The Top 24 players sat down early Sunday morning wondering whether it was going to be as easy as Lionel Richie and the Commodores claim. Tim Batow was hoping that would be the case, because as one of only two players to sneak into Day 2 with a 5-3 record, he was going to have to finish his draft with a 3-0 record to move up from 23rd to a seat at the final table. If anyone can pull it out, though, it’s Tim. He has countless high finishes to his name and is looking for another trophy here today.

The players began the draft by talking about how yesterday had gone for everyone, and it was clear that this was probably going to be one of the more interesting draft tables because everyone’s tiebreakers and records were low enough that they would all probably need a 3-0 record to make the final cut. Still, the atmosphere was laid back as the players steeled themselves for a difficult draft.

Note: The cards listed are the notable picks in each pack. The bolded card is Tim’s choice.

Pack 1

Unthinkable, Warskrull, Sworn Enemies, Commander Dylon Cir, Pressed into Service.

Interstellar Offensive; Warskrull; Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Soul Searcher

Pip the Troll; Black Bolt, Illuminati; Intergalactic Summit; Mar-Vell ◊ Captain Marvel, Soldier of the Empire 

The Devil We Know; Black Bolt, Illuminati;

Firelord, Pyreus Kril; Doom Needs Only Doom

Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend; Galactus, The Maker Human Torch, The Invisible Man; Frankie Raye ◊ Nova, Soul Searcher

Clumsy Foulup, Conquered Planet, Commander Dylon Cir

Lancer, Galan, The Infamous Seven

Sworn Enemies

Warskrull

Remnant fleet, Pip the Troll

Mephisto, Lord of Hell; I Must Obey

Kree Soldiers, Galactus

Genetic Destiny

Galan

Pack 2

Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth; Penal Colony; Starforce Strike; Act of Defiance 

Clumsy Foulup, Paibok, Colonel Yon-Rogg, Genetic Destiny, Lockjaw

Extended Family, Admiral Galen Kor

Captain Att-Lass

Nega-Bands, Lieutenant Kona Lor, Penal Colony

Penal Colony; Haywire, Suicidal Lover; Conquered Planet; Genetic Destiny

Lieutenant Kona Lor

Dewoz, Penal Colony

Clumsy Foulup, Genetic Destiny

Supremor

Admiral Galen Kor

Penal Colony

Conquered Planet

Supremor

Pack 3

Ronan the Accuser, Astral Suppression, Clumsy Foulup, The Royal Guard

Wolverine, Skrunucklehead; Starforce Strike; Interstellar Offensive

The Lunatic Legion; Mar-Vell ◊ Captain Marvel, Soldier of the Empire; Remnant Fleet

The Herald Ordeal, Ronan the Accuser

Sworn Enemies, Sintariis, Commander Dylon Cir

Nenora, Nega-Bands

Sintariis; Quicksilver, Inhuman By Marriage; Divinity; Universal Weapon

Luna Maximoff, Katrina Luisa Van Horne ◊ Amazon, Penal Colony

Starforce Strike

Dinu

Human Torch, The Invisible Man

Maximus the Mad

Nega-Bands

Universal Weapon

With the draft ending on such a positive note as Tim’s final pick being a powerful piece of equipment for his deck, I figured that he would be pretty positive as we sat down to talk while he built. He started by saying that he thought he had a lot of powerful cards but not a lot of cohesion in the cards he was running. As everyone knows, drafting synergistic archetypes is the most important aspect of drafting Heralds successfully. Tim noted that he probably chose the wrong second team with the Inhumans characters he had picked up, but Heralds, the only other viable team he saw, isn’t aggressive enough to go well with Kree.

Franklin Richards was probably the biggest disappointment for him in the draft, as he used his second pack’s first pick on the card, hoping for Captain America, Skrull Impostor but never seeing him. Even with four of them, he lamented the fact that he hadn’t seen more press 2-drops. His theory was that a lot of people might have picked a few early Kree 2-drops and then backed out when the team dried up. It looked like Aqualad was rewarded for forcing the team, even with only a few cards for it in pack 1, because he was rewarded for it in the second pack.

One thing that really concerned Tim was the lack of ways he had to finish games that went to the later turns with only one 5-drop and one 6-drop in his deck. With the press characters he was running, though, there was a good possibility that he would be able to make up for the holes with some big press chains.

He played The Royal Guard with only four Inhumans characters, dropping Franklin Richards because the only thing he had to move with him was Wolverine, Skrunucklehead, which he didn’t feel was worth it. Once again, he mentioned how mad he was that he didn’t take the Act of Defiance as his first pick in the second pack, feeling that he must look really dumb for wasting two of his first picks on cards that weren’t making his deck.

As we talked about what he thought the rest of the table looked like, he said there was probably a good Heralds deck, but he wasn’t sure because everything good for the deck was going pretty late. The deck would probably be his worst matchup if it was at the table. Tim filled out his final list, hoping that he would be able to ride some good draws into another $10K Top 8.

Tim Batow
Top 24 Draft
$10K LA 2006

Characters
1 Black Bolt, Illuminati
1 Dewoz
1 Dinu
1 Lockjaw, Inhuman’s Best Friend
2 Admiral Galen Kor
1 Captain Att-Lass
1 Clumsy Foulup
2 Commander Dylon Cir
2 Lieutenant Kona Lor
1 Mar-Vell ◊ Captain Marvel, Soldier of the Empire
1 Nenora
1 Wolverine, Skrunucklehead
1 Katrina Luisa Van Horne ◊ Amazon
1 Mephisto

Plot Twists
1 Conquered Planet
1 Genetic Destiny
1 Interstellar Offensive
1 Starforce Strike
1 Sworn Enemies
1 The Herald Ordeal
1 The Infamous Seven
1 The Lunatic Legion

Locations
1 Penal Colony

Equipment
1 Nega-Bands
1 Universal Weapon

Unused Cards

Characters
1 Human Torch, The Invisible Man
1 Galan
1 Maximus the Mad
1 Franklin Richards, Creator of Counter-Earth
2 Supremor
1 Kree Soldiers
1 Paibok
1 Warskrull

Plot Twists
1 Remnant Fleet
1 The Royal Guard

Location
1 Penal Colony