As the final results from round 16 dried up, it became apparent that from the Top 8 class of Pro Circuit Indy, only Nick Little had the best shot of repeating that feat this weekend. Gabe Walls and Steve Horowitz had an outside shot with five losses, but only Little could even afford to take another loss.

After a 7-3 start on yesterday with Common Enemy, Little went 2-1 in his Man of Steel draft and then 3-0’d his first pod for Web of Spider-Man. As he sat down for the third draft, I asked him about what his strategy had been during his previous successful draft.

Little just shrugged, “I take the best cards regardless of affiliation.”

Nick opened his first pack and briefly flirted with picking Puma, but when there was a No Fear tucked behind it, the plot twist went straight into his pick pile. His second pick was Grounded—there was not much else to speak of in the pack.

Little looked at Antonino DeRosa, who was sitting to his right, in stark disbelief when he found a third pick Doc Ock’s Lab waiting for him. He slammed the card onto his pile and hoped he wasn’t getting roped in by the Italian-American player. When the first pack finished up, Nick had 6-7 characters and 3-4 plot twists—not counting the perpetual plot twist effect of Doc Ock’s Lab.

In the second set of packs, Little really wanted to take Venom, Eddie Brock but could not justify picking it over a second No Fear. He was again drawn to a character—this time Rhino—but there was an Alley-Oop demanding to be picked over it. When it was time to make his third pick, he had to turn his unbelieving gaze in Robert Leander’s direction—he was passed another third pick Doc Ock’s Lab. Scorpion was drafted over Surrounded, and then he took a Sentinel Mark V over a second Scorpion.

Nick was startled to have his choice of sixth pick plot twists, with Hired Goons and Surrounded still in the pack, and took the former after much deliberation.

Going into the third pack, Nick had only a single character at either the 5 or 6-drop. He barely looked at the rest of the pack when he took Mattie Franklin ◊ Spider-Woman. When DeRosa passed him a pack with Mojoverse but no 5 or 6-drops, Little thought he was in a world of trouble, but DeRosa not only passed him a Human Torch, Friendly Rival in the next pack but a Hobgoblin in the pack after. Little even managed a Hobgoblin with his eighth pick in the third set of packs.

While laying out his deck, Little could only shake his head at the unlikely number of plot twists he accrued in the draft. “My guys are awful though. I guess everyone went into the draft thinking they would draft guys, but I was happy to get all the insane plot twists.”

Even more important than the plot twists themselves were the three locations. Many players actually prioritize their Web picks with location being the first order of business and plot twist second, but Little got all three of his as second or third picks. “I have no idea what DeRosa took over this first Lab. I never pass this card. The second Lab is just ridiculous.”

I asked Nick about some of his picks . . .

Hired Goons over No Fear:

“I had both cards in my last draft, and since the defensive plot twists in this set are so bad, I just liked Hired Goons better because it could work on defense. If they attack their Puma into your 7ATK guy, you can stun Puma with Hired Goons. It was just better.”

No Fear over Venom, Eddie Brock:

“I really wanted to take Venom there, but you can’t ever get enough good plot twists in this set. When Antonino passed me no 5 or 6-drops in the third pack I thought I was really in trouble, but it worked out for the best.”

As Nick looked over his line-up are characters it suddenly occurred to him that he might fly in the face of prevailing wisdom if he won the coin toss. “I might actually take the evens. My 4-drops are really bad on defense but with +3ATK they are fine if I have the ‘inish.’ Plus I think the game is going to end on turn 6.”

Nick needed to go 2-1 with this deck in order to make back to back Top 8’s of Pro Circuit events—a feat that would mean a tremendous amount to Little (and not just because of the money). After playing on the Magic Pro Tour multiple times without a Day 2 to show for his efforts, Nick had very little confidence in his chances at Indy. To go back to back would be tremendous for his confidence as well as his bankroll.

“I made a lot of splits in Indy that I would never have made if I knew I was going to win $14,000!” laughed the Indy native.

While Nick has the opportunity to playtest with the likes of Gabe Walls, Sammy Gilly, and—when he visits Gabe—Neil Reeves, but because of the holidays he spent the last two weeks here in California with family. If he can make it back to the Top 8 despite missing out on extremely valuable playtest session it will only bolster his reputation as one of the best Vs. System players in the world.

Nick Little
Draft Deck Three

1 Dusk
1 Human Torch, Friendly Rival
1 Mattie Franklin ◊ Spider-Woman
1 Prodigy
1 Prowler
1 Solo
1 Sentinel, Mark V
1 Alistair Smythe
1 Hammerhead
2 Hobgoblin
1 Kraven the Hunter
1 Lizard
2 Scorpion
2 Shocker
1 Speed Demon
1 Tombstone
1 Vulture
2 Doc Ock’s Lab
1 Mojoverse
1 Alley-Oop
1 Grounded
1 Hired Goons
2 No Fear
1 Surrounded