Epic Dark Draft Decisions (10)

Here is the 10th 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/

This is our 10th pack, which normally would be our last pack.

 

 

Consume is a great addition from Uprising. It is a more consistent Unquenchable Thirst, and even though it can't reach the ceiling like UT can, I find it much more solid. I don't like losing cards in my discard pile, and I frequently used UT to hit 0-3 life off something anyway, like a Muse or Thought Plucker.

Elara, The Lycomancer is an amazing card. Putting in a chump blocker and then being able to banish almost any of your opponent's characters can lock up entire decks. However, that loyalty trigger is mandatory, so without more Sage cards she is a risk.

Gladius, The Defender I have not had a lot of experience with. My impressions of him aren't great. Unbanishable is one of the worst keywords one can have. He has decent life, but his attack is lackluster, and he has no Blitz or Ambush or Airborne or any of the other good keywords. He does give a passive boost to all your good champions though which is pretty cool if you have a lot of token generators. You can easily tap him to create 3 human tokens that have 4 attack and that's what you should do. If you can grab something that creates tokens and gives them Blitz he becomes much, much better (like Insurgency). I am intrigued to see how he could do but my gut tells me he is best in constructed.

Rescue Griffin I originally didn't think very highly of, but that is changing. I recognized the defensive capabilities, but was figuring I would rather have other 0-cost cards in my various decks. With the advent of Kark decks, this card could get better and better. A 0-cost champion that can survive most attacks from small and medium hitting champions? A 0-cost champion that can also block fliers and maybe even survive, unlike Guilt Demon? That's pretty sweet. In Kark mirror matches this card will be very helpful as it can block and survive all Angel attacks. In Limited I think it could serve a similar purpose as it will be able to block a lot of stuff, and if you can get your opponent to have to spend gold on it then you are much better off.

Spike Trap is another very interesting card. If Kark decks didn't already need the 0-cost Sage card spots for stuff like Muse, I think this card could really find a home. It seems you have to mass attack Kark and this card gets much better in that light. In Limited I think it's still very solid. You stand a good chance of killing a lot of champions with this card, or at least finishing off champions that you also block. It also Recycles which is very important. I love flexible 0-cost cards like this. My favorite plays are using it against my own Soul Hunter if it gets chump blocked, and using it against Thought Plucker and Knight of Shadows. It's a shame you have to wait til something attacks so this has a hard time getting Muse, but it's still a solid card.

This pack is pretty tough, although for me it comes down to which 0-cost I want to add. The 2 1-costs are ok, but they require more work. Although I love to gain health, if this was the first pack I would value card draw more. However, that Rescue Griffon is a solid free body that can stick around to block almost all of the other 0-cost attackers and a good amount of 1-costs. That being said, I think I have to go with Spike Trap. I almost always use this card when I take it and it gets rid of a lot of troubles, and it's the only card in this pack that helps draw cards which I'm always looking for.

If I received this pack I would have no trouble going for Rescue Griffin and Consume. Yes, it would mean 2 0-costs right off the bat, but they are both solid choices that I am sure would be useful. I love Elara, but I would prefer to see her in a later pack after I grabbed a lot more Sage. And Gladius the same thing but for token generators that give Blitz.

Thanks for reading and happy gaming!