For this Top 8 Draft, I watched David Leader as he . . . what’s that? You’re sick of reading about David Leader? Fine. Have it your way. For a change of pace, I covered the Top 8 Draft of Aaron Breider, member of Team RIW Hobbies and Top 8 finisher at $10K Columbus. As usual, the card he took is the first card listed, while other cards listed are alternate card choices that he passed up.
Pack 1
Glass Jaw; Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman; Zatanna; Counterterrorism; Martian Manhunter, J’onn J’onzz; Shake It Off
Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light; Wheel of Misfortune; All Too Easy; Membership Drive; Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist
Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman, Oberon, Safety in Numbers, Trial By Fire
Magnificent Seven, Mysterious Benefactor, Silver Sorceress, Red Tornado, The Creeper
Plasma Blast, Fire, L-Ron, Sue Dibny, Justice League Signal Device
Magnificent Seven, Running Interference, Justice League Signal Device
Maxima, Resistance is Useless
Ice, Mobius Chair
World’s Greatest Heroes
Plastic Man, Wheel of Misfortune
Oberon, Monitor Womb Station
Felix Faust
Justice League Signal Device
Chomin
Well, this certainly looks like a traditional Draft. Aaron is going straight JLx, perhaps with a bit of a low-end theme. In general, though, it looks like he’s going for a straightforward power-up deck. It looks like he has a good start, too, with solid plot twists and a few excellent characters.
Pack 2
Batman Hidden Crusader; Vicarious Living; Bizarro Ray; Captain Atom; Magnificent Seven; Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle; Aquaman, King of the Seven Seas
Plasma Blast; Sue Dibny; Secret Origins; Batman, Hidden Crusader]; Justice League Signal Device
Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow, Rocket Red #4
Nth Metal; High-Tech Flare Gun; Batman, Avatar of Justice
Kanjar Ro, Roll Call, Quadromobile, Quakemaster
Metamorpho; Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, “Pretty Bird”; Faith; The Castle
Tomorrow Woman
World’s Greatest Heroes, Rocket Red #4
Captain Atom, Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle
Justice League Signal Device
Elongated Man, Justice League of Arkham
High-Tech Flare Gun, Snapper Carr
T.O. Morrow
Chomin
Aaron’s second pack didn’t yield anything astounding, save for a relatively late Nth Metal. The direction his deck was taking was somewhat unclear—Oberon was his only 1-drop, and that’s usually not a good thing.
Pack 3
Scarecrow, Fearmonger; Membership Drive
Aquaman, Arthur Curry; Nth Metal; Air Strike
Aquaman, Arthur Curry; Gypsy; Death Trap; Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory; Crimson Fox
Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle; Bulletproof; Hal Jordan, Hard-Traveling Hero
Bluejay; John Stewart, Emerald Architect
Reform the League, Disband the League, Bluejay
Silver Sorceress, Catherine Cobert, Wheel of Misfortune
Scott Free ◊ Mister Miracle, Man of a Thousand Escapes; Silver Sorceress; JLI Embassy
JLI Embassy; Counterterrorism; Oliver Queen ◊ Green Arrow, Hard-Traveling Hero
Tasmanian Devil
Gypsy
Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, Blonde Bombshell
Attend or Die!
Creeping Doom
“I think my draft went pretty well. Going into the last pack, I didn’t have any of the early drops. I think things really came together in that last pack. I had to pass up a lot of good cards, like that Nth Metal, but I got the cards I needed for my deck.”
With all of his cards laid out, Aaron’s deck seemed quite solid. There were a few problems—he had an excess of 3-drops, so it looked like Silver Sorceress wouldn’t make the cut. In addition, Oberon wasn’t looking too good in a deck with only two other 1-drops. Still, the deck had a solid curve, even if it was a little lacking at the very bottom and the very top. In addition, Aaron’s plot twists were nothing short of amazing—Reform the League, a pair of Plasma Blasts, and two copies of Magnificent Seven were among the highlights.
This is his final decklist:
Characters
Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle
Gypsy
Oberon
Tomorrow Woman
Bluejay
Connor Hawke ◊ Green Arrow
Elongated Man
Plastic Man
Scott Free ◊ Mister Miracle, Man of a Thousand Escapes
2 Aquaman, Arthur Curry
Katar Hol ◊ Hawkman
Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light
Ice
Batman, Hidden Crusader
Scarecrow, Fearmonger
Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, Blonder Bombshell
Captain Atom
Metamorpho
Plot Twists
Glass Jaw
2 Magnificent Seven
2 Plasma Blast
Reform the League
2 World’s Greatest Heroes
Equipment
Nth Metal
2 Justice League Signal Device
When asked what he thought his chances were of winning the whole tournament, Aaron replied, “I’m pretty happy with my deck. I think my chances of winning are probably between thirty and fifty percent.” He smiled. “On the other hand . . . maybe closer to twenty-five percent. My deck may not be the best at the table, although it’s certainly above average. If someone has a good Injustice Gang/Secret Society deck, I might be in trouble. Although, it might be the guy to my left, so I might not see him until the finals.”