Dean Sohnle is the truest example of a warrior without a master in Vs. System today. While he tends to test with various English and Canadian players from time to time, he is basically a free agent who roams from country to country, playing in Vs. tournaments to make his money. This weekend at the Pro Circuit, he took his signature Fantastic Fun deck and positioned himself ready to go nuts on LA in Avengers Draft. He was 5–1 on the day going into the final draft, probably needing to go 2–1 in order to make his first Pro Circuit Top 8.
The problem? The table where he had to do it was about the best draft table in Vs. System history.
Dave Spears
Eugene Harvey
Alex Brown
Hans Joachim Hoh
Mike Dalton
Karl Horn
Neil Reeves
Our boy, Dean
Pick out two players that you would feel even semi-confident about beating. I know I can't.
Dean's first pack was pretty much ideal for him, given his draft plan. All weekend he had been talking up Squadron Supreme and Avengers, so when he saw Black Panther and Faces of Evil in his pack, he could both get a character who would be amazing in his deck, and ship a strong signal to Neil Reeves on his left to get into a wholly different archetype. Pack two afforded Dean a Blue Eagle, and he followed up with an Ape X. No reservists? Frowns. Those frowns turned upside down fairly quickly, as Moonglow was followed by a double Rick Jones. Rick is great in a Supreme Sanction deck, as he can empty your hand productively. Did I mention Supreme Sanction? Dean nabbed his on picks eight and ten. The trap was set.
There were still some pretty big holes in Dean's deck, particularly with regard to characters. A first-pick Albert Gaines ◊ Nuke, Atomic Powerhouse was a good start, and a second-pick Rocket Central was a very spicy addition. It seemed that Sohnle's signals had been heeded by Reeves, as he got hooked up with another Blue Eagle, Inertia, Skymax, and Pym Laboratories in consecutive packs. The Lab was particularly special as, combining it with the Supreme Sanctions, Dean would almost certainly be able to bolster his little guys, and perhaps even start recovering Blue Eagle. And this could be parlayed into an utter beating.
Pack three was all about addressing issues for Dean. The power level of his deck was high, but it was far from consistent. There was just the one 5-drop and no 2s whatsoever. Dean knocked on the box containing his final pack, and a second copy of Nuke answered. For pack two, he had the insane selection of Whizzer, Airskimmer, Carol Danvers ◊ Warbird, and Captain America, Super Soldier. Not being one to pass up super men, Dean took the bomb rare with his trademark cheeky grin. He got his first 2-drop in the form of Tom Thumb in the next pack, and pseudo 2-drop Basilisk as fourth pick. At this point Dean was just filling up. He picked a couple of extra 2s in order to smooth his curve, and finished with a last-pick AIDA. This was the fourth AIDA Dean had acquired in the draft portion of PC LA, and he seemed pretty pleased with himself about the fact.
Dean's deck seems strong enough that a 2–1 record is very doable. It is a little short on quality plot twists, but there is a lot of synergy there, and some characters that can be tough to deal with.