Team Profile - Car Acrobatic Team

by Mark Wraith

The Car Acrobatic team had seemingly inauspicious beginnings. Aaron Forsythe wanted to play in a Pro Tour Qualifier, but his friend Mike Turian had already decided to be part of a team qualified on Pro Tour Points. "I had to round up the next best two players", he explains jokingly. Things weren't going too well in their eleven-team qualifier, when they found themselves on 2-2 with only one round left. They received a bye in the fifth round, and somehow their tiebreakers qualified them in second place for the final. They defeated their opponents in the draft, and so qualified for Pro Tour New York.

Their name is certainly unusual, coming from an old 'Speed Racer' cartoon in which Car Acrobatic Team are the baddies. Aaron picked it almost at random.

The team had varying expectations coming into the tournament. Andrew Johnson said "I never play in a tournament where I don't expect to do well", whereas Aaron Forsythe confesses that "I told my wife I would be playing in a Pro Tour Qualifier on Saturday", and Andrew Cuneo also didn't expect to make second day.

They admit that there main strengths are in Team Sealed, although they did three or four Team Rochester Drafts a week in the build up to the Tour. When asked what draft strategy they used, they wouldn't say - preferring to wait until after the event before revealing the secret of their success.

And all of the team are upbeat about their chances for the finals, saying that they would bet on themselves out of the four remaining teams. Standing in their way in the semi-final tomorrow are Rolled-up Aces.