Epic Dark Draft Decisions (9)

Here is the 9th 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/

Anything good?

 

 

I'm not sure about Demonic Rising. I suppose it can be a nice combo in Constructed if you have a full board and your opponent doesn't, but that seems very situational. In Limited it seems very hard to control. It is a board wipe of sorts which is nice. If you have lots of human tokens out already this is a nice upgrade.

Ah Bitten, the little brother to Inner Demon. A very solid targeted removal card that has found its way into many of my Limited decks. It also helps with Evil loyalty triggers.

Inner Peace. This card will make everyone hate you for dragging the game along, but it can be a lifesaver. It's a Good (get it?) counter to Thought Plucker as well since if you run a lot of Good cards you can Recall it. And as a side note it has a sweet alternate art version I hope to get someday.

Saren, Nightstalker is a new vampire from Uprising. His role is to punish players who play their gold too early. He is Unbreakable on your turn so that is nice, but he is very easily chump blocked. Still though, 10 damage is pretty back breaking and if you can manage him to get through, or boost him with Rage or something that gives Breakthrough, he can be quite good.

Speaking of alternate art cards, here's another one in Thundarus. I personally think he is too easily bounced or broken, and Unbanishable hasn't really shown itself to be a solid evasive ability. But wow is he hard to deal with if you don't have the easy answers. His boost of other dragons can be a lot of fun, but it's very hard to control, especially in Limited. Airborne is always nice though, and he definitely forces your opponent to deal with him or you will most likely win.

Sorry, these were all I could find for pics

 



After writing through this, I think the debate is between Bitten and Inner Peace, and I think Bitten wins. I always need targeted removal in Epic, and Bitten is a very solid choice. I can use it off turn and the drawback is just giving my opponent a zombie which is usually not the worst thing. Inner Peace is great, but I value removal over lifegain at least in the first pack.

If I got this pack I think I would go with Inner Peace and Saren. Even though its tempting to go with 2 Good cards, I think Thunderus can be too easily countered. At least Saren has Unbreakable and Blitz so he should be able to do something. Sorry Demonic Rising, I need to see some evidence that you're worth putting in my deck.

Anyway thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know if you agree. And happy gaming!