This Top 24, while not quite as impressive as the one at Wizard World Texas, still has a number of high-profile players. Among them are PC champion Ryan Jones. Surrounding Ryan at this, the second draft table, are a number of lesser-known players, as well as Luke Bartter, the noted Australian professional. I didn’t have time to ask Ryan if he would be forcing an archetype in this draft, so we’ll just have to see how he handles his packs. Below, I have listed each of his picks, as well as possible alternative card choices. The first card listed is his choice out of each pack.

Pack 1

Injustice Gang Satellite, Justice League Task Force, Atlantean Trident, Batman, Avatar of Justice, Ice, Oberon

Secret Files, Shayera Thal ◊ Hawkwoman, Lead by Example, Royal Egg-Matrix

Joseph Jones ◊ General Glory, The Watchtower, Membership Drive, Plasma Blast, The Joker, Headline Stealer

IQ, Nth Metal, Captain Boomerang, “Digger”, Dr. Sivana

Maxwell Lord, Secret Files, L-Ron, Silver Sorceress

Booster Gold, Rocket Red #4, Vicarious Living, L-Ron

Silver Sorceress, Magnificent Seven, Poison Ivy, Deadly Rose

Insectoid Troopers, Resistance is Useless, Midnight Cravings

Oberon, Atlantean Trident

Infernal Minions, Valkyra

Dr. Destiny, Professor Ivo

Dr. Destiny

Conscription

Funeral for a Friend

Ryan has taken a very interesting off-curve strategy. He has seemingly eschewed quality high-drops in favor of an assortment of 1-, 2-, and 3-drops. He doesn’t have any combat tricks as of yet, but his characters are shaping up to form the base of a straight IJ/JLI rush deck.

Pack 2

JLI Embassy, Death Trap, With Prejudice, Safety in Numbers

Air Strike, Nth Metal

Batman, Hidden Crusader, Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, Blonde Bombshell, Running Interference

All Too Easy, Shadow-Thief, Lead by Example, Resistance is Useless

Evan McCulloch ◊ Mirror Master, The Mist, Scott Free ◊ Mister Miracle, Man of a Thousand Escapes

Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light, Hard-Light Storage Tank, JLI Embassy

Insectoid Troopers, Abra Kadabra

The Shark, Karshon, Midnight Cravings, High-Tech Flare Gun

Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist

Criminal Mastermind, Creeping Doom

Floronic Man, Alien Hybrid

Dr. Destiny, Creeping Doom

Bulletproof, Felix Faust

Criminal Mastermind

Ryan’s deck has really taken form with this pack. He hasn’t taken, or even really considered, any character with recruit cost 5 or more (besides his eleventh-pick Floronic Man from an empty pack, and his array of near last-pick Dr. Destinys, of course). Ryan got a few excellent cards for his archetype here, including the powerful JLI Embassy and the late game-dominating Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light. It’s clear that he’s sticking to his guns; he first-picked Embassy over what is likely one of the very best cards in the set, Death Trap.

Pack 3

All Too Easy, Tasmanian Devil, BWA HA HA HA HA!, Rallying Cry!

Justice League Task Force, Membership Drive

Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist, Kimiyo Hoshi ◊ Dr. Light,

Plasma Blast, Shadow-Thief, Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, The General, Die for Darkseid!

Ted Kord ◊ Blue Beetle, Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Infestation, Dinah Laurel Lance ◊ Black Canary, Blonde Bombshell

Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist, Power Girl, UN Recognition, JLI Embassy, Sue Dibny

Abra Kadabra, Queen of Fables, Ice

IQ, Bluejay, The Shark, Karshon

Tasmanian Devil, Captain Boomerang, “Digger”, BWA HA HA HA HA!

Circe, Bluejay, Illusionary Warriors

Abra Kadabra

Shadow-Thief

Infestation

JLI Embassy

“Coming in, I wanted to try off-curve, but I didn’t see too much in the first pack. After a while, things started coming, but I’m still not sure how to build the deck. I thought someone else was playing the archetype, but I got JLI Embassy last, so I guess not.”

As he sorted out his cards, Ryan noted that his deck had a particular theme that was even more unusual than a standard off-curve deck. “I hate-drafted these Dr. Destinys, but now it looks like I will end up using them. I have three of them, two copies of Criminal Mastermind, two copies of IQ, Scarecrow, Psycho Psychologist, and Lex Luthor, Nefarious Philanthropist. It looks like I have a burn deck here.” Ryan finalized his character base, an incredibly low-cost curve with only two 4-drops, two 5-drops, and a single 6-drop. He moved to look at his plot twists. “This was really great, considering I almost picked it very early,” he said, indicating his thirteenth-pick Infestation. “On the other hand . . . I think I ended up with too much good blue.” Indeed, he had several combat pumps, including two copies of All Too Easy. Still, this deck does more than combat well—it’s the first true Injustice Gang burn deck I have seen.

 

Ryan needs to go 3–0 to make the Top 8. When asked about his chances, he said that he thought it was going to be tough. Still, he’s got a shot. Perhaps he’s stumbled on a powerful new archetype, and off-curve burn will propel him to the final draft of the tournament.