On the Boat Again!
by Sam Heckman

Every year I look forward to hanging out on the beautiful Queen Mary and 
getting some sunshine in an otherwise dismal Chicago March.  Even though 
I wasn't qualified this time, I still wanted to enjoy sunny California and 
hanging with all the great people I've met on the Pro Tour.  So I packed my 
bags and got psyched for (hopefully) the only major Tempest-only tournament 
ever.

Well, the day started rough.  I missed my 12:30PM flight out of O'Hare and 
had to catch the 1:00PM instead.  At the airport, I stop to grab a 
Frappuccino and a McDonald's Wennington burger, which is basically a 
quarter pounder with barbecue sauce instead of ketchup.  I hop on United 
Flight 117 and head out.

The flight was pretty uneventful.  I mostly played my Turbo Lose T1 
Recycle/recursion deck solitaire while Flubber played on the TV.  Towards 
the end of the flight I caught some Seinfeld and read some about the Queen 
Mary.  I found out it is actually bigger than the Titanic was and is also 
reportedly haunted.

Once I got to LA, I catch a Super Shuttle to the hotel, which takes about 
an hour.  As soon as I get to the Queen Mary, I'm greeted by the charming 
head judge, Jeff Donais, who gives me a hard time for wearing a sweater 
when it's sixty degrees outside.  I have to wait in line to check in for 
quite some time.

In line, I meet Kimmo Hovi, who looks a lot like Tommi with long hair, and 
talk to Cathy Nicoloff.  Francis Keys and Melissa Lang catch up to me just 
in time to find out that the room we reserved is under maintenance and we 
have to get a smaller room.  The room turns out to be okay, and we stow 
our stuff and look for the scene.

In the lobby, we find T2k and Nateman.  There are two playtesting rooms set 
aside.  The Aquitania Room was filled with players and some players also 
used the Normandy room.  Francis and I met up with Alan Comer and Gary 
Wise, who were talking more about women than Tempest strategy.  Eventually, 
they get serious and head to Comer's room for playtesting.

Alan, wearing his customary "Arena Member" shirt, has a twinkle in his eye 
as he sits on the floor and discusses cards that almost nobody would 
consider using for a standard format.  Wise seems to have done his 
homework, and between the two of them, they make rapid changes to decks in 
order to beat the decks they expect to see.

I explore the boat for a bit and return to Comer's room at 8:30PM, just in 
time for the player meeting.  I run into Christa Stenger and mark Chalice.  
The meeting is pretty boring, except Preston Poulter comes over for a bit 
to talk about his wild sex life.  I meet up with Frank Kusumoto and we 
explore for a bit.  I meet Jeremy Fuller and I chatted more with all the 
people I talk to all the time on IRC.  Comer's room was still hopping, and 
Scott Johns was working there, too.  Eventually, I call it a night and go 
back to the room.

I was particularly surprised to find two Asian women in my bed.  Foregoing 
a night of passionate sex, I head off to get a Pop Tart and a Sprite from 
the vending machines.  The interesting thing about day two is going to be 
finding out if all the playtesting theories pan out and work against real 
competition.