Bulk Lao is no stranger to the world of Vs. System. With quite a few accomplishments under his belt, he finds himself outside of Day 2 of the Pro Circuit and participating in the Infinite Crisis Sealed Pack $10K today.

As Bulk double-checked his cards against the registration sheet, I asked him if he had done any practicing for Infinite Crisis prior to the weekend. “I’ve only played it at a local PCQ,” he replied. “I didn’t even play it at the Sneak Preview. It’s like I kind of know what I’m doing but not really. I really like Fate Artifacts, though.”

Bulk put down a copy of Removed from Continuity and said, “I definitely love this card.” He continued to lay cards down and name off why he liked them. “I like Thanagar because of the DEF pump, and Rann for the ATK pump as well.” He laid down a couple of Amulet of Nabu cards and said, “I really like the Amulet as well—the +1 ATK/+1 DEF can be a big deal in Sealed.”

Bulk continued to lay out his cards and look over them. He spread his characters out in order by cost so he could get a feel for what to run. “I never really pay attention to team affiliation,” Bulk said, “but like with the 5-drops in this set—they’re all good. The worst would have to be Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight, of course, but even he isn’t all that bad.”

Bulk started to focus more on the Villains United characters he had picked up from his packs. “I’m focusing on Villains United mainly because of No Mercy. It’s a KO card that can destroy my opponent’s board. Plus their 6-drop, Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double, is really good, especially if you have the power-ups for him. I might have to team-up JSA as well.” Bulk pointed at his 5-drops, showing that he only had three to choose from, two of which were JSA characters.

“I’m lacking both 5-drops and 2-drops right now. If I’m lacking any drops, I normally draft characters with concealed. That way I can recruit them into my hidden area and not have to worry about having to reinforce a lot, since chances are, they won’t be attacked,” Bulk said, as he continued to lift cards from the table and put them into his hand. “I’m debating if I want to run a 7-drop or not. I’ve got two copies of The Calculator, Crime Broker here ready if I feel I need to toss them in.”

I questioned Bulk as to what he thought about his non-character pulls, and he responded with, “My plot twists are pretty good. I’ve got a rare removal card, a KO card, and basically a Nasty Surprise. A No Man Escapes the Manhunters basically, although I personally feel that Watch the Birdie! is better than No Man. I like Revitalize a lot as well—it’s a really versatile card.”

“Usually, if I’m debating about what to run at a drop, then I think that the design team made a card an uncommon for a reason, so I tend to lean towards it if the other card is a common,” Bulk said as he switched around his 4-drop characters, changing up strategies that he may have been thinking about earlier.

Bulk Lao

$10K San Francisco

1 Weather Wizard

1 The Calculator, Evil Oracle

1 Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1

1 Deathstroke the Terminator, Lethal Weapon

2 Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double

1 The Calculator, Crime Broker

1 Deadshot, Dead Aim

1 Brainiac, Earth 2

1 The Penguin, Arms Merchant

1 Carter Hall ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Champion

1 Hourman III ◊ Hourman, Time Machine

1 Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Hero

1 Charles McNider ◊ Dr. Mid-Nite

1 Ted Grant ◊ Wildcat, Golden Age Pugilist

1 Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrific, Renaissance Man

1 Wesley Dodds ◊ The Sandman, Golden Age Gunman

1 Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific, Golden Age Gold Medalist

1 Jakeem Williams, JJ Thunder

1 Dr. Fate, Hector Hall

1 Ragman, Redeemer of Souls

1 Allied Against the Dark

1 Revitalize

1 Removed from Continuity

1 No Mercy

1 Burning Gaze

1 Watch the Birdie!

1 Defend Yourself!

1 Thanagar

1 Amulet of Nabu

“Villains United is about returning cards to your hand, but it’s not all that bad of a strategy for an off-curve deck, since you can easily recruit them again turns later. I’m trying to work off of a good Villains United theme and a JSA exhausted theme. Revitalize can definitely help me in the process of getting my characters exhausted,” Bulk commented, as he finished registering his deck for the first sealed pod.