These are the basics to the wonderful world of limited in VS! I know this stuff has been done to death, but I'd like to keep a running tab, updated with each set about the amazing fun and challenge that is VS limited play.

To those who have not played many other CCG's, the term "limited" may be foreign. Limited play is comprised at the moment of just Sealed Deck and standard Drafting. Limited is not restricted to these two formats but these are the only ones currently sanctioned at this moment by UDE.

Sealed Deck:
A sealed deck event can be done with as low as 2 to up to 1000's of players. This does not have to be done at an official event, and requires only 5 packs (again, at a sanctioned event) for each person playing. These 5 packs are opened and 30 card deck (minimum) is constructed out of these cards. This deck is then played with in games, much like constructed to determine a winner.

Draft:
This can be done with as little as 2 players, but is recommended to have a minimum 4. The ideal VS. System draft comprises of 8 players with 3 packs each. They sit down at a table and open a single pack. Once this pack is opened they take a single card from it, and put down the pack and pass it to the left. This process is repeated for every card in the pack. After the first packs are completely empty, each player reviews his cards and opens their 2nd pack which is then picked from in the same fashion but passed to the right. Again, the 3rd pack is the same but once again passed to the left of the player. When finished, each player creates a (minimum) 30 card deck and tries to win 1v1 games of Vs with these decks.

Now with the definitions out of the way, I hope to help you guys, both new, inexperienced, intermediates or even advanced improve their limited play. I hope my experience in most of the sets out can help you understand limited better, and just have more fun playing it!

Now, onto some general advice:

-In both draft and sealed deck, it is advisable that you do not come into the event expecting to be playing a certain team, especially not in sealed. At advanced levels of draft, and depending on the set, drafting certain teams of "archetypes" if you will becomes more advisable.

(An archetype is really a themed deck. Though it is nearly impossible to draft the exact same deck twice, drafting a "faces of evil" deck is quite possible. Though unique, each one has the same goal)


-Always play 30 cards... ALWAYS. 31-32 cards is tolerable depending, but you probably have an extra junky card or two you can cut.

-Play 19-21 Characters and 9-11 Other, including plot twists locations and equipment.

-Character Breakdown is as follows in the basic Curve deck (both draft and sealed):
1 and 2: 3
3: 4
4: 4
5: 3
6: 3
7: 2
8: 1
9+: Very likely unplayable


3+4+4+3+3+2+1=20.
Depending on your card pool, it is advisable to play nothing above 6, with many 1-3 cost characters. Decks like these seem to be more prominent in newer sets with key examples being Faces of Evil in Avengers draft/sealed and perhaps JLI/IG in the DJL set (though I'm not sure how effective this is yet). A general off curve deck planning to win on 6 can look something like this:

1 and 2: 5-9
3: 4-5
4: 4-5
5: 2-4
6: 1-2
7+:0-1

The general consesus of how many copies to play of each drop varies depending on card pool and set, but these are the general guidelines you should keep in mind while either drafting or making a sealed deck.

-Now, what makes a character better then another? Ignoring team affiliations the main goodness of a character can be determined by how large he is. For example, a 4 drop 9/9 is much better then a 7/7 with a mediocre ability and range (for a real example, ignoring team, Thing, Ben Grimm is a much better 3 drop in limited then a Doom-Bot. Even If I was playing doom, it is very likely I'd still be playing Thing, Ben Grimm being that his stats are simply amazing).

It is not impossible for a character with average or below average stats to be the best drop for that cost, and a good example of this is Gorilla Grodd who seems to be dominating Justice League set as a whole. He is just a slightly above average 13/12 with range but his ability is huge, by pretty much getting a huge boost in stats on your side of the table compared to your opponents and gives board advantage (you+0, him: -1). Other good Characters are the likes of that 7/7 for 4 that gives +2 atk to all your lower cost attackers in Avengers, as well as that 8/5 for 4 Hawkeye that stuns up to 2 cost of characters (simply awesome against the faces of evil archetype that is so prominent).

Depending on someones stats, even if they are off team it is sometimes a must splash ( a splash is when you play a character that is not of your main team(s) in your deck). A great example was Man Of Steel drafting with Big Barda, a 6 drop 12/12 that for half your life became a 16/16 flight range beast! She was a must play in any deck and a top pick in draft, very rare for characters at that time (more on that..)

-Before I get into what makes a good plottwist, I must say that Plottwists are often more important then characters of the same level of excellence in draft, as they are generally team-stamped and are what usually decide what gets stunned. That said, the best types of plot twists honestly depend on the set. IN the Green lanterns expansion, though KO effects were still awesome, they are not nearly amazing as Death trap is in Justice League. In justice league, with more of a focus on curve strategies compared to green lantern, and it being one of the only KO effects in the set (that I know of), Death trap is simply a fearsome card. In a set like avengers, it seems that attack pumps like Windstorm and Heroes in reserve are dominant, and they always will be highly playable in any limited format (or so I speculate). +2 attack on the attack or defence can mean a mutual stun or a stun up the curve, which gives you board advantage and endurance advantage that your opponent might not be expecting. Board advantage is the most important thing in limited, and the value of attack pumps and KO effects of plottwists/locations show this. Equipment are the oddball, as in some archetypes (squadron supreme/avengers reservist) they are awesome, but otherwise I haven't had much sucess with them in a deck. The general consensus is if you're playing a curve based deck and the equipment cost is 1 or more without a reliable way to lower their cost, they are pretty much unplayable. On the flip side, burn cards are nearly worthless, at least in my eyes, as they seem to be very situational and not burn for as much as you'd like, nor give you board advantage (again, important!). Though it does seem like the new "win on turn 6" decks are pretty cool with these burn cards ,I am yet to be convinced that they are playable. None the less, even in drafting an off curve aggresive deck I Believe everyone can agree that KO and +atk/+def effects are still far superior to their burning counterparts. Other great plottwists are those that stop stuns specifically. I just loved that one in green lantern with will power in the right deck!


Up and coming: Formations, team strength, how to make the deck quickly, card evaluation (draft), card evaluation (sealed), team evaluation (draft+sealed), questions answered, filling out decklists and more (?)


Please, any questions and/or comments are highly appreciated, as I'm trying to give some people the footing in limited that will get them to have as much fun as I am having with it!

Warning: All opinions are my own and are of no way VS. Gospel. Please, if you do not like me then do not take this too seriously, as my limited skills are not as great as some of the 9-0 pro's (here's looking at you Tatar and De Rosa!) but I do believe I'm a very good drafter, if not a decent sealed player.

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Good stuff. Nothing ground-breaking, but it's a solid compilation of all those basic nuggets of beginning draft & sealed goodness that've been tossed around before.

Equipment in this set and Avengers both shake up the '1+ cost = unplayable' formula a bit, for different reasons, I've noticed. The Avengers equipment often let you chuck them for other bonuses, and the Framistat rewarded under-dropping on-init or just exhausting a dead weight defender off-init. In the JLA set, some of the 1-cost equipment cards are just fat. Steel can get them out for free, the Flare Gun rewards an early under-drop for a transferable +3 ATK each turn. The other two (Trident & Stone) seem to be tools for fixing under-drops in limited more than anything else. If you get one with Hawkgirl or Booster Gold, they can be decent plays in lieu of a character searcher you mightn't get. Something to consider for deck cards #29 or 30, if nothing else. ^_^

I commented on reliable ways to get them out for free, but in general if it costs 1 it's pretty bad. Depending on characters though, they can be pretty cool..

True enough. Just wanted to point out the situations where they can be made cheaper or made useful.

Oh, and one other thing. The burn of Die For Darkseid! can be good in the JLA set for two reasons; one is how big it can be in the mid-game when you're going to lose a character anyhow. The other... it bones a Gorilla Grodd player so hard if you KO the target of his effect... lose your 7 and take 6 while I lose my 6? Sounds like a winner to me. ^_^ It's not a primary pick, but an acceptable final card if you don't have any other stand-out picks.

Again true, but I really doubt I'd play it as anything other then the 30th card...

Hawkeye (4) is an 8/5. Gorilla Grodd is a 13/12.

Good article. Problem with draft articles is that different sets can vary greatly in how you draft. I'd really love to see a JLA draft article heh.

I'll get to that when I get another draft or two down for it.

Pretty much, but depending on what the card pool looks like, it could end up being a handy #30. I'd grab one late in a pack when I've seen a couple of Grodds if I'm not grabbing him myself (Tas. Devil and M. Manhunter each being 5-drops I'd rather keep than KO to him).

The only thing you need to know about JLA draft is MONKEYS.

Yeah, 6 drop Gorilla is the big barda of the set without seeing a deathtrap/missing 7.