Sunday, April 01, 2007

Guess Who's Not an Amatuer anymore

ME!!!!!

Boston (Anthony Shaheen) and I won a PTQ in San Diego today. It was a two-headed giant qualifier and we did it, only losing 1 game all day. Here are a couple strats that we employed, that are probably unorthodox.

- Dominant Head -
I was tabbed friday afternoon for Anthony's partner because his previous partner tapped out. I accepted, but under 1 stipulation, I wouldn't be making any meaningful decisions. This was, of course, OK with Anthony. He made the decks, each turn, he analyzed the play and we made it, he drafted both our decks for Top 4 with little to no imput from me. With the exception of like 2 occurances, I did exactly what he told me. We felt this worked because in magic, there are usually alpha-type players. They feel they have a plan and they feel their plan is best so they want to fight for it. We were always on Anthony's plan so there was never, go down road A, stop halfway, go down road B and then never put anything meaningful together. We also felt we got at least 2 wins from our opponent's faltering and doing this. Sure, we got a lot crookeyes when Anthony was making every single call and I did what he told me too, but we won.
I think if more "casual" type players that could just as easily turn dudes sideways and don't have a super ego were paired with more experienced players, I think those teams would qualify more.

So there you have it, we Q'ed. I will officially no longer be a Magic Amatuer after Pro Tour San Diego. I'm pretty excited.

2 comments:

Mike said...

I thought you had a pro point from making day 2 of GP Phoenix 2000. Still, much congrats, very cool to see you Q!!!!

TheGirard said...

Nope, they didn't pay down pro points all that far back then