Epic Dark Draft Decisions (8)

Here is the 8th 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 today?

 

 

Hello Wild, nice to meet you. Upon opening this pack I am very angry I have to give it to my opponent. It's pretty much guaranteed my opponent will come out on top out of this pack.

2 giant bodies and nothing for you? Thanks!

Brachiosaurus is a really hard hitting body that essentially doesn't use up your gold if you manage to have more Wild cards in hand. Playing Brach and passing to your opponent is one of the more fun mind games one can play in Epic. Does your opponent simply pass as well? Well you got a giant body on the board and they wasted their gold. Did they play something? Now you can maybe react and remove whatever they played (Kong anyone?). Not as good in Limited as Constructed, but is a very solid card anyway.

Dark Knight is one of my favorite cards in Epic. He can be played anytime but is wonderful on your turn. I can play him before spending gold to try and coax my opponent into spending first. I can punish an opponent after they spent gold and maybe get 5 damage through for free. Plus, you can combo him with Breaking board wipes (like Apocalypse) and he stays on the board. In Limited he is an easy addition because you don't have to worry about the deckbuilding rules. A very solid pick.

Great lore story here

Great Horned Lizard is another one of my favorites. He is best used when your opponent already spent their gold as you really don't want to risk getting Erased. However, there are few champions that can punish pre-spent gold as well as the GHL. Very hard hitting and with Breakthrough, he can run away in Limited games.

Markus, Watch Captain has been growing on me of late. A very solid body, if you can hit the loyalty he replaces himself, and you get to banish up to 3 tokens. With Uprising adding lots of token generators like Rift Summoner and Hunting Pack, Markus has become better. Markus also is an amazing counter to Thought Plucker as if your opponent forces you to discard a card, you get Markus out for free! And since TP is a high draft pick, Markus most likely won't be useless.

Last, and at least in this card pack, least, is Mighty Blow. Drawing cards is great, and it's possible to boost a champion and give them unbreakable and +10 (Shadow Imp comes to mind), but you always run the risk of getting bounced, even if your opponent already spent gold (Hasty Retreat). Mighty Blow can work better in Limited, but compared to the rest of the stuff in this pack, I would probably pass.

 

I think with much trepidation I would go for Great Horned Lizard. I never mind going into Wild, and if I don't GHL plays well by itself. It is just such a hard hitting champion that forces your opponent to deal with him that I can't pass it up. I also need to break up all the Wild in that pack as giving my opponent Brachiosaurus and GHL right up front is a recipe for disaster. I will miss my Dark Knight, who would be a very solid pick otherwise, but I don't think I could afford giving them so much Wild. Brachiosaurus is tempting too, but you have to have lots of Wild to make it really worth it, and that might be too much of a risk. Markus is also great, but again....that Wild.

If I got this pack I would have a pretty big debate. It's hard to pass up Brach, but I really need a lot of Wild to make it work. I could also take Mighty Blow, but i'm not a big fan. I really like Dark Knight and Markus is ok. I guess it would have to be Brach and Dark Knight and I would be looking for more Wild to make Brach better. 

I hope you enjoyed today's Dark Draft Decisions! Thanks for reading and happy gaming!