AKA..."WHO IS DRIVING CAH? OH MY GOD BEAR IS DRIVING CAH!!!"

Warning - this is LOOOONG. No, like, really this time. Epic, even. So big I had to cut it up into 3 parts. Can't say I didn't warn you.

But it's SO worth it.

Recently, the Mid-West Coast Championships took place and it was a wild and hilariously entertaining weekend, filled with many exciting games with most of the top players in the United States in attendance, including both of our World Champions to date and the US National Champion and Team Worlds Champion (2 of the 3 members representing New York). Along with UFS itself, the rest of my trip was loaded with jokes, interesting conversations with people I already knew and those I was fortunate enough to meet for the first time, and then usually more jokes. Also, I was molested at one point. But we will get to that all in good time.

The irony is, were it not for a lucky break, I would not have been able to attend the MWCC at all. I had just started a new job and my schedule was not fully fleshed out. However, being a floor manager has its perks. I have 3 assistant mangers on a rotating schedule and one of them wanted some more hours for the week. Conveniently enough, she's the best of the lot so I went with it (admittedly, my own selfish reasons being the primary factor). So suddenly I was able to attend but with no teammates since Scubadude had already made plans to team with James Hata and our host for the trip, Dani Carpenter. Thankfully, he put me in contact with Derrick Demerath, who I talked to for a week and was feeling pretty good about him based on his confidence with his Life Nakoruru deck. So with Derrick and Jeff Harpold and myself, Team "2 White Guys and an Indian" is formed. No seriously, that was what we went with.

Friday, April 18 - Travel and Testing

Anyway, so I meet up with Scuba at the airport since our departure times are roughly equal despite not being on the same flights. We agree to meet in Wisconsin. The flights I have are actually uneventful for once, which - if you've read my report on the visit to STG headquarters - you will understand is not usually the case. Despite the two layovers in Atlanta and Chicago, I land in Wisconsin on time and am left to wait as my hosts had some trouble arriving. Finally, the beatup old car that will be affectionately referred to as the DEATH VAN from now on arrives to pick me up. It's Stefan and Dani, our driver and host! And of course Omar Chavez, James Hata, and Scuba. Team DANI HOUSE, as we like to call it. I had met Dani before at Worlds and she was gracious enough to grant us all quarters in her sweet grandmother's house. Her mother, Dana, was also with us for the wekeend and she was terrific, probably the coolest "gamer mom" I have ever met.

Before heading there, however, we went to the local shop, Misty's, for a little card floppery first. It was close by and we all wanted to get some test games in. At this point I had no clue what I was playing in Teams but I had this All/Earth Astaroth deck that I really liked, with lots of anti-Evil options in the maindeck card mix and good aggro/defense capabilities and sideboarding into Zangief or Mr. Karate as appropriate. I've already posted the deck on the forums, you can check it out here . Since I hadn't played a game with it yet, I was anxious to get some games in. First up, Omar and his sick Voldo mill deck. Do you realize how stupid Revitalize is with him? I did, after I got him down to 7, he Revitalized, I got him down to 10 even after that (Astaroth SMASH!) and then proceeded to get rocked as I was unable to deal any damage that stuck and recurred Revit/Blind Stance kicked my deck out from under me. It was good game though and Omar commented that so far that was the most damage he had to take in one game, so I felt pretty good.

Ah, then the fun began. A marathon session of games with James, my nemesis. If you don't know the history, in tournament and casual matches up until a few weeks ago I was a stellar 0-9 vs. Mr. Hata. Then, I won a match against him in New York when I was visiting my sister with my Void Ibuki vs. Evil Akuma (which he complained about, btw, since it was Omar's deck - who plays with Tier One Akuma and ******* about it???), and my Earth Yi Shan battled to a hard fought draw vs. the Water Hata loop deck, which I still maintain I would have won if we hadn't had to leave King's Games early - he was at 2 and I was at 26 with Armored Defense active. Ah well. So, first up is Fire Akuma, which I figured would be a good test for Astaroth. Well, I learn that getting 2 Addes Syndicates out early kinda shuts Akuma up, and also Flying Cross Chops for 10 don't hurt either. I cleave him in half for 10 damage turn two and the other 10 the very next turn and that's that.

"Wow, that's the fastest I've ever beaten you in a game."
"Shut up. This deck sucks, help me build Sankuro."
"Sankuro?"
"Yes, SANKURO!!! Fred built it and it wrecks people so I want to rock it in teams."
"Sounds fun. Anything Fred does is good."

So we build it. The deck is based around getting Vanity into play ASAP either normally or through Clean Rematch, which effectively gives him 8 Vanitys. A lot of Fire stun attacks and Sankuro's massive pump tend to end your life quickly. So we build it, and in the first match against Astaroth he prevails 2-1, with me having a ludicrous 13 Dazed tokens on one point. Yeah, good luck with that whole "passing checks" thing. I win the rematch but just barely, so we both feel confident about our choices for Teams. After some deck tweaking, fitting in The Unbeatable and some Bleeding Internallys, I watch some other matches. Scuba and Stefan are locked in a furious back-and-forth war of Vega and then Xianghua vs. Dan while Omar is boring poor Dani and the rest of us to tears with his mill against Ibuki, despite milling himself out by accident one game. D'oh. Aside from that, Omar's deck looks scary good.

Then back to it. James decides he wants to test against commit effects, since they hamper Sankuro's token generating and screw with Vanity. Okay...I bust out my Life Nakoruru with sweet Anti-K'/Revenant's Calling tech and smash Sankuro to pieces. Chain Throw is fair less effective when it becomes just a 3M5 attack, no? Then James wants to test against decks with Roam the World. Okay...out comes the Void Ibuki and despite a match featuring atypically misplays all over the place from both of us, I come out ahead in a close one, 2-1.

"Man, why are we both sucking today?"
"I'm exhausted, I had to wake up at 3 am for my flight."
"Are you making excuses for losing? I was playing just as terrible in that last match. Forgetting to commit Vanity and all that."
"Alright, I'll give you the Ibuki and the Nako, but the Akuma match was a fluke."
"Sure, whatever you say."

We all ate a large quantity of pizza, a local NY-style place that was perfect, and talked about the tournament and what to expect. I mingled with some of the local players and played one of them. I sat down just as he flipped over...PROMO DHALSIM! I fell over laughing to his utter confusion and James looked over and cracked up too. And we asked what was wrong, I just said "Nothing, except you just made my day."

"Are you making fun of me?"
"No, I'm seriously thrilled, because Dhalsim is my favorite character, and I was going to build him off Death/Void for the tourney but I changed my mind at the last second."
"Really? I like Dhalsim too. Have you ever played with the other Dhalsims before?"
"Uh...I've had, uh, some experience with him, yes." (At this, James fell off his chair laughing and may have possibly died.)

Anyway, the match itself was over pretty quickly, I just set up too fast both games and BItter Rivals wrecked him either by pushing damage through or discarding Seichus. Astaroth's enhance against multiple copies is also quite good. After this, we spend some time talking about his card selection. I advocate Daily Routine, as always, We all head on out shortly after that and head towards Dani's duplex first, to see her enormously fat cat. I mean, Jared pre-Subway FAT. It kinda of rolls around. James also gets his finger slammed on and thankfully, no fracture. So the diversion passes and we reach DANI HOUSE and meet the family. James and I talk to Dana for a bit about the house and our personal history in competitive UFS so far - meaning I am forced to relive the ECC Final again. Hey, Pure of Heart, eat me. The others are testing down in the vast basement that is as cozy as it gets with a TV and everything, so Stefan, Omar, and I play Guitar Hero while giving James help finalizing Sankuro. I proceed to shatter Cities on Flame with Rock and Roll and then demolish Hangar 18 and Freebird by 100K each over the previous high score. Sorry Stefan, but GHII is my wheelhouse. We are all tired and it's 3 AM by now so we are shown our rooms - and I get the old school Star Wars room, with A New Hope bed spreads, a Darth Vader phone and best of all, an R2-D2 toy chest! Also, amazing vintage 70's red and blue shag carpeting. I suddenly feel 7 years old again, and this can't be a bad thing. Off to sleep, in a galaxy far far away...

Saturday, April 19 - Teams

We all wake up, excited for the games to begin, literally. Not one of us out-of-towners is running Evil, and we are all very happy about it. Stefan is going with All Dan but needs a team. Dani is the Evil Ibuki player but hey, I hear she's good. So can you blame her? Groggily, we all get ready and leave in the DEATH VAN for Lost City of Wonders, a good hour and a half away.

Now, when I say DEATH VAN, you may be wondering, how bad could it be? How much am I exaggerating? Well, let me tell you my friends that I was genuinely fearful for my life many times when riding in that horrifying vehicle from hell. This was compounded somewhat by the fact that Stefan drives like a maniac; driving in reverse for no reason, failing to break just a little too late, and all that good stuff. On the way there, I play a bunch of great stuff on the makeshift jukebox (Laptop + iPod = music system), and Omar and I discuss the greatness of Guns and Roses, Nirvana, and The Rolling Stones among others. I also make some random comments and quotes, as usual. One that cracks everyone up is the Clerks Animated Series reference, "Who is driving cah, OH MY GOD BEAR IS DRIVING CAH!" which becomes our official motto all week.

So we get to the store, and immediately our muffler falls off. Not kidding! Jonathan Ledezma, who came to the event and impressed us all with his humor/cardgame skillz, happens to be arriving there as well and cracks up laughing at us. He offers us a ride if we need it at the end of the night and I am REALLY tempted to sign up then and there but Stefan jury-rigs the **** thing so I hope and pray that we're all set. I get inside, meet Nick the TO, and hook up with my teammates and hash out the final builds of their decks. I must say, both are the nicest guys you'll ever meet and both share my sense of humor so it's all gravy. They are also open to suggestions on the decks, which is great since I know both Yun-Seong mill and Naks pretty well. We fit Daily Routine and some other random tech in Jeff's deck and naturally drop The Anti-K' and Revenant's Calling in Nako. My deck is all ready to go, excepting a last minute sideboard change (adding two Revitalize), so I hand Nick the registration, talk with him a little bit about organizing the tournament, and say hi to Matt Kohls, Jon Herr, and Paul Bittner, who I haven't seen since Worlds. It's great chilling with them and meeting Andrew Olexa and Jeremy Ray for the first time is a treat. Both are great guys, and great players, and already I fear their collaboration with Omar is a sure sign of the apocalypse. I also catch up with Brian Garber and Mack Rice, 2/3rds of Team Venture, the US Team Champions (their third member, Nathan Eiskant, was unable to attend. Soon pairings are up and we are ready to go!

Round 1 - vs. The 3 Hwongs (Mai, Ryu, and Ryu)

I guess they like their Ryu locally! This was Jack Chang's team, and the two Ryu players were fairly inexperienced. They take the Mai deck against Yun-Seong, I take the Ryu who gets a free momentum every turn, and Derrick ends up facing the other Ryu.

Game 1 - Bitter Rivals is godly against these kinds of decks. I think every attack I saw had a keyword and early BRTs kept him from building. At the same time, I drew a ton of Power Bombs and Clones so I started smacking him around early. It was over around the 4th turn.

Game 2 - Much the same as the first, there just isn't a whole lot his deck can do against the All control pieces and a Flying Cross Chop for 10 that he can't block ends it.

I think Derrick won so we're on the right track. Team 1-0, Me 1-0 (2-0). Afterwards, I wander around to see how everyone else is doing. Matt calls me over, "Hey Vik, check out my notes for the round." I see a bunch of numbers representing vitality and the entire left-hand side has ASSES KICKED written across it with a few underlines below. They had to play Team Joo Bastard, Omar/Olexa/Jeremy, and apparently it didn't go well.

"I gotta get a photo of that." I forget to do this, but it was funny nonetheless.

Round 2 - vs. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday...fun team name.

I gotta say, there is a fine line between confidence and cockiness and my opponent, Justin, crossed it. He was exceptionally boastful all weekend and I didn't enjoy playing him at all. They had Evil Ibuki, Void Ukyo lockout, and Air Yun-Seong. We win the roll, and naturally I take the Ukyo lock deck against Yun-Seong, which is pretty much the most horrific match in the history of man for Ukyo. I get the Ibuki, fun, and Derrick takes on the Yun-Seong which I was confident about.

Game 1 - I get rolled early, due to Reverse Flayer into Suzaku which was unexpected. Wow is that gross. Ah well...into the sideboard...

Game 2 - ...for Zangief! The big rock holds up extremely well and eventually I toss cheap attacks and Power Bombs till Ibuki dies. He had a chance to kill me and failed, is incredulous, and says "I can't believe that happened, I'm confident that I would have killed you." Um, buddy, I had to roll a 5 to full block! He keeps talking so I show him the top card of my deck, a Rat Chaser, just to shut him up. Then I kill him immediately afterwards.

Game 3 - At this point Derrick has taken his match and Jeff is up a game with the second game looking good, so I decide to have fun and go into Mr. Karate this time. He gets Ibuki down to 5 before a bunch of Absurdly large Suzakus end it. My opponent refuses to shake my hand, then turns on his teammates for losing so badly. A real winner all around here, and the best part is I benefited from his attitude the next day! Oh, the irony. Team 2-0, Me 1-1 (3-2)

Most of the other top teams win, and we are left to face...JOO BASTARD!!! Aargh. Me and a few of the others corner Ledezma about Higher Calibur, but he's having none of it. Sorry Jonathan but I had to try.

Round 3 - vs. Joo Bastard!

So now we have to play the top dogs. Not liking it. We win the roll and for a good while I contemplate pairing the two mill decks against each other - Yun-Seong has an advantage here - but I decide to do Alex vs. Yun-Seong instead, thinking that because of all the card draw we should be able to win that match. Oops. Derrick has to deal with Omar's nasty Voldo and I get to face Olexa, running Olexa. I was looking forward to this match and so was Andrew since we never got to play each other or hang out at Worlds.

Game 1 - Brutality, all around. Not only do I fail my first check of the game, without his help, but his first turn sees Kunai, double Vanity and a BRT just for kicks. I think about scooping right there but play it out. Eventually he is able to fight through the TANK and Reverse Flayer/Chain Throw me to death.

Game 2 - This game takes forever, but early Addes keep him at bay and once I get Bitter Rivals out, I go on the offensive and there isn't much he can do about it. A Clones deals the fatal blow.

We are about to start Game 3 when Jeremy wins his match and Derrick was already defeated, so we lose no matter what. D'oh. Still, it was great playing Andrew in competition, so we shake on it and promise to finish the match next time. Team 2-1, Me 1-1-1 (4-3). In retrospect, I should have taken the coin flip mill on mill and just seen whether we could win one other match, but they destroyed people all day so it probably wouldn't have mattered in the end.

Round 4 - vs. Team Michael

Oh wonderful, our lovely host and my own regular teammate and friend + James. They win the roll, and take Dani's Ibuki vs. Jeff, which I am resigned to as a loss but I hold out hope. Now, according to James, the NY and FL players agreed not to pair against each other whenever possible and so therefore I MUST play him. I am not aware of any such agreement so I take myself against Scuba. This leads to James calling me all sorts of names, none of which are fit to print in this report, and harassing me for the rest of the day. I suspect the real motive was that he knew he could take down my Astaroth. **** you, Hata.

Game 1 - Considering I helped build the Xianghua deck that Chris was running, borrowed from our local teammate Nick Snider, I knew what to expect. I make him fail the only two cards I care about, TYPFG and Roam, and while he does whittle me down a bit more than I would have liked, he can't deal with the ubiquitous Bitter Rivals-enabled attack spam and eventually I bash his head in.

Game 2 - Again, NO ROAMS or TYPFGs. How is this possible? Without it, he can't cope with the CC Hax/control and Addes and BRT make life difficult as a build till I am in position to wail on him. Sorry Chris, I had to take this pairing to give our team a chance. We both lament his poor luck and wish each other the best for the rest of the tourney. Sadly, Derrick is torched by Sankuro and Dani wins a close one against Jeff with the brilliant play of hacking her own check with BRT just to draw a card, and tosses a Kunai for game. Nice! Team 2-2, Me 2-1-1 (6-3). We are on the cusp as this point and Derrick is a little worried but I am confident we can win the next round and get into top cut. In between I talk to Matt, Andrew, and others as I float around, occasionally signing Dhalsims when asked. James walks up to me as I'm getting ready to sign one and starts giving me lip again, so I write something VERY offensive on the poor kid's card directed toward James and that temporarily quiets him...with laughter.

Round 5 - vs. Team Vanilla Bears

This was Joe on Fire Blanka, Dave on Good or Water Galford, and Ross on the new Sakura off All. We won the roll, and I was totally confused. So I took Derrick on the Galford since the other two decks have CC Hax. I think that's what I did anyway, I don't remember. All I know is I played the Sakura.

Game 1 - Once again, Bitter Rivals discarding everything my opponent plays is kinda hot. I lock him out of anything relevant with 3 BRTs early and pound on the little schoolgirl till she is lying in a pool of blood. Yeah, it's graphic, but accurate nonetheless.

Game 2 - I get hit with an early Seichu that I take exactly nothing from, and then hit back with I think 3 Power Bombs in a row followed by 2 Absurds. Bye bye, Sakura. We shake and Derrick had won so it's all elementary. Team 3-2, Me 3-1-1 (8-3). Top cut baby! I walk around for a bit and check to see who made it in, basically all the teams I expected plus a few others who are happy just to be there. Still, it's great to see newer/less experienced players do well in their first big event.

During this game, when I got hit for the first Seichu, I used Astaroth's lifegain enhance to essentially nullify a multiple copy. The player didn't understand at first, since he was a relative beginner.

"The printed damage of this is 6, so that does nothing."
"The printed damage of a multiple is 0."
"Are you sure?"
"Hey, Omar!" - "Yeah?" - "What is the printed damage of a multiple copy?"
"Everyone say it with me - the printed damage of a multiple copy is..."
Everyone: "ZERO!"
"Thanks."

There is a break for food and I head over to McDonald's with my teammates and Dani, Scuba, and Stefan. We get back, I play a casual game and sign some Dhalsims, then UFS House with James and Omar walks in with pizza. James walks over to me.

"Man, Pizza Hut really sucked."
"Why, did they throw you out for being Asian?" (everyone busts out laughing)
"Well played sir, well played."

Top 8: Team Killface

So Top 8 begins and immediately, we get a disastrous matchup - Team Killface. Awesome. I forgot what their teammate was playing but Mack had Ibuki and Garber had Akuma. Terrific. I take Derrick vs. the unknown, I expect Jeff to lose to Ibuki which is what they picked, and I am left to face Garber's vaunted Akuma. Lovely.

Now, Garber got me at Worlds in another tight match, and though he sometimes gets a lot of flack I have to say, I have no problem with him and we always get along great. We spent a lot of this weekend mocking the TR, and I knew this match was going to be tough and it was, definitely my favorite match of the Team event. For reference, here is his decklist:

Akuma:::

4x Seclusion
4x Infiltrating
4x Absurd Strength

3x Addes Syndicate

4x Chain Throw
4x Kunai
3x Moonbeam Slicer

4x Higher Calibur
4x Blood Runs True
4x Red Lotus of the Sun
2x Pieces of Eight
3x Trade Your Passion for Glory
4x Megalomania
3x Manifest Destiny
4x Evil Plans
3x Cutting Edge
4x Unrequited Love

SB:
1x Addes Syndicate
3x Grim Stride
2x Seal of Cessation
2x Oral Dead

Looks like a blast to fight against, no? Thankfully, due to my own BRTs and 4 maindeck Addes plus momentum control in Absurd/Mortal AND Astaroth's tanky status, I was pretty well set to deal with all the CC Hax.

Game 1: This game was strange. I didn't get much early control and therefore, my stuff was liberally hacked as needed, but he couldn't get any real damage to stick and I ended up doing 10 to him in one turn, saving up a ton of attacks (all 3-diff, thanks to Vast Resources) and went balls-out on my kill turn. With a relatively squishy 20 vitality and a critical Tag Along, there was nothing he could do about it.

Game 2: Having not seen a TYPFG Game 1, I side into Zangief. Naturally, Brian gets a first turn TYPFG and Higher Calibur, hooray! This was a slower paced game thanks to Akuma getting early BRTs and me not seeing Addes until it was too late. All my mitigation got commited or hacked and two back-to-back Moonbeam Slicers did me in.

Derrick had won but Jeff was losing, so it was up to me. I knew it would be tough so I just decided to start hitting fast and often.

Game 3: Which I pulled off successfully. On the second turn I tossed 3 attacks that were all pushed through due to my first turn Bitter Rivals. On the third turn, a massive FCC got him down to one, and with two Addes on the board for me all I had to do was Military Rank back a Power Bomb and I squeaked by with the win. Great match Garber, hope to do it again at Gencon or Worlds.

So we're in Top 4! Alright. That was the goal I set for Teams so I was happy. Team 4-2, Me 4-1-1 (10-4), Everyone was waiting for the outcome of our match, and when Jeremy found out I had won he gave me a hug...and then molested me. There's no other way to describe it except I felt dirty and used. I had no time to recover or alert the proper authorities, though - next up, Kohls and crew. You've escaped justice this time, Jeremy Ray. **** YOU!!! (if you haven't picked it up, I'm joking. Sort of.)

Top 4: Team UFS HOUSE

They have Matt playing Mai, Jon on Ibuki and Paul running the scary Alex deck. I win the roll and make the DUMBEST DECISION EVER. Basically, I cost our team the match right away because I paired wrong. I was so scared of Ibuki that I wanted to pair her off right away, even if it was a loss, and take our chances with the other two decks. So I picked Ibuki vs. Yun-Seong knowing that Jeff was bound to lose. Oops. Had I thought for even one second longer, I would have taken the obvious correct pairing, Alex vs. Yun-Seong since it makes Alex's card draw a potential hazard in a mill match. I blame lack of sleep and my own suckage for this solely, although to be fair I don't believe we were going to be them anyway. Still, this definitely showed me the value of knowing your matchups backwards and forwards - I normally try and do just that but with such little time spent with my team, it was not really possible. Ah well. Derrick gets to play Matt like he wanted and I get stuck with Paul.

Game 1: Paul and I think the same way about this game, from the few times I've met him and seen him play, and so we were both happy to be playing each other in competition. My happiness morphed from into horror as I realized that Alex's All control pieces and large vit, 9 handsize + Revitalize meant I was doomed. The best I could do in the LONG game was get him down to 7, and he promptly gained 20 the next turn. Eventually, he was in a position to Saikyo-Ryu my hand away and hit me with a massive and lethal Concealed Shallow Swipe. Ouch.

We shuffled up for Game 2 but my teammates had already lost at that point so we shook and promised to do it again in the future. It was still a fun game with all sorts of lovely banter so cheers to Paul. In the end, our team did very well and the Top 4 was loaded with all the usual suspects so I can't complain. Final record - Team 4-3, Me 4-1-1 (10-5).

After being obliterated by Joo Bastard already, UFS House wanted no part of their friends again in the final so they gave a handshake victory to Omar, Andrew, and Jeremy and agreed to split the prizes. Congratulations Team JOO BASTARD! It was late and we all had some distance to travel so we said our goodbyes and agreed to meet in the top again tomorrow (which, incidentally, wasn't too far off the mark!). On our frightening car ride back, we all talked about Teams and I caught up on how the others did. Scuba's only loss all day was to me, so I felt nice about that, ha! Omar seemed to have a great time with the Michigan guys wrecking people all day. James was quiet due to lack of sleep - we were all feeling it at this point so no jukebox or anything - but he liked Sankuro enough that he wanted to make it elite for Singles. Dani and Stefan didn't talk hardly at all as they were in front. I was lost in thoughts of my Yoshimitsu deck, wondering whether I should run it or not, or cave and roll with Evil.

Instead of crashing to bed ASAP, like we probably should, we decide to turn Dani's basement into a deckbuilding clinic. Dani's mother comes down and asks us how we did, and we fill her in as I attempt to commandeer a computer to post the results briefly, dial-up or not. I'm hashing out the final build of Evil UR Vega with Chris while it's loading when Omar tells us that Olexa is planning to run him since it will be the last time he can do so. Okay...back to the drawing board then, as Scuba is in no mood to tangle with the World Champion in diversity. We settle on Cody, a great fallback character in this case who no one ran for some reason in Teams, and I update my SCC-winning version with more Evil control as Chris wishes. Then I post the results of Teams, and move on to James' Sankuro. We just tweak it a bit and he seems satisfied. I FINALLY get to my own deck and agonize over the final card mix. I desperately need Red Lotus off-symbol for Akuma's enhance and Ibuki's Form so I cram 3 into the sideboard, and I squeeze some Amy's Assistance in there which turns out to be the smartest thing I did all weekend. Omar comes down after his shower, and I ask him to look it over and help me make the hard cuts. After a good 45 minutes of back and forth, in a constructive way, we get it down to the right number and it ends up pretty tight (you can see the final decklist here ). Chris wants a test match so I gladly oblige, and proceed to demolish my own beloved Cody to pieces! Sad, but not really. If my Yoshi can stand up to that, it's got to be decent, right? I turn in to bed at the perfect hour of 5AM. Sleep is for losers.

Sunday, April 20 - Singles

I wake up bleary eyed at about 9:00 am, and James walks over to me as I catch a cigarette on the porch.

"Dude, I want to play a Death deck."
"Why did we waste all that time on Sankuro last night then?"
"Shut up. Help me build something, Death is gross. Screw Evil."
"True. Alright fine, but Death can't kill anyone."
"Oh yeah...err, how about me off Death with (Agohani) Geri loop?"
"Done."

We all get ready and grab some breakfast, then all throughout the perilous journey in the DEATH VAN we attempt to mash out a decklist. Except we both keep forgetting what we add into it and the numbers for each card, and to make matters worse both he and I keep naming good Death cards that he should run.

"Oh we forgot about Superiority, to kill off Armored Defense and such."
"We have Oral Dead, do we really need it?"
"How many Martial Arts Champions are maindecked?"
"Why? Oh, cut them for Superiority? Hell no. We're at 78 cards right now anyway."
"How hard is it to count cards in a moving vehicle!"
"We need paper."

We get there, say hi to everybody, get our deck sheets and aside from a last minute addition of the 4th Amy's Assistance - again, smart move here - my list is all set so I write it down and then we whittle James' deck to 64 cards with pretty much every major Death control piece and 4x Agohani Geri and Ibis Minuet, which are key to the deck. 2x Concealed Shallow Swipe was a backup plan and Tag Along and Free Will helped fetch anything necessary. James heads over to Matt and makes a sarcastic comment about real men running their character card - and King's Games for bonus points - so Matt decides to run himself too, siding into Olexa if needed. Then Andrew decides to run himself! Three champions each playing their in-game versions is the epitome of hot. Then he stole my Addes and Terrible Discovery too to round things out ("borrowed" them, I suppose). Ladies and gentleman, your National and Team Worlds Champion. Pairings are up and off we go!

Round 1 - Evil R Ibuki (Mack Rice)

Great, so I get a top player and the best deck in the format, thanks computer. I knew this was going to be hard but I was confident...except I made a major misplay, d'oh.

Game 1: This was the mistake - I hit him early on his second turn after he wins the roll, and with a Moon Sault Slayer no less. I see a hand of Rejection, Absurd Strength, Infiltrating, Kasumi-Suzaku, and Chain Throw. I take the Suzaku when I should have taken the Absurd since he could have easily passed the Infiltrating. I end up at 4 and though I get him to 5 next turn, I can't finish the job and he kills me with the Chain Throw and another Absurd.

Game 2: I'm feeling down but I don't tilt often even from my own mistakes, and my opening hand is perfect. This is exactly how this game when for me:

My Turn 1 - Blood Runs True, Evil Plans, Whereabouts Unknown, Cursed Blood, go.
Mack's Turn 1 - I curse away a Higher Calibur, hack a Red Lotus which he fails, hit him with the MSS, take his only block away and pop the Whereabouts to hit him for 12, putting him at 11.
My Turn 2 - MSS again, Multiple:2, game.

Yeah, it went well.

Game 3: So now I'm actually angrier at myself since I could have won Game 1 so easily. Still, he sets up crazy fast and kills me with a Chain Throw + Absurd x 3 with two BRTs on the board. Hooray. Perhaps it was meant to be. 0-1 (1-2). At least I'm paired down the next round...

Round 2 - Tri-Resource B.B. Hood (David Lange)

...which sucks for my opponent, who knew who I was and freely admitted he was a new player and did not want to face me. It's the one thing I hate about competition, because ordinarily I like helping players like that in any way possible but it's just not possible in a tournament. I'm not one of those who use intimidation either because it's arrogant and demeaning - never underestimate your opponent, ever. So I promise that I'll play at whatever pace he feels comfortable and try and explain as much as I can.

Game 1 - Unfortunately, my deck is feeling heated and I get him in full lockdown mode early. He had no more than 4 foundations the entire game and both of those were useless thanks to my two Experienced Combatants. I hack everything I can and kill him on his own turn with a Kuzurya Reppa. God I love that card.

Game 2 - Though longer than the first game and more competitive, he still can't land an attack that I don't hack or full block and quickly is overwhelmed by FOUR BRTs on the board at once. Sorry David, that was brutal, but you played very well throughout the match and were a good sport. 1-1 (3-2).

Round 3 - Good/Water Rare Galford (Dani Carpenter)

The computer was really wanted me to feel like crap today, I could tell. I had to face my own host and I already knew the deck, since I played a casual game against it the day before. We both hated doing this but I was honestly scared because Dani is a great player and Galford has that irritating form that means I can't cheat and attack my opponent on their turn. This is why Tag Along is the MVP of any deck that can run it...

Game 1 - ...because I get 3 within my first 5 turns and in between the Combatant lock, the 6HS and the failed checks, plus trying to survive the multiple onslaught, Galford gets overwhelmed really quick. I apologize and she gives me a look like she knows that I'm full of it. Which I am, but that's okay since she wouldn't want me to "go easy" on her anyway. Dani played a fun deck after going with Ibuki in Teams and I respect that, so cheers!

Game 2 - Hey, Infiltrating is not dead. She sets up with a stupid first turn but no Red Lotus. I toss a couple foundations out, but no BRT. She plays more stuff, and still no Red Lotus! So...I Infiltrate, risking a Kung-Fu Training. None is in sight after my BRT, Cursed Blood x2, she just can't recover. As usual, a Kuzurya Reppa and a Widow Maker end it. 2-1 (5-2).

"I'm sorry Dani, that Infilitrating was really lucky."
"But not really, right?" (jokingly)
"No, not really."

I check up on the others, and everyone from Team DANI HOUSE and Team UFS HOUSE is doing great, so we might all meet up in the Top 8. Having nearly everyone from out of state in top cut both days would be sweet. I see that Justin dude from Teams who pissed off everybody he played against. He asks me my record, and I tell him. Then he says he ran Ibuki today again.

"Ibuki? Ouch, that's tough with diversity. Good luck man."
"Thanks, but I'm confident I have the best Ibuki here."
"Uh..really?"
"Yes, most definitely."
"Um, good luck with that."

Derrick catches up with me and both of us along with Paul discuss the wonders of Huitzil for a bit. Derrick and I have the same record and he's chomping at the bit to play me since he wants to kick my ass with Mr. Karate, or so he believes. I indulge him in his fantasy - "Oh yeah, Mr. Karate is a total pain train, you got this" - and sure enough, it's one white guy and one Indian when the pairings go up.

Round 4 - All/Earth Mr. Karate (Derrick Demerath)

Man, this was a fun match. By now, we knew that we had the exact same style of comedy so there was a lot of smack talk before the match started.
Then Derrick learned to never arouse the ire of the GREAT SATAN, Yoshimitsu. Bwahahaha...

Game 1 - You know how I kept stressing the importance of Amy's Assitance? Two in the first turn followed by a third and then a fourth (eep!) meant Mr. Karate was chopped to bits by Yoshi's sword instead. I let DoubleD get one point of damage in, just to humor him. I did 12 to myself from my own Moon Saults that I smacked him around with. Shameful, really.

"Does Mr. Karate need a second to lick his wounds?"
"That deck is sick!"
"Yeah, and I even showed it to you this morning."
"I know but...stop attacking me on my own turn!"
"That's kinda my thing, Derrick. Amy's Assistance says hi."

Game 2 - This time, I get BRTs in spades and Experienced Combatant lockdown early, then a Daily Routine-assisted Infiltrating (no Kung-Fu for you!) and another BRT with an Amy's mean an impending death for the Karate man. 3-1 (7-2) Derrick takes the loss with a smile and comments how fun it was to play against me. Same to you brother, you are defintely a talented and intelligent player on the rise and someone I warn others to watch out for on the major tourney circuit this season.

Scuba told me he had to play Olexa and won, so we were both stoked at that. Food time! Pretty much everyone heads to Arby's by accident or planning, take your pick. At this point Jon and Jeremy are undefeated so they draw into Top 8. The rest of us from Ohio/Michigan and NY/FL are all sitting at 3-1 or so, so they can draw in. I may be able to draw in but my tiebreakers aren't too hot at the moment, so I decide to play it out. If I win I'm in, and even with a loss I knew that I had a chance since my opponent would be 4-1 so my tiebreaker was going to be high. Paul was getting diversified out by Jeremy for sure and the other Ibuki player in the top ten slots was going to get knocked out to Jon, so I knew it was worth the risk.

Round 5 - Evil Starter Mai (Jack Chang)

Jack was a local, methodical and very smart player so I knew it going to be tough. Mai and her stupid lifegain wasn't going to help either.

Game 1 - This game took 47 minutes and long stretches of it involved BRTs on both sides of the board (I had 4 and he had 3), so let me just say that I never got a single Tag Along or Hwang's Protection and Mai's enhances along with, what else but Higher Calibur did me in. He finally was in a position to loop me and got me to 2, I was forced to Infiltrate...and he hard checked his last CHain Throw for game. Dammit.

Game 2 - I shuffled up real quick, dropped a BRT and some other stuff all the while literally glaring at the computer timer since I was at the front table right next to it, and hit him with a Widow Maker enhanced with Evil Plans. He gains it back, but on my second turn I proceed to hardcheck 6s on 2 Kuzurya Reppas, enhance the second with Evil Plans and play an Infiltrating doing exactly 22 damage which would be lethal to ANY OTHER 26 VIT character...but Mai lived at 4 and I was unable to finish the job. 3-2 (7-3). I shook his hand and managed to impress those around me though I wasn't feeling good about my prospects. Mack tries to cheer me up by jokingly telling me that he thought I was going to hardcheck a 10 to win there by some divine miracle. I wish.

I nervously check the computer, and I'm in 11th. Since two players are going to get cut ahead, I figure I'm out...but fortune smiles on me. Remember the "greatest" Ibuki player, Justin? Despite knowing full well that he couldn't make Top 8, he refused to give his opponent a draw and made him play it out, beat him, and...accomplished nothing except to display poor sportsmanship. Congratulations Justin, all your jerkhole-ness did was allow me to fall into the Top 8. I hate getting in this way but I can't lie, I took it.

Top 8, MWCC Singles was (in order according to seed):

1. Jeremy Ray, All/Fire Promo Alex, 4-0-1
2. Jon Herr, Evil R Ibuki, 4-0-1
3. Jack Chang, Evil Starter Mai, 4-1
4. Chris Kovaz, Evil/Fire Blue Cody, 3-1-1
5. James Hata, Death/Water James Hata, 3-1-1
6. Matt Kohls, Evil Matt Kohls, 3-1-1
7. Omar Chavez, All/Void Rare Voldo, 3-1-1
8. Vikram Sareen, Order Promo Yoshimitsu, 3-2

Barely making it, by the skin of my teeth, and I have to play world reknown rapist Jeremy Ray to boot. Yippie. He's not really a rapist, thankfully. Sort of.

Top 8 - All/Fire Promo Alex (Jeremy Ray)

I did think I could win this matchup, but only if I got really lucky (like an early Armored Defense). Too much good stuff that All has to counter my locks and if he gets set up, I gotta resolve Infiltrating or I go poof. Also Revitalize is a pain to deal with, I just have to basically hope to Seal it or hack it. KFT off-symbol would be terrific right about now...

Game 1 -...but everything goes right for this game, at least. I get early BRTs with no Addes from him, I hit an Armored D for free thanks to a Cursed Blood, and I hit him with 3 Kuzurya Reppas and 3 Moon Saults for a 4th-5th turn complete beatdown that leaves both of us confused. "I don't even know what to side against you" was Jeremy's comment on the whole thing. I just add in the 3rd Armored Defense.

Game 2 - The complete opposite in every way, shape, and form. He gets 3 Seals and 2 Addes (!!!) in the first two turns and from that point, it's a slow roll until he can definitely kill me. Concealed Shallow Swipe is killer, literally. The turn before he dropped all those Seals, I tried to hardcheck an Infiltrating needing a 5 and failed by one, otherwise I might have had a chance. As it stands, I don't and I die.

Game 3 - So to the rubber game, and things are looking good early. I keep him off-balance with Combatants early and my own Curse Brokens come into play as Addes becomes not nearly as useful. Ditto for Seal. I get him down to under 10 vitality...but he hits the critical Revitalize, ugh, and now time is running out. He follows with Tough Outer Shell and Military Rank and ends. There are 3 minutes left in the round, and we're both at full, so the first tiebreaker is key. If I can deal one point of damage to him, I win the match. If not, it goes to the second tiebreaker, less cards removed from game, meaning I would lose. I draw up and see that I have a Reppa and a Moon Sault with 3 momentum...however, without a TYPFG on the board, I am unable to commit the Tough Outer Shell. So despite dealing 24 damage - and not having any of it blocked, which I could make him fail - he eats all of it and gains it ALL back, ack! Ah well. Jeremy's deck was sick and I am glad I was able to give him a run for his money. We shake and I wish him luck.

The other results - Chris beats James due to Hata's play error (he Addes'd at the wrong time) and Jon is able to defeat Omar, getting some measure of vengeance for his famous Team Worlds loss. Matt is able to win at the last second...so they go to a dramatic roll off! We all gather round to watch as both roll at the same time...and both roll a one! Then Jacky rolls a 2, we think Matt is in...and he rolls another ONE!!! "OMG MATT KOHLS YOU FAIL AT DIE ROLL!!!" is the only appropriate response I can think of. We commiserate and watch the semis. Chris loses to Jeremy 2-0, he could have won game one except he made a crucial misplay, not commiting an Addes vs a Seal of Cessation, and that's usually what it boils to in such high-level competition. Jon defeats Jack's Mai deck 2-0 and it's Jon and Jeremy in the Final. I have already covered this match extensively here , so check it out if you haven't, in the end, Jon Herr is our 2008 MWCC Champion! Congratulations to Jon, who is probably the best player without a character card in the World and a solid bet to win one soon, according to me and several others.

As we exit the parking lot and agree to meet at Steak and Shake for dinner, I scream out "OH MY GOD MATT KOHLS IS DRIVING CAH!" to many cackles. Sadly, even afer getting directions, we fail at finding an open restaurant. Wisconsin must be the only place in the Universe without a 24 hour Steak and Shake, McDonald's, or Taco Bell! Finally, Andrew finds the number for a Denny's nearby, I call to confirm that they are open, and we actually get food for the first time in many hours. It's 13 of us - Dani house, UFS house, and Nick the TO - and our dinner is great. Omar shocks us all by picking up the check to many cries of "are you sure???" I talk to Matt and Jeremy mostly about life and OOFS. The waitress recognizes Omar's Voldo medallion - her son is a player - and is absolutely flabbergasted when he presents her with a copy of King's Games and points out the UFS royalty at the table. She just couldn't believe it, and it was a nice moment. After the goodbyes and the agreements on various items - "Thank you Mr. Omar!" from the Ohio/Michigan crew in reference to the check and payback for Matt's AoP - as well as promises to meet again at Origins/Worlds, we're off. After even more death rattles and jokes than usual, as everyone is slap happy, we get back to the house and almost immediately, Omar has to go. I is a sad panda, my comedy partneh go back! We all sleep afterwards, and I ask to be woken up to see James off. Scuba sleepily concurs.

Monday, April 21st - All Good Things...

...do come to an end, I suppose, but that doesn't mean it's all bad. Reality awaits the next day but with such a productive and entertaining weekend, it gets a bit better. We drop James off, hurling insults along the way good-naturedly and I promise to steal one of his titles away from this year, which he dismisses. Always a pleasure, that man. Dani has to go to school as we get back so we thank her for the hospitality and then instead of going back to sleep, Scuba and I talk with Dana a bit about the state of UFS (yes, Higher Calibur was discussed) and she takes us to breakfast at a nice country-style sit in that is pretty cheap. I pick up the check by way of thanks. Then we get to see her brother's amazing replica Yoda a couple of houses down. All too soon it's time for us to go as well, Dani's grandmother gives me a photo of the model R2-D2, which I LOVE, and Dana gives us hugs amidst our many thank yous as we head out. I am supposed to leave earlier than Scuba but I fail at flying, what else is new? Except this time all it means is that I get put on the exact same flights as Chris! Cool.

The rest is uneventful, except for my experience in Detroit. I need a cigarette badly but I don't think I'll be able to go out and back through security in time. The guard tells me there is a bar that will let me smoke if I buy something, but I left my wallet with Chris and had only my ID and Boarding Pass, so I decide to risk it anyway. I sit down at the bar next to this guy who doesn't mind, I notice his Badgers hat and we start talking about sports a bit. The waitress comes and asks me what I want. I tell her I'm fine, she doesn't buy it and tells me I have to make a purchase to stay, I get up to leave...and the guy buys me a beer! We continue talking about our flights, college football, and classic rock thanks to my Rolling Stones T-Shirt. Right before he has to go, I thank him for his generosity:

"Seriously, you didn't have to buy me a beer. I really appreciate it. I'll tell you something that will make you feel better about it though - today's my 25th birthday." (It was true, I showed him my ID)
"Well, at least your car insurance dropped, eh? I'm glad I did it, good convos, and I hope you have a safe flight."
"You too, take care."
"Oh and by the way, happy birthday, and I hope that wherever you traveled to or from will be worth it."
"Don't worry, it already was."

-Vik