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/
Ok what do we have today?
Ooo, lots of draw 2 options. Always need those. These aren't typically the cream of the crop, but one has to make due in Dark Draft, so what should we pick?
Dark Offering - I have always had a soft spot with this card. I am biased because I have won several games with it, crucially removing 2 gold-cost champions from my opponent, sometimes while getting rid of my own Soul Hunter! I think it's a decent removal spell even though you have to lose your own guy. It also can help you with later Evil cards for which to provide loyalty triggers.
Deadly Raid - This is one of those combo cards that can just win you a game. Ever play against someone using a token deck? This card can very quickly bring you your doom. It is not easy to pull off, but something has to be said about having a trick up your sleeve. I prefer to call them trick cards or combo cards, but Nicholas Heal (Epic World Championship competitor) calls cards like this "cheese" cards and he talks about them in his Dark Draft section of this article. I highly recommend you give it a read. Basically one should have a "cheese" card in their draft to try and finish off an opponent or get you right back in the game if you are down. It also is Sage so that is highly desirable for their loyalty triggers.
Demonic Rising - I feel as though I am so close to unlocking the amazing-ness of this card. It performs a similar role I think to Army of the Apocalpyse. It clears the board and then gives you a chance to try and finish off your opponent with a second attack. It seems just so hard to pull off though that I haven't had success with it yet. I am hopeful though. I plan on trying to create a deck around it sometime. It technically is a board clear so that make it higher on the list. It's also Evil so yay for more loyalty triggers!
Force Field - A rich man's Fumble, only worse. I was not a huge fan of this card simply because I'd almost always rather have a Fumble. It is a decent way of surviving a turn if your opponent has a full board. -10 to everyone is pretty brutal. -5 and drawing a card is also probably gonna save you a turn against swarmy decks. It has decent flexibility and it is Sage, but there are much better cards out there.
Justice Prevails - This could be considered another one of those trick or "cheese" cards. I think this could be fun in a hyper aggressive Kark deck with human tokens, but it seems very hard to pull off in Limited. Getting it early means you can try to go for some token makers or 0-cost guys to get the full effect though. +3/3 and Righteous could easily be enough to get you back into a game. This is another card that'd be fun to try and build a deck around. Good is probably my least favorite faction in Dark Draft though, so the loyalty factor is less than other factions.
After my analysis this is harder than I originally thought it was. I think I can rule out Justice Prevails and Force Field because if I want a Sage card I'd rather have Deadly Raid, and I just don't think Justice Prevails is as good of a "cheese" card as Deadly Raid too. I also really value removal though, so that favors Dark Offering and Demonic Rising. I think it comes down to Dark Offering and Deadly Raid. In this case I think I'd prefer my opponent not to have Deadly Raid, so I think I will go for that. I will be looking for ways to have multiple champions on the board so I can maximize its effectiveness, but I never mind going for the little 0-costers and token generators either. I'd hate to give my opponent Dark Offering, but I think it would hurt me less.
If I got this pack I think I'd go for Dark Offering and Demonic Rising for those sweet Evil loyalty triggers. Force Field would be decent too but I would value the increased Evil loyalty and the possible combos with the other cards.
What do you think? My last pack was quite controversial (well, for me, anyway), and it generated a lot of good discussion on Facebook. I hope this one does too. Until next time: Happy Gaming!
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