This Weekend I Placed 4th of 17 in a Dice Masters Draft

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A few weeks ago a friend from work introduced me to a game he had newly purchased called Dice Masters.  We typically play EDH or other card games like Star Wars or Star Realms, so the idea of a dice based game intrigued me.  He had bought the Dungeons and Dragons set for Dice Masters, so that’s what we played. After I got the hang of it I figured I’d buy in too, so I ordered a Marvel Starter Set from Amazon.  Ironically enough as of the time I’m writing this I’m still waiting for that set to arrive, but that’s a whole other story…

So anyway, back-story almost done.  About a week ago the friend that from work, who I’ve been playing games with during our lunch breaks for months now, informed me that our local game shop, Mr. Nice Guy Games, was hosting a Dice Masters “rainbow draft”.  This peaked my interest as drafts are a great way for newbies to actually stand a chance against pros. No one can drop a few hundred bucks to build an near unstoppable deck in draft; its a much more level playing field.  He let me know that the draft would be using the DC Comic’s Justice League set.  The day after he told me this, and after waiting about a week for my Marvel Starter Set to arrive, I went out and bought the DC Comic’s Starter Set and some booster packs to supplement it with.   I figured if I was going to draft I should at least get a feel for how the DC characters play.  Looking back I’m pretty happy things worked out the way they did because I actually really like the DC set, and being a Marvel guy I’d have likely ignored the DC set all together had my Marvel Starter Set arrived on time.  I only got to play against my friend with my newly constructed DC deck once or twice before the draft, but it was enough to let me know that I’d really enjoy drafting it.

Fast forward to this weekend, the draft was finally here! I was pretty nervous at first as there were definitely some more experienced players there, but I was relived to see some newbies like myself too.  We drafted according to the rules and before long I had the following deck constructed:

  • Aquaman: King of Atlantis
  • Firestorm: Atom Rearranger
  • Katana: Outsider
  • Green Lantern: Willpower
  • Black Canary: Crime-Fighter
  • The Joker: Clown Prince of Crime
  • Brainiac: Terror of Kandor
  • Harley Quinn: Femme Fatale
  • Pandora’s Box: Trinity War
  • Save Civilians: Basic Action Card

Katana was my bread and butter and worked really well with Pandora’s Box.

I won my first game rather easily, what a relief!  The second game I should have lost but my opponent, a friend of mine, made a fatal mistake and I made him pay for it by hitting him with 15 damage the following turn! The final score was 2-0 in that one; talk about a nail biter! The third match I got beat up on honestly.  My opponent simply had a better deck than I did and I was unable to deal with a constant barrage of 8/8 Supermans.   With no villains on my opponent’s side to buff my Katana I was defeated rather handily.

Lucky for me my 2-1 performance was enough to make it into the final four!  The final four got at least 9 packs in prizes so I was pretty psyched 🙂

I lost my match in the final 4 and ended up taking 4th place out of 17 contenders. I played against a great competitor who utilized a pawn-wall strategy that I just couldn’t deal with.  I managed to get him down to 1 or 2 life, but I just couldn’t pull off the win fast enough.  He played well and deserved the win; he ended up placing 2nd overall.

His deck consisted of:

  • Constantine: Con Artist
  • Cheetah: Cursed Archaeologist
  • Black Manta: David
  • Aquaman: King of Atlantis
  • Batman™: The Caped Crusader
  • The Flash: Barry Allen
  • Shazam!: Wisdom of Solomon
  • Wonder Woman: Princess Diana
  • Save Civilians: Basic Action Card
  • Take That, Villain!: Basic Action Card

Here’s a video of our final four battle that was captured at the event

I left the draft with a ton of boosters (I may have bought a bunch when I was there in addition to the packs I drafted and won), and a big smile on my face.  The event was a ton of fun, and even if I had lost every game I still would have learned a lot and probably enjoyed it.  I’m very much looking forward to the next Dice Masters draft, especially if it will be with the DC set!