For the first draft of Day 2 here at PC: Amsterdam, I decided to cover a friend of mine from Los Angeles. Most of you won’t know him, but he’s a strong player and a strong drafter who beats me far more often than I’d like. He began the day in 34th place with an 8-4 record, seated one left of Eugene Harvey at table 5.
 
The draft has started! I’ve listed the noteworthy cards from each pack in the order that I’d take them. Alex’s picks are in bold.
 
Marvel Team-Up; Head Shot; Bullseye, Master of Murder; Kingpin, The Kingpin of Crime
 
Alex could have gone either way with this first pick. While a team-up is almost a necessity in MMK draft, he was more likely to see another team-up of some sort than he was to see another large ATK pump like Head Shot. However, the pump forced Alex into playing Marvel Knights. 
 
Daredevil, Protector of Hell’s Kitchen; Mephisto, Soulstealer; Zeitgeist; Morbius, The Living Vampire
Moon Knight; Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, KGB Killer; Dracula, Lord of the Damned; Day of the Dead
Hounds of Ahab; Deposed; Missed Drop; Mr. Code
Battering Ram; Dracula’s Castle; Made Men; Uprising

After the first pack, Alex had some decent characters and a nice ATK pump, but he didn’t have much else in the way of support cards. A late Deposed was a nice pick up, as it’s always good to have at least one card that can pull characters out of the opponent’s hidden area. 
 
2.1. Bullseye, Deadly Marksman; War Wagon; Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze; Elektra, Agent of the Hand; Strength of the Grave
2.2. Punisher’s Armory; Bring the Pain; Battering Ram; Jester
2.3. Daredevil, Guardian Devil; Made Men; Battering Ram; Blade, Eric Brooks; Shakedown
I completely disagreed with Alex’s pick here. This was the second Crime Lords plot twist he had taken without a good complement of Crime Lords characters. If he wanted to start playing Crime Lords, he should have taken Made Men. However, what he probably should have done is fill out his curve with the 7- or 5-drop, or even the 2-drop.
 
2.4. War Wagon; Iron Fist, Living Weapon; Nightmare; La Nuit
2.5. Blown to Pieces; Moon Knight; Out of the Darkness; No Rest for the Wicked
 
What a tough pick! This pack had a very strong 4/6 drop for Alex’s primary team affiliation as well as three powerful support cards.
 
2.6. Nightmare; Daredevil, Protector of Hell’s Kitchen; Carrion
2.7. Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope; Moving Target; Hand Dojo
2.8. Swan Dive; Punisher, Judge; The Rose
2.9. War Wagon; Mr. Fear
2.10. Sniper; Cloak
2.11. Dagger; Echo
2.12. Cloak; 2.13. Infernal Gateway 2.14. Team Spirit
A late-pick second copy of War Wagon that went with Alex’s Deposed and Hounds gave his deck a definite theme. However, his curve was sorely hurting with no 6- or 7-drops. In the next pack, he would have to almost exclusively draft characters to allow his KO abilities to flourish. 
 
Battering Ram; Hounds of Ahab; Saracen
Nightmare; Varnae; Elektra, Agent of the Hand; U-Go-Girl, Eddie Sawyer
Moon Knight; Judge, Jury, and Executioner; Mephisto, Soulstealer
Kingpin, Wilson Fisk; Luke Cage, Street Enforcer; Morbius
Daredevil, Guardian Devil; Battering Ram; Hounds of Ahab; War Wagon
Iron Fist, Living Weapon; Moving Target; Mephisto, Soulstealer; Caretaker
Swan Dive; Reaper; Elektra, Agent of the Hand; Jester
Mephisto, Soulstealer; Mystical Sigil; Echo; Armed Escort

Alex’s draft was finished, and while he had a number of powerful support cards with a strong KO theme, he had no 6-drops or team-ups for his Marvel Knights and Crime Lords characters. He had forgotten how difficult it can be to get 5-drops, but he managed to get them at the end. If you looked at what cards he passed, you’d notice that there simply were not many 6-drops going around. His deck would end up looking rather strange, however. With the initiative on even turns, he would have a decent turn-6 play with Reaper (maybe with Sigil) or Elektra boost.
 
While I waited for Alex, I made a decklist of what I’d play with. 
 
1s: Dagger, Carbone
2s: Hounds, Hannibal, Sniper
3s: 2 Daredevil, Kingpin
4s: Moon Knight, Bullseye, Punisher, Echo
5s: 2 Iron Fist, Battering Ram, Mephisto
6s: Elektra boost, Reaper, maybe Moon Knight boost
7s: Nightmare, Daredevil
 
The support cards that I’d run are Head Shot, Punisher’s Armory, Blown to Pieces, 2 War Wagon, Mystical Sigil, Shakedown or Uprising, 2 Moving Target, Judge, Jury, and Executioner.
 
And here is what Alex showed me was his deck.
 
2s: Hounds, Hannibal, Sniper
3s: 2 Daredevil, Kingpin
4s: Moon Knight, Bullseye, Punisher, Echo, Cloak
5s: 2 Iron Fist, Battering Ram, Mephisto
6s: Elektra boost, Reaper
7s: Daredevil, Nightmare
 
Support cards: Head Shot, Punisher’s Armory, Blown to Pieces, 2 War Wagon, Uprising, 2 Moving Target, Judge, Jury, and Executioner, Hand Dojo, Deposed.
 
As you can see, our decks were pretty similar. I’d prefer playing the 1-drop characters to make the KO theme easier to pull off. Deposed was a good addition, but without a team-up, I didn’t agree with the choice of Hand Dojo. When I asked Alex about his deck, he lamented his inability to find a team-up or a 6-drop, but with some unconventional turn-6 plays available to him, he felt optimistic about his chances. He predicted a 2-1 showing with the deck.

Click here to check out Alex Gellerman's first match with this draft deck!