March 7th, 2009 - The battleground was RIW Hobbies in Livonia, MI. 20 Players entered looking for their shot at UFS glory, but only one could turn out the ultimate victor...

Sadly, quite a few groups that had shown initial interest in making it down to the Motor City Regionals didn't show. We did have UFS House from Dayton, OH and Team Foxhound w/ Kin from Toronto, Ontario make it out. So, instead of the 30+ group, we had 20. As disappointing as it was for me, the pound for pound quality of player that made it out outrivals any other tournament so far. Everyone who came out had an amazing time.

Diversity played a major difference in our Top 8, as listed below (including those diversified):

1. Andrew Olexa playing Remy (sandbagging for Chun-Li)
2. Al Crocker playing Sakura
3. Tanner Lang playing Gill
4. Paul Bittner playing Sakura (diversified, winner of the "If you'd of played promo Rikuo, you'd of made Top 8 award")
5. Kin Tong Chan playing J. Talbain (not the banned one... 2-dot)
6. Matt Kohls playing Chun-Li
7. Scott Wilding playing Victor
8. Jeremy Ray playing as Seong-Mina
9. Mike Lowe playing as Chun-Li (also diversified)
10. Kirk Polka playing as Andrew Olexa (who was also sandbagging for Chun-Li)

Top 8 Matches:

• Andrew Olexa over Kirk Polka 2-1
• Kin Tong Chan over Matt Kohls 1-0
• Jeremy Ray over Al Crocker 1-0
• Tanner Lang over Scott Wilding 2-0

Top 4 Matches:

• Andrew Olexa over Kin Tong Chan 1-0
• Tanner Lang over Jeremy Ray 2-0

Finals:

• Tanner Lang over Andrew Olexa 2-0

This makes Tanner Lang the winner of the 2009 Motor City Regionals! Congratulations!!! I'll leave the observations of how people's decks ran, trends in the game, and all that good stuff to our players. Tho, the number of Feline Spikes and Ira-Spinta's in people's decks were astonishing....

Let me be the first one to say that I am amused that Olexa's first opponent in top 8 was...himself xD

Interesting results, and congrats to Tanner for pulling out the stops. Gill takes the win on the back of massive handsize advantage over most of the field, I assume?

MegaGeese said:

Seems so...

Just goes to show Gill with 8HS +ORDER= nasty.

Also him +aquakinesis would just be horrifying...

lastly when Nyobari says the number of Feline's and spinta's was `astonishing` then does this mean taht their was loads? Or hardly any?

Cheers

Hanzo.

There were a lot of both cards, which isn't that surprising, since they are really good. What I didn't expect to see was both in a lot of decks. For some, it was all the attacks they ran, but I know I saw at least one deck that had Spikes, Ira-Spintas, and Melancholic Mercurius... that's a lot of really bad checks in one deck.

Tournament was a blast, and Tanner Wrecked house all day with his gypsy Gill magic. He was my pick to win it before the tournament started and followed through nicely. To be fair Tanner and Andrew handshaked the end, since Andrew already has a place at the champions Dinner thing as a former world champ.

Foxhound coming down is always awesome and I cannot say enough nice things about their visit.

Our extended UFS family from Dayton coming up is also always awesome and we will be seeng them a lot more often soon.

Tournament numbers werent totally huge, but the comepetition was crazy stiff, there were basically no easy rounds ever, every round you were playing someone who was very good with a well tuned deck. Was a wonderful prep for the meta for the rest of the year.

I certainly learned a lot about my deck from the few games when things went horribly horribly wrong.

Hey Nick thanks for having us. It was a great time even though by like 8 i was dead to life lol.

**** you Matt Kohls running Chunners... i wanted my life counter lol. Oh well i got an art piece of win.

Definitely learned what i needed to about my deck. things are definitely changing for the Oshawa regionals.

And congrats Tanner. Ur deck sounded REALLY gay

Link said:

OMG your deck was a monster and I think the only reason that you didn't completely crush me was because of my gay chaos cards lol and anti order tech.

It was nice talkin to Matt, Jon and Paul. It was definetely an awesome day even though I scrubbed out at 1-3-1 .

Props:
Matt, Jon, Paul, and the michigan guys
Nyobari for being a great tournament organizer
Kin's wall of multiple hate vs matt kohls feline spikes ei: 1st turn 2x fight or flight, and 2 healers

Slops
Kirk and I still not having having a record of just tieing each other.
5 hour drive....

Tanner and I never played, the results of our match is to come when he comes over my house this week. Officially he does indeed have the win so he can hopefully have a spot in the champions dinner even though he swears he won't be at worlds (though I may drag him kicking and screaming).

It was great seeing my Canadian friends again and this tournament was the first time I played Kin and Mike and both gave me stellar games. I played Keith for the first time in 2 years and our games were just as good as I remember having them. Shajir and I still have not played but I am sure that will be fixed soon as we keep crossing paths.

I haven't seen my Ohio friends in about 5 months so it was good to see em and for the first time ever I beat Matt Kohls on my turf for once. I can wait to get that 6 hot dogs in a chili bowl next time we go to Skyline.

Nyobari as predicted put on a wonderful event and donated some truly awesome prizes out his own pocket.

Michigan tournaments are fun times as always. It was good to see everyone again, let's do it again at PotM.

The tournament was one of the tougher I've been to as far as the level of competition. 20 people wasn't quite what we had hoped for in terms of showing, but it was made up for by a well run tournament (Nyobari always throws a good one).

This was the first time I had met many of the Canadian players. Pretty awesome having those guys over here for the tournament, and I can't wait to meet up with them again. Always good seeing the Ohio crew as well, and I'm rather sure I'll see them before too long, since my friends and I tend to go to all the Ohio events we can.

To everyone who came up, thank you for making the tournament a really awesome event to go to.

sir_shajir said:

Congrats TANNER!!

Wow surprised only 20 people at this rate no one will qualify for the regionals minimum for the dinner...

Al Crocker + Paul Bittner = Sakura buddies for life.

Frist off let me say that this was run very well. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Andrew I had a great time playing you as well, though just like last time my deck wasn't realy tested and you just smashed me.

Wilding it was cool meeting you as well, and I allso look forward to seeing you agen. Your Victor deck was awsome that turn that you killed me in the frist game was so sick, I all most pissed my self

To the rest it was great seeing you guys agen. I can't wait for the next time we can all come to geather. Every one was so cool it reminds me why I like this game, the players are really nice

Drewkasa said:

Did they change the think for the worlds dinner dont we have to have 32 people for the winner to qualify ?

No not quite but so far none of the 3 regionals being held have reached 32 people and while I would love to see the others get 32 or more people, the upcoming ones could also end up with less than 32 people. Just in case this does happen and they decide to change the rules we figured it would be best to let Tanner have the tournament win. I mean I like 2 plates of food as much as the next fat guy but I would rather a friend was there with me instead.

Drewkasa said:

I agree I just think we should know the facts and find out what the deal is since the regionals haven't been hitting the mark . Personally hell ill eat at steak and shake if i qualify this year to help others make the dinner its all about the community at the end of the day.

Keith, that Ibuki deck was pretty rad too. Excellent set of games. I think this tournament was probably the tightest in terms of quality of play I've ever been in...there really was never an easy round for most people at the tournament, at all. Even the decks that didn't fair so well on the day were all well tuned with good pilots.

Can't wait to do it again.

I agree that it was one of the tightest competition I face in UFS. No easy round for sure with all the well-tuned decks. Its such a pleasure to meet with all the nice players of UFS. I learned a lot about my deck and confirmed my knowledge about my personal weakness in playing UFS. Whether I could change or hide my weakness, the confirmation of self-understanding is priceless. Looking forward to many return of this type of fierce competition in 2009...

By the way, I am a member of Fox Hound playgroup for months and I think I am in the "process/probation" to become a proud member of Team FoxHound, right? Keith, Shajir, and Mike... Its been a privilege to travel with you guys...

i would love to see both matt and mike's chunners decks so i can compare my build to their's/

GeneralReaction89 said:

orly? have a change of heart?

GeneralReaction89 said:

dun dun duuuunnnnn!!!

anyways, congrats to the man with the Face, and hope to see all of you at the PotM!

Omar we missed you. We deffinetly needed some sort of crazy omar deck like T. Hawk.

and i walked into liquid form

Well Motor City...You got 20, thats a solid turnout ...Just putting the info out there...

ROCHESTER,NY REGIONAL APRIL 25th,2009....GURANTEEDED FREE HOUSING FOR ALL TRAVELERS FOR THE EVENT....CHECK OUT MY POSTING IN FAN ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR MORE DETAILS...

Also....

good to see healthy competition is out there for all player and can't wait til the tourney summer season goes into full swing.