Down and Dirty – A Stroll By The Harbor… Live Free or Nats Hard

Day 1 – Point A to Point B…to Point C, to Point D

It all started with Cassie. Long dirty blond hair leading down to a eloquent purple bow, cute white suspenders with an offsetting short sleeved purple shirt… Her white tennis shoes were as white as her suspenders, with a smile featuring a missing tooth that would melt an iceberg. With oversized glasses that made her eyes look abnormally large, she looked out on this great expanse from a different perspective than anyone I’ve ever met. She changed my view of the World in the three-hour flight from Dallas to Baltimore, and left me wanting more out of my life, which will be the driving force behind my reasons for quiting Magic.

I was quietly nibbling on an overpriced Auntie Annie’s pretzel at gate C19 when I saw her for the first time. She came strutting up with a miniature suitcase and a hippie-looking purse covered with bubbly flowers and bright colors. She was being escorted by someone who works for the airport, and decided to park a couple seats over from me.

After finishing my pretzel I went for a piece of gum, and offered little Cassie a piece. She scooted over to sit next to me and happily accepted my nutritious gift. She reminded me of my cousin Emily, who I used to hang with when our families decided it was time to invite each other over for dinner and the usual jibber-jabber. When I pulled out my iPod she looked really interested, so I asked her if she wanted to listen to it with me.

The next thirty minutes was spent listening to Architecture in Helsinki, and all the “bloops” and “bleeps” that occur on and off during their sets really appealed to her. She was flying first class and boarded before me, and I thought our ways had parted… when the person at the gate asked me if I wanted to sit next to her in first class! She had seen what a nice person I was, and little Cassie was all by herself on the flight, and there happened to be an open spot in first class.

When I sat down next to her she smiled again, and another iceberg melted, the one covering my cold dark heart. Okay, so that’s not exactly true, but that last sentence sounds far too poetic for me to abandon it.

Before I go any further, I want to clarify that she was eight, and I’m not a sick pedophile. I just find the innocence of a child truly inspiring. The way they approach the World and look at things differently really makes me wish I was a child again. And, at the same time, it disgusts me. Is she dressed so nicely because her mother dressed her so? Or is she naturally that fashionable?

I hate the fact that parents spend loads of money to get their children the most fashionable clothes that will never last. Being a kid is about having fun with the other kids in the neighborhood and playing with Barbie dolls after the lights are out.

The entire flight was spent on my iPod, shuffling around trying to entertain little Cassie. She was so quiet and easily pleased, so it wasn’t much of a challenge, but pleasing her gave me a warm feeling in my heart. For that three hours I was responsible for her, almost like her guardian. It actually made me want to have kids…

Which made me yearn for one of those long-lasting relationships where you know everything about your partner – where they like to be tickled, their favorite breakfast item… someone to fall asleep in my arms each night. I’m a hopeless romantic. I dream of having a two-story house, with two boys and maybe a girl. Having that perfect wife that takes care of the family while I go off to work to make the countless millions to support them, and getting my back massaged in the evening by the same tried and true woman who’s raising my kids.

Bleh.

Upon exiting the plane, Cassie wrapped both her arms around me, and the iceberg melted again. When we finally arrived in the baggage claim, there was someone waiting for her with a sign. Apparently, her grandfather is a wealthy senator or something, and she was visiting for the week.

Cassie, goodbye… goodbye, sweet Cassie.

YouTube Video of the Week.

Does anyone ever watch these? Really. I want to know.

The Sanchez Gallery

Orbitz.com messed up my flight, so instead of flying conveniently to Baltimore, I flew to the city next to it, Washington DC. The worst part was I didn’t find out until the day before, so I was scrambling to find out how exactly to get from the Washington DC airport to the event site. After Googling a few times the night before I just decided to wing it, and hope for the best. These things always sort themselves out one way or another. I’ll probably just end up paying ten times more than I expected, but at least I’ll get there in a semi-timely manner.

Someone must’ve been looking down on me, because even though the path was far from direct, I managed to get there pretty quickly (four hours) and without too much hassle or money spent. I took a bus to the DC subway, took the subway to Union Station, then took the commuter train to the Baltimore baseball stadium, which was only a block away from the convention center.

After checking out what everyone was playing, I decided to play the following for the Standard portion:

It’s a bit different than the list I played at FNM in my last article. Akroma was added to the sideboard for the U/W/x matches, since she’s virtually impossible to kill now everyone is moving away from Wrath of God and Damnation towards more tempo-based decks.

I really like Aethermage’s Touch. It won me several game 1s that I couldn’t have possibly won otherwise. That said, a lot of people don’t like it, and I don’t exactly know why. Sure, you will miss somewhere around 10-15% of the time, but it is such a blowout card that can be used to make their Remands much less efficent. There aren’t any instants that actually do something when you don’t have a creature in this deck, and Touch gives you more options to combat the various permission strategies.

The “3 Azorius Signet 2 Mind Stone” idea came from Ben Lundquist, and I have to say it might be the best innovation of the deck. Mind Stone is completely insane. It does everything you could possibly hope for, accelerates you to four, then eight, then it draws a card. Speaking of mana sources, I absolutely despise Izzet Boilerworks. Every time I make it I feel like I’ve already lost. Getting it bounced by Cloudskate, killed with Boom/Bust, or bounced/killed in any other manner is devastating, and I hope to never play with bouncelands again in the current format.

Lightning Helix is also super-awkward to have in the sideboard. I’m pretty sure I boarded it in all but one match all weekend, and it’s the perfect replacement for Aethermage’s Touch when the opponent isn’t playing Remand. At the same time it also kills Arbiter, so swapping it for a Blink and the three Touch is perfectly fine, and it doesn’t affect the mana too much. Cutting a Nimbus Maze or Hallowed fountain for a Forge[/author]“]Battlefield [author name="Forge"]Forge[/author], and an Izzet Boilerworks for a Boros Garrison, would be needed to be able to cast Helix early enough if you wanted to maindeck it.

Pyroclasm was awesome, since there was a large showing of the Rakdos deck that weekend. The same goes for Aven Riftwatcher. I don’t really want to get too deep into the deck, since I want this article to be more about the story than how good my deck is.

Kyle Goodman and Gadiel (he obviously doesn’t need a last name) said I could crash in their room for a night. Apparently, the kid who won the JSS last year had a room and they were crashing there for free, since Goodman is the JSS equivalent to Kai Budde, and Gadiel, is well, Gadiel. He’s one of the few American Magic players to have moved past using their last names. Some others include Kenji, Ruud, Tiago, Osyp, and Larry. There are also a mass that have moved past the first name including Fujita, Kaji, Saito, Oiso, Watanabe, Osawa, Morita, Kenji, Kurihara, Fujita, Yasooka, Suzuki, Nakamura, and Smith.

The room was a complete mess, with Magic cards strewn everywhere, chairs overturned, a displaced TV, and a table placed between the two beds. The bed sheets were spread about the room – one covering a lamp shade – and there was a dead prostitute in the bathroom dressed in a stormtrooper outfit. [I presume he’s joking… — Craig, amused.] Another striking feature to the room was a large fellow resembling the Pokemon Snorlax passed out in one of the beds. Keep in mind that this is around 7pm.

We picked up Espo, Mark Ioli, and StrWrsKid on the way to Morton’s, along with several other people whose names I don’t know, and indulged in an insanely expensive meal featuring steaks of all variety ranging from $40-$60, $20 Ceasar Salads, and free garlic bread that bit the back of the neck when swallowed. The best part was the hot fudge cake at the end. A chocolate swirl that blended with ice cream, filled with a warm creamy center. By the time we were finished our bellies were bursting and our pockets were empty, with a final bill well over $900. There was only a 3 or 4 people who wanted to credit card game, which brings the odds down, so we ended up paying individually.

When we got there Snorlax was still asleep, this time sitting upright in a chair, which provided the perfect opportunity to take this picture:

SNOOOOOORLAAX!

I had planned on putting the picture I took of Snorlax in Baltimore, but when I turned in my cheap $8 disposable camera, the lady said there was only one picture on the entire roll of film. An awful picture of the Washington Monument, with my swollen thumb covering the top left corner. I told her there was no way that was possible, as I had been clicking away all weekend in Baltimore, and even managed to catch an excellent picture of the lovely Laura Bane when she wasn’t looking. She assured me that there was only one picture on the camera, and even did a little flirty-flirt with me before we eventually parted ways. I do believe I will be taking some more “pictures” to be “developed” at that “24-hour photo.” If you catch my drift…

Apparently, Snorlax hadn’t gotten any sleep in the past three days, and instead of playing in grinders he decided to sleep for 22 hours. I also heard another interesting story about Snorlax when he was playing in the Sealed grinder. Everyone had just exchanged Sealed decks after registering, and he was building his deck when he just dozed off and fell asleep. At the end of the building time, the Head Judge had to come over and actually wake him up, and inform him that he has a match loss since he failed to register 40 cards.

Seriously, think about this for a second. He fell asleep while building a Sealed deck.

SNOOOOOOOORRRLAAAAX!

Everyone in the room had the giggles, and we couldn’t stop laughing whenever someone said “Snorlax.” The best part was that everyone was in that really tired delirious state where anything anyone said would be insanely funny. Definitely one of the most memorable nights in my Magical career.

Day 2 – 2007 U.S. Nationals

StrWrs and I woke up early to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant, only to find out we had to wait another fifteen minutes before it opened. We walked around the hotel, and checked out the pool and patio. We made a couple of laps up and down the escalators until the doors finally burst open and the smell of bacon hypnotized us. So much so, in fact, that we didn’t notice that the buffet was $15. We were pretty surprised when we received a bill at the end.

Still, the twelve pounds of bacon I devoured were well worth the price. And the two cups of yogurt were a bonus.

Round 1 – Brian Stroh playing Rakdos with Gargadons

I’ve heard of Brian Stroh, but didn’t put the face to the name until BDM walked up and started chit-chatting about various details to both of us. He was playing the deck Antonino came up with for the tournament, a B/R aggro deck featuring all kinds of synergies to go with Gargadon, like Threaten and Fatal Frenzy, along with the standard Dark Confidant, Mogg Fanatic, and Mogg War Marshal.

Game 1

He got an early Confidant and Mogg War Marshal down, and proceeded to beat in for a few turns… until I used AEthermage’s Touch to put a Hellkite into play, killing all of his creatures and dealing one to him in the process. He sacrificed all his creatures to Gargadon, and brought it into play. On my turn I attacked, which put him to eleven or so, with me at thirteen.

I had the option of using Momentary Blink on my Hellkite, or playing Riftwing Cloudskate to bounce his Gargadon, I decided not to risk it and just played the Cloudskate to set him back, and then hard-cast the Hellkite in a few turns. A few turns went by and not much had changed, and when I hard-cast the Hellkite again he scooped ‘em up.

Sideboarding: +3 Pyroclasm, +4 Aven Riftwatcher, +4 Lightning Helix, -3 Aethermage’s Touch, -3 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, -4 Remand, -1 Bogardan Hellkite

Game 2

He started with another Dark Confidant this time, which really did a number on his life total, revealing Char and Threaten. Luckily I had an early Court Hussar out to make him use the Char. I got an Angel down, but it died on the next turn to another Char. I cast another Court Hussar and take a Lightning Helix, then Blink it to get another Helix. On the next turn I draw another Hussar, which finds Helix number 3, and I aim them all at his head on the next turn.

1-0

Round 2 — U/B/W Touch Blink

Game 1

I get a pair of early Cloudskates that destroy his mana, compliments of Momentary Blink. A couple of Lightning Angels show up sometime after, and his Skeletal Vampire can’t keep up with all my fliers.

Sideboarding: +3 Akroma, Angel of Fury; -1 Lightning Angel; -1 Aethermage’s Touch; -1 Bogardan Hellkite

The Grand Arbiter in the sideboard is really supposed to be for this matchup, but I didn’t feel like sideboarding it in, so I just boarded the Angels in.

Game 2

He bounced my lands a few times, but thankfully I had some artifact mana to keep up, and I land a pair of Lightning Angels and a morph after some time. He started bouncing my creatures with Venser and Cloudskate, and saw that Akroma was really bad for him. I got him low thanks to the Angels, and morph down two Angels to ensure that I can get past Skeletal Vampire once he is low enough.

2-0

Round 3 – Osyp Lebebosdowizx playing U/W/R Stock Angelfire

Let me first say that this match was completely bizarre.

Game 1

I started the game off well, with a Cloudskate suspension along with a Court Hussar, and an Aethermage’s Touch into Bogardan Hellkite taking care of his Lightning Angel. I was honestly just looking for a Venser or Cloudskate, to cripple his mana by bouncing a Azorius Chancery. I didn’t have a Blink for the Hellkite, but once I hit eight mana I had all three Hellkites to finish him off.

Sideboarding: +3 Akroma, Angel of Fury; -1 Lightning Angel; 1 Aethermage’s Touch; -1 Bogardan Hellkite

Game 2

I kept a sketchy hand, including Izzet Boilerworks, Steam Vents, Grand Arbiter, Venser, Momentary Blink, Remand.

Fast forward to turn 12: He has three lands and a Signet in play, and I have the same Steam Vents and Boilerworks from my opening hand. We’ve been playing Draw-Discard-Go for the past 8 or so turns without playing any spells in between.

Eventually he drew a Boom/Bust and some lands, and completely blows me out. When we go to the sideboard, we both start to laugh at how awkward that game was. He swaps a few cards in and out, and I pretend like I’m doing the same, but actually have got stone nothing.

Game 3

He gets two quick Booms on another mana-troubled hand, and I get blown out again. He suspended a Detritivore for one the turn before Cloudskate came into play, and I was able to bounce my only nonbasic land to my hand to force him to blow up one of his own. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to recover from that, and was still stuck on 2-3 mana the entire game.

We both laugh a bit more before we wish each other good luck and part ways. Until next time, my dear Osyp… until next time…

2-1

I was obviously hoping for a 3-0, but I’m satisfied with 2-1 since it should have been a 3-0. The Angelfire match is pretty heavily in my favor since I can put enough tempo down to make their Detritivores pretty useless, and Boom/Bust unappealing.

Another Super Sized Sanchez Gallery (to make up for last week)

Going into the draft portion, I didn’t have any high expectations. The last time I drafted, online or versus real opponents, was in Montreal. Before that was probably “GP: Not-Boston.” I just wanted to squeeze out a 5-2 and pick up the slack in the Constructed portion. With the Nationals format you are forced to do a four-round draft, which is pretty miserable. Not only is it the most important stint of the tournament, but it also means that the person who starts out 3-0 has the possibility to play someone who started out 1-2 in the pod. Not to mention how many byes are handed out due to people randomly dropping from the tournament.

I’m having a really hard time remembering the deck I drafted. I know for sure my second draft deck was R/G splashing Black for Sedge Sliver, but I can’t remember if I was U/R or G/R this draft. I’m leaning towards U/R because I remember playing a morph off a Coal Stoker at some point during Nationals. That might have been in a side draft…

This happens far too often at Limited events, and since it’s been such a long time since I’ve actually written a tournament report on one I completely forgot to take note of my decks, and now I’m stuck with this problem. The funny thing is that I remember all of my opponents cards, but I’m just drawing a blank about how they interacted with my cards.

Round 4 – Michael McGee playing R/W

For this round I had the pleasure of playing against a gentleman who was sporting a spunky pair of bunny rabbit ears that stretched out a good foot and a half from his shaved head.

I lost this round pretty handidly 0-2. Mike McGee’s deck was a very difficult matchup for my deck. He had a plethora of five-mana 3/3s including, Whip Spine Drake and his enchantment cousin Lucid Liminid. He also had a toolbox of removal spells, including several Temporal Isolation and Judge Unworthy.

I do remember making a mistake during this match. He had a Lost Auramancers in play with one counter left. He attacked, and I chose not to block with my Hill Giant for the trade. I figured the worst he could get was a Griffin Guide, and I would be able to use the Utopia Vow in my hand to take care of it. He ended up going for the aforementioned Lucid Liminid, and when I Vowed it, he had the Cloudchaser Kestrel. He killed me with the Liminid shortly after.

2-2

Round 5 – Chris Eng

Y’know how sometimes…

3-2

Round 6 – Tien Pham

You just don’t remember…

4-2

Round 7 – Steve Goleda

Anything about the games you played?

5-2

After Day 1 ended, I put the cards back in my bag in the Goodman/Gadiel room, and went for a stroll along the bay with Ioli, Tormos, Gadiel, Espo, and some guy whose name I can’t recall. The air was thick and humid, but the temperature was just right. We talked of wine, women, and stocks as we walked along the scenic Baltimore harbor as the sun set romantically in the background. Seagulls were clamoring as the tide beat the on the stone before us, causing a light splash across our battered faces.

Six guys…

One walk…

Stories that will last a lifetime.

A Stroll By The Harbor…

Opens in select theaters August 10, 2007.

“The most moving picture since Forrest Gump!”
Boasts Brian David Marshall

“An epic tale with epic characters presented epically!”
Raves Randy Buehler

“A gamer comedy for the ages!”
Laughs Lara Bane

“If I could, I would wake up every morning and watch this before I eat my cereal, but I don’t eat cereal, this movie really makes me want to eat more cereal!”
Announces Adam Yurchick

…

After all that strolling we worked up quite the appetite, and managed to find a homely little place call M & S Grill located on the harbor. We sat at a huge table in the bar, with stools complete with leg rests, and watched a baseball game on the TV. The food was excellent, and with talk of stocks, baseball, and Barrack Obama, the nite was truly unforgettable. Perhaps it was my new view on life, brought on by little Cassie, that was making me appreciate things so much more.

I don’t know what it was, but Ioli’s words on quitting Magic really phased me. Perhaps it was the combination of Cassie and Ioli, or perhaps it was the awful tasting water that was making my stomach rupture. Whatever it was, I am questioning what I am doing more and more lately. I mean, it’s not like any of my past jobs have gone too smoothly…

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned. I couldn’t concentrate. Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so they gave me the axe. After that, I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it – mainly because it was a sew-sew job.

Next, I tried working in a muffler factory, but that was too exhausting. Then, I tried to be a chef — I figured it would add a little spice to my life, but I just didn’t have the thyme. I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it I couldn’t cut the mustard. My best job was a musician, but eventually I found I wasn’t noteworthy. I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I didn’t have any patience. Next was a job in a shoe factory. I tried, but I just didn’t fit.

I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I couldn’t live on my net income. I managed to get a good job working for a pool maintenance company, but the work was just too draining. So then I got a job in a workout center, but they said I wasn’t fit for the job. After many years of trying to find steady work, I finally got a job as a historian – until I realized there was no future in it. My last job was working in Starbucks, but I had to quit because it was always the same old grind.*

Day 3 – Another Day of Grinding

This draft I remember quite vividly. I started out with a first pick Sedge Sliver and followed it up with the synergistic second pick Plague Sliver. After taking a few more Red cards, I picked up a Corpulent Corpse and Gorgon Recluse fairly late. Pack 2 didn’t offer me any Black cards, so I dipped into Green after getting some late Green goodies like Citanul Woodreaders and Mire Boa. Pack 3 saved me, giving me a plethora of removal to back up my already semi-spectacular crew.

2 Essence Warden
1 Kavu Predator
1 Mire Boa
1 Ashcoat Bear
1 Sedge Sliver
2 Grinning Ignus
1 Homing Sliver
1 Pouncing Wurm
1 Bonesplitter Sliver
1 Citanul Woodreaders
1 Phantom Wurm
1 Fury Sliver
1 Havenwood Wurm
1 Evolution Charm
1 Strength in Numbers
2 Flowstone Embrace
1 Ichor Slick
2 Ghostfire
1 Riddle of Lightning
1 Swamp
9 Mountain
7 Forest
1 Terramorphic Expanse

Round 8 – Brandon Scheel playing a much better R/G deck.

Game 1 I mulliganed to five, but had a pretty strong comeback, getting him pretty low before he eventually blew me out. Game 2, I thought I had it in the bag. I managed to get him to one life, but thanks to some removal spells at the right time he was able to stabilize and eventually overcome me once I stopped drawing spells. I remember looking at his deck after our game and seeing many powerful cards.

I doubt I could get much more generic that this last paragraph. It can basically be summed up with:

“I did some stuff, he did some stuff, then his stuff was better than my stuff so I lost.”

5-3

Round 9 – Gerard Fabiano playing another much better R/G deck.

Game 1

It started out pretty heavy in my favor, Gerrard was at five and had just cast a Volcano Hellion, killing one of my dudes. On his upkeep he thought for a moment, and asked:

“Can I draw first?”

He put it in the graveyard, and then asked:

“Oh shoot, can I pay for it?”

He played a land and passed the turn, pretending to be frustrated, with eight mana open.

I had Bogardan Hellkite on my mind from playing in the Standard portion, but Havenwood Wurm is also very probable. I had a Ghostfire and Flowstone Embrace in my hand, so if its Havewood Wurm I can just kill him by using Ghostfire after I attack with my 2/2 and 3/3. If he had Hellkite I would still be alright, since he would kill my 2/2, deal me three, and block my 3/3. From there I can put the Flowstone Embrace on it and kill it. I’d be out of gas, but since he’s so low I only need to connect with one creature to take the game.

I attacked, he had Hellkite, but instead of blocking my 3/3 he instead just killed both of my creatures, which forced me to use the Flowstone Embrace and Ghostfire to get rid of it. This eventually set me back too far to recover.

Game 2

Mull to 5, shipped it to Gfabs.

5-4

Round 10 – Shawn Houston

This was one of those nut draw matches. I got a turn 4 Fury Sliver out via Grinning Ignus, and never looked back by pumping him up with Sedge Sliver on the next turn. He was also stuck on three lands this entire game.

The next game was some something along the same lines. I think.

6-4

Round 11 – Nick E Keulmann playing whatever he played.

I’m gonna be honest. The rest of the article is already finished, and I’m just gonna admit that I’m rushing it. I don’t really want to concentrate about what my round 11 opponent was playing, because frankly I doubt you care, and I sure as hell don’t. So that’s that.

7-4

Round 12 – Patrick Chapin playing UBgw Mystical Teachings

If you haven’t read it yet, click here.

The best part of the match was when Patrick used Slaughter Pact and tore off a small piece of paper to put on top of his library. When he wasn’t looking, I covertly blew it off. The crowd watching started to laugh, and he looked down on the floor to see the piece of paper with a sigh. The look the table judge gave me was also priceless. He was projecting the stern rules official, but you could see that he wanted to laugh. His eyes betrayed all.

7-5

And so began a rivalry of epic proportion…

Sanchez versus Chapin

Mexican versus Welsh

Aggro versus Control

Good versus Evil

Cause versus Effect

One day, poor Patrick, I will stare down at your cold lifeless body and chuckle slightly, before producing a steady stream of urine to drown you.

Round 13 – Zack Hall

I forgot to drop after being completely destroyed by Chapin, so I was stuck playing for another dreadful round. Fortunately enough, I was paired up against Rakdos aggro, which is one of my best matchups.

Game 1

He gets the typical Dark Confidant draw on the play ,and I am crushed by its card advantage, but its okay, I have eleven cards coming in against him.

Sideboarding: +3 Pyroclasm, +4 Aven Riftwatcher +4 Lightning Helix, -3 Aethermage’s Touch, -3 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, -4 Remand, -1 Bogardan Hellkite

Game 2

I crushed him this game with some Lightning Angels, with Hit//Run protection in the form of Azorius Signet. I killed his turn 2 Dark Confidant with a Lightning Helix, and he wasn’t able to recover once I got Venser and Momentary Blink lined up.

Game 3

Pyroclasm took out a Dark Confidant and a Solifuge at one point during this game, and I also managed to draw several Lightning Helix and Aven Riftwatcher to make all of his burn spells far less effective. He didn’t draw Rain of Gore at all during the sideboarded games, but I had Venser backup each time so I could resolve whatever life gain spell I wanted without Rain doing anything.

I actually might have won this match 2-0, but I don’t remember if the second game was the first game, or even if the first game ever happened. So I’ll give Mr. Hall the benefit of the doubt and say that he took one off me.

8-5 – Drop

One Last Super Sized Sanchez Gallery

Day 4 – Draft Day

Lots of drafting went on this day. And I think Fobeon won another National Championship.

I actually did coverage on a handful of drafts involving American greats like Tim-o-tee Saten, Mattias Cheeks, Paulo Hai damo da Cheon-Luis Scooter Vargas, Mowhawk Moreno, Delaying Scheel, StrWrsBum, Gabriel Wallz, Been Jamin’ Rubin, Patricia Chapin**, Gadiel Sliver***, Len Bundquist, Baby Chamby, Ervin Brake-Pedal, TerryG, Ceddurrrrick Fillups, along with Brandy Buehler and Big Dookie Marshall rounding out the bunch.

My goal was to do an article entitled The Sanchez Guide to Sidedrafting, involving all the planning that has to be done to pick the perfect team mates, appropriate amounts of prize to play for, what countermeasues you can do to make hate drafting less effective, as well as giving pictures of all of the previously mentioned American All-Stars. They were taken on my cheap $8 disposable camera, and failed to produce any evidence. Now I’ll have to wait til GP: Daytona or PT: Valencia to get some pictures of sidedrafting in action. Still not sure if I’m going to GP: San Fran, as there’s a PTQ in my hometown on the same day that is looking quite tempting…

Thanks for reading!

Sanchez

…

Top Whatever Picks

1) “Ben Franklin’s Kite” by Something Corporate
2) “Frenchy I’m Faking” by Architecture in Helsinki
3) “Steps Ascending” by Thursday
4) “Unchained Melody” by Engelbert Humperdinck
5) “It 5” by Architecture in Helsinki
6) “Suicide is Painless” by Keren Ann
7) “Hurricane” by Something Corporate
8) “Like It Ar Not” by Architecture in Helsinki
9) “God of Wine” by Third Eye Blind
10) “The Tide” by The Spill Canvas
11) “Momma Was An Opium Smoker” by Rasputina
12) “Maps” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs
13) “All That I’ve Got” by The Used
14) “To The East” by Electrelane
15) “Money Jungle” by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach
16) “Souvenirs” by Architecture in Helsinki
17) “Only Ashes” by Something Corporate
18) “Scissors Paper Rock” by Architecture in Helsinki
19) “Two Step (Live at Folsom Field)” by Dave Matthews Band
20) “Debbie” by Architecture in Helsinki
21) “Hounds of Love” by The Futureheads
22) “The Underdog” by Spoon
23) “Flathead” by Fratellis
24) “Gulag Orkestar” by Beirut
25) “Atlantic” by Keane
26) “To and Fro” by Architecture in Helsinki
27) “Brazil” by Elefant
28) “Heart It Races” by Architecture in Helsinki

* Inspiration from a chain email courtesy of J. Evan Dean.
** He wasn’t actually drafting, but I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to put a little stab in at my rival! I won’t stop until I drink your blood Pat Chap!
*** When was the last article you could Ctrl + F “Gadiel” and find so many results?