Mark Slack knows all about winning. He also knows how to build a solid deck, and boy, does he know a good pool of cards when he sees it. He was suitably upset when he saw a good pool and had to pass it off. Never fear! It was replaced by a pool that may not have been quite as good, in his opinion. When my esteemed colleague Ted Knutson mentioned to me that he saw Mark Slack win a game by nearly 100 endurance, I had to see this deck for myself . . .

 

Mark Slack's Deck

 

Characters

1 Abin Sur

1 Alan Scott

1 Black Hand

1 Carol Ferris ◊ Star Sapphire

1 Element Man

1 G'Nort

1 Hal Jordan, Spectre

2 Kreon

1 Krona

1 Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern of the Universe

1 Legion

1 Major Disaster

1 Malvolio

2 Power Ring

1 Rot Lop Fan

1 Sinestro, Lantern in Exile

1 Space Bears

1 Weaponers of Qward

 

Plot Twists

1 Chopping Block

1 Emerald Twilight

1 Hard-Traveling Heroes

2 Lanterns in Love

1 Locked in Combat

1 Millennium

1 Nero Unleashed

1 Uppercut

 

Locations

1 Empire of Tears

 

Mark called it a “pretty good deck.” Mark is much too humble. With a 4-1 record in the opening portion of the Sealed, he certainly didn't seem to have much trouble with it.

 

In Sealed, Mark likes a curve of three 1- and 2-drops, four of each drop from 3- through 5-, three 6-drops, two 7-drops, and an 8-drop. “I love 8-drops. In Spider-Man and Marvel Knights, you didn't want to play an 8, 'cause the game always ended on turn 7. In this format, Green Lantern, you can get to turn 8 every game. Most characters are dry, but I ended up with huge DEF guys—Krona, Alan Scott, Legion.”

 

I asked him about the wisdom in playing Legion, and he agreed it's a tough decision, but he only had two 6-drops. “I try not to play Legion. I've played 5-drops on turn 6 just to avoid him. But sometimes . . . ”

 

He was playing three team-ups due to his triple-faction deck of Emerald Enemies, Green Lantern, and Anti-Matter, and he was particularly thrilled about his two KO effects, Emerald Twilight and Chopping Block. His goal was to team attack up the curve and take out the victim with an effect.

 

His first round was the biggie. He got Black Hand on turn 2, with his opponent not only missing his 2-drop, but playing Carol Ferris on turn 3.His opponent, therefore, couldn't touch Black Hand, who ended up being ready every turn until 8, allowing Mark to slaughter his opponent 71 to -26. Apparently, however, he wasn't even the highest on the day. The deck he opened was even better, with major offensive pumps allowing another Black Hand win for its owner, 77 to -24.

 

Mark said his one problem was his decision to use two 6-drops. “I lean towards two 6-drops due to all of the draw and search cards, but I'm kind of sketchy about it—I missed my 6-drop last round.

 

Still, his only loss was to Doug Tice, who had a Two-Face that Mark couldn't reinforce through, and it “smashed” him.

 

One bad loss, four Big Wins. Mark is certainly leaning towards Top 8, and I'm not at all sketchy about that.