(Editor’s note: Danny Mandel’s column will appear tomorrow. Instead, please enjoy this article by Rian Fike, and check Metagame.com tomorrow for Danny’s article.)

I have always dreamed of playing in a PCQ with cards I’ve never seen before. On Saturday, my dream came true.

I was unable to attend my local Green Lantern Corps Sneak Peek tournament last week. I had been too busy to study the full spoiler. The only cards I knew were those previewed on various websites. I was intrigued by the potential flood of Manhunter army cards and I knew there was something new called “willpower,” but the main body of the set was absolutely foreign to me. This caused a certain thrill when I managed to win my way into the Top 8 and get my hands on an extended art Teen Titans Go! prize card. It was an experience I will never forget.

In Sealed Pack tournaments, whether during the Swiss rounds or the Top 8 Booster Draft, there is a basic template to follow for building a 30-card deck. If the deck is built around this skeleton, it has the best possible chance to hit all its drops. Ryan Jones taught it to me, and I would like to share it with you. The deck needs 20 characters and 10 other cards. The characters fill the curve in this order:

3 1- or 2-cost characters
4 3-cost characters
4 4-cost characters
4 5-cost characters
3 6-cost characters
2 7-cost characters

Keeping that guideline in mind, I built this deck from my five booster packs:

20 characters:

Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern
Harlequin
Tomar Tu

Sturmer
Space Bears
Guy Gardner, Warrior
Hal Jordan, Green Lantern of Earth

Dr. Ub’X
Pan
Fiero
Malvolio

Power Ring
Manhunter Giant
Guy Gardner, Strong Arm Of The Corps
Remoni-Notra ◊ Star Sapphire

Supermanhunter
Grayven
Kilowog

Azrael Batman
Ultraman

10 other cards:

Thunderous Onslaught
Only A Friend Can Betray You
Battle Of Wills
Light Armor
Locked In Combat
Millennium
Mosaic World
No Evil Shall Escape Our Sight
Pest Control
Uppercut


Since I was not familiar with all the interactions of the new mechanics, I focused on simple combat tricks and team-ups. I made sure I had five constructs for Kyle Rayner, Last Green Lantern to search for, and he didn’t let me down. I used his ability in six of my seven matches. Usually I searched for Light Armor, which seems like a very valuable card in Sealed Pack tournaments. I fell in love with Space Bears as soon as I opened my first pack—alternate recruitment is always such fun! Dr. Ub’x was my MVP, since I was often able to team attack the biggest opposing character and watch it KO at the start of the recovery phase. Mosaic World made that trick work in three different games. I learned what the new cards could do very quickly, and when the results were tabulated at the end of the Swiss rounds, I had made the Top 8.

Sitting at the draft table with quality players like Gabe Alonso, Adam Maysonet, and Matthew Meyer can be intimidating. Luckily, two of them are my teammates and the third is a good friend. I had no worries, especially since the Green Lantern set gives wacky weirdoes like me a chance to draft an army swarm deck. I set out to build a Manhunter deck that abused all of the delicious alternate recruitment tricks the army is capable of. I almost succeeded.

Since I was looking for Manhunter army characters, I discarded the curve template. Instead, I drafted as much army as possible, and when I saw Armies of Qward in the third pack, I did a little dance in my head. Adding in two copies of Manhunter Science and a Birthing Chamber helped me to draft a viable army deck. There was only one problem—I had to face Adam in the first round, and he is the best Sealed Pack player in Florida. Luckily, he is also a member of Team Realmworx, so it didn’t hurt quite as bad.

Here is the deck I drafted:

2 Manhunter Sniper
1 Anti-Green Lantern
1 Soldiers of New Genesis
1 Parademons
2 Manhunter Infiltrator
1 Manhunter Protector
1 Harlequin
2 Manhunter Soldier
1 Manhunter Guardsman
1 Manhunter Engineer
1 Mark Shaw
1 Dr. Ub’X
1 Sleeper Agent
1 Manhunter Excavator
1 Rocket Red
1 Grandmaster
1 Anti-Monitor foil!

1 Birthing Chamber
1 Underground Complex
1 Armies of Qward
1 Rebellion on Oa
1 Fire Support
1 Shock Troops
2 Manhunter Science
2 Manhunter Transphere

I will be the first to admit that this deck is very risky, almost foolish. It has no 6- or 7-drops and it includes Anti-Monitor, even though it will be losing resources to alternate recruitment. I actually got a good swarm going in both games, but when I hadn’t finished things by turn 6, I was in trouble. In the second game, I was about to gain an unbeatable advantage with Rebellion on Oa, but when Adam used Emerald Twilight to even the number of stunned characters, my last gasp was at hand. The deck was built for fun, and on that front, it worked perfectly. Before we started the match, I warned Adam that I would swarm the board and then decimate his squad with Anti-Monitor’s ability. Maybe someday I will actually pull it off in Constructed. Only time will tell.

Congratulations to Danny Mandel and everyone responsible for the Green Lantern Corps set. It is an exciting update full of outstanding abilities and artwork. I wholeheartedly approve of the opportunity to draft an army deck, and when I get the time to study all of the cards, I am confident that I will actually be able to win with one. Just watch me.