Alex Gellerman

William Postlethwait

Alex Jebailey

Brandon Ruiz

Tim Batow

Andre Müller

Joshua Wiitanen

Kyle Dembinski

Postlethwait, Batow, Müller, and Wiitanen were the best-known names at that pod.

The draft started out well for our hero Batow with his first pick, Faces of Evil. His neighbor Müller, passing to him, first picked a Call Down the Lightning. Many of our competitors believed that there were only two draft archetypes in Avengers Booster Draft: You either draft Faces of Evil, a very aggressive off-curve archetype using cards like Heinrich Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo and The Wrecking Crew to overwhelm your opponent, or you draft an Avengers/Squadron Supreme Reservist deck.

When Andre’s second pick was Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, Tim’s opportunity to create a powerful Faces deck opened up. Tim’s draft strategy seemed to be up to par. Knowing that in Avengers Booster Draft, characters are more important than plot twists, Tim’s second pick was a Beetle. His third pick, Heinrich Zemo ◊ Baron Zemo, considered by many to be the best common in the set, had to make Tim believe that his deck would end up a winner. Many pros this weekend have been heard to say that Heinrich Zemo and Hawkeye, Clinton Barton are the two commons people most want to open. Tim’s fourth pick was Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi. Tim was lucky in that his deck looked good after four picks, but quite unlucky to be forced to pass cards like Stolen Power and The Wrecking Crew, giving a false signal to his neighbor on the left. Tim’s next few picks were right on track, taking Nathan Garrett ◊ Black Knight and Dallas Riordan ◊ Vantage. Picks eight, nine, and ten were where things started going south. There were no Masters of Evil or Thunderbolts characters anywhere in sight. Tim had to be content with a Golden Archer and some other sub-par picks to fill in his curve.

Tim’s next pack couldn’t have gone worse. He felt that the Faces cards had dried out way too quickly, so he decided to jump ship. He first picked Might Makes Right, then picked Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke and Jolt. At this point, even I began to feel confused. Tim decided that his deck could support going curve, and he started to look for drops of all costs. Shrink, Basilisk, and Might Makes Right were his next three picks. He then hated a She-Hulk, Gamma Bombshell. Tim wanted to win the draft pod. He believed that Andre’s deck was too good, since he passed Andre an Avengers Mansion and a Wonder Man very late. He also believed that She-Hulk was good enough to play, just because she would save him 5 endurance most of the time.

With pack three, Tim stuck to his guns and drafted an every-affiliation deck that would curve all the way to 7. Meanwhile, Andre opened up another Call Down the Lightning and was looking well placed to go 3–0. Tim’s first pick in pack three was a Windstorm. He then took a second Melissa Gold ◊ Screaming Mimi and picked Dallas Riordan out of a very weak pack. He then picked Call to Arms and Scorpion and passed another Wrecking Crew. Stolen Power, Beetle ◊ Mach 1, and Bulldozer finished up his deck.

I believe that Tim panicked and jumped ship too quickly. You cannot afford to abandon your early picks in any draft. Talking to him afterward, he said that he believes that his deck does not have any synergies, and he just hopes he can get one win. I feel that he is good enough to get one win on his skills alone, and hopefully, with some good luck, he can win twice.