As usual, Tim Willoughby beat me to the punch with his top 40 predictions for Pro Circuit New York. I agree with many of his ideas and want to see a lot of his more hopeful ones come true. That said, I’ve got my own little list of play-oriented predictions mixed with even more wacky things I think might happen.
My top ten predictions are all concerned with game play, but after that point, the list deteriorates into . . . well . . . hopefully hilarity blended with truth, but we’ll see. All in all, I’m definitely interested in seeing whether Tim or myself score more points with our predictions. With an evil grin, I’m hopeful that numbers eleven and twelve place me in the lead.
I love New York. Yes, a phrase so hackneyed that it’s a slogan just came out of my mouth. Being a native of Toronto, I’ve got a uniquely Canadian relationship with the city that never sleeps; New York, which was actually the original name of Toronto upon its founding, shares a great deal with its neighbor to the north. Both are sprawling business cities with superb public accessibility. The main difference between New York and Toronto is the energy level. While Toronto’s a bit more laid back, New York never stops to rest. It’s a fine difference that sets both cities apart, and luckily, because they’re so close together, I’ve had the pleasure of spending a great deal of time in the Big Apple. The cuisine, the blend of cultures, the friendly attitudes . . . they’re all very similar. But the energy, the very spirit of the place, is what sets New York apart from other world-class cities.
Both cities are full of distinct, fascinating people, and New York’s quota of intriguing individuals will go way up as PC competitors start flooding in from far flung points across the globe. You may notice that many of the items on my list are aimed at single people. Doing all the traveling I’ve done over the past year for this great game, I’ve met some incredible individuals. Rest assured that if your name isn’t mentioned here, it was probably on the list at one point but was bumped for one of the predictions about Tim Willoughby. It’s his fault and you should feel anger towards him.
So, on with the list!
1.
Boliver Trask on turn 1 in the Curve Sentinels mirror will decide a huge number of games over the course of Day 1. It’s an incredibly underrated play given how ridiculously important it truly is.
2. EMS will make the Top 8.
3. A lot of people will play
Juggernaut in Curve Sentinels without
Betrayal. They will be eaten in mirror matches like delicious street-a-pitas by New Yorkers.
4. The much-hyped Mark City deck will have an impact. Stunning new archetype? Complete ruse? Either way, the truth will leave some surprised.
5. Teen Titans will see a huge resurgence in popularity compared to its recent $10K showings. Those that chicken out of Fantastic Fun at the last minute will default to it.
6. A lot of disappointed FFun players will not make Day 2, despite the deck’s incredible potential. Tech, bad luck, and a lack of familiarity with the deck will be at fault.
9.
Mojoverse will be run in a handful of Curve Sentinel builds, counter-teching
Betrayal and providing random combat bonuses. It will be disregarded later anyway, due to the difficulty of fitting it into the deck.
10.
Micro-Sentinels will be a defining card of the weekend, appearing in virtually every CS deck present.
11. Knowing New York far better than Tim Willoughby, I will abandon him in Chinatown under the guise of appropriating the deep fried waffle-donuts native to the area.
12. This will not prevent him from rocking me in our dual feature match coverage. Later, we will celebrate with Chinese waffle-donuts, for real this time. I will again leave him in Chinatown shortly thereafter.
13. Olav Rokne will claim the Vs. System Stylemaster Crown, narrowly stealing it from Tim and myself with his secret fashion tech—a daring scarf.
14. Tim will be right and the Big Mouth Challenge will unhorse Ian Vincent as the sport’s reining champion. It’s still anybody’s game regarding who will have the honors of his title.
15. In an effort to drive alternative play formats, Jeff Donais will sanction the Big Mouth Challenge for future events. Terror will ensue and flavored promo cards will be released by next quarter.
16. Star Canadian player David Fielder will finally get his ice cream, drawing the sordid saga that began at $10K Detroit to a happy close. Over 50 players will flock to him over the course of the weekend in order to understand this in-joke.
17. Extended Art
Overload will crack the $80 mark on eBay on the same day as its release.
18. Your Move Games will have some sort of new and interesting deck. They’ve been suspiciously quiet. I’m taking five-to-one odds that they’ve broken
Stilt-Man.
19. Someone will qualify for Day 2 with a completely netdecked Team TOGIT X-Stall build. Any well-teched versions that appear will do exceedingly well on Day 1.
20. Someone will use a bag of 50 I-don’t-know-whats to keep track of his or her endurance instead of pen and paper.
21. Two non-American players will Top 8. Okay, so I stole this from Tim’s list, but I agree so much that I’ll go ahead and double up on his prediction.
22.
Betrayal will be the most loved yet also most maligned
card of the event, winning as many games as it will lose for being a dead draw.
23. Over the course of the weekend, someone will get a tattoo.
24. Practice and instinctive play will take the limelight over new tech. At least one competitor will Top 8 with a deck that contains no tech whatsoever.
25. There will be at least one mullet in the Top 4.
26. Ryan Jones will reach all new levels of subdued and witty cynicism.
27. Someone who used to work at Score will get a feature match or interview.
28. Gary Wise will drop from Day 1 after staking out a chair massage station, planting a flag, and claiming it in the name of the Independent Republic of Spiel. That or he’ll dominate Day 2. Either way.
29. Yeah, those chair massages? Past abuses of pro-player perks will pale in comparison.
30. Someone will go into a match with the intent of winning the other person’s pants.
31. Vidianto Wijaya will receive at least two feature matches. Sadly, all of his dialogue will be censored out of the coverage because “kids read this stuff! Oh god, he said that?”
32. Jason Bagari will leave the event with at least twelve copies of every new promo released. He will not make Day 2. He really won’t mind.
33. Rich Edbury, if in attendance, will choose to play a deck he’s never even seen two hours before the event. He will qualify for Day 3 anyway.
34. Michael Jacob will effortlessly glide into Day 2.
35. Carl Perlas will play something very, very cool that will immediately receive deck coverage.
36. Dean Sohnle will react to metagame hate against the FFun deck he created by just making a deck that wins on turn 3 instead of turn 5. Appropriately, he will name it something hilarious.
37. Those four guys who always show up to pro level events with F4 Beatdown decks will be in attendance.
38. Ian Estrin’s hair will be assailed by rain, wind, hail, and possibly monkeys. It won’t matter—it will still remain perfectly in place. Tim and I will burn with jealousy.
40. At least five teammate vs. teammate mirror matches will occur on Day 1. Same team and same deck.
That’s it for me! Even as I finish this, I’m packing my stuff, spreading the news, and getting ready to take off for one of my favorite cities in the world! With only two days remaining before PC: New York, tensions are running high the world over. Hopefully, even just some of my predictions will come true and you yourself will be one of the lucky people in attendance at what is likely to be the biggest Vs. event ever!
See you there!