Apparently, I was wrong. I have been raised in a world where there were no characters that cost 8, only characters that cost 7 or less, or blank cards. For far too long have I been ignorant and blind to the way of the Fat Dude, but now I can see. My eyes have been opened. And all it took was Josh Wiitanen windmill-slamming his first pick onto the table at his first draft pod. What was his first pick, you ask? Mogo, The Living Planet.

As far as the old me is concerned, Mogo may as well have been a piece of blank paper. It costs sideways infinity, which means it never hits play. Apparently, though, a few players have figured out a new draft strategy that manages to make it to the no-man’s land that is turn 8. A few of these players, including Josh and Gabe Walls, used their Fat Dudes to pound a 2–1 record out of their last pod. How can this happen? This is strange. I’m talking riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Something must have changed.

One of the reasons that I find this so bizarre is that, traditionally, formats tend to speed up after their inception. Take GLC, for example. When the set came out, games going to turn 9 were commonplace. The characters there were so defensive that it just seemed natural. As time passed, though, it became more and more common to sweep on turns 6 or 7. The game had sped up by about two turns. The same thing happened for The Avengers. The games started off taking until turn 7 or 8, then began to wrap up on turns 5 and 6. Play speeds up when players get a grip on the format. Once you learn the proper aggressiveness level and the turns on which a deck can possibly seize victory, the general speed of the deck goes up. I figured this format would be the same. Apparently, I was wrong.

This format bears a striking resemblance to the later stages of the GLC draft. There is a big disparity among the directions the decks go. In GLC, there were enough characters with giant cabooses to prevent the game from ending too early. You could draft all the Malvolios, Mouse Traps, and Katma Tuis you could get your hands on, and the game would go on forever. At the same time, GLEE decks were winning on turn 5. There was a rift. At first, I believed that this format didn’t have enough ways to extend the game to the later turns. A few players, though, have found a way.

The deck has a few key cards that make it go. Turns 4–6 are crucial in the deck, and it’s got some definite goals in mind. Hector Hammond, Mind Over Matter and Crystal Frost ◊ Killer Frost have gigantic DEF values. They hold down the fort and prevent your opponent from being able to hit you for too much. On top of that, if you have a way to power-up Crystal, she can almost take a turn away from your opponent by exhausting any opposing characters that might be a problem on the following turns. On top of that again, you get the powerful defensive plot twists that the Secret Society has to offer, such as The Plunder Plan. If you combine all of this, you get enough additional turns in the game to probably go to turn 8. Since you are gearing for the long haul and your opponent isn’t, your 8-drop should win the game for you.

The best part of this is that if you don’t manage to get a situation where it looks like you’ll be able to go to turn 8, your deck should still be solid enough to defeat your opponent early if need be. Since the deck requires a Secret Society base to work properly (Hector Hammond and Frost are both Secret Society, and Slaughter Swamp is incredibly powerful), you should generally have a good core deck that is able either to go the distance or play the short game. Some of the decks, such as the JLI/IG concealed deck, may be too fast for this strategy to be able to take you to turn 8. Then it comes down to the consistency of your draw and whether you manage to hit your curve. You’ll probably have to burn a few plot twists a few turns earlier than you would have liked, but it’ll keep you in the game.  

Apparently, Fat Dudes is a popular deck here at Pro Circuit Atlanta. It’ll remain to be seen if the 8-drops carry any players into the Top 8. With the success it’s had among the players here at the Pro Circuit, it’s a deck type worth trying out the next time you draft. After all, who am I to argue with success? So the next time you see a big, green planet staring at you in your first pack, remember that it isn’t blank. Don’t be wrong like me.