Continuing my series highlighting major teams present at the Pro Circuit, I had a chance to talk to a member of arguably the most successful team in the game—Team FTN.  Michael Dalton is a large part of that success, finishing second at Pro Circuit Amsterdam and making the Top 8 at PC Indy this year, where he was joined by his teammates Jason Dawson and David Leader, who locked out the finals of that event.

I came to find Dalton at the feature match table in round 8, where he suffered his first loss of the tournament to Aaron Weil.  Despite the loss, Dalton was in high spirits; he was still sitting pretty at 7-1, and many of his teammates had similarly high records.

FTN has brought the classic powerhouse Common Enemy deck to the field.  When I asked Michael how they chose to play the deck, he laughed and said, “Up until a week ago, we were all going to play a really good GLEE deck that we had tuned for a while.  But we realized that it was almost impossible to beat Hawkeye ◊ Clinton Barton. Once it became clear that a lot of people were going to play Avengers decks, I suggested that maybe Common Enemy might be a good choice.  I left for the weekend and by the time I came back, everyone on the team was playing it!”

What makes this Common Enemy deck special?  Dalton credited his team’s inclusion of System Failure into the deck.  While it is clearly no Overload, System Failure provides a huge boost to the control deck’s ability to hold off some of the more aggressive decks in the field like Squadron Supreme. 

So, what is the secret?  How does FTN consistently put in such great performances?  Dalton had this to say: “We just have a lot of good players contributing ideas.  There are about twelve of us and everyone is really good.  You can’t help but get better when you play against good players.”  Dalton felt that twelve players was a little bit large for an ideal team size, but the good work ethic and camaraderie of the team helped them keep organized.  For a team with players spread out across the country, online testing is essential. 

Dalton’s advice to aspiring Vs. players is to “play a lot and have trust in your teammates.  No matter how ridiculous an idea seems at first, you need to have teammates who are willing to discuss them and try them out.”  Dalton shuffled through his deck and threw a Medusa down on the table.  “Take Medusa, for example. Steve Horowitz suggested this card and we were tempted to just laugh it off.  I mean, how long has this card been around and no one has played it?  But it turns out it is really good, especially against Hounds of Ahab.  Having a testing environment that allows that kind of idea to shine is critical to a great team.”

Dalton was very excited about the recent announcement of the launch of Silver Age.  “The Origins sets can be a bit constricting on the metagame. Cards like Flame Trap shut down entire archetypes, and it will be very interesting to see what is possible in the new format.”

FTN is in a strong position to be the first team to win two Pro Circuits. We’ll find out this weekend if they can make that two in a row.