Today, I have the distinct pleasure of sharing with you a conversation I had with Vidi Wijaya. He is, in my humble opinion, far and away the best player on the planet and the benchmark for any aspiring pro. I had the honor of losing the championship to him at Pro Circuit Atlanta and have been fast friends with him ever since. I hope you all enjoy a very casual look at possibly the best player Vs. System has to offer.
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Shane: So, everyone knows who you are. But why don’t you go ahead and give us a rundown of your accomplishments for those who have been living under a rock this last year.
Vidi: I have played in six Pro Circuits, but I missed the first PC: Indy because I wasn’t playing back then and Amsterdam (mainly because I was too lazy to take care of my passport). I was lucky enough to somehow manage four Top 8 performances, and I got two mediocre finishes, some $10K Top 8s, and some Hobby League wins!
Shane: And you managed to be a PC champion and runner up, right?
Vidi: Yeah.
Shane: Well, you tend to be very modest, but I know that I and everyone else would be interested if you could give us your thoughts on this incredible run you’re on. Let’s start with Atlanta. Did you do anything special? Or was your deck just superior?
Vidi: Nothing special, really. As you may or may not know, I joined FTN before PC: Atlanta because my old team (Team Realmworx) was disbanded. And they were known for building strong Modern Age decks (as you can see from their performance in Amsterdam and PC: Indy 2). So basically, I just let them (FTN) decide on whatever deck to run at the PC. Before the PC, our gauntlet consisted of the reservist deck, the Squadron / Thunderbolts “second chance” deck that was created by Mike Dalton, a janky Physical deck, and some Morlocks decks on the side. Basically, our testing showed that the Morlocks deck was very strong, and we were thinking about bringing the deck to the PC. But, the night before the PC, Milton showed us this awesome Squadron deck with Electric Eve and stuff that kept beating our Morlocks deck. So, we decided that we would all have to switch to Squadron. Ryan Jones and I added in Other-Earth to the deck, and that’s basically it.
Shane: Okay, let’s talk about the deck you took to PC: San Francisco. Did you have any input into its creation? Do you think it was the best deck in the format? Was it a last-second decision like the Atlanta deck was?
Vidi: The whole team was set on playing the deck about three weeks before the PC. Being one of the laziest members in the team, I don’t remember adding any input to the deck. I may or may not have suggested the three Mikado and Moshas, but that can’t be considered giving input because it’s pretty obvious at that point. I don’t think it’s the best deck in the format, but I think it’s really easy to play and not really mentally taxing compared to other decks (Ivy League). A quick side note: the deck Ryan and I ran was one card different than the rest of my team (I had three 3-drops and two 5-drops compared to two 3-drops and three 5-drops), although I don’t think it mattered that much.
Shane: If you don’t think your deck was the best in the format, which deck was?
Vidi: Probably the Ivy League deck, because it’s the nuts.
Shane: Good enough. So, we have covered your recent Day 1 performances; why don’t you talk about your Day 2 performances?
Vidi: Before we move on, I just want to mention that I lost to Hounds lock at PC: SF on Day 1.
Shane: Heh, I will definitely get that in there.
Vidi: Well, for Day 2 preparations at Atlanta, I did some online drafts, either with my team or with some other awesome players such as Anthony Justice, Tommy Ashton, Adam Prosak, TJ Holman, and so on. Anthony Justice hunts me to do online drafts so much that there’s actually an inside joke that whenever we play against Anthony at the PC, we’re obligated to ask him, “Drafts?” That, and I always play in the Sealed portion of local PCQs. The preparation pretty much paid off; I went 8-1 on Day 2 of Pro Circuit Atlanta. In the second pod, I got the most ridiculous Draft deck I’ve ever drafted, with three copies of John Henry Irons ◊ Steel, Steel-Drivin’ Man; two Atlantean Tridents; two Nth Metals; and two Magnificent Sevens.
Shane: Well, that’s all well and good, but I hear it’s pretty ridiculous to 3-0 a pod with Tomorrow Woman too, right?
Vidi: Heh. My deck in the third pod was so bad. I had two copies of JLI Embassy, and against my first opponent in that pod, I kept discarding my 6- and 7-cost characters to pay for that card’s effect. Somehow, I managed the win. But you are right—I did play the Tomorrow Woman and I stunned my opponent’s (my awesome interviewer’s) 4-drop with her and a Resistance is Useless . . . What? Stop looking at me like I’m crazy!
Shane: You will never let me live that down, will you? Okay, so you finished an impressive 8-1 at the Atlanta PC. Tell us about your Day 2 experience at the San Francisco PC.
Vidi: Let’s just say that I stuck with the regular Blackbird Blue deck in pod 1 (with only four X-Men characters—I’m so bad, woo hoo!) that featured three Turnabouts and four other teams (Sentinel, Brotherhood, Morlocks, and Hellfire). In pod 2, I drafted a pretty solid Morlocks deck and got the opportunity to play against Aqualad. I got lucky and won the game with a Backs Against the Wall! And for the third pod, I drafted this okay Brotherhood / X-Men deck. Nothing interesting, really, except for a SNIKT! and multiples of Lying in Wait.
Shane: So, do you think that the secret of a good Day 2 performance is skill, luck, a combination, or what?
Vidi: I think I was pretty lucky. But, besides getting some help from luck, you also have to develop a strategy on how to draft each set. Like, in X-Men Draft, sometimes you open a pack with Tar Baby and Retribution in it. Which one do you take? In my opinion, you take Tar Baby because in X-Men Draft, deck archetypes are defined by the characters. I mean, Retribution is a stronger card overall, but without that cheap, small-cost evader, it won’t be as powerful as it is supposed to be. X-Men isn’t like some other sets, such as Man of Steel, where you can just pick solid guys (like Big Barda or Parasite plus Emil Hamilton), some ATK pumps, and a couple of team-ups and be fine.
Shane: Do you think that there is any pressure to perform once you get a reputation like the one you have?
Vidi: First of all, I don’t think I have a “reputation.” I think it’s all overrated. So, you understand why I don’t think I’m under any pressure. I don’t really expect to do well at every PC (you can ask my teammates), so there’s no such thing as pressure. I’ll just try my best to play smart and with as few mistakes as possible. Of course I’ll feel bad if I have a terrible performance, but you can’t win all the time.
Shane: Looking at the game from a casual player’s perspective, do you think the Pro Circuit scene is accessible, or do you think that the “big” names can make it hard to feel accepted?
Vidi: Yeah, I think it’s accessible for casual players. I mean, I was a nobody when I played in my first PC. Though, to be honest, I couldn’t really have called myself a casual player back then, even though I also wasn’t a pro at the time. Let’s say I liked winning. But people at the PC are really nice and helpful for the most part, except for some people I’d rather not name.
Shane: Well, let’s shift to something you may be allowed to elaborate on a bit more. What do you think of Crisis Draft?
Vidi: I like Crisis Draft; it’s a good Sealed pack set. So far, I have had success with Villains United. To be fair, I haven’t really drafted that much. Checkmate seems really strong because the cards are so deep. JSA is also pretty good if you can get a lot of Michael Holt ◊ Mr. Terrifics and T-Spheres. I don’t know about Shadowpact. I’m not really into helping my opponent win the game.
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I want to thank Vidi for taking time out of his busy (or not so busy, if you buy all the laziness talk he was trying to sell us) day to do this interview. He is by far one of the most accessible pros on the Vs. scene today and deserves everything he has accomplished. It will be interesting to see if Vidi can continue his unprecedented run with a third straight PC Top 8 performance. If there are any specific individuals that you would like to see interviewed, or if you have any comments for me, you can reach me at piercedlawyer@yahoo.com.