More than one hundred and fifty players came to Gencon to win an amazing piece of artwork and a sweet trophy. More importantly, they came to take their shot at the mantle of Vintage World Champion.
Here I detailed my preparation for the tournament. I drove from Columbus with teammates Kevin Cron and Joe Bushman. Gencon is an enormous enterprise and between all the cool happenings, the artist room, the exhibit hall and whatever random games might strike your fancy, there is simply too much to do. We decided we would make the most of it.
We met up with fellow teammates Carl Winter, Matt Smith (who doesn’t really play much anymore), and Paul Mastriano (who qualified for Star Wars Worlds and therefore didn’t play in the Vintage Championship).
Carl showed up with a three-color Tog with maindeck Back to Basics, recognizing the vulnerability of the metagame to that card. Joe was set on playing my deck and Kevin was planning on playing his signature deck, Stax.
I had LongDeath – my amazing combo deck that I have brought back out again after re-realizing its untapped potential – and Mono-Blue built. My Mono-Blue list, as you know by now, was designed and tuned for the Vintage World Championship metagame and no other metagame. It was, pure and simple, an exercise in metagaming. My LongDeath list on the other hand, is now well respected as a totally ridiculous combo deck.
As Rich Mattiuzzo put it, he couldn’t believe how much steam it had. To top it off, Doug Linn made me an abacus to keep track of mana and storm. The abacus helped tremendously in that regard. LongDeath is one of the hardest decks to play in Type One – not only because winning requires perfect play, but because it is a Tutor/Wish-based deck and that requires you to constantly think about your hand, your board, what is left in your deck and what is in your sideboard (since you have ten tutors) in order to maximize your game plan. Micro-managing your mana pool is simply too difficult to keep track of, not to mention storm. When you play a very complicated series of spells, you don’t want to needlessly complicate matters by having to put your cards down, and use the pen to write your mana down instead of just shifting beads on an abacus.
Fully intending on springing the Mono-Blue deck upon the metagame on Saturday, I played LongDeath on Friday and, in my opinion, I would have ended up with the same record. After my success with my LongDeath, I convinced my friend Aaron (who played Draw7 in the Friday event) to play it. Since he didn’t have my sideboard list, he made a modification and played with Darksteel Colossus in the sideboard, which I had before cutting the Oath of Druids sideboard plan.
After the Friday tournament, Matt Smith and I discussed what to play tomorrow. Matt Smith is a Mean Deck-affiliated player, but he doesn’t play Type One as much anymore, so he sort of has bowed out a bit. I told him I was playing Mono-Blue and he said he would have so much respect for me if I did, but that it was terrible. I explained my rationale for the deck and it took little persuading. I told him to throw together a list around the mana base I gave him, which he did. His list was close enough to mine. Now three of us would have Mono-Blue.
That night Mean Deck found a spot to quietly test. Carl Winter was still intent on playing three-color Tog with 3 maindeck Back to Basics. Joe knew he was playing Mono-Blue – although when I first suggested it a few weeks earlier, he thought I was joking. Kevin is playing Crucible Stax and is trying to tweak his sideboard. I play Fish against Carl, and Fish has the upper hand, so Carl wavers. I briefly convince him to play LongDeath, which he does very well with, but I am uncertain and don’t want to be responsible for him scrubbing out if he does poorly. At Kevin’s admonition he switches back, unfortunately for him.
I am set to play Mono-Blue, but my testing against Carl makes me realize that people might think as we do and bring decks immune to Crucible, so I may want to have something to bring in if I sideboard out Back to Basics. Therefore I fit a single Counterspell in my sideboard for the 4th Control Magic. I cut the Prohibit for the same and my deck is finished. I resleeve after more testing and we go to sleep.
Saturday, August 21, 2004
We see a crowd milling about.
My decklist is:
SmmenenBlue
8 Islands
3 Polluted Delta
2 Flooded Strand
4 Wastelands
1 Strip Mine
1 Library of Alexandria
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Jet
1 Mox Emerald
1 Sol Ring
1 Black Lotus
4 Force of Will
4 Mana Drain
2 Counterspell
4 Mana Leak
1 Misdirection
4 Impulse
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Time Walk
4 Ophidian
4 Back to Basics
3 Powder Keg
2 Morphling
Sideboard:
4 Energy Flux
4 Propaganda
3 Control Magic
3 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Counterspell
Round One: Kid with Food Chain Goblins
He explains he’s from Minnesota, and doesn’t seem too thrilled to be playing against me. He talks about Dreamer’s a bit and how the metagame is getting a bit better. He can’t be older than thirteen.
At this moment, I find myself wishing I was playing LongDeath. I have to survive the early rounds.
He wins the roll and plays Mountain, Skirk Prospector. I actually sigh a relief because in my testing, Food Chain Goblins is extremely overcosted and dies terribly to this deck because of that and also because 90% of the time, Goblin Piledriver is a 1/2 against me, particularly when Phid can block any other weak attacker. The only thing to worry about is turn 1 Lackey that isn’t answered by Phid, Force of Will, or Mana Leak.
I counter the next eleven spells he plays except for Blood Moon. By this point the Prospector has sent me to eight life and I have drawn all four Back to Basics but no Phid, Morphling, or Powder Keg. He plays another Prospector, which resolves.
I topdeck Powder Keg. He finally gets his fifth land under Blood Moon and plays Siege-Gang Commander. This game ends shortly thereafter and I can see myself scrubbing out of this tournament.
If I had drawn Ophidian or Morphling or even Keg anywhere in those first 11 turns, I probably would have won that game.
Game Two:
I sideboard in 3 Blue Elemental Blasts and 4 Propaganda.
I play Island, Mox, Lotus, Morphling. He tries to REB it on his turn and I Force of Will, leaving me with Blue Elemental Blast as my last card. I drop another Island and hope to race him. It gets sticky at one part as he has the cycling goblin, Gempalm Incinerator and Goblin Sharpshooter with three men in play as he makes a bid for my Morphling, but it comes too late. Morphling’s untargetability trumps these strategies and I win the game narrowly.
Game Three:
I blow him out of the water very early. He has turn 1 Lackey, but I have early Time Walk, Ophidian, and Morphling with lots of mana up (within the first three turns). He attacks when I have Morphling tapped and pay a Blue to untap her, killing his Lackey. He forgot that Morphling untapped. This is a great example of people forgetting how insane Morphling can be.
1-0
Round Two: Oath of Druids
I sit down across from a guy playing completely unpowered Oath of Druids, facts I don’t realize until later. I fear Oath very much because of my reliance on Ophidian. Kevin Cron used to play Oath several years prior and it was unfavorable for Mono-Blue. I naturally assumed this deck was much like that, but with a White splash.
He wins the die roll. The first few turns involve him dropping 2 Tropical Islands, 1 Tundra and 3 Wastelands. I Wasteland his Tundra and play a bunch of Islands. He plays very well and deliberately as he announces his untap, upkeep and draw steps. He’s hard to read, and won’t give into my psychological games as much as I’d wish, but he is very afraid to play spells. I see him discard Spike Feeder and Akroma. My Back to Basics really irks him and shuts off lots of mana. At one point I almost play Phid, but decide I won’t play a Phid until I’m certain I can stop his Oaths. He finds a basic Island which he desperately needs and now he had Mana Drain mana up (which I later assume he doesn’t have, since I saw Counterspells instead). Several times he appears to be ready to play Oath of Druids, but doesn’t. He tapped lands to do so, but untapped them and I called the judge, who said he could untap them.
When he does go for it, I easily win that counterwar (and over AK for three) and then the Phid starts going. Another Phid joins my army with less than twenty minutes left on the clock, Morphling hops on the team. He quickly scoops up and we move on.
Game Two is a really intense battle as I need to figure out whether I should even attempt to play a Phid (and risk losing a game to Oath) or just try to prevent him from winning and thereby win the match if we draw the game.
I board as follows:
+ 2 Control Magic +1 Counterspell
I desperately want to steal his Akroma. I go for the Phid plan and it takes me where I want it to. The only spell I let resolve is Cunning Wish, which finds Elephant Ambush. I counter the first one but we Draw-Go enough that he has plenty of lands to flashback the spell. I don’t counter it because we are now at time, and he can’t kill me on time. I conserve all my countermagic for an attempt he might have to win the game, such as with Akroma and Time Walk. He fails to come close and I win the match.
Now that I am in the 2-0 bracket, I feel much safer. I want to play the good decks.
From here on out I play known players from the Mana Drain.
Round Three:
Ray Robillard (I am Fishman) with Workshop Slavery
Sadly, Ray won the dice roll.
He played: Black Lotus, Ancestral Recall, Mox, Thirst for Knowledge discarding Memory Jar, Volcanic Island, Goblin Welder.
I dropped Island, Mox, Sol Ring, Time Walk. I played Ancestral, which he Forced, and I Leaked. I dropped Keg.
Oh man, did I wish I had gone first.
Here was a critical question. This had come up in Mean Deck testing sessions: do you blow the Moxen to stop Welder, or suck up one turn of brokenness and kill the Welder next turn with Powder Keg? I chose the former and it was extremely perilous. I had to counter every artifact he played. I wasn’t certain what he was playing at first. I countered the first few Moxen he played, but was upset as I drew Misdirections and lands and he eventually resolved a second Chalice (I countered the first). That Chalice found Memory Jar. I countered half the stuff he did in that Jar, but it was too late – Platinum Angel was now in his graveyard. He Welded it in, wisely, and I had no way to deal with that. I can’t remove it with Kegs in my yard for him to Weld back and forth even if I could find Morphling to block. We have used twenty minutes of time, so rather than risk losing because I wasted time, I scoop and we move on to game two.
Game Two he tried turn 1 Chalice for two, which I countered. Back To Basics + Energy Flux lock him down quickly.
Game Three was more of the same.
Ray was awesome.
Round Four: The Man Show
I had brought my abacus with me and my opponent honestly thought I was playing Draw7 until Pat (Tracerbullet) who was sitting next to me, accidentally said what I was playing.
I wasn’t sure what my opponent was playing but I won the die roll. I played Island, go. He played Mox, City of Brass, Demonic Tutor. I thought he was playing 4-Color Control, so I let that resolve. Moreover, I untapped and played Island, Back to Basics when I had Mana Drain, Counterspell, Mana Leak and lots of more goodies in hand. Unfortunately for me, my opponent tutored for Strip Mine and played Mana Vault, Crucible of Worlds. I tried to recover with Phid, but he kept me down too long. I scooped when I saw the beaters. He was playing The Man Show.
Game Two:
I brought in Energy Fluxes. I had turn 1 Phid and he had turn 1 Chains of Mephistopheles. I used my Phid as a Merfolk Looter to optimize my hand without playing mana. My board was Island, Island, Island, Mox for many, many turns. He couldn’t resolve a single threat. I eventually found all four Phids and was beating with some and optimizing my hand with others. I won.
Game Three:
This is one of the most savage games I played all weekend – Long included. He went turn 1 Crucible of Worlds off of a Mishra’s Workshop. I dropped Energy Flux and Wastelanded his only land shortly thereafter. His board remained empty for the rest of the game.
4-0
I had just murdered two Mishra’s Workshop decks, so I knew I was in good shape.
Round Five: Keeper
Another Mana Drainer.
Game One I quickly locked him under Back to Basics. He played an Exalted Angel, but I had Powder Keg in hand ready to Keg his Moxen and the morph. He never recovered.
Game Two: I sideboarded in two Control Magics for one Keg and a Back to Basics.
He had a basic Island, but the game was in my favor the whole time.
5-0
By this time, I am extremely excited, as all of my teammates are in contention for top 8. Collectively, we have no match losses and two draws except for Carl Winter, who is out of contention.
Round Six: Worldgorger Dragon Combo (Dante)
I win the die roll and play Ancestral Recall on his upkeep with Force of Will backup. He does nothing of consequence on turn 1, so I play a turn 2 Back to Basics. He end step Intution’s for Dragon, Dragon, and Ambassador Laquatus, which I let him keep. My Phid engine goes active and he doesn’t ever get to a point in the game where he can resolve spells.
Game Two:
He mulligans to five and my hand is: Wasteland, Wasteland, Wasteland, Island, Ancestral Recall, Mana Leak, and Control Magic. He plays a turn 1 Bazaar, discarding two mana sources. I Wasteland it. He has three cards in hand and by this point I’ve already won the game, but winning isn’t my intention. I sided out Morphlings for Control Magic to prevent him from being able to win a game. I can kill him with Ophidians if need be, but if the game draws or I win, I still win the match. We go to time and I win the match.
6-0
At this point I am the only 6-0 and am in first place. Nick and Kevin Cron are both 5-0-1 and I am paired up against my teammate Kevin Cron. We discuss the merits of drawing but conclude that if I scoop to him, then he is guaranteed a spot in the top 8. I do so and the following round Kevin and I draw in.
Most of the top 8 is set: Me (Mono-Blue), Kevin (Crucible Stax), David Allen (playing Stacker) and Fish. Michael Simester wins his match and the remaining question is whether LongDeath will beat TnT.
Aaron LeKarz is playing my creation (LongDeath) that I showed him the previous day, modifying Darksteel Colossus in the sideboard to Tinker. Aaron is playing game three against TnT and appears to be on the verge of winning. He goes turn 1 Gemstone Mine, go. He endstep Vampiric Tutors for Black Lotus. He untaps and plays Dark Ritual, removes Elvish Spirit Guide from game, Death Wish for Yawgmoth’s Will, leaving a Black mana floating. He plays Black Lotus and Yawgmoth’s Will. He replays the Dark Ritual and the Lotus and sacrifices it for UUU, with UUUBBB in his mana pool. He plays Timetwister and draws: Mystical Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Brainstorm, Duress, Dark Ritual, and irrelevant cards. He plays Duress and I suddenly want to strangle him.
He thinks he only had two mana floating, when in fact he had three. If he had UUB floating after the Twister, he could have Mystical Tutored for Tendrils of Agony, Dark Ritualed, and Brainstormed into it and play one other mana source, such as a land he has yet to play, and win the game. If he had BBU floating, could do the same thing with Vampiric Tutor instead of Mystical Tutor. Either way, he wins. He screwed up big time (boooo!) and missed top 8.
Rich Mattiuzzo lost his match because he was missing a card – he could have made top 8. The Dragon players all lose in the final round (three were in contention) and the only question left is whether TPS or the Keeper deck will make it in. Unfortunately for them, they go to time and draw. As a result, Mark (Windfall and eventual winner) slips into the top 8. The top 8 is set. We take a water and bathroom break as they check our decks and we sit down to play.
Before the standings were up, I was hoping to play either the Fish player or David Allen. I also wanted a little bit of revenge. Well I got my wish, and I got beat up. Kevin and I are extremely happy as we discover we are in separate brackets. I am also extremely pleased to play David Allen’s Stacker deck. The deck I feared the most was Michael Simester’s Belcher deck. Despite my dominating Control stance, I was simply afraid of what it can do, regardless of my counterwall. I’m certain that he probably feared me the most as well for the same reasons.
David Allen is a great human being. His attitude is amazing and he is truly a pleasure to play magic with – despite the stakes, he kept amazingly relaxed. Nonetheless, it was apparent he was scared of my deck.
I rolled the die and won!
Quarter Finals, Game One:
My hand was very strong for Mono-Blue:
Mox Sapphire, Island, Island, Powder Keg, Ophidian, Force of Will, Impulse.
I didn’t want to get caught with my pants down, so I went Sapphire, Island, Powder Keg and passed the turn.
David dropped Mox Jet and Mishra’s Workshop and played Juggernaut. Of course I played Force of Will pitching the Impulse. I untapped and played Ophidian.
David dropped Volcanic Island, Goblin Welder. David was probably very unused to playing against Mono-Blue.
I untapped and briefly considered that if he had multiple Welders, it might be worth it to attack with Phid before blowing the Powder Keg. I really wanted that card because I drew a Fetchland this turn and needed a counterspell. The fact that I wanted that card so badly made me later realize that he probably would have blocked the Phid. Instead, I ramped up the Keg to one and blew it before attacking (a clear mistake). I drew Wasteland. I was feeling very good, except he played another Goblin Welder. I Wasted the Workshop and drew another Island. Here was another play mistake. I should have used the fetchland – because this happens to me all the time. If you don’t break the fetchland, you will draw junk – not because of statistics, but because you made the wrong play. You have to break fetchlands ASAP. After he untapped with the Welder in play, I was done. The Juggernaut in his graveyard stopped my draw engine and soon after he Tinkered up Sundering Titan. I scooped shortly afterward.
Prior to the match, Kevin and I devised a sideboard plan. I couldn’t fit in all my stuff, so we decided on:
2 Morphlings
1 Back to Basics
3 Powder Kegs
2 Counterspells
1 Misdirection
+ 4 Energy Flux, 3 Blue Elemental Blasts, 2 Control Magics
Again, I had a hand that said”You can’t lose”:
Island, Mox Emerald, Sol Ring, Energy Flux, Mana Leak, Force of Will, Mana Drain,
I thought for a moment and played Island, Mox Emerald, Sol Ring. The idea is to Mana Leak his first play and then while he has invested in the board, drop Energy Flux to ruin him. Ideally, he’ll play Workshop, Mox, Su-Chi or a beater of some sort. The chance of him having Strip Mine being remote, I pass the turn.
He plays Strip Mine and passes the turn.
I draw Time Walk and pass.
He plays Shivan Reef, Goblin Welder. I Force the Welder.
I then draw Blue Elemental Blast. He untapped and played another land.
I draw an Island and play Energy Flux. He Red Elemental Blasts the Flux.
It occurs to me that if I had drawn this game instead of played, I would have had turn 1 Time Walk with BEB, Leak on turn 1 and seen the second Island before he could play a second or even a first Blue Elemental Blast, and I wouldn’t have had to Force of Will the Welder. As it stood, I lost this game because of Strip Mine. Hell, even turn 1 Energy Flux would have bought me enough time to recover – the only downside being he can choose when he is going to lose his permanents. In Type One, these things happen – but I was frustrated that I lost what I thought, particularly after sideboard, what I felt was a favorable matchup. Worse, the games were decided so early.
Well, David Allen beat me twice in two tournaments, my only loss both times. He is a true sportsman and a great opponent. David went on to get second place.
It’s arguable that I could have chosen any number of different sideboard plans against David. If I assume that I can resolve any two of Back to Basics, Energy Flux, or Propaganda, then I can go into the long game and try to win before he can kill me or ruin my mana with Sundering Titan. My inexperience with the matchup in modern times meant I was relying on intuition more than testing. I tested against most decks, but simply didn’t have enough time to test in detail against enough Tubbies variants.
If I had beaten David, I would have played Michael with Belcher. If I win the die-roll, I probably have an extremely good shot at winning because my deck is 25% Counterspells and heavy mana denial. I have intensely tested the Control Slaver match against Doug Linn and would have been ecstatic to play against Mark with Mono-Blue.
The Secret of Mono-Blue
Besides the technical aspect about how the deck design seriously frustrates the major strategies in Type One at the moment, there are two major reasons that Mono-Blue did so well for me.
The first is that people were simply unfamiliar with how the deck operated. The card pool and technology I’m working with is so old, people are going to naturally make mistakes against it. Related to this, people simply couldn’t be sure how many counterspells I was running, since they probably hadn’t seen a list of Mono-Blue in two years.
The second reason Mono-Blue worked so well for me is the psychology behind the deck. I won’t dwell on this point because it is one of the secrets of Magic that I want to keep that way, but to say that Magic is a partly psychological game (and probably the majority of you who have clicked this article probably haven’t read this far). You only have to induce the opponent to make one mistake in any given game of Magic (which is not hard to do, given the intensity of the game, particularly in Type One), to win a game. Mono-Blue is a deck for people who try to induce that sort of mistake in their opponents. It is extremely easy to miscue against it or not play your spell when Mono-Blue may be bluffing a counterspell. Getting drawn into the psychology probably means you are not going to beat this deck.
Final Thoughts on Mono-Blue
In the final analysis, I don’t think I’d change a card from the decklist or the sideboard. Every one was functional and extremely smooth. My advice to anyone who is considering playing this deck is to do the following. First, consider the metagame you are taking it to beat. I wouldn’t play four Back to Basics maindeck unless you expect Fish. Against most decks, three maindeck Back to Basics is probably the right number. You absolutely need it as quickly as possible when playing against Fish. Also, the Island count is extremely light. I liked Sol Ring and Library quite a bit, but I would have won that second game against David Allen if that Ring had been another Fetchland. Joe Bushman played with another Fetchland instead of Library of Alexandria.
Although I designed the deck to fight a specific metagame, Fish, 4CC, and Mishra’s Workshop Prison and Aggro-Prison are going to remain. This tournament will probably not have the metagame shift that one would expect, and as a result I foresee this deck being very strong until people begin to bring in hate cards. One alternative is to cut the two Counterspells, one Keg and move one Back to Basics into the sideboard for four maindeck Chalice of the Void.
Gencon in Connection with the Social Aspect of the Game
Unlike movies, comic books or even novels, Magic is inherently a social game. You are forced to sit down and play against other people. In the other mentioned activities, you come in alone. One of the best parts of Gencon was the people I have spoke with or read, at length, online, but never had the chance to talk with in person until this weekend.
In particular, I was pleased to meet Peter Olszewki (DicemanX) from the Mana Drain. Peter helped design the Worldgorger Dragon deck and a purveyor of riddles for the community to solve. Over the course of the weekend a number of other friendly faces introduced themselves, including Green Knight and Ian Degraff. I only played in two tournaments so I’d be able to enjoy Gencon besides just the tournaments, but I didn’t do enough. There are many people I wish I would have had more time to simply sit and chat with – beyond just some quick, rushed, thoughts on the tournament or whatnot. I advise that people slow down and take the time to enjoy the tournament scene and the community. Make time to speak with people instead of moving from match to match.
Final Thoughts on the Format and Direction of the Metagame
JP Meyer has suggested that the format is now becoming more of a Pro Tour Qualifier Format rather than a Pro Tour Format. What he means by this is that instead of preparing for a few, small, huge tournaments where the format is almost new each time, there are a lot of huge tournaments with a shifting week-to-week and month-to-month metagame. I think this is definitely the case. This might cause there to be less pressure on innovation outside of new set releases and more pressure on predicting the metagame.
If there was one thing I was disappointed by at Gencon, it wasn’t he judging or the lack of quality players. The player base was extremely strong and although others had bad judge calls, I saw nothing but fine judging. What disappointed me was the lack of a new archetype breaking out. Rich Mattiuzzo was playing an interesting deck that is certainly new, but aside from that, I wasn’t really surprised by anything. Is innovation in this format now tied to the release of new sets? Possibly.
One thing I think should be clear from this tournament – nothing deserves restriction. The top eight featured seven mostly different archetypes whose success is directly explainable by the decks they faced and the anticipated metagame. The format is healthy, relatively balanced and demonstrates a complexity that can only be found in relatively developed formats. Combo is certainly a threat, but Trinisphere, Null Rod, and the bulk of the restrictions have kept it docile enough to be nothing more than annoying to some and a potential deck choice to others.
In the last year, Type One has seen an unprecedented explosion in popularity, and I have no doubt whatsoever that the next year will be even better than the last.
May there always be more Type One tournaments than you have time to attend,
Stephen Menendian
You can reach me at Steve dot menendian at gmail dot com
Post Script
For those of you who care, I thought I’d share one last anecdote. After I was knocked from the Top 8, eight of us played an incredible game of Type Four – introducing Star City’s own Phil”Dr. Sylvan” Stanton to the format. Paul Mastriano had cast Riptide Shapeshifter. Riptide Shapeshifter is a scary card – particularly when Paul Mastriano has it. I decided it was best to Dissipate that guy, removing him from game. Aaron LeKarz, who was sitting to my left, unmorphed Mischeivenous Quanar and used his ability to copy Dissipate removing my own Dissipate from game, causing Paul’s Shapeshifter to resolve.
Displeased with my attempt to counter his spell, Paul attacked me with Phage, the Untouchable. It is extremely unpleasant to get knocked out of a game of Type Four in this way. Sensing my pain, Josh Rayden activated his Planar Portal and found Fissure and cast it targeting Phage. Once again, Mischeivenous Quanar copied the spell to Josh’s own morphed creature. In response, Josh unmorphed Willbender sending a copied Fissure at the Quanar. Paul Mastriano blew the Shapeshifter naming”snake” and Mystic Snake popped up to counter the first Fissure. That was one of the most complicated stacks I’ve seen in Type Four and although I can’t remember how, I survived it. Eventually, I had Genesis and Bosh and had to be put down like a rapid dog.
Post-post Script
I want to give one last shout out to all the cool people I hung out with at Gencon: Paul Mastriano, Dave Staymates, Green Knight, Eastman, Aaron Kerzner, Phil Stanton, Craaaazzzy Carl Winter, Aaron LeKarz, Rich Mattuizzo, Diceman X, Rudy Van Soest, Hero T’Mannje, Roy Thisson (sorry on the spelling Dutchies, you know who you are), Josh Rayden, Kevin Cron, Joe Bushman, Shane Stoots, Marc Perez (if you need a realtor in the DC area, give him a ring!), David Allen, Josh Reynolds, Tracerbullet, Dante, Ben Kowal, Scott Limoges, Bryce Reynalds, Travis Hopkins, Michael Simester, and I can’t possibly remember everyone else at the moment, but if you came up and said hi, you are awesome.