Neil Reeves, one of the most recognizable and charismatic of the TCG pros, sat down for the second draft needing at least a 2-1, and perhaps a 3-0, to make the Top 8. When I asked him if he had a strategy going into the draft, he said “Try to draft Teen Titans, since they are the best. If they aren’t open, I try to slide into League of Assassins with Gotham Knights.”

Neil’s draft, therefore, couldn’t have started any better when he cracked Titans Tower, once of the best Teen Titans cards for Sealed Pack. He passed a Joker, Laughing Lunatic and little else of note. He kept in theme with a second pick Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, passing a From the Shadows. Pick three, Neil snagged a Megablast, while picks four, five, and six offered solid characters in Dawn Granger ◊ Dove, Pantha, and Koriand’r ◊ Starfire. Neil picked up a few more average cards, but what was noticeable was a lot of very good League of Assassins cards towards the end. An Ubu was floating around tenth, while the 6-cost Ra’s al Ghul was still going around twelfth.

Neil continued the fortunate openings with a Tamaran in pack 2. Neil continued to get strong picks with a second pick Break You and a third pick Hank Hall ◊ Hawk, over World’s Finest, to go along with his Dove. Neil then got Red Star fourth (over Combat Reflexes), which could be potentially devastating in combination with Tamaran. He then picked up another Pantha and a From the Shadows, and winked at me as he rare drafted a Batmobile seventh over a King Snake. Still without a second affiliation, Reeves began to take some of the extremely late Assassins characters, such as an Ubu and a ninth pick Hassim.

Pack three was where things began to go really wacky. After taking a World’s Finest and a second Hawk, Reeves got a third pick Flying Fortress, one of the most powerful locations in the format. Fourth pick, he took Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective, and picked up a Bane, Ubu over Starfire fifth. Sixth pick, he took a second Dove to compliment the second Hawk, while his next picks offered Man-Bat, Mountain Stronghold, and Ubu. A surprisingly late twelfth pick Cassie Sandsmark ◊ Wonder Girl rounded out his deck.

When I asked Neil about his draft, he said that his deck would have been much better had he taken the World’s Finest over the Hawk, since the third pack had lots of Hawks floating around extremely late. World’s Finest would have been spectacular in Neil’s deck (because of all the affiliation-specific locations), but at the time, he thought the Hawk was far more important. He felt his early game was very powerful between the Hawks/Doves and Ubu, but was concerned about only having one 6-drop, Starfire. In the end, though, he felt very happy about his draft and predicted at least a 2-1. I’m inclined to agree.

2 Dawn Granger ◊ Dove
2 Hank Hall ◊ Hawk
1 Koriand’r ◊ Starfire
1 Mirage
2 Pantha
1 Red Star
1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal
1 Tim Drake ◊ Robin, Young Detective
1 Jinx
1 Man-Bat
1 Assassin Initiate
1 Bane, Ubu
2 Hassim
2 Ubu
1 Whisper A’Daire
1 Flying Fortress
2 Mountain Stronghold
1 Tamaran
1 Titans Tower
1 Break You
1 From the Shadows
1 MegaBlast
1 World’s Finest