One of five Team Realms fighters to move on, Dave hadn’t had much time to draft Superman, Man of Steel before Day 2, but he did his research and compared notes with his teammates, and he knew the key cards to look for and what team he wanted to draft before he even opened his first pack. That team was Darkseid’s Elite. Dave also made sure to build a 30 card deck. “I like to play the averages, 30 cards even. I always use the minimum number of cards possible to make sure I hit my drops—ten to twelve plot twists, and eighteen to twenty characters."

But it almost wasn’t. For his second pick, he passed on Bernadeth to take Forager, and thought for a moment that he might go New Gods. “I hated to pass Bernadeth on Turn 2, but Forager is so good . . . ” After a few more picks went by and he was getting a ton of great Darkseid drops, it became apparent that there weren’t many Darkseid fans at his table, and he stuck to Plan A. And that Bernadeth on Turn 2 came all the way back around, and Dave scooped it up tenth.

The biggest surprise of Dave’s draft was that he passed on not one, not two, but three
Devilances. His explanation? “There was always something better. The first one was a choice between him and Female Furies. You just gotta have the blue, so I took the plot twist to make sure I had plenty.” The second and third ones were a choice between Devilance and Kalibak, then Infinity Man. “I needed the 7-drops. I didn’t have any until then, and I needed to make sure I could curve out.”

The best moment of the draft for Dave was in the second pack, where he passed on Omega Beams for Armagetto, fourth pick. Calling it one of the toughest decisions of the entire draft, he was absolutely stunned when it came back all the way around for him as late as twelfth pick! His one possible regret was passing on Topkick early in the third pack—although he has a couple of very capable 3-drops, he feels Topkick could have really helped the deck’s synergy.

His decision to draft three Play Times and not play them was simple, in his mind. “I really like the card, but all the plot twists I got were so much better.” I asked him why he played three Narrow Escapes, since you have to exhaust to use it, and you can’t stack them. He responded that “Narrow Escape is so much better! It’s a completely defensive card, I agree—and the exhaustion definitely sucks—but it creates three completely missed attacks.” In the end, Dave feels he has a solid deck with good synergy and good hits at every drop. He feels confident that he’ll do well this round.

Dave’s Card Pool
Characters
3 Bernadeth, Leader of Female Furies
1 Brimstone, Engine of Destruction
1 Desaad, Royal Torturer
2 Deuce, Miss Perception
1 Forager, Bug Warrior
1 Infinity Man, Drax
1 Jason Todd ◊ Robin, Crime Fighter

2 Kalibak, Unworthy Son
2 Kanto, Darkseid’s Assassin
1 Mercy, Amazon Bodyguard
1 Metron, Time Traveler
3 Shaligo, Deep Six
2 Steppenwolf, Darkseid’s General
1 Superman, Clark Kent
1 Superman, Red
1 Talia, LexCorp CEO
1 Trok, Deep Six

Plot Twists
2 Female Furies
1 Granny Loves You
3 Narrow Escape
1 Omega Beams
2 Path of Destruction
3 Play Time

Locations
2 Armagetto

Equipment
2 Beta Club
1 Brainiac’s Ship

Dave’s Decklist
Characters
3 Bernadeth, Leader of Female Furies
1 Brimstone, Engine of Destruction
1 Desaad, Royal Torturer
1 Forager, Bug Warrior
1 Jason Todd ◊ Robin, Crime Fighter
2 Kalibak, Unworthy Son
2 Kanto, Darkseid’s Assassin
3 Shaligo, Deep Six
2 Steppenwolf, Darkseid’s General
1 Superman, Red
1 Trok, Deep Six

Plot Twists
2 Female Furies
3 Narrow Escape
1 Omega Beams
2 Path of Destruction

Locations
2 Armagetto

Equipment
2 Beta Club