Megacorp draft at Rabblemaster Games
So we ran one of these. Turnout sucked, because it was only the store regulars who bothered to show up for it, but those who took the time to show up had a great time, and we had more than a few interesting matches.
I previously wrote a guide to drafting Megacorp, after my first experience going 0-3 with a deck full of unplayable cards. We'll now take a look at how well I followed my own advice, and compare my deck with the draft winner's deck - and yes, it wasn't me this time either, although I put up a respectable 2-1 record - to see what was good, bad and indifferent about each of the decks and corresponding card choices.
First, a minor draft run-down, featuring the picks of yours truly.
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| Boom! AHAHAHAHA...wait, it costs HOW much? It's not usable immediately either This isn't where you want to be in draft! |
Pack 1, pick 1: a choice between Thermonuclear Warhead and Corp Advisor...well, you'll notice the decklist doesn't include a Thermonuclear Warhead. I of course took the Corp Advisor with an utter lack of ceremony, because card advantage is great, and passed the pack onto Jaydn on the left. Amri, sitting opposite, has taken a founder for his first pick - this could spell disaster, if it's the virtually un-killable Azrielle or the searching machine Luke Seti. But I'll have to wait and see during our matchup!
Pack 1, pick 2: a choice between Thermonuclear Warhead, wisely overlooked by Jack sitting on my right, and Kickback - I'll take the cheap unethical removal over the almost-unplayable explosion almost every time; this one was no exception.
Pack 1, pick 3: Anubian Tracker vs. any number of other cards and I'm almost always going to take the Tracker. Dash Dingo is still a ridiculous card, despite the draft-searching being far less than the constructed, and while it's a little early in the process to hate-draft, if that founder Amri opened is Luke Seti, his deck will approach unbeatable with a Tracker alongside Seti, while if I have a tracker in play opposing Luke, that bodes well for my chances in the match. Any of my own search will push it over the top. Dingo is mine!
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| Hentai.jpg |
Pack, 1, pick 4: Here I've taken a Tentacle Symbiote. This isn't a card I've discussed previously, as much of my writing has been constructed-based and it's not really a constructed-quality card, but it can be a great piece of removal if bonded to an appropriate character. The card alters the stats of what it is bonded to, -1 EQ and +1 BQ, and gives it the ability to engage in order to 'fight' an opposing character, i.e. each deals damage equal to any given stat to the other, and the other hits back. Similarly to Magic, this sort of ability tends to be relegated to limited play, but it is still a potent ability, and obviously here it needs to be played on a high-BQ character, so I'm leaning towards Raama for my draft founder, but it's still early - The Glass Man would suit the current card pool just as well, and would trigger Dash Dingo as he searches for a Kickback. Founder choice may become clearer as the draft goes on, but it's something to keep in mind at all times.
In general, my advice for founder choice, if you don't open your own, is:
1) Illithis, Gnost Prophet if your deck includes two or more #psychic #assault cards
2) The Glass Man if your deck includes two or more #moral #assault cards
3) Heracles, Senior Counsel if your deck is playing a long, defensive game
4) otherwise Raama, Incarnate Hierarch for survivability purposes
The draft continued in this vein, with expensive cards being overlooked in favour of cheap playable characters and removal. That's not to say, however, that all the expensive cards were ignored. I picked up one of those explosions pick six, after all the good cards in the pack were gone, and scrounged a late Tidal Wave out of pack 3. Pack 2 saw an Acrobatic Takedown - a great way for melee characters, such as Anubian Tracker, to increase their effectiveness - come across my picks, plus a Tobias Maschinekraft E5 Grenadier, which is one of the better weapons in draft, because of the splash damage effect. Jack opened a founder in pack two, so there will likely be two powerful decks going around to deal with, but I didn't note any other major screaming or outpourings of happiness, so hopefully there aren't too many other "bombs" floating around. But, the guys might just have great poker faces - it's hard to tell
Here's the second-place decklist, mine:
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| Generically powerful, but with only minor synergy with the rest of the deck, Raamaa was my founder of choice for this draft |
2x Kickback
1x Tidal Wave
1x Acrobatic Takedown
1x Grow Wings
1x Incarnate Neonate
1x Gleeful Seduction
1x Tobias Maschinekraft E5 Grenadier
1x Natural Death
1x Tech Vassal
2x Corp Advisor
1x Incarnate Inheritor
1x Corp Citizen
1x Kurzweil Cultist
1x Bomber Drone
1x Harborstreet Punks
1x Attack of Opportunity
1x Anubian Tracker
Here's the first place decklist - Amri's:
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| This was the founder Amri opened. Bad news for the rest of the drafters; she's an utter "bomb rare" that takes over games |
1x Tactical Vassal
1x Corp Consultant
1x Student Protestors
1x Horizon Riot Control Squad
2x Gnost Layman
1x Incarnate Neonate
2x Blue Chip Shares
1x Incarnate Bond
1x Crowdfunding
3x Critical hit
1x Horizon Advanced Restraints
1x Jericho Retrofit Ranger XIII
1x Jericho Retrofit SY-I Slinger
1x Guided Munitions
1x Public Holiday
1x Lunasys Battle Tank MK1
The founder he opened wasn't Luke Seti, but rather the tough-as-a-box-of-rocks Chi, Corp Socialite - and it appears to have shaped his draft choices along the way. It also makes me glad to have picked up the Anubian Tracker and two Corp Advisors, as they would have made the deck unstoppable...even more so. Amri clearly understands the importance of low-cost threats when drafting Megacorp; like my draft offering, his deck is filled with efficient characters like Student Protestors, Incarnate Neonate, Gnost Layman and the tough-to-combat Horizon Riot Control Squad, who - if you'll recall my last article - should be a very high pick in draft because it is almost impossible to kill when it goes on the offensive. But the differences in the other cards make the two decks play very differently. I'll outline this a bit for you below.
My deck, despite my advice last time, is still quite removal-heavy. This is the way I like to play constructed - heavy on answers, light on threats - and it always bleeds through to my draft play. Here the deck includes 2x Kickback, Tentacle Symbiote, Gleeful Seduction, Natural Death and Tidal Wave; 30% removal to 70% other cards is probably far too high a ratio for any sort of draft. Obviously a bit of a weakness I need to work on, but in this case, it directs the style of play for my deck; play the threats down, remove your opponent's problem characters, and defeat their business with whatever characters remain after the dust settles. The added draw of Corp Advisor should help keep the hand full, so I have those answers and characters when I need them.
Amri's deck is quite different. His characters aren't meant to win the game for him, but rather buy him time to get his win-condition online, because this is a deck with a plan. The scary thing, however, is that he doesn't really require a lot of time! The deck can win as early as the second turn thanks to the ridiculous stats of Chi, Corp Socialite - effectively, she's 4/4/4/4 if you have any IQ free to pay for her ability. His goal is to boost Chi's EQ stat to five, preferably on the first turn, by attacking basically anything. On the next turn, Chi will challenge the opposing business, which is usually engaged from paying trait costs on the opponent's first turn, and score a Critical Hit for ten damage.
He certainly got me with it in the final match!
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| Stops retaliation. Great stats/cost ratio. An unchecked Horizon Riot Control Squad can just straight-up take over games |
The strength of a deck with a game-plan, rather than just a collection of generically good cards, cannot be overstated. My deck is close to what a "good" draft deck in Megacorp should turn out like - but it lost (and horribly) to the single-minded focus of Amri's deck, powered by Chi, Corp Socialite and three Critical Hits. He deserved his top finish, and is looking to establish himself on the charts as one of the best players of Megacorp in the state!
Keep your eyes on Rabblemaster Games for more draft reports and upcoming constructed and draft tournaments as we try to drive Megacorp's popularity up to the point where it takes on a life of its own. Give it a shot today - the boss will be more than happy to take you through a few games in-store.
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