Gen Con 2010 Draft

Friday morning was the draft event.  Eighteen players showed up to draft from Six Guns & Shurikens, Critical Shift, and Empire of Evil.  Seven boosters were drafted with two foundation pods and one Feng Shui pod being provided after the draft.  The structure of the draft was somewhat disappointing.  We drafted in groups of three, which meant you were sure to get stuck with lots of cards out of the main factions you were drafting.  You would also see a much smaller card pool from which to draft.  I would have preferred to draft in groups of six.  The second problem was that the tournament rounds were setup as two separate groups of nine players.  So the nine players of group A never played against the nine players of group B.  It gave the feeling that even though we could not play all other players, you could not control your destiny.  At least there were enough players within each group so that you never played against the same opponent more than once.  A more personal annoyance was that the first round of games was with the same three people with whom you drafted.  You pretty much knew what you were in for the first round.  In draft I expect a greater element of surprise.

I drafted Jammer / Hand and when I was done found that I had good amount of Architect as well.

Draft Deck:

Foundation (11):
Kamikaze Cosmonauts
Suicide Squad
Edge Warrior x2
Mad Scientist x2 (I am fuzzy on this foundation,  It's listed to be in Pods but I don't remember)
Rebel without a Cause
Dump Warrior x2
Willow Warriors
Celestials

Characters (10):
Dr. Quentin Higginsbotham
Tunnel King
Turing Machine
Potemkin's Brigade
Andy Di
Monkey Pirates
Cyborg Mermaid
Johnny Amok
Jayne Insane
Shihong

Events (9):
Isothermal Zodiac x2
Out of the Barrel x3
Ape Shall Kill Ape
Auspicious Thermite
The Willow Bends... x2

States (7):
Fingertip Razors
Buzzsaw Arm
Explosive Motorcycle
Steam-Powered Tricycle
Single-Action Devolver
Shurikens
Simple Paper Fan

Sites (2):
Hot Zone
Mountain Monastery

FSS(10):
Ancient Stone Arch
University Library
Forgotten Temple
Moon Base
Mirrored Lake
Arctic Fortress
Endless Corridor
Grove of Willows
Family Home
Blessed Orchard

I only won one of the four round I played in.  The first round Josh Shadowy Mentored my Turing Machine (which I should have seen coming).  After that he was able to push ahead to win.  The second round, I got SEVEN power from an attack on my Grove of Willows.  Some how, I squandered that advantage, and failed to win.  The third round Shihong attacked as time was called an just took the last site needed for the win.  I am drawing a complete blank on the fourth and final round.

Empire of Evil Collation

Here is the list of cards by booster pack that I got from my box of Empire of Evil:

Pack 1

Willow Warriors
Street Racers
Difficulty at the End of Things
Fingertip Razors
Street Doc
Desperate Measures
Superior Tactics
Tattooed Man
Tentacles of the Squid
The Alabaster King

Pack 2
Cocktail Waiter
Unholy Legionnaires
CDCA Spies
Suicide Squad
Data Mining
Bending Chi
Thingshot
Uncertainty Spirit
Weeping Willows
The Alabaster Palace

Pack 3
Ancient Stone Arch
Arcanowave Feedback
Back in Black
Bamboo Forest
Combat Engineer
Bandolier of Throwing Knives
Wriggling Skin Suit
36-Legged Horror!
Abomination Serum
Alexandre Chen

Pack 4
Blue Meditation
Brave Villagers
Bending Chi
CDCA Spies
Cocktail Waiters
Compromised Security
Abysmal Behemoth
Andy Di
Auspicious Thermite
Baron Volund

Pack 5
Consuming Darkness
Data Mining
Desperate Measures
Diffuculty at the End of Things
Echo Spirit
Fingertip Razors
Awesome Presence
The Blood of Heroes
Blue Master
The Shangshu Mansion

Pack 6
Escalation
Fire Engineers
The Great Wall
Prefect's Guard
Imperial Sycophants
Mirrored Lake
Bonebow Army
Mars Program Executive
Delaying Tactics
The Becoming

Pack 7
Mountain Monastery
NeoBuro Field Medic
Netherworld Librarian
Nomad Army
Origami Handguns
Out of the Barrel
Drowning in Blood
Dr. Hans Wulfjaeger
Embrace of the Snake
Damon Winter

Pack 8
The Price of Progress
Red Tape Assault
Spartan Warriors
Stoic Wanderer
Stolen Thunder
Street Doc
Endless Corridor
Explosive Motorcycle
Fire Falx
Dao Biotech Headquarters

Pack 9
Street Racers
Tunnel King
Suicide Squad
Under the Knife
Unholy Legionnaires
Vitality Shunt
Hell Hound
Heroic Converts
Hunger of the Jackal
Darkness Golem

Pack 10
Underworld Contacts
Equal Opportunity Butt Kicking!
Willow Warriors
Wisdon of the Owl
The Withering of Souls
Withering Touch
Martyr's Tomb
Synchronic Beam Emitter
Meditative Flight
Gnarled Annihilator

Pack 11
Out of the Barrel
Mirrored Lake
Origami Handguns
The Withering of Souls
Back in Black
Whelps
Paradox Archives
Potemin's Brigade
Preserving Chi
Hiroshi Kata

Pack 12
Whelps
Zen Ritualist
Echo Spirit
Spartan Warriors
Stoic Wanderer
Imperial Sycophants
Mountain Hermit
Mountain Sanctuary
Overzeolous Assassins
Hanging Gardens

Pack 13

Echo Spirit
Escalation
Fingertip Razors
Fire Engineers
The Great Wall
Prefect's Guard
Abysmal Behemoth
Alpine Squad
Andi Di
Commandant Barkhorn

Pack 14
Imperial Sycophants
Mirrored Lake
Mountain Monastery
NeoBuro Field Medic
Netherworld Librarian
Origami Handguns
Auspicious Thermite
Awesome Presence
The Blood of Heroes
The Petrified Man

Pack 15
Nomad Army
Out of the Barrel
The Price of Progress
Red Tape Assault
Spartan Warriors
Stoic Wanderer
Blue Master
Bonebow Army
Mars Program Executive
Platinum Upgrade

Pack 16
Stolen Thunder
Street Doc
Street Racers
Suicide Squad
Tunnel King
Under the Knife
Delaying Tactics
Dr. Hans Wulfjaeger
Drowning in Blood
Shihong

Pack 17
Unholy Legionnaires
Vitality Shunt
Underworld Contacts
Equal Opportunity Butt Kicking!
Willow Warriors
Wisdon of the Owl
Embrace of the Snake
Endless Corridor
Explosive Motorcycle
The She-Wolf

Pack 18
The Withering of Souls
Whelps
Withering Touch
Zen Ritualist
Echo Spirit
Spartan Warriors
Fire Falx
Hell Hound
Heroic Converts
The Spirit of Kongxiangsi

Pack 19
Stoic Wanderer
Imperial Sycophants
Out of the Barrel
Mirrored Lake
Origami Handguns
Back in Black
Hunger of the Jackal
Martyr's Tomb
Synchronic Beam Emitter
Underworld Coronation

Pack 20
The Withering of Souls
Whelps
Vitality Shunt
Ancient Stone Arch
Zen Ritualist
The Price of Progress
Meditative Flight
Mountain Hermit
Mountain Sanctuary
The Wireless

Pack 21
The Great Wall
Mountain Monastery
Consuming Darkness
Under the Knife
Blue Meditation
Tunnel King
Overzealous Assassins
Paradox Archives
Potemkin's Brigade
The Wrath of Kong

Pack 22
Compromised Security
Red Tape Assault
Nomad Army
Escalation
Brave Villagers
Bandolier of Throwing Knives
Preserving Chi
Probability Shift
Resistance in Numbers
Xin Ji Yang

Pack 23
Prefect's Guard
Withering Touch
Arcanowave Feedback
Stolen Thunder
Equal Opportunity Butt Kicking!
Netherworld Librarian
Secret Warrior Training Base
Shadow Seductress
Skin and Darkness Hunter
Yuan Chonguan

Pack 24
Combat Engineer
NeoBuro Field Medic
Underworld Contacts
Wisdom of the Owl
Fire Engineers
Bamboo Forest
Smoke and Mirrors
Spy Network
Strength of the Land
Akamatsu Mitsusuke

So first impressions: Good distribution of commons (2-4 each), uncommons (1-2 each) and no duplicate rares.  This seems all good.  This is great if everyone is buying by the box.  The problem is in the details.  The cards are with some deviations in alphabetical order.  If display boxes are opened for purchase or draft events, the card selection can be predicted with some accuracy.  If there is a specific rare that you want, buy the top booster in the box.  Open it up and look at the rare.  Count down the necessary number of boosters and buy the rare you want (or common or uncommon).  With drafting, you will have an idea of the other cards that will be available for draft for yourself and your opponents. 

This shouldn't be too big of a problem since almost all sales will be via Z-man or Potomac Distribution by the box.  Draft events are mostly for fun without significant prizes available, so the advantage someone gets from knowledge of the card pool really will not make much difference in the long run.  And with some forethought, draft organizers should randomize the boosters from a box before handing out packs.