Welcome to the third episode of Draft Knights, and what a fine episode it is!
In any sequence of Sealed Pack matches, it’s inevitable that one player will occasionally have a superior deck. This results in lackluster, one-sided contest results. Alternately, an opponent might miss one or two key drops, causing his or her game to disintegrate.
Fortunately, none of tonight’s featured matches had any such afflictions. All were good old-fashioned, back-and-forth duels. (I sound like the grandfather in The Princess Bride . . . “Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes!”) Most incredibly, not one game finished before the eighth turn. So, let’s meet the player responsible for delivering this series of epic confrontations.
The name is Kong, James Kong, international man of mystery and winner of Back to Back Top 8s at both Australian $10K events (with two completely different decks). In Marvel Knights draft, Kongy is infamous for his predilection for the X-Statix affiliation, and he certainly did not disappoint on this occasion.
For his insights on drafting this relatively exotic team, let’s cut straight to the action!
1. The Draft
First Pack
1. Hell’s Fury, Moon Knight, Day of the Dead
2. Iron Fist, Living Weapon, X-Statix HQ, Zeitgeist
3. Zeitgeist, U-Go-Girl, Eddie Sawyer, Nerve Strike
Kongy fought the good fight but predictably succumbed to the X-Statix allure before long. His first pick was a strong, generic plot twist. His second pick was also generic—he opted for an almost certainly playable character (in the notoriously hard to fill 5-slot) rather than the rare bomb that could potentially end up a dead pick if the X-Statix dream failed to materialize. When the third pack suggested that the X-Statix dream was alive and well, Kongy took the plunge.
4. Missed Drop, Anarchist, Tike Alicar, Iron Fist, Living Weapon
5. The Spike, Bullseye, Master of Murder, Mystic Chain
6. Missed Drop, The Spike, Professor X, Mental Master
Having decided on an initial course, Kongy demonstrated his high regard for Missed Drop by choosing it over some solid, on-color characters. On the subject of 8-drops, his attitude was along the lines of, “if you draft one and manage to get it into play, then good luck to you.” Those words would come back to haunt him before the end of the evening . . .
7. La Nuit, Corkscrew, Nightmare
8. X-Statix HQ, Dead Weight, Orphan, Good Guy
This was not the HQ he had passed earlier, but rather a second one that had done a full lap of the table. Kongy later told me that this was the point at which he realized he could realistically start aiming for a near-mono X-Statix build.
9. Dracula, Lord of the Damned, Blackout
10. La Nuit, Vivisector, Myles Alfred, Overexposed
11. Nerve Strike
12. Coach
Kongy did some curve filling with Dracula on the ninth pick wheel and was pleased to see that Nerve Strike had made it through all seven pairs of hands. Even the twelfth pick Coach was likely to see play, not only because of his Meltdownesque potential, but also because you can never draw too many characters when you’re running multiple Missed Drops.
The last two picks were Carbone’s Assassins and Evil Awakens.
Second Pack
1. Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, Sluk, Corkscrew
2. Missed Drop, Gin Genie, Luke Cage, Street Enforcer
3. Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, Saint Anna
4. Daredevil, Guardian Devil, X-Statix Café
This strong opening included a third Missed Drop and three characters to augment the large end of his curve. Kongy was now sitting comfortably on three 4-drops, three 5-drops, two 6-drops, and a 7-drop. At least one Café is pretty much essential for his deck, but he gambled (successfully) that this one would not be the last he’d see.
5. Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter, Gin Genie, Stick
6. Star of the Show, Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter, Overexposed
Upon reflection, Kongy admitted that the second Venus was probably a better pick for his deck, but he opted for the rare because he’d never had the chance to try it in a Booster Draft before.
7. Doop Cam, The Spike, Doop, Forward Observer
8. Doop Cam, Overexposed, Coach
Kongy confessed that he had what could only have been described as a brain explosion on the seventh pick. The draft would almost certainly serve up more Doop Cams (in fact, as if to illustrate this point, it did so on the very next pick), and his deck still needed at least one more character in the 4-slot, so who better to take than (arguably) the team’s premier 4-drop?
9. Corkscrew, Training Theatre
10. Carrion, Supporting Role
11. Zodiak, Doop Cam
He got back on track with a couple of urgently needed low-drops. These were his first two 2-drops, and Venus was his only 3-drop at this stage. Zodiak would almost certainly make the cut, because despite being technically off-color, it could team attack with his X-Statix compatriots.
The last three picks were El Guapo, Wake the Dead, and Micro-Chip.
Third Pack
1. Mysterious Fan Boy, The Spike, Gin Genie
2. Marvel Team-Up, Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter, Battering Ram
3. Orphan, Good Guy, X-Statix Cafe
Kongy wisely chose to gamble on his second Café rather than his second Orphan. His first pick also bolstered his solid upper curve, while his second pick demonstrated the old adage that it’s better to have too many team-ups and not need them than vice versa. At the very least, he ensured that he wouldn’t see this particular card flipped up on the other side of any tables over the next couple of hours.
4. Gin Genie, Hannibal King, Suicide
5. X-Statix Cafe, Doop, Forward Observer
It was now or never for this key location, which finally made its way into Kongy’s pile along with a third 2-drop.
6. Sluk, Nerve Strike, Venus Dee Milo, Dee Milo
7. Plazm, Nerve Strike, Doop Cam
8. Orphan, Guy Smith, Supporting Role
In a tour de force drafting display, Kongy went from one to four 3-drops with only seconds left on the clock. He rates Sluk as the most important character in this slot, with Orphan as a solid runner-up.
9. Lacuna
10. Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter
11. Lacuna
He secured two potential tutors for the above team-up. But more importantly, he grabbed a fifth 3-drop that was not only on-color but also a power-up!
The last three picks were Infernal Gateway, Deposed, and as a final bonus, Falling Stars, which marks the first time in this series that a 14th pick from any pack has made it into . . .
2. The Deck
1: Coach
2: Corkscrew, Gin Genie, Zodiak
3: Orphan, Guy Smith, Plazm, Sluk, 2 Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter
4: 2 La Nuit, The Spike
5: Carrion, Iron Fist, Living Weapon, 2 Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope
6: Dracula, Lord of the Damned, Mysterious Fan Boy, Zeitgeist
7: Daredevil, Guardian Devil, Orphan, Good Guy
Plot Twists: Falling Stars, Hell’s Fury, 3 Missed Drop, Nerve Strike, Star of the Show
Locations: X-Statix Cafe, X-Statix HQ
I was impressed with how the curve turned out, considering the state it was in with nine picks to go. But Kongy was underwhelmed by the deck as a whole.
He nominated Star of the Show as his 30th card, unsure of whether running Marvel Team-Up in its place might be a better idea.
In the end, he decided against running any of his team-ups because he had only three off-color characters. He lamented the absence of the 4-drop he passed up for the first of his two unused Doop Cams.
Kongy intended to pursue the odd initiative because of the havoc Zeitgeist could wreak on defense.
3. The Matches
First Round Opponent: Scott
Scott was the all-conquering hero from my first draft report, and he extended his run of lost coin tosses to five on this occasion. Kongy chose odds and kept Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, Nerve Strike, Hell’s Fury, and X-Statix Café, which seemed like an incredibly risky thing to do. When I asked him about the decision after the match, he explained that the hand contained every single one of his offensive pumps, so he essentially had no choice but to keep it.
His next draws were Zeitgeist and a second Vivisector, followed by Orphan, Good Guy and Missed Drop, followed by his other two 6-drops. Meanwhile, Scott had curved out with The Hand and Stick and had quickly knocked his opponent down to 41 endurance.
Kongy finally drew a playable character on turn 4, under-dropping Orphan, Guy Smith in reply to Saracen. Scott teamed up his new recruit with The Hand, forcing Kongy to flip up his Café and pitch Vivisector and Mysterious Fan Boy to Missed Drop. Scott nonchalantly discarded two power-ups for The Hand, prompting his opponent to flip a second Missed Drop (with no discard). Kongy watched in disbelief as Scott produced a power-up for his other attacker, forcing him to discard his 7-drop to power up the defender. Scott struck the deathblow with Uprising, then sent in Stick for another 5 to the face, creating an impressive lead of 13 endurance.
Kongy hit curve for the first time on turn 5 with Vivisector, and Scott replied with Iron Fist, Living Weapon. The two new arrivals traded blows, and Stick reinforced. Kongy next proposed Orphan on Stick with some help from Hell’s Fury, but Scott activated The Hand to force the trade before swinging to the face again, this time with Saracen.
So, on his own initiative, Kongy’s endurance deficit had deteriorated from 13 to 19 and he was left with a single character to Scott’s three. But then, as is so often the case when all hope seems lost, Zeitgeist hit the table . . .
. . . In reply to Natasha Romanoff ◊ Black Widow, who promptly swung at the cosmic character. Kongy reinforced with Vivisector and then bounced the 5-drop to pay the cost of Nerve Strike, thereby bringing the Café online. Natasha proved unable to penetrate 16 DEF and became stunned, as did Iron Fist when Zeitgeist activated. By stealing the initiative in this way, Kongy brought his endurance deficit back down to single digits.
However, so excited was he by this turn of events that he neglected to boost Dracula, Lord of the Damned on turn 7. Scott capitalized by playing Marked for Death on both of his opponent’s characters (paying 4 endurance) after recruiting Nuke.
Drac flew over Nuke to break through Saracen. Scott wisely exhausted the defender to pump Nuke, and Kongy declined any further attacks. Natasha then took another swing at Zeitgeist, but was again bested when Kongy discarded Vivisector, Venus, and Sluk to his third Missed Drop. Incredibly, Kongy now led the endurance race 12–6, but Scott was to have the final initiative.
He used it to recruit Mr. Fear and The Rose, Shadowy Lieutenant. Kongy replied by boosting Plazm to stun Natasha—surely one of the sweetest Plazm targets of all! Scott paid the cost of Natasha’s power while he still could, and then dropped to -1 endurance. It was make-or-break time.
Scott rose to the occasion by swinging at Drac with Nuke, pumping him three times with his three remaining ready characters, playing Shakedown, and finally discarding a power-up to do exactly enough breakthrough to tie the scores at -1 apiece.
It all came down to whether or not Kongy would swing Zeitgeist back at Nuke with nothing up his sleeve. Mumbling that he’d like his chances far less if the game went another turn, Kongy proposed the attack, and Scott extended the hand.
Second Round Opponent: Ryan
Kongy won the toss and chose odds. He kept his hand of Corkscrew, The Spike, La Nuit, and Hell’s Fury, then drew into Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter and X-Statix HQ.
Both players hit curve on turn 2 and played matching Sluks on turn 3. After they traded, Kongy KO’d his own Corkscrew to take out Ryan’s Sluk with Falling Stars.
Ryan promptly played a second Sluk on turn 4, along with Doop, Forward Observer. Kongy trumped him with La Nuit. When Ryan declined to attack, La Nuit swung down the curve at Sluk, and for the second time, Kongy KO’d his own character (this time Sluk) to send his opponent’s Sluk to the KO’d pile.
Ryan returned to the curve with Anarchist, Tike Alicar in reply to Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, but could only manage The Spike and Gin Genie on his next initiative. Kongy recruited Mysterious Fan Boy, but immediately lost him to the KO’d pile when Tike team attacked with The Spike. Kongy selected Tike to meet a similar fate.
This attack maintained the balance of the fairly tight game, and at the close of the sixth turn, Kongy had Vivisector, La Nuit, and 24 endurance to his opponent’s The Spike, Doop, and 21 endurance.
Kongy completed his perfect curve with Daredevil, Guardian Devil, while Ryan under-dropped again with Asmodeus. Kongy swung his two visible characters into his opponent’s new recruit, losing Vivisector, and then pummeled The Spike with Daredevil . . . or so he thought.
Ryan activated Dracula’s Castle, bounced Doop to play Nerve Strike, flipped X-Statix Café, and played Dead Weight. Kongy responded with Hell’s Fury before Ryan continued with a second Dead Weight and a Blown to Pieces. Giving up on his original plan of ensuring the stun, Kongy diverted his energies to keeping his attacker alive by discarding three character cards for a +4 Missed Drop. However, most of that work was undone when Daredevil was dragged Out of the Shadows. The final result? A 17 ATK/20 DEF defender who not only took down the “furious” 7-drop but also survived the attack! This stolen initiative put Ryan in the lead (15–12) for the first time since turn 3.
He maintained the rage, recruiting a boosted Moon Knight with a Corkscrew sidekick. Then, Kongy demonstrated why X-Statix is his favorite team—he boosted Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope to exhaust Moon Knight and gained 5 endurance by KO’ing Vivisector to X-Statix HQ before returning it to hand. Ryan no longer had the firepower to swing against Daredevil, and Kongy declined to counterattack.
Instead, he busted out Dracula, Lord of the Damned and Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter, and put all of his characters into attack positions. Ryan could only field Anarchist, Tike Alicar and Vivisector, Myles Alfred in reply. After Drac flew into the support row to disrupt reinforcement channels, Kongy’s superior army did the rest.
Third Round Opponent: Adrian
Kongy won the toss and chose odds for the third time in a row. He kept his hand of Orphan, Guy Smith, La Nuit, Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, and Nerve Strike.
He still hadn’t found a 2-drop when Adrian recruited Sniper, but his third turn Orphan was easily able to take down Morbius, The Living Vampire after he tutored for Hypnotic Charms.
Adrian under-dropped with Suicide on turn 4, and Kongy kicked him while he was down with La Nuit. Adrian swung both visible characters at the new arrival, and Kongy pitched Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter and Corkscrew to Missed Drop. Adrian upped the ante with Crime and Punishment, so Kongy bounced Orphan for a Nerve Strike to save his defender and stun Suicide.
Orphan returned fire at Morbius, and Adrian saved 3 breakthrough with the following complex maneuver. He flipped Psychoville to move Sniper into a position where he could reinforce, then discarded Tryks so Hypnotic Charms could give Sniper the affiliation he needed to reinforce.
The big guns started hitting the table on turn 5, with Kongy’s Vivisector squaring off against Jigsaw. In the ensuing clash, Jigsaw powered up and gained +3 DEF when Strength of the Grave emptied Adrian’s KO’d pile, but Kongy had the Hell’s Fury to force the trade. Then La Nuit beat up Morbius some more, but Adrian was unable to reinforce with his Psycho Sniper™ because he had no character cards remaining in his KO’d pile with which to fuel the Hypnotic Charms.
The heavy artillery continued on turn 6, with Adrian’s Blackheart prompting Kongy to position his Mysterious Fan Boy behind La Nuit. Blackheart stunned the reinforced 4-drop, and then Jigsaw and Sniper team attacked Vivisector. Kongy chose to stun Jigsaw, and then KO’d him by discarding Coach and The Spike to Fan Boy’s power.
Maintaining the run of large men, Kongy boosted Dracula, Lord of the Damned, and Adrian opted for Orphan, Good Guy. Kongy team attacked the new arrival with his two visible characters, losing Fan Boy, and then swung his invulnerable vampire at Blackheart. Fortunately for Adrian, his replenished KO’d pile allowed for the triumphant reappearance of the Pyscho Sniper™. Even so, Adrian found himself trailing 27–9 and needing a miracle to stay in the game . . .
Or an 8-drop. Professor X, Mental Master , presumably the same one that Kongy had passed earlier that evening, crashed down onto Adrian’s side of the table. After a big think, Kongy’s play was to boost Sluk and position him behind Vivisector. Adrian paid 3 endurance to empty Kongy’s hand of Zeitgeist, another Vivisector, and another Sluk, and then tested the waters by proposing Orphan on Vivisector. Kongy decided it was time to perform the Sluk Shuffle, KO’ing the 3-drop to shield his defender. However, that left him open to 15 points of endurance loss from the Professor taking his turn on Vivisector, and a further 3 to the face from the still-active Sniper.
Even top-decking Daredevil, Guardian Devil on the ninth turn was not enough for Kongy. Adrian rebooted his Strength of the Grave with Nightmare, and Kongy’s decision to eschew his team-ups caught up with him as he realized that not one of his three unaligned characters could individually make a dent in Xavier.
Fourth Round Opponent: Danesh
Kongy completed his perfect run of coin tosses and chose odds in the final round. He kept his hand of Plazm, Vivisector, Lunatic Lycanthrope, Missed Drop, and Nerve Strike, and then drew into Venus Dee Milo, Telegenic Teleporter and X-Statix Cafe.
Danesh, who will henceforth be referred to as DJogs for reasons we won’t to go into, recruited an unopposed Zodiak, and then recruited a Stick in reply to Venus. On turn 4, he dropped Anton Hellgate and equipped Zodiak with a War Wagon. Frustratingly, Kongy had not found a 4-drop and could only field Plazm.
DJogs proposed the obvious attack—Anton on Plazm—and Kongy bounced Venus to Nerve Strike and flipped X-Statix Café to soak up some more breakthrough. Stick delivered 5 to the face, and the Wagon claimed Plazm as its first victim. Kongy found himself looking down the barrel of a 29–43 score line with zero characters in play. “You probably lose from here,” said DJogs quietly, almost apologetically. “What a gift for understatement he has,” thought I.
Kongy rediscovered the curve with Vivisector, but DJogs completely upstaged him by dropping Daredevil, Matt Murdock and a second War Wagon onto Anton. He positioned Anton in front of Zodiak and Daredevil in front of Stick.
Vivisector swung into Anton and was saved by the Café. DJogs chose not to reinforce and then, paradoxically, also chose not to counterattack. He ended the turn with 10 less endurance than when he started.
He kept the insane rare bombs flying thick and fast, though, dropping Luke Cage, Power Man on turn 6, but Kongy’s Zeitgeist was an equal if not potentially greater threat. DJogs was taking no chances and proposed all three of his unequipped characters (Luke, Matt, and Stick) on the newcomer. Then Kongy’s deck kicked into high gear.
He flipped X-Statix HQ, KO’d Vivisector to gain 5 endurance, and activated Zeitgeist to stun the Power Man. Realizing that Zeitgeist would still go down to the two remaining attackers, even with Café support, Kongy pitched four low-drops for a +5 Missed Drop. DJogs disbelievingly put the set’s best 5-drop into his KO’d pile without it having landed a single punch.
Kongy kept the dream alive with Daredevil, Guardian Devil on his next initiative. DJogs held his own with Nightmare, but had no blue to reboot. Unable to cause any breakthrough, Kongy was content just to stun both equipped characters, sending Zodiak to the KO’d pile after DJogs declined to return fire.
DJogs brought out Elektra, Assassin on turn 8, and Kongy repeated his Vivisector/HQ party trick from round two by exhausting Nightmare and gaining 5 endurance. The totals now stood at 39–16 in Kongy’s favor—an incredible 37 point swing since the end of turn 4. Just as incredibly, both totals would be below 0 before the end of this turn.
First, Elektra delivered a Head Shot to Zeitgeist, plus a bonus point from Children of the Night. Next in line were direct attacks from Stick and Anton, with the deathblow coming from Power Man and a full-strength Hell’s Fury that left Kongy on -3. A counterattack from Daredevil on the softest target (Stick) would do exactly enough to even the scores, but Kongy produced his own Hell’s Fury for the most sensational of wins.
4. The Conclusion
These four games set quite the high bar for future drafts and were a great showcase for this excellent Sealed Pack format. Thanks and congratulations to Kongy for his triumphs under the harsh glare of the spotlight, and thanks as always to all of the other drafters for putting up with my slowing everything down.
By my calculations, the next Draft Knights episode coincides with Pro Circuit Amsterdam, so I’ll see whether I’m able to mix a little world-class Booster Draft coverage with my judging duties. Until then, you can reach me at vsrules@gmail.com.