Epic Dark Draft Decisions (6)

Here is the 6th Epic Dark Draft Decisions. For the new readers, here is what I'm doing:

I use a random card generator to generate a hand of 5 cards from a complete singleton set of Epic, which includes the Core, the Tyrants, and new Uprising sets. I will then analyze the hand and decide what I would tend to pick if I were to draw that hand in the Dark Draft format of play. I will decide which card to pick if I got that pack, as well as which 2 cards I'd pick if I got the remaining 4. For the sake of consistency, I will assume this is the first pack I open.

For your information and as a reminder, here are the Dark Draft rules from the official website:

Dark Draft (2 players)

• Shuffle a stack of at least 120 cards. Deal 5 to each player.
• Each player takes 1 card out of their hand of five cards and drafts it, then passes the other 4 to the other (at the same time).
• Each player takes 2 cards out of their new hand of four cards and drafts them, then discards the remaining two cards into a shared face-down discard pile.

Both players now have drafted three cards. Repeat nine times to get to a 30-card deck, shuffle and play.

This is a fun, fast, and skill-testing draft format for two players. Many of our competitive events use this format in the playoff rounds. This format is used in our World Championship. Source: http://www.epiccardgame.com/formats-draft/

So what do we have this week?

 

 


There are some really solid cards in this pack. Final Task can almost always be used in any game, even if it is just for the Draw 2. Grabbing your champions back or even a troublesome opponent's champion back for an attack can be game changing. You can also grab a champion that is Unbreakable on your turn to get them back forever like Juggernaut! Just beware that if you grab an opponent's champion any bounce effects actually go back to the owner's hand! Heck, I like using Final task on stuff that don't usually have Blitz like Knight of Shadows or the game ending Burrowing Wurm, lol.

 

Gold Dragon is a very solid pick in Limited as well. If you manage to have a decent amount of establishing or Ambushing champions or even 0-cost Blitzers and can force your opponent to spend their gold on your turn first, Gold Dragon is amazing. A Blitzing flier can be very hard to block and Righteous is just icing on the cake that can make for incredible health swings during the game.

If Necromancer is allowed to stay being alive, he will win you games. We saw a little of how devastating he can be during the World Championship when players like Will Morgan (2nd place overall) used him to continue to grab champions from the discard pile. He does require loyalty to be effective though.

 Rampaging Wurm has won me a lot of games. If you manage to draft a Rage or Lash it becomes infinitely better, but there are few champions that can more punish an opponent that spends their gold first on your turn. One of my favorite Epic plays ever actually was when I played and attacked with the Rampaging Wurm WITHOUT my opponent playing gold first. In my experience playing a strong champion on the first turn of Limited can really throw an opponent off. They blocked with Crystal Golem and used its ability to draw cards, thinking they were safe. Little did they know I also had Rage in my hand, and that meant 18 damage to the face on the first turn. I won on the next turn and ended up winning the match. It felt amazing.

Shadow Imp is also a very strong card. 0 Cost Blitzing and Ambush AND Unblockable is just ridiculous. Adding onto that an ability to bounce it back to hand when you play a 1-cost Sage card, and you have one of the best life whittlers in the game. Even without a ton of Sage cards it's a solid pick.

Man, this is a tough pack, but I think I'm gonna have to go with Final Task. I have a couple of reasons. For one, it's the only card in the pack that also draws cards, and even though there are a lot of those in Epic, it's nice to grab one early. Second, Final Task works well in Limited because nearly everyone drafts hard hitting or great champions. You will find a target to use during the game. Third, bounce effects are less likely to appear simply because they have to be found AND drafted, so that makes grabbing your opponent's cards safer. Fourthly, it requires no loyalty and can be played on offense or defense, giving it a lot of flexibility. And Fifthly, when I had the pack over to my opponent, taking one of the Evil cards makes Necromancer Lord less of a good pick and doesn't give my opponent a head start in any given color, which can sometimes be a good thing.

I would have to keep in mind all the other cards in the pack though because they are all very good, especially if I have to spend my gold first on their turn. I would definitely be looking for cheap blockers and removal.

If I received the remaining cards, I think I would go with Rampaging Wurm and Gold Dragon. I would be sad to pass up the Imp and the Necromancer Lord, but 2 very hard hitting and solid champions with Blitz is just so nice to have in Limited. They require removal or else they will help you run away during the game. A very solid pack overall though.

I hope you enjoyed today's Dark Draft Decisions, let me know what you think in the comments, and as always, happy gaming!