Sealed Pack & Silver Age Interview

It's quite possible that no one in Australia has played more draft than Scott. Ever. The proverbial "father" of Vs. System Sealed Pack in Australia is often credited for formulating off-curve strategies, exclaiming during a Green Lantern draft, "Hey, these 1-drops are pretty good!" The result was an 8-1 finish for fellow friend and Sydney-sider Alex Brown in stunning form at PC Indianapolis. In his hometown, Scott continues to play four back-to-back drafts at a time, all the while insisting that he is weak in the set! Honestly, does anyone actually believe him?

Who is your favorite comic character?

Two years ago I wouldn't even have an answer to this. It's only since I started playing Vs. that I've gotten into the comic realm — now my trades are building up. I'd say my favorite is probably Sandman as by Vertigo/Neil Gaiman — but not sure if that's a function of Gaiman or the character. I also like the simplicity of Bone.

What card do you most want to crack in sealed today?

Good Villains United characters, or enough Checkmate stuff to make that style of deck work. There never seems to be enough JSA to build a deck around and Shadowpact is too boring!

Is there any card you can build a deck around in Crisis Sealed Pack? (eg in X-Men: Black Bird Blue, Sinister Citadel etc)

There are a few — perhaps not as many — Brainiac, Earth 2 is a good one. I've had Brainiac/Huntress, Earth 2 going a few times and it's literally just silly. The Science Spire is another one in a less obvious way.

What do you think is the best archetype / overall strategy in Crisis Sealed Pack?

At the moment I'd have to say either Checkmate or Earth 2. To be honest, relative to previous draft formats, I'm pretty ordinary at Crisis. Usually I’m reasonably happy with 2-1 results. Earth 2 is deceptively powerful — after rubbishing cards like Wonder Woman, Earth 2 for the past few months, I've finally seen the light! The Identity deck, if you get the pieces, is also pretty insane.

What's the most underrated card in Sealed Pack?

There are a few cards that seem to go around awfully late. Watch the Birdie is a brilliant utility card that can turn games around completely. Until recently, Nightshade 4 was undervalued. Stepping Between Worlds definitely goes around too late.

Who is going to win today?

Well, Scott Smith didn’t make the trip, or I'd pick him. I picked him for the last Sealed Pack the $10k in Melbourne, and he didn't disappoint. Alex Brown is also giving this event a miss, so I can't pick him either. That leaves things a bit open. Alex Antonios is in good form at the moment, so he's a contender. Dave Redfern is always up there when it comes to sealed pack. Or maybe this could be Anthony "Migga" Micali or K-man's (Kakarot Turker) time to shine.

What's the most busted card in Vs. at the moment?

Enemy of My Enemy. It's not 'technically' busted, but it's broken in the sense that nearly every deck benefits from it being included, and the recent skyrocketing price is evidence of that. Some amount over 50 percent of the decks in the last PC had 4 copies of it. I'm not sure if it's problematic to Vs. or not. Other than that it's obviously Dr. Light, Master of Holograms. No real explanation necessary.

What are your impressions of Silver Age so far?

It's fantastic. It's definitely the 'compromise' format that UDE should be pushing as their flagship format. Generally you think 8 sets is quite a lot — but it's essentially a 2 year rotation, similar to the most popular format in other games —long enough to make people feel like they're getting investment out of their cards, and not so long as to make the format stagnant.

What's the best card in Silver Age?

Unfortunately same answers as 'busted' — though I think Fatality, Flawless Victory will have great impact in the long run — it makes off-curve very hard to make work.

What's the best deck in Silver Age?

It's hard to go past one of the Checkmate variants at the moment, but I think the format is still as yet fairly undefined. The Fate Artifacts have a big impact — making decks that really have no business being Tier 1 into decks that win tournaments.

Are you excited about Heralds of Galactus?

Of course. I remember playing Heroclix a while back and seeing the figure for Galactus (first I'd heard of the character) and being fairly impressed. The idea that Silver Surfer is just a Herald is pretty cool. I'm always into new sets, new drafts.