Patrick Yapjoco has never won a $10K—though not for lack of trying. He came close at $10K Seattle last year, before falling in the finals to FTN’s Peter Sundholm. He’s made Top 8 in two other $10Ks, but never hit gold. Well, Sundholm didn’t make the Top 24 draft for this one, so FTN was shut out of the $10K trophy, leaving their sole hope with Vidi Wijaya in the PC. Wijaya is a former teammate of Patrick’s from Team Realmworx. With Realmworx now in the history books, Patrick is hoping for a $10K Top 8, so that he and Quang Nguyen can fight for a double gold, taking two trophies home to SoCal between the two testing partners.
PATRICK YAPJOCO’S DRAFT
Here is Patrick’s draft, with his picks italicized on the left.
PACK ONE
1) Retribution, Psionic Storm, Leech, Blackbird Blue, Shadowcat, Katya, Storm, Gold Leader
2) Annalee, Hellhound, Mystique, Freedom Force, Scaleface, Toxin, Lockheed
3) Shrapnel Blast, Black Panther, King of Wakanda, Feral, Artie
4) Dazzler, Rock Star, Sebastian Shaw, The Forsaken, Acolyte Body Armor
5) Marrow, Xorn
6) Tommy, Marrow
7) Tar Baby, Tommy, Thornn, Lucia Callasantos, Above and Below
8) Toad, Hopalong, Absorbing Man
9) Leech, Toad, Hopalong
10) Scaleface, Toxin, Lockheed
11) Tommy, Black Panther, King of Wakanda
12) Henrietta Hunter
13) Teamwork
14) Kang, Scarlet Centurion
PACK TWO
1) Caliban, Tar Baby, Wolverine, Patch
2) Beast, Feline Geneticist, Homo Superior, Hemingway, Viper, Turnabout
3) Hump, Pyro, Freedom Force
4) Postman, Annalee, Image Inducer
5) Erg, Jubilee
6) Healer, The Forsaken, Postman
7) The Beautiful Dreamer, Angel Dust, Shinobi Shaw
8) Tommy, The Hill
9) Masque, Wolverine, Patch, Scaleface
10) Go Down Fighting, Hemingway
11) Longshot, Hero of Mojoworld, Blob, Freedom Force, Hemingway
12) X-Corp: Hong Kong, Blob, Freedom Force
13) Krakoa
14) Kristoff Von Doom, Pretender to the Throne
PACK THREE
1) Bum’s Rush, Artie, Toxin, Xorn, Storm, Leader of the Morlocks
2) Feral, Homo Superior, Kleinstock Brothers
3) Marrow, Angel Dust, Doctor Druid, Tar Baby
4) Storm, Leader of the Morlocks, Erg
5) Postman, The Hill, Healer
6) Backs Against the Wall, Artie
7) Morlock Justice, Cybelle
8) The Alley
9) Storm, Leader of the Morlocks, Mystique, Freedom Force
10) Artie, The Forsaken
11) Piper
12) Changeling
13) The Hill
14) Piper
Nobody seemed to be taking Morlocks at his table, so Patrick went crazy for them. “I couldn’t believe it! I was going to go off-curve with X-Men guys but I didn’t need to, because no one was grabbing my Morlocks!”
He couldn’t believe his luck with a pack 3, 13th pick The Hill, either. He was a little low on blue and green, so it was like a godsend to the deck. “I’m a little light on blues but I do have a lot of power-ups—those are big.”
PATRICK’S DECK
Characters
1 Artie
1 Annalee
1 Caliban
1 Feral
1 Healer
1 Hump
1 Leech
2 Marrow
1 Masque
1 Piper
2 Postman
1 Scaleface
2 Storm, Leader of the Morlocks
1 Tar Baby
1 The Beautiful Dreamer
1 Toad, Hopalong
3 Tommy
Plot Twists
1 Backs Against the Wall
1 Bum’s Rush
1 Go Down Fighting
1 Morlock Justice
1 Retribution
1 Shrapnel Blast
Locations
1 The Alley
1 The Hill
Patrick stuck with the evasion theme, which is why he chose Storm over Erg, a more defensive pick, on the fourth pick in pack 3, and which is why he passed on the second Homo Superior to come his way. “I hope losing those Superiors doesn’t come back to haunt me.”
Still, with three Tommys (“That’s the nuts! Extra character nearly every turn!”) and some clearly vicious support, he’s hoping to go 3–0, guaranteeing his fourth $10K Top 8. “I’m going evens, hoping to win on six with Morlock Justice, Shrapnel Blast, and Scaleface. If it does go to seven, hopefully The Alley and Morlock Justice can burn them out. It would have been really good if I’d gotten a Sewer System to hit hidden characters, though.”
There wasn’t much hate-drafting, because the picks were too good to pass up, and because he didn’t see any removal cards that can hurt evasion—like Drain Essence and Mutant Massacre. His final prediction? “I think it’s 2–1 with a chance at 3–0, depending on how the B-Hood decks are. There was a Ruins of Avalon and lots of reservist stuff going by me . . . hopefully the deck’s good so I can Top 8 this thing, and the weekend’s not a complete loss. Though I’m happy for Quang!”