There may be a distinct line between the heroes and villains in the pages of Marvel Comics, but that line blurs when you sit down to build your PCQ Sealed Pack deck. My friend Steve Sadin recently qualified for the Pro Circuit via a Sealed Pack tournament. It was the second time he has won a Sealed Pack PCQ in as many tries, so I figured he might have an insight or two to offer on the subject.

Here is the deck he played in the Swiss rounds:

Steve Sadin

PCQ Top 8 Sealed Pack

1 Dagger, Tandy Bowen
1 Human Torch, Friendly Rival
1 Nova, Richard Rider
1 Puma, Thomas Fireheart
1 Ricochet, Johnny Gallo
1 Solo, James Bourne
1 Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
1 Spider-Man, Alien Symbiote
1 Will O' the Wisp, Jackson Arvad
1 Electro, Maxwell Dillon
1 Green Goblin, Altered Ego
1 Hobgoblin, Roderick Kingsley
1 Kaine, Imperfect Clone
1 Kraven the Hunter
1 Rhino, Alex O'Hirn
1 Scorpion, MacDonald Gargan
1 Shocker, Herman Schultz
1 Silvermane, Silvio Manfredi
1 Vulture, Adrian Toomes
1 Archangel, Angel of Death
1 Goblin Glider
1 Jetpack
1 Doc Ock's Lab
1 Osborn Industries
1 Clone Saga
1 Crowd Control
1 Grounded
1 Sinister Salvo
1 Surrounded
1 Tragic Loss

Notable Unplayed Cards

3 Sentinel Mark V

1 Human Torch, Friendly Rival

1 Hornet

1 Beetle

1 ESU Science Lab

2 Hired Goons

1 Twist of Fate

1 Iceman, Cool Customer

1 Black Cat, Felicia Hardy

1 Boomerang

1 Pleasant Distraction

As you can see, Steve chose to build his deck around the major affiliations. He used his best cards from both sides of the never-ending battle (oh wait . . . I’m getting one set ahead of myself . . . you know what I mean, though). Sticking strictly to the good guys or the bad guys was never an option in Steve’s mind. Says Steve:

“I didn’t even consider running a single affiliation deck. In Sealed Pack, it is very difficult to build an even remotely competitive deck that features a single team strategy. Although you gain a small advantage by being able to consistently team attack and reinforce, you are also forced into a position where you must consistently team attack and reinforce because you have sacrificed substantial card quality for those ‘privileges.’

A couple of my early round opponents went with single team strategies and were simply unable to compete. Let me give you an example. I watched a match where a Syndicate player with odd initiative opened with turn 1 Vulture, turn 2 Hammerhead, and turn 3 Rhino. His opponent’s first play was a turn 3 Rhino. The mixed bagger was still able to come back and win the game. All of my opponents in the later rounds had multi-team strategies that were considerably more competitive and decision based, and more than one match was decided by a power-up or a lack thereof.”

When Steve opened his deck, he was hoping to see strong defensive plot twists like Alley-Oop and Spider Senses. He didn’t. Steve compensated by playing the absolute best cards at each drop. “I had some of the strongest drops available at multiple points along the curve,” said Steve. “It’s almost impossible to lose while riding on the backs of turn 3 Rhino and turn 4 Puma.”

What Steve’s deck was missing in plot twists, it made up for with Doc Ock’s Lab. “Doc Ock’s Lab, Will O’ the Wisp, and Puma—all of these cards allowed me to ‘jump the curve’ in one way or another.” Doc Ock’s Lab allows you to literally jump the curve on turns that you have the initiative. For the low price of 3 endurance, your Syndicate 3-drop can take down a 4-drop and you’ll still be able to trade your 5-drop for their 6th. Let’s not even mention what happens if you open with Vulture and Lab.

Steve’s 4 slot was the strongest in his deck. At that recruit cost, he had the best common among Spider-friends (Puma) and a great rare (Will O’ the Wisp). “If you play a 4 drop with 8 DEF, you have a gigantic advantage—their 4 drop is never going to be able to take yours down unassisted. This provides for a slightly less obvious form of curve jumping.”

Sadin made it through the Swiss rounds to draft for his shot at the Pro Circuit invitation and $250. He did think he made a couple of mistakes during the Sealed Pack Construction:

“I neglected to run any of my Sentinel Mark V’s, fearing it would disrupt my reveal requirements on Vulture and Solo. I failed to take into account the substantial increase in drop consistency you gain by having a character that serves equally well as a 4-drop or a 5-drop. I also chose not to include Pleasant Distraction under the false logic that it would provide only a minor advantage on turns where you should already be way ahead, acting as a sort of ‘win more’ card. I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The card acts as a sealer.”

Having survived his mistakes, here is the deck Sadin ended up playing for the three elimination rounds.

Steve Sadin

PCQ Winning Draft Deck

2 Vulture

1 Hammerhead

1 Dusk

1 Solo

1 Silvermane

2 Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man

2 Boomerang

1 Ricochet

1 Punisher

1 Puma

1 Shocker

2 Sentinel Mark V

2 Green Goblin, Norman Osborn

1 Scorpion

1 Mattie Franklin Spider-Woman

2 Hobgoblin

1 Green Goblin, Altered Ego

1 Doc Ock’s Lab

1 Mojoverse

1 Jetpack

1 Goblin Glider

1 No Fear

1 Surrounded

1 Crushing Blow

Steve was hoping to draft an aggressive Syndicate deck with equipment, but he was unable to fully implement that strategy. “Unfortunately, I had to pass multiple Rhinos in favor of plot twists and Puma. I wound up with more heroes and robots than I was expecting. Being teamed up is something of a luxury that you can’t always afford.”

In the first pack, Steve took a first pick Puma over Rhino and Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. In the second pack, he grabbed Doc Ock’s Lab over No Fear and Rhino. In the final pack, he took No Fear over Crushing Blow and Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man. “I flirted with the concept of drafting mono-Spidey when my first few picks contained Puma, Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Mattie Franklin Spider-Woman. That idea quickly dissipated with the arrival of multiple Vultures.”

There are almost no character cards that Sadin would pick over a No Fear or other comparable plot twist. He could not stop raving about Doc Ock’s Lab, calling it a reusable plot twist and actually valuing it higher than No Fear when drafting. While Sadin valued plot twists highly, he was not slavish about drafting them over key cards like Vulture and Rhino. “I would usually take most of the overpowered low end characters over mid-range plot twists like Crushing Blow.”

Two decks, each with three teams, yielded the one result that anyone could hope for when playing in a PCQ.