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Congratulations Ron Serro...err Serio 26th at Worlds!!!
Ron Serio at Worlds wearing David Doust's favorite shirt
Photo courtesy of The Magic Dojo taken by my sex therapist, Cathy Nicoloff.
I wasn't gonna bother writing a Crew Worlds Report but I'm bored and
can't fall asleep so here it is.
I had just missed a Nationals invite off ranking by a couple people
and the possibility that I would make Worlds off ranking hadn't even
occurred to me until the ride home from Nationals when Max Szlagor
suggested it might be possible. Well when the rankings came out I
was the 26th highest ranked player not invited. Not exciting. I
e-mailed WoTC saying I wanted an appeal but I got my invite in the
mail before they were able to e-mail back. I guess cause the
Malaysia thing and all. Lets hear it for Malaysia.
So I go to Worlds by myself with no place to stay once I get there, no
decks and no good cards to build decks with. Not a problem, right?
Of course not. I hook up with Bob Maher, Andy Nishioka and Jason
Moungey and the WoTC barbecue after the shuttle bitch dropped me
off about 242323 miles across campus from where I needed to be.
We hang out and they try to discuss tech with me but all I can tell
them is I have no idea and Sligh is always good. They were super
cool all weekend and let me stay with them and gave me almost all
the cards for all the decks I played. Most of the people I really hang
out a lot with at PTs and the like weren't at Worlds so I would have
had a lot of problems if it hadn't been for them. Mad style props.
Ron making his metal face
The first draft of the day was only the 2nd time I'd ever drafted this
format, but I'd watched a lot of money drafts so I didn't think there'd
be a problem. I go 4-3 which isn't suprising since I've gone x-3 at
every PT and National draft I've ever played in.
Wednesday night I go to IHOP with Bob, Andy, Jason, Jon Becker,
Mike Long and Sally. I had never met Jon before Worlds but I talked
to him a lot over the trip and he was really cool.
I had never really had any first hand experiences with Mike Long
before this. Now I'm not gonna comment on how he may or may not
be during the course of a Magic: The Gathering tournament because
that's a tremendously tired subject. Before really meeting him I had
been pre-disposed to not like him but I thought it would definitely be
an interesting experience at the least. Mike turned out to be
absolutely hilarious. Now I'm a funny guy and I know funny when I
see it and this guy is funny. He was very cool every time I saw him
outside of Worlds over the weekend.
I go to bed that night not knowing what I was gonna playing T2. I
figured there's plenty of time between 8 and 9 in the morning to sort
all that out. I wake up, shower and go way out on a limb and play
Sligh. Not a big stretch for me considering I haven't played a deck
other then sligh in a sanctioned T2 since January or February of '97.
The deck I played was pretty basic with some suggestions from Mike
Long and some slight tuning by me, Andy, Bob and Jason. The real
change was 3 Rathi's standard.
I go 5-2 with the shittiest part being that I had to play Andy in round 4
or 5. We were playing the exact same deck and I got better draws
the last 2 games. Shitty. The other disappointing match was losing
to Janush Kuhn in the last round. He was playing cuneo and I really
should have beat him. My draws were horrendous though so there
wasn't anything I could do.
I go to sleep with no deck again. I wake up at 8 or so again and
decide to play Hatred. I hastily throw the deck together out of Andy's
cards and make a really bad sideboard. I go 4-3, but I would have
won 2 more of those matches if only my draws had been slightly
better. Not too bad though considering my first match that day was
the first time I had ever played the deck.
So after all that I end up 26th. I'm pleased to say the least given my
preparation time.
Me, Andy, Rudy, Aziz and Gary Wise all go back to Rudy and Aziz's
room to hang out with Aziz's uncle Herb and to get some pizza. And
let me stress that we got SOME pizza. I've never in my life seen a
bed with that many pizzas on it. The cab ride there was the most
thrilling ride of my entire life. The drive was either high or crazy or
both. My guess is both. He drove like a maniac, laughed like a super
villain and blasted the Backstreet Boys. I still can't believe I survived.
All I really did the rest of the weekend was hang out around the game
center.
Though me, Dave Price, Andy and Gary Wise did go to a bar down
the street Saturday night. I was at the end of the table and the place
was mad loud so I couldn't hear anything they were saying so I had
no choice but to sit there, quickly down drinks and check out the
chicks on the dance floor. It was rough, let me tell ya. Sometimes I
really wish I wasn't a white boy from the suburbs with no rhythm.
Later on Frank Kusumoto, Pete Leiher, Donnie Gallitz, Mike Long and
Sally went there too. It was pretty fun over all and I was pretty wasted
by the time I left. Check the dojo pictures for photographic evidence.
Having to walk back to the hotel in the rain at 4am while dead tired
and coming down from my buzz really blew though.
Ron getting shitty drinking Alabama Slammers at Lox Stock.
Photo courtesy of The Magic Dojo
Here's a short rundown on some of the people I hung out with at
Worlds:
Andy, Bob and Jason - Tre cool all weekend. Mad props.
Brian Schneider - Brian wasn't qualified but he came up wednesday
or thursday night. Brian's one of my favorite people on the Pro Tour.
He's just always cool to hang with.
Gary Wise - Sweet Jesus is this guy a beating. Gary is amazing for
so many different reasons. It's been a few weeks so I can't really
remember any of them, but I know they exist.
Aziz and Rudy - I don't think it's possible to not love these two.
Jon Becker - I never knew this guy existed but let me tell ya, he rocks.
Mike Long - Too funny. Kinda reminds me of me.
Pete Leiher - You haven't lived till you've heard Pete talk about Taco
Bell.
David Williams - I'm not sure if Williams ever actually plays in any pro
events or if he just shows up to money draft. But regardless of why,
he's always there and he always fucking rocks.
Alater1 from the IRC - For some reason I always feel like something
has gone horribly wrong anytime he loses in a money draft.
Matt Linde - This guy is just a slang machine. Totally amazing.
That homeless dude who tried to sell us his pants on the way to IHOP
- What can I say?
Derek Rank - Derek, my boy, they're you're teammates. Think about
what that shit should mean.
Frank Kusumoto - I think I can safely assume that I speak for the rest
of the world when I say, I LOVE THIS GUY. That's really all there is
to say about that.
And finally some people I did not hang out with:
Gabriele Pisicchio - At this point I'd like to go ahead and submit my
vote for the dumbest guy on the Pro Tour. I mean seriously now,
that's just fucking retarded. How many times do you have to get
caught cheating doing the exact same thing before you figure out that
they might just find out you're doing it AGAIN. Now I'm not one to
pick on idiocy, ok - so maybe I am, but come on now. This is
ridiculous.
Anyway, yo, i'm out.
Ron Serio