Week in Review - November 15-22, 2001

Alex Shvartsman

Grand Prix-Atlanta

Once upon a time, CMU was renowned for their deck building skills, but hardly associated with success at Limited events. Times change. Randy Buehler went to work for WotC, Erik Lauer quit, and Aaron Forsythe recently joined Randy. Although deprived of some of its higher-profile players, CMU remains a force to be reckoned with, designing interesting and intelligent decks such as Andrew Cuneo's graveyard manipulation strategy for Pro Tour-New Orleans. On top of that though, CMU seems to have established itself as a major force in Limited play this season.

They kicked off the season at Pro Tour-New York, where Car Acrobatic Team comprised of CMU members Forsythe, Johnson and Cuneo, played on Day 3 for the second year in a row. A few weeks ago Mike Turian, team's most prominent member, won a Limited Grand Prix in Canada. Finally, teammates Eugene Harvey and Andrew Johnson fought over the champion title in Atlanta this weekend. Harvey, who was a member of the U.S. National Team a year ago, won the title defeating Johnson, who has achieved Gravy Train status and has enjoyed a number of solid finishes at individual Pro Tours as well as his two Top 4 finishes as member of Car Acrobatic Team.

The rest of the Top 8 was dominated by a younger generation of up-and-coming pros. Among them was World Championships finalist Alex Borteh, who is certainly one of the most successful newcomers to the Pro circuit. Brad Swan, who earned a Top 8 finish at PT-Barcelona, and Craig Wescoe, who made a second Grand Prix Top 8 in a row defeating Masters champion Mike Pustilnik in the final round to get there. The most established player in this Top 8 was '98 U.S. National Champion Matt Linde.

Unfortunately, many of the high profile players missed this Grand Prix altogether. Atlanta airport was closed for several hours on Friday due to a breach of security. This caused players like Finkel, Kastle, Humpherys and a number of others to miss the tournament. They will have to wait until the much anticipated Grand Prix-Las Vegas to try and regain victory from the younger breed that succeeded in Atlanta.

Grand Prix-Hong Kong

Players from the west coast of North America dominated this 180-man Grand Prix. Eight friends - Chris Benafel, Brett Shears, Steven Shears, Peter Szigeti, Ryan Fuller, Jeff Fung, Dan Clegg and Brian Hegstad traveled to the Grand Prix. They agreed to split any money won by the one-time team evenly among all members. They succeeded admirably. Four of the group placed in the Top 8, with Fung winning the entire tournament. This earned them just under $700 each, covering expenses for the trip.

Fung broke onto the Tour back a few years ago with a Top 8 finish, only to disappear off the face of the Earth afterward. The Canadian player has been in the process of making a comeback over the last year, having qualified and played in the World Championships in Toronto. Hong Kong was his first championship win. Fung defeated Philippines Frederick Salazar in the finals. Top 8 was evenly split with 2 players each from United States, Canada, Philippines and Japan. Highest profile players in the Top 8 were PT-Tokyo Top 8 alumni Ryan Fuller and Tsuyoshi Fujita. Hong Kong's own highest finish was 14th place, earned by Wing Tat Chung. Chung drew his final match against Czech Republic's Pavel Matousek - a win would have placed one of these players into the Top 8.

Of the more interesting happenings at the tournament was Brian Hegstad's concession to Jeff Fung in their quarterfinal match. Hegstad was leading the match 1-0 when they learned that Shinsuke Hayashi defeated Bayani Manansala and will be playing the winner of their match. Hegstad and Fung felt that Fung's blue-white deck would have a better chance in that matchup, and Hegstad chose to concede. Head Judge James Lee was not particularly happy with the concession, but he decided to allow it. The gamble paid off for Hegstad and the rest of their team as Fung went on to win the tournament, earning them an extra $2400.

Their local tournament organizer, Des Tan, who paid for their tickets, sponsored the two Philippine players in the Top 8. They did not disappoint their sponsor, returning home with some of the highest DCI rankings in the country. Bayani, whose name means "Hero" in Filipino and Eric Salazar are among five players qualified to represent their country at PT-San Diego. (Thanks to Oscar Tan for providing this info).

Nordic Challenge

An annual tournament where top players from Nordic countries compete for bragging rights and cash prizes took place in Gothenberg, Sweden this weekend. Almost 200 players attended, including such names as Nicolai Herzog, Svend Geertsen, and Mattias Jorstedt.

Norway's Sigurd Eskeland, winner of Pro Tour-New York 1999, won the event, defeating Denmark's Michael Nielsen in the finals with his green-red-blue Flametongue Kavu/Mystic Snake deck with Bearscapes. Eskeland earned 20,000 Swedish Kroner, or approximately $1900.

Magic Trivia

Last week's question:

Who was the first player to ever win a Pro Tour Qualifier?

The first advertised qualifier was held in New York City, and was won by Ben Bleiweiss, currently of New Orleans. However, it seems another answer also applies. Matt Hyra, who currently works at Wizards of the Coast, won a PTQ held at the WotC Game Center only a week after Pro Tour-New York. This event was only really publicized to the participants of the city-wide Arena test league. Thus, Matt and Ben are both eligible for this honor.

New Question:

Courtesy of Job van der Zwan

Which two Extended-legal commons will theoretically let you win the game on turn two with one copy of each?

Please do not email answers to me. Correct answer will be posted in the next column.

Quote of the Week

"I hate that card!" - Jon Finkel, being beat down by 3 Shadowmage Infiltrators at PT-New Orleans

Reported by Nathan Woodall

Play of the Week

Although this was submitted as bad play of the week by Florent, it is really rather a good play on his opponent's part. Here is what Florent N. from France writes:

"I was playing in a small store Extended tournament, using a very common Stompy deck. My opponent was down to 6 life and I could kill him next turn, attacking with all my creatures. He was playing Sligh. He had 3 mountains in play, one Seal of Fire, and a Cursed Scroll he could activate with one card in his hand but no creatures in play. I was down to 8 life. I passed my turn and he said "end of turn, I activate Cursed Scroll targeting you, naming Fireblast." I looked at my life points, looked to his Seal of Fire and his three mountains, and thought: Cursed 2 + Seal 2 + Fireblast 4 = 8. And then I scooped my cards, offering my hand for him to shake. I shouldn't have scooped. He revealed his only card in hand and it was a Jackal Pup. Since then, I never concede a game unless I am actually at zero life."

Bad Play of the Week

Reported by Matt Villamaino Jr.

"One of the local players was playing a Upheaval/Seismic Assault deck he had borrowed last minute to play in the event. First round, he casts Upheaval and Seismic Assault - just not in that order. Oops. It ended up costing him the game and match."

Got an interesting news story, comment, quote, play of the week, or Magic trivia to report? Please e-mail me at ashv80@hotmail.com.