Pro Circuit Los Angeles is approaching, and there’s a huge buzz among the players that this is going to be the most diverse and interesting field yet! With a new set (Heralds of Galactus) making an immediate impact on the metagame in recent Silver Age tournaments and the recent banning of five cards, players have a lot to think about heading into the zaniest Golden Age yet!
The Bans
PC: LA has been the bastion of deckbuilders for two years now—a chance to let loose and go crazy on the combos, with no restrictions on sets or affiliations. Entering the third year of this event, some of the more recent cards in the game opened up a can of combo worms, allowing for some decks with infinite loops or game-winning tricks within the first three turns.
As announced on Metagame.com, R&D wasn’t originally going to change anything, but UDE proved once again to be the people’s company by listening to feedback from the players and coming to terms with the fact that its initial decision was potentially a mistake. Thus, gone are the loop decks that everyone feared, and almost everyone I talked to has nothing but kudos over the revised decision—even many of those who were likely going to play one of the decks.
The five recently banned cards are Valeria Von Doom, Heir to Latveria and Talia, LexCorp CEO (both of which allow you to draw your deck using A Day Unlike Any Other or Punisher’s Armory, respectively. They’re often used in tandem with Rigged Elections for the alternate win condition.); Go Down Fighting (which allows an endurance burn loop with Tommy, Senyaka, and several other cards); Fiddler (for a recruit loop that leads to easy Nega-Bombs or massive Surrounded attacks, among other combos); and Detective Chimp, Bobo T. Chimpanzee (which allows too many cards to be used in situations they weren’t meant for, such as Rigged Elections; Kandor; The Kent Farm; etc.). These cards join Overload; Justice League of Arkham; Antarctic Research Base; and Gone But Not Forgotten on the banned list.
The upside of this is that instead of a paranoid, narrow field, we have a field that is wide open and diverse.
The Field
And because the field is so wide open, it’s difficult to gauge just what we’ll be seeing. High Voltage and Teen Titans are the early favorites as the most popular decks, though various combinations of Injustice Gang, Checkmate/Villains, Squadron Supreme, Doom, and Marvel Knights have done well throughout the year. In addition, Faces (even without Bobo), Kree, and Heralds are all potentially dangerous.
With only a couple of weeks to test frenziedly after the bans, all players and teams are on an even keel and must decide whether to go for old favorites or try to concoct something unexpected. And unexpected is the . . . erm . . . “keyword” for L.A., because I have a nagging feeling that nobody is going to expect the outcome!
The Teams
Team FTN
Team Donkey Club (TDC) continues to dominate the Top 8 at each PC with three to four players each time, but when the dust settles, it’s FTN that keeps coming out on top. They’re still placing more players percentage-wise, and at Pro Circuit Indianapolis earlier this year—even though TDC swore his streak would end—Vidi Wijaya further cemented his position as the best player in the world with an unprecedented third straight PC final appearance. David Leader showed that Gen Con truly loves him, with another Top 8 at a Gen Con Tournament (that makes three) and a near-defense of his title from 2005. Milton Figueroa is on a tear with two $10K Top 8s over the last couple of months.
FTN hasn’t changed much from their summer roster, with one player, Chris Price, forced to resign from active duty due to work concerns—the rest of the team is raring to go. Particularly Mike Dalton, who is eager to break out of a slump; Alex Tennet, who’s come close to the Top 8 when he plays in the PC but hasn’t hit yet; and Milton Figueroa, who is eager to get Alex to stop pestering him over his lack of a trophy!
Chuck Bell – 112th in Constructed
Winner - $10K GenCon Indy, 2005
Kim Caton – 142nd in Constructed, 61st in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Top 8 – $10K New York, 2005
Mike Dalton – 19th in Constructed, 22nd in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: LA, 2005
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2005
Runner-up – PC: Amsterdam, 2005
Winner – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2004 (Marvel)
Top 4 – $10K New York, 2005
Milton Figueroa – 25th in Constructed, 39th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – $10K New York, 2006
Top 4 – $10K Boston, 2006
Top 4 – $10K Orlando, 2005
Steve “Snuffie” Horowitz - 135th in Constructed
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2004
Top 8 – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2005
Ryan Jones – 3rd in Constructed, 42nd in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: New York, 2005
Winner – PC: LA, 2004
Top 8 – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Top 8 – $10K San Diego, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Los Angeles, 2005
David Leader – 12th in Constructed, 10th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: Indy, 2006
Winner – PC: Indy, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Atlanta, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Charlotte, 2006
Peter Sundholm
Winner – $10K Seattle, 2005
Top 8 – $10K New York, 2005
Alex Tennet – 26th in Constructed, 211th in Sealed Pack
Winner – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2004
Top 4 – $10K Columbus, 2005
Vidi Wijaya – 1st in Constructed, 3nd in Sealed Pack
Runner-up – PC: Indy, 2006
Runner-up – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Winner – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Top 8 – PC: New York, 2005
Top 4 – PC: LA, 2004
Top 8 – $10K New York, 2006
Runner-Up – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Detroit, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Seattle, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Los Angeles, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Las Vegas, 2005
“I think MHG will have a huge impact on the meta,” Kim Caton tells me, “whether it's cards being inserted into already existing deck types (e.g. Haywire in High Voltage) or otherwise. The set really shakes up the meta and allows for a lot of neat interactions. Last year's Golden Age was pretty diverse with all the Avengers stuff, but I think this one will be both diverse and unexpected.”
Michael Dalton adds, “I think UDE was trying to be innovative with the free characters that are great in Sealed and Draft but ended up being too powerful in Constructed. I like the set, though; it blends into Silver Age really well. I think the environment is great. I loved the Inhumans/Skrull decks that were floating around. Obviously, the Kree decks proved their power. It's great that Silver Age has changed so much with only one new set.”
Although Silver Age is the buzz topic out there right now, it hasn’t stopped FTN from getting excited over the upcoming Golden Age PC. Caton says, “What's good in Silver is usually even better in Golden, with access to the more high-powered cards. Of course, your opponents will have access to the more high-powered bullets as well . . . I expect the recent Silver decks to have an impact on the Golden Age meta, and if Good Guys shows up, it will be because of $10K Boston.”
While the members of FTN are in agreement that the bans were necessary, they don’t feel the new set was too powerful at all. The increasing level of parity in card strength “is a good thing, in my opinion,” Caton claims. “It makes the game more accessible to newer players who can’t get four Savage Beatdowns. It helps keep the playing field level for all instead of insuring that the wins all go to the people who have been playing the longest or have the most money. Anybody can compete.”
“Besides,” Ryan Jones states happily, “since we didn’t come up with the broken decks, I’m happy they’re gone!” The banning hasn’t even altered the team’s testing pattern much at all, Ryan tells me: “We had a week or so where we were altering our decks to beat the combos, but that’s it.” Kim adds, “We experimented with both new and old decks before making our decision. Golden Age is hard enough to cover all your bases with, but add in testing against things that people may or may not actually come up with, or prepping for decks you don’t know about . . . A lot of work has gone into this PC. I just hope it pays off!”
Will that work lead to another FTN/TDC showdown? Caton says, “If I were the type to trash talk, this is where I would make a comment about TDC and PC finals . . . but I won't, ’cause I'm not!” Alex, not so coy, puts forth what he calls a “team statement” when he says, “We prefer to let our success do the talking. The top four money earners on the Pro Circuit are Vidi Wijaya, David Leader, Mike Dalton, and Ryan Jones. If TDC can break into there somewhere, we will probably consider them more seriously as a threat.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Kim Caton: Vidi [Wijaya] (duh), [Michael] Dalton (he's due for another), Milt [Figueroa] (due for anything), Shane Wiggans, and . . . picking a TDC player out of a hat . . . Nick Little.
Michael Dalton: Me, me, me, me, and me! I think I am due. Gen Con So Cal has always been good to me. Assuming I can't take all eight Top 8 places by myself, however, Milton Figueroa, David Leader, Tim Batow, Neil Reeves, and Eric Cabanero.
Ryan Jones: Vidi of course. I’d pick a number of TDC guys, but since the new bans, I don’t think they have as much of an advantage as they usually do. So there’re just too many possibilities for me to pick anyone else—it’s wide open!
Alex Tennet: Milton [Figueroa], if he can learn how to draft . . . though given recent hippodrafts, this seems unlikely. But I will be charitable and pick him anyway. Otherwise, here are my five:
Montana: Tester
Rhode Island: Whitehouse
Missouri: McCaskill
Virginia: Webb
Tennessee: Corker
Final Words:
Alex Tennet on teammate Milton Figueroa’s inclusion in the Heralds of Galactus set:
“Both Milton Figueroa and Michael Barnes made it into the set, as Clumsy Foulup and Barnacle! Milton actually put a Power Gem on Clumsy Foulup and attacked with him in a feature match at a $10K no less! And Mike BARNes defines the Barnacle . . .”
(Ben’s note: There’s apparently a standing bet between Barnes and Tennet that whoever finishes lower than the other has to sign a foil Barnacle card for the winner, and perhaps even wear a Barnacle t-shirt on Day 3. Tennet’s comment on that is: “It makes sense that because he is BARNes, he is going sign the BARNacle, so obviously he will lose. We have played in two PCs together, and both times he lost (he got 38th at PC: Indy ’04 to my 20th and 211th at PC: Indy ’05 to my 48th), so really I should have two Barnacles from him already!”)
Team Donkey Club
The loss of a few players didn’t change TDC’s caliber of performance at PC: Indy. The team placed three players in the Top 8 at that tournament: perennial favorite Michael Jacob, renowned Draft underachiever Anthony Justice, and up-and-comer Heath Baker, who took his first Top 8 in any elite tournament at Indy. They’ve since added to the hardware with a couple of $10K Top 8s, including Tillman Bragg’s recent near-win at $10K Columbus.
In addition, Jason Hager’s back on the team after a brief sabbatical to get hitched. He’s itching to get back into the swing and has been pushing deck-testing into high gear—such high gear, in fact, that we can probably lay a big chunk of the responsibility for the recent card bans on Hager and his TDC compatriots. Their toolbox was the one that essentially broke the format. Fear not, however; they have several backup plans and are eager to get to LA to prove their dominance with a payoff once and for all—so much so that apparently Doug Tice has sworn to win this one! And when Tice talks tough, I don’t doubt!
Heath Baker – 142nd in Constructed, 153rd in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2006
Adam Bernstein – 168th in Constructed, 141st in Sealed Pack
Winner – PC: New York, 2005
Winner – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Tillman Bragg – 51st in Constructed, 6th in Sealed Pack
Runner-up – $10K Columbus, 2006
Top 4 – $10K New York 2006
Runner-up – $10K Los Angeles, 2006
Top 4 – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Charlotte, 2005
Top 8 – $10K New York, 2005
Kyle Dembinski – 11th in Constructed, 34th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – $10K Minneapolis, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Austin, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Chicago, 2005
Adam Fears – 63rd in Constructed, 14th in Sealed Pack
Jason Hager – 17th in Constructed, 23rd in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Runner-up – PC: New York, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Columbus, 2006
Winner – $10K Charlotte, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Columbus, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Origins, 2005
Karl Horn – 91st in Constructed, 40th in Sealed Pack
Winner – PC: LA, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2006 (with Team ATM FTW)
Michael Jacob – 4th in Constructed, 7th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2006
Top 4 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2005
Winner – $10K Hamilton, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Minneapolis, 2006
Winner – $10K Orlando 2, 2005
Winner – $10K Toronto, 2005
Winner – $10K Chicago, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Origins, 2004
Anthony Justice – 7th in Constructed, 172nd in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: Indy, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Origins, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Atlanta/Dragon Con, 2004
Top 8 – $10K Origins, 2004
Nick Little – 249th in Constructed, 4th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: Indy, 2004
Top 8 – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2006 (with Team ATM FTW)
Winner – $10K San Francisco 2, 2006
Winner – $10K Origins, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2004
Matt Oldaker – 37th in Constructed, 47th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Minneapolis, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2004 (DC)
Neil Reeves – 9th in Constructed, 23rd in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: LA, 2005
Top 4 – PC: Indy, 2004
Top 4 – $10K Austin, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Dave Spears – 202nd in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: LA, 2005
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Austin, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Toronto, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Chicago, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2004
Top 4 – $10K Atlanta/Dragon Con, 2004
Doug Tice – 7th in Constructed, 5th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Top 4 – $10K New York, 2006
Winner – $10K Austin, 2006
Winner – $10K Los Angeles, 2006
Winner – $10K New York, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Charlotte, 2005
Gabe Walls – 26th in Constructed, 25th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Top 8 – PC: Indy, 2004
Winner – $10K Columbus, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Origins, 2004
“I am excited about PC: LA!” Jason Hager tells me, “But I'm excited about every PC, so there isn't much new there.” Newly married, Jason has a lot of energy and excitement in his life. “Married life is great,” he says. “Last weekend we went to a costume party as Clark Kent and Lois Lane.” With a wink, he added, “I make an ugly Lois.” Now he’s turned his focus to Vs. System, hoping to transform that energy and excitement into renewed PC success. He says, “I do like showing off new toys . . . new toys and old favorites. Testing for this PC has been a merry-go-round, especially due to the bans.”
Gabe Walls, who is hosting the now-traditional pre-PC retreat for TDC this week, agrees with that summation. Says Walls, “We have a team full of people that enjoy doing degenerate things, and when you take away our toys, we become angry.” This is not to say that he disagrees with the bans, but he does feel the frustration of the testing frenzy and hopes that it will translate into a lot of emotional energy at the PC. He says, “It’s much better for the PC, and I completely understand the necessity. It’s just frustrating when you are on the best team and you are the only team with the best version of the best deck.”
Dave Spears, freshly relocated into a swank new home, is a bit more stoic. “Honestly, I supported the bans,” he says. “It means we had to kind of start back from scratch, but the combo decks were just no fun to play or play against. I want a big, healthy environment with many decks without people having to pack the same 10-12 cards into their decks to beat some obviously broken combo.” Hager agrees, “I would have been fine either way, but I think the bans were correct. There were card interactions that weren't supposed to happen, and especially on such early turns consistently. When you have to play eight cards to try to force the game to turn 5, there's a problem.”
On the flip side, Hager likes the diversity of the expected PC field now. He says, “If not for the bans, Faces would be unplayable, for one, because of how many Political Pressures were going to be in every deck. I think the format is more open now, and any of ten different decks could Top 8.”
Would one of those decks be a Heralds deck? No sure answer, but everyone seems to agree on how strong the new set is. Walls says, “I think it is going to have quite an impact in the long run. [UDE is] really starting to understand what mechanics are good and what aren’t.” Spears is even more emphatic. He says, “I like Heralds a lot. There are a few gems that will end up in almost every deck—especially if you run Enemy of My Enemy. Press is obviously amazing, and terraform has got to be the single greatest mechanic introduced to date. I love being able to fix my [resource] row, especially if my opponent is blowing up my stuff and ‘rows’ a critical character. I am not entirely sure that any one Heralds team will be featured in someone's deck, but I am sure stuff like San and Human Torch will show up. I suppose the Kree team might actually show up a good bit. If you like attacking, Kree certainly gives you options.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Jason Hager: Vidi [Wijaya], Matt Oldaker, Michael Jacob, Tim Batow, David Leader.
Dave Spears: Michael Jacob, Vidi [Wijaya], Tim Batow, Adam Fears, and Neil [Reeves].
Gabe Walls: (laughs) The same as always! Michael [Jacob], Vidi [Wijaya], Neil [Reeves], Kyle Dembinski, and Adam Bernstein.
Final Words:
Gabe Walls on the rivalry between TDC and FTN:
“I would call it a showdown if I considered them peers. They can certainly beat everyone else, but they aren’t as good as we are (except Vidi), so I don’t think of it that way. I just think of them as more random people at the PC.”
Team Alternate Win Condition (TAWC)
PC: Indy has come and gone—and where, oh where was the Batow? Perhaps at home, washing his tights?
Teasing aside, however, a lot has happened to TAWC over the past several months. They’ve parted ways with a few members for various reasons and feel that it was only a lack of focus and preparedness that handicapped them for Indy. Thus, they are vowing a mass resurgence for LA. Down to a tight-knit group of five, the boys of TAWC are all expecting to Day 2, and they claim to have a deck that will dominate in all respects. This could truly be the move that puts TAWC on top, if they . . . ahem . . . play their cards right!
Michael “Big Spooky” Barnes – 139th in Constructed, 100th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: New York, 2005
Tim “Aqualad” Batow – 2nd in Constructed, 35th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: San Francisco, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Austin, 2006
Winner – $10K Las Vegas, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Chicago, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2004 (DC)
Jeremy “The Kingpin” Blair – 41st in Constructed
John “Scarlet Spider” Hall – 295th in Constructed
Top 8 – $10K Wizard World Texas, 2005
Shane “Inked Lawyer” Wiggans – 136th in Sealed Pack
Runner-up – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Chicago, 2005
Michael Barnes is all about the Golden Age. “It's a lot more open than people think,” he says. “High Voltage is the deck that people will point to as the favorite in Golden Age, but Heralds brought us a lot of options for strong mid-to-late-game decks. Worldeater Apparatus seems quite strong for Heralds-based stall themes, and Doom will certainly make his presence felt; many new cards have made the good Doctor a bigger threat than ever before! With such a large card pool and so many great deckbuilders out there ([Jason] Hager, [Tim] Batow, [Patrick] Yapjoco, [Anthony] Calabrese, etc.), there will be quite a few surprise decks showing up to throw a monkey wrench in the plans of those playing the ‘favorites’ like High Voltage and Teen Titans.”
Shane Wiggans agrees, especially about the popularity of High Voltage. “High Voltage will be there in large showings,” Wiggans says. “It's funny, though, ’cause Tim [Batow] and I are completely at odds in regards to the amount of Titans that will show up. I feel that the deck is difficult enough and requires so much skill that most players will shy away from it. Those players who are skilled enough to adequately pilot the deck will make a different choice in order to gain some surprise factor in my opinion. Tim seems to think that many of the lone wolf pros will gravitate toward this deck, which is an opinion I am not sure I agree with.”
Both Shane and Michael are in agreement, however, that Heralds will certainly have an impact regardless of the overall field. Michael says, “There are obviously some individual cards that will have—and already have had—an immediate impact on the tournament scene (*cough Frankie Raye cough*). And if Kree can survive the powerful early game of decks like High Voltage and Squadron Supreme, it can have the most dominant mid-game of any deck in Vs. System. Inhumans and Heralds have some very potent stall cards that could be even stronger than metagame stalwarts like X-Stall and G’Lock.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Michael Barnes: In no particular order: Patrick Yapjoco, Tillman Bragg, Milton Figueroa, Jeremy Blair, and Keebler Powell. (On a side note, I am predicting that Alex Tennet doesn't even make Day 2!)
(Ben’s note: see the FTN “Final Words” for info on Barnes’s bet with FTN’s Alex Tennet!)
Shane Wiggans: In no particular order: Tim Batow, Vidi Wijaya (how can you not pick him?), Adam Prosak (he is on a roll and had quite a unique deck at the Columbus $10K), Jason Hager (after taking a PC off and Top 8’ing the last US $10K, he is ready to Top 8 again), and Niles Rowland (not many people remember how good a player he really is). In terms of the big pro teams, I expect about half of TDC to Day 2, six of FTN to Day 2, and four out of the five of my team to Day 2.
Final Words:
Shane Wiggans on the bans:
“I think they were needed, as the game was ending consistently on turn 3. Also, I think it showed the community at large that there are decks to consider other than High Voltage. Rigged Elections is still very viable and can still go off on turn 4 consistently, but the benefit from this whole thing is that people started broadening their horizons with regards to potential metagame calls.”
Team Mxyback
Hold on to your hats—there’s a new team in town! Actually an amalgamation of a couple of unofficial, older, West Coast teams, they’ve now pulled together for testing and deckbuilding purposes. With the names on this team, we can almost guarantee that several players that have repeatedly moneyed in the PCs to date are now likely to vault onto the “frequent Top 8s” list.
David Frayer – 229th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – $10K Wizard World Chicago, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Gen Con So Cal, 2004 (Marvel)
Brian Gates – 16th in Constructed, 125th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Denver, 2006
Alex Gellerman – 109th in Constructed, 203rd in Sealed Pack
Phimus Pan – 38th in Constructed
Top 4 – $10K Denver, 2006
Adam Prosak – 5th in Constructed, 27th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Amsterdam, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Columbus, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Orlando 2, 2005
Winner – $10K Atlanta, 2005
Winner – $10K San Diego, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Detroit, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Los Angeles, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Las Vegas, 2005
Top 4 – $10K San Diego Comic Con, 2004
Niles Rowland – 69th in Constructed, 37th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Top 4 – $10K Orlando 2, 2005
Top 8 – $10K San Diego Comic Con, 2004
Jerry Whaley – 191st in Constructed
Adam Prosak tells me that the team, which includes people on the previous list plus a few of their friends, has been testing feverishly. “We got lucky with the banning,” says Prosak. “We didn’t have anything better than what got posted on VSRealms.com. Sure, we had some combo decks that were ridiculous, but not more than other people.” And so, what does Prosak think is left in the environment? “It depends. If people have time to test over the next few weeks (or were already testing decks that survived the bans), there are definitely still good decks out there. If not, High Voltage and Teen Titans seem to be the best-established decks.”
There’s also the Heralds set to consider, which Prosak thinks brings a lot to the table—particularly the Draft table! Says Prosak, “The Heralds set is insane for Draft. It’s going to be similar to last year’s PC: LA, where the obvious best Draft deck was Faces of Evil, and Drafts were won based on who could correctly identify their table as having too many Faces drafters or too few Faces drafters. You can basically replace Faces with Kree for this PC.”
Adam warns, however, that even the best is never a sure thing: “There is never a deck that is ‘too good’ in Sealed Pack, because every Draft self-balances. $10K New York had four to five Kree drafters and one Doom drafter in the Top 8. Yoel [Izsak] won the $10K with Doom, while the Kree decks fought in mediocrity. No team in the history of Vs. can support four people trying to draft it solo.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Adam Prosak: Doug Tice told me he’s winning the PC, so I’m definitely picking him. Tommy Ashton is going to Top 8 if he 7-3s or better [on Day 1]. Both Michael Barnes and Shane Wiggans are Top 8ing (and then both will have over-the-top reports, trying to one-up each other on their Metagame.com columns on the same day!), and Shaun Hayward, because Advanced Hardware is broken!
Final Words:
Adam Prosak on the power of the Skrull:
“Skrulls are sick! There just aren’t enough of them. Thankfully, the Skrull-stamped cards are reasonable even if you don’t have Skrulls. Mark Slack basically played a Constructed version of the Inhumans/Skrull Draft deck to a money finish at a Silver Age $10K, so if you can basically draw the same cards while drafting, it’s almost cheating—and probably better than a Kree deck!”
Team Edgeworld
So Cal is Edgeworld’s home turf, and they have a lot to prove after a disappointing PC: Indy (though Nguyen did finish in the money). Patrick Yapjoco and Quang Nguyen have never shied away from a challenge, and both have the deckbuilding genius necessary to truly take advantage of such an open format.
I didn’t have a chance to catch up with the team this time around, but I can guarantee that there will be a home advantage. With some of the best drafters in the game on this team, if Yapjoco and Nguyen can come up with a winning Constructed deck, members of Edgeworld will all perform very well and be challenging the top of the leaderboard come the end of Day 2.
Jim Adams
Joe Bryan – 165th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – $10K San Diego, 2005
Dustin Hansel – 77th in Sealed Pack
Quang Nguyen – 93rd in Constructed, 8th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: Atlanta, 2006
Top 4 – $10K San Francisco 2, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Los Angeles, 2006
Winner – $10K San Diego Comic Con, 2004
Erick Reyes
Keith Watabayashi – 239th in Sealed Pack
Patrick Yapjoco – 116th in Constructed, 31st in Sealed Pack
Winner – $10K Atlanta, 2006
Top 4 – $10K San Francisco, 2006
Runner-up – $10K Seattle, 2005
Top 8 – $10K Los Angeles, 2005
Team AttaQC
After a torrid summer with three Top 8s in $10Ks and several money finishes, Team AttaQC has been relatively quiet this fall; they finished very disappointingly in Indy and haven’t done much in the recent $10Ks. With a regrouping and refocusing of their priorities, however, they’ve come up with a killer game plan that they hope will take them to the top in LA.
Paul Bernard – 80th in Constructed, 187th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – $10K Boston, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Hamilton, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Toronto, 2005
Max Bouchard – 110th in Constructed, 90th in Sealed Pack
Runner-up – $10K Hamilton, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Toronto, 2005
Top 4 – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2005
Matthieu “Broche” Brochu – 239th in Sealed Pack
Benoit “Mascot” Chaurette – 199th in Constructed
Guillaume “La Quille” Potvin
Top 8 – $10K Boston, 2006
Christian “Cri Cri” Sarrah-Bournet –
Top 4 – $10K Toronto, 2005
Team AttaQC is one of the lucky teams that didn’t blink when the bans hit; their deck was unaffected, as they only had to remove the handful of cards they’d teched to counter the new combos. Paul Bernard tells me, “We weren’t afraid of those combo decks, but the bans are good because the combos were dangerous for the game and many others were scared of the early turn wins. It’s better for the game if decks don’t win during the first couple of turns. They did remove some options—like Faces with Detective Chimp—but the metagame is still very open.”
With the whole team going to LA except for Benoit Chaurette (who has work obligations), they have made sure to include Heralds in their focus. According to Bernard, “The Heralds set is good; it gives us lots of new options. I like that there are teams that can beat High Voltage. It may not have a huge impact on the PC, and people will probably not play these teams that much now, but there are cards that will definitely be there. These teams are still feeble compared to the established teams. They’re young; they still need to grow.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Paul Bernard: Vidi [Wijaya] and [Michael] Jacob, Doug Tice, Jason Hager, Stephen Silverman.
Final Words:
Paul Bernard on the PC environment:
“The field will have lots of different archetypes and new decks that we haven’t seen yet. Teen Titans and High Voltage will probably dominate, but other decks will show their faces, too. Not Doom, though—I don’t think it’s strong enough against High Voltage.”
Team Your Move Games / Kings Games
The team was looking hot this summer after Nick Cuenca followed up a Top 8 at $10K Hamilton with a win at $10K Boston, but come Day 2 at Indy they were dropping like flies. Still, they tore into the Team $10K, with Alex Shvartsman anchoring a win with teammates Mike Olivson and Freddie Crespo, Jr.
The YMG/KG crew still has a lot to prove, with no major accolades since they tore through 2005 with Top 8s in nearly every PC. With the sheer talent this team has, it’s time to break away from the near-misses and into the Top 8 again. Players like Alex Shvartsman, Anthony Shaheen, and Craig Edwards seem to make money at just about every PC, so we know they can get there. It’s just a matter of pushing through the obstacles and proving that this team can keep up with the TDC, FTN, and TAWC machines.
Nick Cuenca – 125th in Constructed, 239th in Sealed Pack
Winner – $10K Boston, 2006
Top 8 – $10K Hamilton, 2006
Rob Dougherty – 201st in Constructed, 61st in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – PC: Indy, 2005
Craig Edwards – 17th in Constructed, 181st in Sealed Pack
Runner-up – PC: Indy, 2004
Top 8 – $10K Origins, 2005
Runner-up – $10K Philadelphia, 2005
Adam Hamza – 185th in Sealed Pack
Eric Hunter – 45th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – $10K Atlanta, 2006
Darwin Kastle
Mike Olivson – 123rd in Sealed Pack
Winner – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2006 (with Team Kings Games)
Dustin Pidgeon
Top 8 – PC: Amsterdam, 2005
Jacob Rabinowitz – 134th in Constructed, 156th in Sealed Pack
Anthony Shaheen – 246th in Constructed, 255th in Sealed Pack
Alex Shvartsman – 224th in Constructed, 36th in Sealed Pack
Top 8 – PC: New York, 2005
Winner – $10K Gen Con Indy, 2006 (with Team Kings Games)
Team Bugz
Bugz is a team that has a lot of untapped potential. Alec Ruden was one of the High Voltage pioneers who helped launch Shaun Hayward’s deck into the North American limelight by making a few changes and securing a win at $10K Minneapolis. The question now is whether the team can build on that and step into the limelight at the PC.
Loren “Mullet Bug” Nolen – 103rd in Constructed, 16th in Sealed Pack
Top 4 – $10K Origins, 2005
Winner – $10K Detroit, 2005
Keebler “Keeb Bug” Powell
Frank “Bug Frankly” Ramirez
Top 8 – $10K Wizard World Chicago, 2005
Alec “Tapeworm Bug” Ruden
Winner – $10K Minneapolis, 2006
Keebler Powell is sitting this one out due to work constraints, so joining Loren Nolen and Alec Ruden in LA will be teammates Joe Corbett, Charles Griffith, and Scott Cozzolino.
Loren Nolen doesn’t feel that the environment will necessarily widen with the bans. “With two weeks left to adjust, a lot of people are going to be forced into playing the already established decks,” says Nolen. “The people who hadn’t tested for the format are on the same level as those who have been testing for months; [the five cards] should have been banned after the PC. Detective Chimp getting banned ruined 75% of my decks, and Valeria got another 20%. I really don’t want to play an already established deck, but we might have to.”
One thing he’s sure about, however, is that Heralds will be in full force during the PC, ban or no ban. “It’s a really good set,” Nolen says. “There are a lot of good cards, the teams are all really good in Silver Age, and a lot of cards are splashable in Golden. I’m sure that some of the cards will be widely played; there are a lot of good enablers that make old strategies more viable, so there should still be some variety at the PC.”
Predictions to make Day 3:
Loren Nolen: Well, even though they probably got a little messed up by the bans, the WV crew will probably have something amazing. And Vidi is always a safe pick, so: [Jason] Hager, [Matt] Oldaker, [Heath] Baker, [Anthony] Justice, Vidi [Wijaya].
Final Words:
Loren Nolen on why he’s not likely to play High Voltage in the PC:
“I want to outplay my opponent, not take my 40% chance of wining on turn 4 . . .”
Vs. Around the World
Australia/New Zealand – Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! Oi! Oi! Oi!
Scott Hunstad, Paul Van Der Werk, and Alex Brown are busy with their new stores, so it’s up to a few other players to pick up the slack. Those of you who follow the game “Down Under” will be very familiar with these names, as they keep appearing in Top 8s all over Australia and New Zealand. Alex Antonios, Luke Bartter, Kakarot Turker, and Shaun Hayward are among those who will likely make the trip to LA. Although the buzz in Oceania right now is about the Vacation PC in Sydney next year, there is plenty of excitement about PC: LA as well—especially since Hayward’s baby, High Voltage, is one of the decks touted as being a dominant force at the PC.
Among other mysteries to be answered at the PC, Hunstad muses about whether or not Heralds will make a statement. “Hard to say,” says Hunstad. “People didn't really think that there would be much Silver Age impact, and then the top two decks here at the $10K were Heralds-based. I quite like the set, but I don't think there will be much around the PC.”
As for the Aussie presence, Hunstad warns to watch out for one name in particular to be up at the top of the leader board: “I'd be remiss not to say Alex Antonios from Sydney will make Day 3. The guy knocked me out of the Top 8 at the last $10K we played in and then beat me in the finals of the one prior. He's seventeen and he spends way too much time on this game. He's won two of the last three $10Ks here, with another Top 8, and is just generally switched on!”
Great Britain – Has the Sun Set?
With the UK spending most of its time on World of Warcraft, it appears as though there won’t be many British players at the PC. Ian Vincent will likely show up, and I know of a group of Irish players who will be going, but it looks as though Britain, in general, won’t make much of an impact.
Canada – Canuckleheads!
The big buzz is the A-Team, who finished 9th in the Team $10K at PC: Indy, just missing a shot at the title—possibly because I laid a jinx upon them by accidentally misspelling their names in my last preview! (Sorry!) Ryan Alarie, Michael Brierley, and Stephen MacDonald will be in LA; they were going to skip the PC until the bans were announced, then went back to their original PC plans. Alarie tells it as such: “To put it simply: When they said there would be no bans, I said there would be no A-Team at Gen Con So Cal. The next day, the bans were in, and therefore, A-Team is going to So Cal. The bans made it easier for us. We had tested predicting a metagame without any degenerate turn 3 win conditions, assuming if any popped up they would either be in the minority or would be banned before the PC.”
For the rest of Canada, we have Dean Sohnle and Olav Rokne most likely representing the West, and a feisty group of Toronto players who should be making the trek.
The big event, though, just might be the Quebec / Ontario showdown between A-Team and Team AttaQC that tends to happen regularly on the PCQ level.
Ryan Alarie’s top five picks for Day 3:
“I say Vidi is a shoo-in for Day 3, but other than that, I can't really pin down any names. I will say that I wouldn't be surprised if Paul Bernard or Max Bouchard of Team AttaQC, or Nick Cuenca of Your Move Games, break into the Top 8. And as a dark horse for a fifth name, I'll say that Keebler Powell will pilot X-Statix into Day 3.”
Germany
I hear that Andre Müller and Markus Kolb will be leading the German pack into LA, and that just might help to push a surging German game forward and into the North American scene.
Team Zissou is also raring to go with this PC, and Mario Boley tells me that he, Thorsten Schelian, Manuel Peelen, and Jonas Skali—along with their friends Thomas Scheer and Richard Kloster—want to build on the PC: San Francisco performance that established them as the front-running German team.
Boley likes the Heralds set and looks forward to seeing what it does in LA. He says, “It’s great for Draft. It’s a well-shaped format with different outstanding strategies. And for Constructed, it offered some new, strong additions. Generally, I like the free drops while many seem to hate them. We’ll probably see Haywire in High Voltage decks, and maybe complete archetypes out of Heralds like press, [which] we already saw in Silver Age.”
Boley says he likes the ban decisions for the PC but hopes that R&D decides to turn to some of the cards and errata them afterwards, making them playable again. In the meantime, he hopes that someone from outside of the States takes the PC crown, “preferably someone from Germany!”
Japan
There wasn’t a huge Japanese contingent at Indy, and only Masami Ibamoto finished in the Top 100, narrowly missing the money in 84th position.
LA is much closer to Japan, though, and I expect that there will be a larger and stronger Japanese team at the PC—though Golden may well be their weakest format, as they haven’t had as much time with the older sets.
Aside from Ibamoto, we can probably expect Shota Yasooka, Akihiro Shimizu, and Naoto Ikeda to challenge for the money, if they show up. They’ve all moneyed at previous PCs or $10Ks.
To be honest, I’m surprised not to see more of a Japanese impact on the Pro Circuit as yet, but this is the tournament that could finally push them into the spotlight and prove they deserve their reputation for deckbuilding genius and unforgiving play.
The Free Agents, Mini-teams, and Other Assorted Players
Josh Wiitanen has been playing with several Colorado players, and he has a $10K win this fall to show for his efforts.
Graham Van Leeuwen is another player I still hope to see step up and deliver a Top 8 performance (if he makes it to the PC).
Tommy Ashton keeps finishing high up on the leaderboard, and I agree with Adam Prosak that he’s due.
Others to watch out for include PC: Indy Champion Anthony Calabrese, Matthew Tatar, Donnie Noland, Cory Eisenhard, and, as always, William Postlethwait.
Kergy’s Line
And now, the moment everyone has been waiting for: my picks and Dark Horses for the Top 8!
(in alphabetical order)
Top 8: Tommy Ashton, Michael Dalton, Jason Hager, Adam Prosak, Neil Reeves, Doug Tice, Josh Wiitanen, Vidi Wijaya
Dark Horse Picks: Michael Barnes, Paul Bernard, Max Bouchard, Kim Caton, David Leader, Quang Nguyen, Nick Little, Alex Tennet
Questions? Comments? Send ’em along and I’ll try to get them answered in the column! Email me at:
Kergillian (at) hotmail (dot) com
Also known by his screen name Kergillian, Ben Kalman has been involved in the Vs. community since day one. He started the first major online community, the Vs. Listserv, through Yahoo! Groups, and it now boasts well over 2,000 members! For more on the Yahoo! group, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Marvel_DC_TCG.