I'd had plenty of practice against and with ems in testing before detroit, and was fortunate enough to play the new ems in round 12 of day one. So I was prepared for the match, I was also mentally prepared for my probable 5th-8th finish hehe. When asked if I wanted to test that night my response was 'why? I'm playing curve.' The only decision to make is whether to hit curve or under drop and under dropping is almost always best so its not like I needed to test. In my game against Jason I didnt see any misplays nor did I find him taking an unnecessary amount of time in making decisions. Stall decks take lots of thought and planning, and when its you in the chair playing it you always make sure to rethink it and make sure its the right move before you do it and commit yourself. My only shot was to hit every drop and get off some key overload, finishing move, and/or flame trap plays. Unfortunately I didnt draw the cards to do so against jason while I did against justice in round 12.

Keep in mind that day 1 you don't have your opponents decklist and in day 3 you do. If you know how to play around your opponents deck it becomes much easier to win the game. Both Dream and New EMS have a suprise factor, but in day 3 everybody knows what they were going to do and people just planned out what they were going to do. I've played Hager on day 1 with Fantastic Force which my good friend Dave Frayer built. I changed it a bit but Hager was a very good player and had answers to all my stuff. He knew that i killed him with cosmic radiation and so he just grabbed fizzle and power compressor to win. Although Adam Bernstein wasn't planning to get that far he was still expecting to what Hager was going to do. Stop my guys from killing him. So in one of his games that he wins he plays two mark II on turn 6 stopping Hagger from locking him down and allowing Adam to keep swinging for dmg. Adam had answers for Hager's turn 9 light by reacting a turn ahead with apoc. But I am very impressed at Hager though he's invented 3 decks and is such a great player. I'm so jealous. But in the end I think everyone can't wait for the next PC. See you guys at Indy.

Bulk
(the guy who complains too much)

Matt

I'm sure the volume of testing helps greatly, but it also has to be the WAY you guys test and the QUALITY of your testers.

If you feel like slightly improving some of your RANDOM opponents, could you detail how often you switch cards in the decks you are testing. How you make the decision to make a switch. So on and so forth.


If you remember Lexington in April at all, I'm the short round dude with glasses. No I'm not Meadors LOL.

I was an instant fan of Hager's EMS deck after he placed 2nd in that 10k, and now I'm sure that I'll keep on being one for a long time since he incorporated my favorite card into his amazing deck. If you couldn't guess by my avatar, it's Glorious Godfrey. I've always wanted to build a deck using him as a key card, but I guess New School is as close as it's going to get.

I'm disapointed that CS won. I am in the group that is tired of seeing a boring deck win again and again (mainly b/c I don't get to play very often so hearing about the same deck winning over and over gets old really fast). Altho, it is funny to think way back in the early days of the game where everyone (save that crazy guy with a psychadelic avatar) said that Sentinels sucked and they would never amount to anything. I almost wish they hadn't, but now they hold a PC title.

It's funny that a deck made to beat Sentinels was beaten by a deck made to beat a deck that beats Sentinels. If it wasn't for deciding to tech against late-game decks with Apoc, Hager would be the PC3 champ.

I remember someone a while back saying that Apoc pretty much won PC1; it's odd that now he has won PC3 as well. Could he be deemed the most viable/valuable/devastating/powerful card in the competitive Vs. scene?

So true. We've come a long way, baby.

Speaking of Purple winning $40K... I need Adam Bernstein's autograph on this comic book/trophy. I assume he will be in Indy, and someone signed up as a member with his name yesterday... whadda ya say champ?

Of course I remember you Gary. You were helping us get cards we needed for a second copy of Honor.

There is no formula for testing this game. You just grind it out until it is right. When MK came out, we knew we were adding the Midnight Sons engine to EMS. Jason and I built separate versions of the deck that differed by about 8 cards. Through testing, the decks got closer and closer until we found a build we were satisfied with. Neither of us had Godfrey in the deck to start, that bit of tech was from our friend Levi (Bangelfan999).

From there we made a gauntlet of the best decks in the format and tested hard.

I just want to say that New School is an amazing deck and Jason is an amazing player. I watched most of the finals(I had to leave at about 4 during Match 3 because of a family engagement.) and the thought that goes into each and every one of his moves is amazing. I could never play with that deck I just don't have the patience. I spent some time before the Finals starting talking with some members of Jason and Matt's playtest group and they said that thee deck is like a house of cards one mistake and it can all collapse around you. Taking time to decide your moves is not stalling it's being a good player.

I was the skinny kid in a white Devil's Stanley Cup 2003 cap.

http://metagame.com/uploads/pcny2005...4/DSC_4354.jpg

I'm the one hanging over the side of the rail. Thanks to all the people that talked to me about Jason's deck and put up with my idiot comments. Sorry Rob about asking you why Jason didn't recover his Doom or Alfred when Magneto was on the field.

Hey Stu, any relation to michael? If so, he's a good cat. Real quality player and guy. On any note, I will be in indy and it would be my pleasure to sign whatever you want.

Stu Barnes is a hockey player.

stubarnes is Rian Fike in disguise.

Good job to all the players at pcny. Great Job to Hager and his amazing deck. Great job to Bernstein for the tech on CS deck because i have noticed after turn 7 it can turn bad for CS. He went back to the old school and put in apoc and made the deck stronger. Everybody good job on just making it. It made me see that VS is alive and kicking.

Thanks Adam! The feeling is mutual. I've been telling everyone I know that you're an amazing player, a really good guy, and you played one helluva great game against me!

Hopefully, when I move down to Dallas in a couple of months, you'll give me a chance to even the score... heh heh!

Congrats again!

hey adam, congrats on the win..........
i have to say i was pullin for jason, not because he's a good player, but the fact hes a good friend.
but from what i can tell from the PC coverage and what jason himself has said, you a great player, and real good guy.

so hats off to you for a great PC win

DT

I really appreciate all the congratulations guys. I cannot say enough about the players I faced in top 8. They were all great guys.


Stu, what exactly did you mean when you said, "Yankee-lover versus Number One Dream. Obvious advantage."? I mean, do you know where we were? Who can beat a man who had NYC on his side? lol


Also, I read an earlier post making comment on jason's play in the finals. If I recall correctly it said he misplayed a number of times and took too long on turn 3, etc. I would just like to say that I think this is absurd. I thought he played very well, made very few (if any) mistakes, and played at a good pace. The turn may have taken a minute, but it was not like he was sitting around staring at his surroundings. I have incredible respect for jason.

Anyway, see you boys in indy.


Adam Bernstein

Adam: I didn't have a chance to meet you, since I was covering the $10K and not the PC on Day 2 and 3 - but I was thrilled to see you walk in and swallow everyone whole =)

I'm looking forward to seeing you play at Indy - and perhaps play against you if I decide to compete...

-Ben Kalman