Pro Circuit Indianapolis was the best party that I attended all year, and I’d like to share my shining memories with you. Some involve real pro tech, and some are just plain fun.
Let’s start with the tech. I saw it all in Indianapolis. At one end of the spectrum, there were the top professional team decks that were tuned to perfection. At the other, there were the wild, casual, fun-piles. I played at both the top and bottom tables over the course of the weekend. I had the time of my life playing Vs. System in so many different ways.
David Leader gets to be remembered first. Going into this Pro Circuit, he was the top pro that everyone forgot about. Our new reigning PC Champion has always been classy and fun to be around, and he also happens to be really good at this game. Now we know that he is indeed championship material. His winning deck clearly displays the essence of Vs. System. It builds and maintains board control, then survives attacks and dominates with successful return attacks while on the opponent’s initiative. It wins in the most basic way possible, and it was a pleasure to watch in action.
Next, we’ll honor the top pro that no one will ever be able to ignore. Dave Spears has finally proven himself, and I couldn’t be happier for him. It took a great deal of hard work and a deck that was a true masterpiece.
The Qward deck that Dave Spears played was born immediately after Day 1 of Pro Circuit New York. Joe Bryan had failed to advance to the Draft portion of that tournament, so he turned his attention to the new Green Lantern Corps set. He created a Shadow Creatures/Qward/Kiman strategy that worked fairly well. Since he often practices with the Realmworx team, Joe shared the deck with them and they perfected the idea. The deck became a monster on many levels. It already controlled the board with the direct stun abilities of Kiman and Qward, but the team made it much more powerful by adding Sector 2814 for endurance gain. They also added the variety of late drops that allow the deck to win without needing to survive long enough for Anti-Monitor to be recruited on turn 9.
I played against Joe Bryan in the PC Indianapolis $10K, and the deck destroyed my Hot Dog deck. It was ridiculously fun to play against so many cards that most people ignored. It was almost as cool as watching Dave Spears make the Pro Circuit Top 8 with such a bizarre new way to play the game. I’m going to remember that joy forever.
Last week, I promised to update you on my final changes to the Hot Dog deck. Let’s revisit my risky PC strategy. I added Roy Harper ◊ Speedy and that little guy was worth his weight in gold all weekend. My favorite trick involved Q Field. Since many players used Major Disaster’s ability in an attempt to put Speedy into the resource row as soon as he was returned to the top of the deck, I made sure I saved my Q Fields for just such an occasion. Drawing a card in response to an expensive activated ability never felt quite so good.
I also decided to use only two copies of Element Man, and I tried to curve up with Power Ring, St’nlli, and Nero. Although I hit my late drops in nearly every game, those characters were often not powerful enough to win. Perhaps Sinestro, Enemy of the Corps could be the finisher on turn 7 with the initiative if the game goes that far. The sixth-turn combination of a surviving Element Man joining a fresh Xallarap and three copies of Anti-Green Lantern might still be the best win condition.
I finished 5-7 in the Pro Circuit, although many of those losses were not the deck’s fault. In the only match where I made no mistakes, the Hot Dog deck absolutely destroyed Erik Cabanero’s GLEE rush deck. Then Erik continued on to 29th place and $2,500. I still feel good about the strategy, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in a few PCQ Top 8s in the coming months.
I was both thrilled and shocked to see Michael Jacob take Blue Abuse into the Pro Circuit Top 8. I knew that he could do it, but my casual Hot Dog deck had absolutely dominated that matchup every time. Anti-Green Lantern and Deadeye tend to own Soldiers of New Genesis, and when Superman, Blue stuns Xallarap, the game is effectively over. Unfortunately for them, I thrashed both Jerome McHale and Mike Rosenberg that way in our unofficial Metagame.com Writer’s Showdown on Day 1. Both were excellent opponents, but both were nearly impossible matchups for Blue Abuse.
The Hot Dog strategy cannot handle late defensive drops. Perhaps Emerald Twilight could be added to remove Malvolio and Katma Tui. Jeremy Thomas took me to turn 9, dropped Hal Jordan, Parallax, and used double Zero Hour to send me into an insane hole of negative endurance. It was the worst beating I’ve ever had to endure on the Pro Circuit, but it was so much fun to watch.
There was a considerable amount of moaning about the huge number of GLEE decks in the field. Personally, I had no problem with it—the GLEE club sang some fine memories into my head. Each match that I played against the favorite was really interesting. Every single opponent was flabbergasted to see Anti-Green Lantern, and no one knew what to expect. That made each game a new kind of strategy experience. My wins were usually against GLEE rush decks. Mid- and late-game strategies squashed the Hot Dog, and players like Joel Jones just grinned as they tried to figure out what I was trying to do.
If the GLEE player had the defensive characters and plot twists to fetch (like Joel did), they were safe. Chris Vandergast saw what I was trying to do, then pulled off a Coast City/Mouse Trap combo that stopped me in my tracks. The same kind of in-game adjustment happened the next day at the $10K against Craig Brosman. It took him a few moments to get his bearings and change from his typical plays, but then he curved up perfectly and hoarded Helping Hands to halt my rush. He saw that he needed to play Chopping Block from hand rather than equipping it, and he held it until the proper moment. He followed up his victory by telling me that my Purple Pity deck was his favorite of all time and that he had been playing it for a year. This was a great match that makes for a great memory.
My matchups in the $10K made for some outrageous scenarios. It was a casual player’s funhouse. Joe “CaptainCuba” Sanchez was trying his own version of Anti-Green Lantern swarm alongside me, either destroying the opponent on turn 5 with Johnny Quick or sputtering and running out of characters. We had worked on the deck together in the VsRealms forums, and it was a very risky strategy that made for an exciting afternoon.
I sat down across from Mike “MadTitanFan” Jiles in a later round, and he just couldn’t stop smiling. He had a surprise for me. Atomic Skull was recruited on turn 2 and we both howled with joy! Yes, I got to play against Revenge Squad. Yes, he recruited Bizarro on turn 5. And yes, I stunned the purple-faced madman with a single 1-drop character. Hot Dog can bring the heat when it needs to. Thanks, Mike—that was the best match of my day.
My final reward of the tournament weekend was a hilarious match against some of my best cardboard friends. Andrew Wong played his 1-drop and I screamed “Gole!” His Darkseid Undenied curve deck burned me badly, but it made for good memories.
And that brings me to the just plain fun section of the party. No, I’m not talking about Tim Willoughby’s tale of flying directly over Indianapolis on his third rescheduled flight after working the accent all day. That was just plain sick. Instead, I’m talking about the fun that we all shared as a community.
In between every round, there were thirty or forty handshakes, jokes, and nonstop all-day laughs. We all had such a great time together as a card-playing community. I met players from all over the world, many of whom I had already talked to online about the game and my risky strategies. I shared smiles, pep talks, and heartfelt congratulations with hundreds of friends for two days straight. Thanks for the memories, PC Indianapolis 2005. I will never forget you.