefully KOing another guy on defence with him the turn before) and then attacking down with Nuke for heaps for BEL; * Either getting a free stun on defence with Wonderman on six, or attacking up with Skymax on turn seven without being stunned back; and * Getting a double stun with Arcanna on turn seven.
That said, there is plenty you can do if you get evens as well * Hopefully KOing their four-drop with Blue Eagle and make attacking down on him with their five-drop on the next turn very unappealing; and * Nuke is a huge defensive wall on turn five, potentially providing you some decent counter attack options, especially if you have Pancea Potion to help maintain your board.
So there you have it. SS/av isn't necessarily the ideal strategy for every drafting table, but it has provided me some success. Remember, though, other drafters might not continue to let you play four-drops on turn three and six-drops on turn five indefinitely if you knock them around with this strategy a couple of times.
Please feel free to disagree with any of the above in the forums, as you might just be helping me when I next sit down for an Avengers draft.
Good luck and good drafting,
*Bamf*
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