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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017

While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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Sealed Pack Clinic: Adrian Capilitan

Rob Davis

July 14, 2006

Does anybody care about Adrian Capilitan? They should . . . but they certainly don't seem to. He's had some $10k success in the past (with a trademark deck in 'Common Enemy') and he’s currently top of the Oceanic pops.

Back in Sydney, players know that "Caps" is, and potentially has been since Marvel Avengers, the guy to beat, and yet he remains under the proverbial radar.

So . . . who is Adrian Capilitan and why does he win? As for the former, he is a 23 year old player from Sydney who has been playing for about 2 years. As for the latter, let’s find out.

The pool Adrian received is as follows:

CHECKMATE

1 Adrian Chase ◊ Vigilante, Street Justice

1 Amanda Waller, Queen

1 Aspiring Pawn, Army

1 Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker, Obsessed Outlaw

1 Connie Webb, Knight

1 Graziella Reza, Knight

1 Huntress, Reluctant Queen

1 Retrieval Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army

1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight

1 Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype

1 Knight Armor

1 Checkmate Armory

1 Checkmate Safe House, Team-Up

1 Threat Neutralized

JSA

1 Batman, Earth 2

1 Huntress, Earth 2

1 Kendra Saunders ◊ Hawkgirl, Eternal Heroine

1 Power Girl, Earth 2

1 Prince Khufu ◊ Hawkman, Eternal Warrior

1 Richard Tyler ◊ Hourman, Man of the Hour

1 Superman, Earth 2

1 Terry Sloane ◊ Mr Terrific, Golden Age Gold Medalist

1 The Phantom Stranger, Wandering Hero

2 Wonder Woman, Earth 2

1 Brothers in Arms

1 Double Play

1 Living Legacy

1 Taking up the Mantle

SECRET SIX

1 Catman, Thomas Blake

1 Deadshot, Dead Aim

1 Ragdoll, Resilient Rogue

1 It's Not Over Yet

SHADOWPACT

1 Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee

1 Ibis, Prince Amentep

1 Madame Xanadu, Cartomancer

1 Nightshade, Eve Eden

1 Ragman, Redeemer of Souls

1 Rose Psychic, Ghost Detective

1 The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel

1 Stepping Between Worlds, Magic

VILLAINS UNITED

1 Alexander Luthor, Insidious Impostor

1 Bizarro, ME AM BIZARRO #1

1 Dr Light, Furious Flashpoint

1 Dr Psycho, Twisted Telepath

1 Ishmael Gregor ◊ Sabbac, Malevolent Marvel

1 Mr. Freeze, Brutal Blizzard

1 Sinestro, Villain Reborn

1 The Calculator, Evil Oracle

1 Weather Wizard, Mark Mardon

1 Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress Of The Hive

1 Arms Deal

1 Baddest of the Bad

1 Systematic Torture

OTHER CHARACTERS

1 Amadeus Arkham, Architect of Insanity

1 The Monitor, Guardian of the Multiverse

1 Obsidian, Todd James Rice

1 Lois Lane, Earth 2

EQUIPMENT

1 Cloak of Nabu, Fate Artifact

LOCATIONS

1 House of Secrets

1 Rann

1 Thanagar

PLOT TWISTS

1 Epic Battle

1 Fate Has Spoken, Magic

1 Forbidden Loyalties, Team-Up

1 I Still Hate Magic!

1 Justice United, Team-Up

1 Return Fire!

1 Revitalize

1 Thanagarian Invasion

Adrian started off by looking through his pool for JSA characters to see where he stood with the team. Meanwhile he started to notice that he had quite large amount of Villains United. Seeing a Calculator and Weather Wizard in amongst the large pile of characters caused Adrian to exclaim, "Guess I know what I'm going!"

When a second Weather wizard was revealed he happily cheered, "Oh yeah, I definitely know what I'm going!" However, searching back through his JLA characters Adrian noticed a distinct Earth 2 build theme.

Huntress, Lois Lane, and Wonder Woman are the key cards according to Adrian with Superman, Power Girl and Batman being fantastic support cards.

"Everyone is there," he said. "This deck is fantastic."

He then started to fill out his curve with Villains United. Although there were some stand-out characters in Mr. Freeze and The Calculator, Adrian commented that he was going into VU simply because it fits the curve. He mentioned that straight curve is much better in Crisis. He has tried off-curve drafting before but it’s practically essential to get both Mr. Terrific’s. He finds that without them, it’s just not possible. There is no card draw in the set so this makes it very difficult to refill your hand. "Where's Yellowjacket when you need her! Man . . . imagine Birthing Chamber in this format!"

Adrian finds Earth 2 to be a very solid archetype commenting, "If I get Huntress, everything in my deck can be searched out with Lois Lane. With the help of Wonder Woman I get reinforcement, which really just eats up breakthrough. Who knows . . . maybe I'll even have enough guys to boost Superman with!"

He also liked that Superman gives him the opportunity to only run one 7-drop, commenting that he likes the flexibility.

He then started looking through the plot twists. He remarked that Systematic Torture is the standout card in his pool. "Chopping their best drop is great and making them lose 3 endurance? Well, I want to end the game as soon as possible!"

He remarked that he has a penchant for solid attack pumps, opting to play I Still Hate Magic, Thanagarian Invasion and Forbidden Loyalties. He then slammed Baddest of the Bad into his pile realizing its potential to add consistency.

Looking for a fourth 2-drop Adrian added Deadshot, Dead Aim to the list. Adrian said that he was splashing Deadshot because the only other really viable 2-drop was a copy of Retrieval Protocol who Adrian finds has stats that are too sub-par.

"Being able to bring Deadshot back is really great," he commented. "I always like having more guys." Interestingly he added that he really wasn't that interested with the potential Calculator/Deadshot combo, as his deck was more focused around Huntress.

"I like this deck already."

However, Adrian was faced with 31 cards. He decided not to cut one, saying,

"I always play 31 cards! (Laughs) How is that, for a reason? It's just a habit of mine really . . ."

Adrian's female-heavy deck caused him to dub the deck "Huntress". His only real lament is that Brainiac was nowhere to be seen. He commented on the potential combo with Huntress, saying, "Not only is he (Brainiac) Earth 2, fitting right in, but when I have Huntress in play every card in my deck becomes a bullet!"

With a final check over his deck, Adrian noticed that he was playing every JSA character assigned to him. Clearly pleased, Adrian moved onto Round 1 commenting that he will be proud of the deck if it goes 4-0 but that the deck was more designed to go 3-1.

Eyes are on Adrian today to see if he can take his Earth 2 glory deck, "Huntress", to the top of the player pool.

Adrian’s final build was:

CHARACTERS