Day Three - Fights Break Out
by Sam Heckman

Last night, I styaed up a bit late watching Francis Keys draft and playing
Type 1 with matt Stenger.  We had a few good games, but in the last one he 
draws 10 extra cards before I have a second land in play.  I quickly die to 
an Erhnam and a Serendib Efreet.

I was able to catch Francis with his nine-creature draft deck beat Mike Wong 
using blue/white.  After that I watch Eric Tam play a few games.  Eric and 
I discuss how the infamy of certain deck archetypes evolve.  Eric found it 
amusing that one of the most famous decks is named after Paul Sligh, who 
didn't design the deck (Jay Schneider did), and has never made a top 8 at
a PT before.

I talk some with Chris Wong and Frank Kusumoto and about 4:00AM I really 
need to get to sleep.  Francis and Melissa Lang didn't come into the room 
until I was already asleep.

Today, I get up around noon and go to the convention area to check up on the 
PT.  Everyone was talking about Kyle Rose, who was undefeated at the time, 
and Will Hilt's sliver deck.

In the middle of watching Chris Pikula play Bryan Hubble, a fight breaks 
out in the junior Super Series between Derrick Darling and Nathan Radi.  
Things were quickly broken up by Jeff "Superman" Donais, who leaped over 
tables to stop the altercation.  Nathan, Derrick, and Derrick's brother, 
who was also involved, were disqualified.

Derrick felt he was innocent in the ordeal and thought the penalty he 
received was too harsh.  The incident started when Derrick asked Nathan to 
desleeve and wanted a judge to check his deck.  Nathan was found to have 
only 14 cards in his sideboard and was disqualified.  Nathan then threw 
Derrick's card box at him and started throwing punches.  Derrick's brother, 
who just finished his match, jumped in to try and stop things.  Security 
made it there and escorted Nathan off the boat.

In the end, Derrick and his brother spoke to Andrew Finch and were refunded 
their entry fees.  Melissa and I had lunch with Derrick, his brother and 
his father.  They were disappointed and very discouraged because this was 
their first sanctioned tournament.

After lunch, we sit in the sun with David Price, Mark Chalice, Ben 
Kellerstrass, Chris Pikula and Worth Wollpert.  They were talking a lot 
about the Duelist Invitational and how it would better duplicate other 
sports' all star games if the voting system were changed to something that 
had more emphasis on the fans' choices.

I check on the PTQ and Gary Wise was tearing through the Swiss with an 
exceptional deck.  Two Rolling Thunder and a Tradewind Rider were the main 
highlights.  I spend the afternoon watching a lot of features matches.

Over the weekend, there has been quite a bit of controversy over marked 
cards, and today was no exception.  Each round, "random terror" deck checks 
were administered to dissuade competitors from stacking or otherwise 
manipulating their decks for an advantage.  One major issue was the 
variation of color and wear patterns on card backs.  Olle Rade and Tommi in 
particular are known as experts on this color variation, and on Friday Olle 
requested Tommi replace some of the islands in his deck due to the fact 
that it was possible for Tommi to identify them simply by the card back.

In between rounds, Donnie Gallitz gave Lan Ho and I a piece of "the rat," 
a huge red gummi rat that brought him luck throughout the day.  I also 
talked a bit with Pete Leiher about qualified players in PTQs.  We both 
agreed that the new rule was "good and bad."  I guess the pro players are 
just going to need a good outlet other than the PT itself to keep their 
competitive edges.

While I was talking to Pete, top eight was announced.  I was disappointed 
that Brian Schneider didn't make it, but I'm sure the cash made him feel a 
little bit better about it.

About 10:00PM, I went back to my room.  Alan Comer and Wyatt Agard showed 
up and wanted to order pizza, but things didn't work out too well with 
that.  Bad room service sufficed and for now, I'm calling it a night.