I participated in my first Altered TCG draft at The Missing Piece in West Seattle on November 17th. ## The Scene: The draft consisted of 8 people, one pod around the large wooden table the store calls Mecatol Rex. The draft has 4 packs, each deck can be up to 3 colors and have at least 30 cards including the hero (which has to match a color in the deck). Hero's are not necessary but a deck without the free value of a hero sounds terrible. ## Mid Draft Thoughts: In pack one, I opened a unique! ![[adaUnique.jpg | center | 300]] The effect seems ok, I could see this played in a [Afanas and Senka](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_03_C) for a good creature body and the ability to return creatures and stuff from the reserve. The best parts have to be the big blue stat and the after you from the reserve. For 2 mana, overall its OK but not game breaking. Throughout the draft I saw red and and the low down purple removal open. My opponents on my left and right were both leveraging hard on green cards, so I avoided that at all costs. I found Afanas and Senka and took that, thinking that the ability in conjunction with the red Boost strategies would give me a lot of room to grow. The other 3 packs all had good rares, including a rare red [Sun Wukong](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_03_C) for my deck. I felt bad about leaving a rare [Hydracaena](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_COREKS_B_MU_22_R1) for my green opponents to grab in pack 3 but hate drafting in pick one seemed like a bad move. In the end, I had a mostly Bravos-Ysmir deck splashing some Lyra cards mostly comprising of removal/[Ride the Bifrost](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_LY_28_R1). I only found one common [Kadigiran Mage-Dancer](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_07_C), more of those would have been incredible for this deck with the amount of boost cards available. ## Round 1 Opponent on [Basira and Kaizaimon](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_BR_03_C)with a Lyra-Bravos-Muna deck Early on I have realized my curve is mostly 3-4, making multiple plays of small creatures impossible and important for Afanas. A combination of the creature getting boosts from spells and my hero led to a great turn pushing multiple expiditions. However, I could not get through my opponent ramping and dropping big stuff. I find Sabotage to be really good, removes the creature bombs from happening twice. Afanas also seemed to struggle when I had ONLY spells or ONLY creatures in my hand. ## Round 2 Opponent was on mostly green with a splash of blue with [Teija and Nauraa](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_MU_01_C) In my opening hand was an early rare Sun Wukong. After reach of us getting a few expedition wins, the locations matched up well for me to bring back the Sun Wukong over and over to lock down the brown counting locations. My opponent eventually locked down the hero lane for green and blue towards the end of the gam but having more green on the other side ended the game. Sun Wukong became an inevitability only really works later in the game with the 4 mana cost. Any time earlier, you cant double cast the creature with some spell backup. But after 7 mana, you can really start going with that card. ## Round 3 Oopponent was Yzmir-Bravos-Axiom with [Treyst and Rossum](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_AX_02_C) This was a tight game. I had the haven bounder to remove my opponents early recursion and ways to boost and remove fleeting to keep it coming back. As well, Kadigiran Mage-Dancer with [Physical Training](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_BR_26_C) and my hero led to some amazing turns with a giant, unbeatable creature. Same thing went for a back to back red [Lady of the Lake](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_09_R2) and my unique Ada Lovelace helped lock down my opponent trying to leave an only blue location. However, my opponent sent me back one location with their [Sakarabru](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_18_C) and a [Small Step, Giant Leap](https://www.altered.gg/cards/ALT_CORE_B_YZ_25_C) closed their gap and secured them the win. ## Summary Overall, the draft felt very fun. My unique was good for moments when i wanted to lock down a blue location with the stat line. The actual text on the card did not help me very much. I never saw other players uniques but the prospect of a unique coming up made the draft exciting (in card selection and during gameplay). Same thng with the rares that rotated though they were good, the colors may not matter. I am looking forward to my next draft, hopefully I place for a prize victory :)