The fourth annual Russian National Championships were held on October 11th in Moscow, Russia! Andrey Gusev took first place, making it his first major event victory in the Continuing Committee era. Like the 2014 Russian Regional, this event was held in the experimental Delphic Draft format. This mode combines a set of 5 preconstructed starters (virtual starters this year, transwarp starters last year) combined with randomized boosters made from a carefully selected pool of cards intended to work specifically with those starters. Three boosters per player are passed around until they're gone, and then the championship begins!
So, this Delphic Draft looks like a fun and interesting format. I see that the options for virtual starters this year were Romulan, Bajoran, DS9 Earth, Ferengi and Maquis. Did you have any choice in which starter you got? Were the Romulans the ones you wanted? Were there any decks that you didn't want to get? Comparing the deck you finished with to the Romulan virtual starter, I see you picked up a good number of useful cards. What were your drafting priorities? Were you going for tough dilemmas, solid personnel, or easy missions first? Of course, drafting isn't just about getting what you want; its also about keeping your opponents from getting what they want. Were there any cards that you drafted just to keep them out of other players' hands? Even some cards that you intend to use when drafting don't make it in the final deck. What are some tough deck-building decisions you had to make? Did you make any changes during the event? The event doesn't end once the deck is drafted and built, you still get to play it! What was the deck's toughest match-up? Did you find any surprising strengths or weaknesses of the deck through playing it? Do you have anything else to say about the deck or your experience playing it? |
Thanks Andrey! Definitely an interesting sealed format to keep an eye on if you're looking to run a draft event of your own. I'm interested to see what (if any) changes we'll see if and when there's an event that uses it next year. And when that event happens, you'll hear about it here on... The Road to Worlds!
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