Marvel Super Heroes Draft # 2 (WUBRG Drafting)

I got to my second Marvel Super Heroes draft at my FLGS, Intergalactic Plastic, last night.  We had a group of exactly eight and got right to it.  Right off the bat, the player sitting to my right opened The Mind Stone, passing me Thanos, the Mad Titan.  

If you are a new reader, you might think that this would dictate a new draft strategy for me and that I was lucky that I got that for my second pick.  I always go WUBRG (as most of you know) so I was already on that track.  Here are all the picks I made: 

Oops!  The card behind Serpent Specialist is a Hell's Kitchen.

There are a lot of things going well in that draft pool:

• Lots of fixing-lands.  Eight! 
• Two basic land cyclers: A.I.M. Scientists and Kree Sentinel.  
• Many creatures that could win the game.  (Power-up abilities are really good for me.)

Here's the deck I built:

I did not do any sideboarding; this is the deck I started and finished with.

The games were pretty intense, so my notes are more sparse than usual.  My apologies!  Another fun part of this draft is that I got to use a new life counter, a d30 that I got at Genie Hobbies in Gaylord, MI a few weeks ago. 

That store is right across from the Claude Shannon park, which is pretty neat!

 

I started the first round against a really strong player running an Orzhov Esper Weenie deck, chock full of lots of efficient creatures such as Agent Phil Coulson and Hero in Training, complemented by an arsenal of removal spells.  On turn three, I played Thanos.  My opponent played Ronin, Shadow Stalker, which they equipped with S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Kit.  I should have read Ronin more carefully, because they used the ability to kill Thanos on the next turn.  Oops!  I played a Ninja of the Hand on turn four and on turn five Hulk, Gamma Goliath, who met with a Web Up.  On turn six, I played Call Damage Control to get Thanos back and cast him.  I didn't get to power him up that game, but my opponent got mana flooded and I won.

In the second game, I got Thanos out on turn four, but he again met with removal.  I went down to 2 life before I was able to get him back into play and stabilize.  I won at 9 life.  We had extra time so we played a bonus third game where I was able to play Thanos and snap his fingers.  1-0.

My second round was against another player running an Orzhov deck that turned out to actually be Esper.  In the first game I got Kang, Temporal Tyrant, on turn four, then Thanos on turn six.  Thanos got immediately exiled by Cloak and Dagger, Entwined.  I went down to 4 life, but played Doctor Doom, planning to use Kang's attack trigger to keep me alive.  

A pretty dangerous plan!

A few turns later, my opponent played Unliving Legionnaire, threatening to take me out with it as the only flier.  I drew Photon Blast Barrage and made a costly bet to try and kill the Legionnaire and get Thanos back.

One original and many copies and-... oh, Take up the Shield.

 

The Legionnaire killed me the following turn.

In the second game, my opponent started off with two mulligans, but the first was not just any mulligan!

I have seen very few "All-Land Mulligans".  I think this is the second ever.

Down two cards, they recovered quickly with Captain America, Living Legend, on turn three, but I played Thanos on turn four, followed by Black Widow, Double Agent.  My opponent got me to discard my hand with HYDRA Infiltration, and then killed Thanos with Murdock's Crusade.  I got an Aerial Doombot down, however, and was able to win with that.  

In the third game, my opponent flooded out and I was able to win with Human Torch, Johnny Storm.  2-0.

In the third round, I was up against a mono-green deck.  In the first game they had a quick start with Ava Ayala and Hulkling, Burgeoning Bruiser on turns two and three.  I caught back up and managed to get everything off of the board.  Then they dropped Squirrel Girl.  Thankfully that turn I had exactly the mana to play Thanos and snap his fingers.  They played Titania, Rugged Rumbler, and Go Nuts! to kill Thanos and keep the game going.  I cast Doctor Doom, but they got two Wakandan Royal Guard, followed by Pet Avengers to put me on the back foot.  I got one of my deathtouchers out as well as other potential blockers, then played Human Torch to win another game.

In the second game, my opponent had two early Guerrilla Gorillas, then H.E.R.B.I.E. Scout Unit.  I played Storm, Windrider, on turn four, both acting as a big blocker and shutting down H.E.R.B.I.E.  The game went back and forth; Wakandan Royal Guard was again acting really strong.  My opponent took out Storm, but then I drew the card that had won me game after game all night: Thanos, the Mad Titan.  I played him without snapping that turn, then drew into snap mana the next and wiped the board.  Thanos's lifelinking was enough to get me to victory.  3-0.

After the tournament I played against one of my friends who really wanted another match and won both games, though they had to mulligan down to four in the second game.  

Here are some afterthoughts: 

• I'm now 5-1 across two Marvel Super Heroes drafts. 
• I think this set is just really strong for WUBRG drafting.  Somehow I expect that has just gone under the radar.  The lands, basic landcyclers, and other assorted fixing is amazing.
• I like Power-up cards!  It really clicked with me this second time.  
• I got really lucky to get Thanos, and even luckier to draw him in so many games.  I also got lucky to have three colorless-generating lands.

I really want to do more of these; I hope I get more chances!  H p y M g c i g!