The Strategy

You’ll want to limit yourself to as few elements as possible, in order to increase your deck’s reliability. Four is probably as low as you can reasonably go with four packs, but you’ll want one or two “main” elements and the rest as your “splash” rather than an equal split.

Having the biggest Forward on the field puts you in a great position. Most sets will have a lot of trouble removing a 9k body. If you can land one, you put a lot of pressure on your opponent to come up with an answer that doesn’t cost them more CP than you paid. This also means that finding efficient ways to deal with your opponent’s big bodies is very helpful.

When possible, try to pick cards that are good on their own; Synergy can be hard to come by. Cards which care about Category tend to be easier to enable than cards which care about Job or Card Name. Once you have a couple cards that work together, you may change your priorities to focus on that synergy, as having lots of parts that work together is better than just two or three.

Try to prioritize the 3Bs. Not the Better Business Bureau, but Bombs, Breaks, and Bodies. Bombs are your high powered cards that can end the game on their own, often these will be your Heroes and Legends, but some Rares reach this level. Breaks refers to removal, even if it doesn’t technically break a character. Bounce effects, remove from game effects, power subtraction, and direct damage fit into this category, anything that can get rid of your opponent’s problem cards. For Bodies, make sure you have a healthy amount of Forwards, or Monsters that can Forwardify themselves. Big bodies are better, but since all Forwards deal the same amount of damage to players, even small powers are relevant if you can clear the way with your Bombs and Breaks.

Its tough to find a balance on when to settle on your elements. Typically you want to play whatever your first picks were, but be willing to abandon them if no more good cards of those elements are available. It really helps to be in whichever elements are getting passed to you in the end of the pack, as you don’t want to be stuck getting unplayables. Try to see what elements are most represented, as that will give you an idea of what other drafters aren’t taking.