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The Sentry™
Card# MTU-017

While his stats aren’t much bigger than those of the average 7-drop, Sentry’s “Pay ATK” power can drastically hinder an opponent’s attacking options in the late game.
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Draft Clinic: Kakarot Turker

Rob Davis

July 16, 2006

Kakarot is well-known as one of the most consistent players in Vs. System. He’s a top deckbuilder, having created the quite successful Ten Teams deck, which is a spin on A Child Named Valeria. He’s been ranking very highly at the last few $10K’s he’s participated in. What we can’t understand is — why the heck hasn’t this guy taken a trophy? Having performed well in this $10K, coming in 7^th at the end of 10 rounds, perhaps today is the day. We followed Kakarot through his Top 8 draft to see what it is that makes him so consistently successful, and whether he can build a deck that will finally allow him to break through and claim a Vs. $10K crown.

For the reader’s information, Michael’s selected cards from each hand are on the first line, with his other top considerations on the line immediately below.

Pack 1

1) Amulet of Nabu

Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double, Baddest of the Bad

2) Black Adam, Teth-Adam

Superman, Earth 2, Zazzala ◊ Queen Bee, Mistress of the Hive

3) Huntress, Reluctant Queen

Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker, Lois Lane, Earth 2

4) Traitor to the Cause

Join Us or Die

5) Nightmaster, Demon Slayer

Terry Sloane ◊ Mr. Terrific, The Calculator, Crime Broker

6) Checkmate Safe House

Deathstroke the Terminator, Ultimate Assassin

7) Nightshade, Shadow Siren

Deflection, Checkmate Armory

8) Ragman, Patchmonger

Watch the Birdie!, Connie Webb

9) Dr. Fate, Hector Hall

Burning Gaze

10) Jacob Lee

Lex Luthor, Champion of the Common Man

11) Allied Against the Dark

12) Divination

Nightmaster, Jim Rook

13) Blue Devil, Big Blue

14) Catman, Thomas Blake

Pack 2

1) Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker

Valentina Vostok ◊ Negative Woman, Mystical Binding

2) Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight

Laser Watch, Knightmare Scenario

3) Sarge Steel

Dr. Occult, Elimination Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army

4) Defend Yourself!

Annihilation Protocol ◊ OMAC Robot, Army

5) Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype

Graziella Reza, Prince Khufu ◊ Hawkman

6) Stepping Between Worlds

Arthur Kendrick, Knight

7) Surveillance Pawn, Army

The Oblivion Bar, Traitor to the Cause

8) Magical Lobotomy

Madame Xanadu

9) Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy

Tricked-Out Sports Car

10) Laser Watch

Dr. Fate, Hector Hall, Checkmate Armory

11) Check and Mate!

Threat Neutralized, Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee

12) Obsidian

Nightshade, Eve Eden

13) The Penguin, Arms Merchant

14) Manitou Dawn

Pack 3

1) Ahmed Samsarra, White King

Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype, Revitalize

2) Thanagar,

Thanagarian Invasion, Witchfire

3) Stepping Between Worlds

Black Alice, I Still Hate Magic!

4) Helm of Nabu (slammed it on the table almost straight away, barely looking at the rest)

5) Mystical Binding

The Phantom Stranger, Fallen Angel, Knight Armor

6) Nightmaster, Jim Rook

Knight Armor, Zatanna, Magical Manipulator

7) Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker

Rann, Transmutation

8) Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle

Dr. Fate, Lord of Order, Graziella Reza

9) Zatanna, Magical Manipulator

Black Thorn, Revitalize

10) Mourn for the Lost

Brainiac, Earth 2, Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee

11) Tricked-Out Sports Car

Huntress, Reluctant Queen

12) Magical Conduit (Obviously an absolute gift!)

13) Dr. Psycho, Twisted Telepath

14) Zatanna, Magical Manipulator

"What an unsuccessful draft," laments Kakarot as he sits down with us.

"I wanted to stay out of Villains United, but I just kept getting passed it. I thought I would have Checkmate as a base, but it just didn’t seem to come through enough. My only real chance of winning was to get bomb Shadowpact stuff. Really, all I can do is send all their guys to the hidden zone and bash."

At the start of the draft, Kakarot describes how he had a strong chance to go into VU. "I figured lots of people will be drafting them so I wanted to stay away from them," he describes. He had some fantastic VU based options in Alexander Luthor, Diabolical Double and a solid choice in Grand Gesture, but chose to shy away from the team in favor of an Amulet of Nabu and Huntress, Reluctant Queen.

In pack five of the first pool, he was faced with the same decision once more - to go into VU or to stay away. Faced with the decision of The Calculator, Crime Broker versus Nightmaster, Demon Slayer he comments that he finds that Calculator aims to win on 7 where he generally wants to go evens. Moreover, he thinks that he has passed too much VU by this point anyway, and doesn’t really consider the team an option anymore.

When he was passed a copy of Nightshade, Shadow Siren in pack 7, his decision becomes solidified. He says that it’s not really a signal, but rather considered it a good way to just start bringing 'Pact into the equation.

However, it’s not long before Kakarot is faced with another key issue as Knight Armor is passed. There was the clear opportunity to take it, and while it’s a card that he usually considers excellent, he decides that it’s not for him this draft. He figures that because his win condition is going to have to be sending guys to the concealed area, the card just ends up being counter-intuitive to what he is doing today.

In an unusual move, Sasha Bordeaux, Autonomous Prototype is picked very early — a character that is generally considered quite average. He claims that because, in pack 2, there was no Shadowpact being passed, he had to keep the option of a Checkmate late game open. With the Knight Armors potentially still able to wheel, he would be able to change his strategy to a late-game focus if need be.

The inspiration for Traitor to the Cause was derived from the semi-Fate engine that he had available to him. He says that he finds the card excellent, generally, but the fact that he has 2 concealed 1-drops and a potential combo in Sarge Steel means that the card makes its way into the deck. It seems that this is one of the cards that he is more confident about.

He is clearly disappointed that he didn’t quite manage to get the full Fate engine online, but claims that it is always a risky strategy and that he probably put too much stock in trying to get all of the Fate Artifacts anyway.

Playing 4 1-drops in the deck (although Jaime Reyes ◊ Blue Beetle is really more of a plot twist in disguise) sends a clear signal that Kakarot's build is aggressive. "Going past 6 will be terrible for me," he claims, saying that characters like Nightmaster, Jim Rook could be very good for him when considering the high number of Magic plot twists.

He claims that Obsidian is the most underrated card in the deck. "It’s a card you can play for the win,” he says. He is pleased by the potential combo with Roy Harper, and says that, in general, the Checkmate 5-drop could be huge for his deck, especially with the Fate Artifacts.

As for that Check and Mate! . . . what of it? "It can be good after you have used Roy on them. It’s obviously a mise if I draw the only copy (though he does have some filter in Divination and the Helm), but because I have Defend Yourself! and Obsidian, it may be ok." He also comments that it’s a good defense against the somewhat prevalent off-curve options in Crisis, though he does admit that the card is far from optimal.

In the end, he feels pretty unhappy with the deck. "To be honest this is a really bad deck. If someone has a good deck, I'll feel bad if I beat them, because it'll just be a mise — it’s not a curve; it’s just a flat line," he claims, insisting that the only real way for the deck to earn wins will be if it consistently hits its A-game. So the deck is complete — if somewhat unsatisfying. On we roll into the Quarterfinals of $10K Adelaide.

Kakarot’s final build was as follows:

CHARACTERS

1 Ahmed Samsarra, White King

2 Christopher Smith ◊ Peacemaker, Obsessed Outlaw

1 Jacob Lee, Knight

1 Roy Harper ◊ Arsenal, Knight

1 Sarge Steel, Knight

1 Surveillance Pawn, Army

1 Obsidian, Todd James Rice

1 Blue Devil, Dan Cassidy

1 Dr. Fate, Hector Hall

1 Manitou Dawn, Spirit Shaman