Stroudsburg 9/14

[President B. Dazzle]

So I figure, since I can never go to DT because I'm in Long Island, I should get some alternate tournaments in. This week, I traveled with Paul Pickett to Stroudsburg. 14 people, 4 rounds, no playoffs. I'm Andre, Pickett is Xtreme Diva

Round 1: Corey K (Mr. PPV)
Kid gets a quick start on me with Mr. Monday Night, Volley This, and Rolling Thunder. But in doing so, he eliminates most of his hand (as he had never seen Andre before, so he drops all eight of his pre despite me saying he could start over, and in a couple in-between turns, he sat on reversals and I got to use my ability.) I shred most of his ring area with 8th Wonder, then hit Precision Sleeper. Next turn, Obey bounces the Backlash deck. From there it was a couple of Blindside Drop Toe Holds into The Finisher for the game.

1-0

Round 2: Alex S (Batista)
This guy stops to read my backstage before only dropping 2 pre. Unfortunately, one of my opening hand cards was Booby Trap, which made him discard an additional 2 cards. Blind Shoot Headlock and Blindside Beal Toss go through. He searches for a Spinebuster and hits a Sucker Punch, which sticks. I pass, then next turn I let Blindsided Spinebuster hit the table with an Oversell (there was NO point in letting it hit the pile, and Coach Says was nowhere to be found.) This is the one guy that gets me to hide my Backstage card all night. He gets a Me Llamo, I get Giant Head Butt and Booby Trap to search for Obey. I Obey his BL deck away, then throw a grapple, and the one card left in his hand happens to be his third spinebuster. He removes like 20-30 reversal cards in the ring area and ringside pile from the game to play Blindside Tornado Strike and Blindside Kick, respectively. I soak both. The second Blindside Kick gets Once Is Enough. I then check and see that all three Managers have been removed from the game, and hit The Finisher for the win.

2-0

Round 3: Paul Pickett (X-Treme Diva)
We do jack and shit for a long time, because he's got Rochester and Inferno Match and it doesn't seem like my hand of red would do a lot. I eventually hit two Blindside Beal Tosses and The Coach Says, then the next turn I hit 8th Wonder to shred most of his ring area. I was half-tempted to pop the Backstage and search for Waist Locks to blank Inferno and Rochester, but it turned out I didn't need them as badly as I thought. I DO, however, need cards that bring back removed from game cards. Since I helped Paul build the deck, I knew to look for both Once Is Enoughs to overturn before throwing The Finisher. Once they did, I Don't Try'd Rochester and hit The Finisher for the win.

3-0

Round 4: Mike (Mr. PPV)
He starts out playing all five pre-match, which are Hidden Dragon, RVD, Managed by Vince, Shenanigans, and Let's Get It On. He ends up with a Revo and a Volley from RVD, then plays Mr. Monday Night. I play Broken, and he Volley's it once. I search for one of my Lift a Boot's. Broken again, search for a Sidewalk Slam. He finally Cow's something, don't remember what. I, once again, forget he Volley This'd, and he plays Sex/Gods/Freaks/Frauds into Technical Stomp, which I start searching for Give & Take. He ends up hitting me with a metric ton of Technical moves, all only from arsenal, all which I soak and use Give & Take. When he goes for the Split-Legged Moonsault, I Lifted the Boot. I Ego Boost into Blindside Sleeper, then fifth some reversals back, but I forget the Outta Play, and he uses the new Frog Splash to pin me (and he's the second Mr. PPV that bitched about not having the old one but the old one would have been reversed on overturn anyway!) If he had had the old one, I would have ended up winning that match, because the next card was Give & Take (put two reversals back) and I could have soaked any other move he threw at me.

3-1

This was good enough for second place and 3 packs (BOO no kit!) They said next week they have a kit and they're doing something called the Wheel of Doom where they have random, made-up stips that every match gets, like Texas Bullrope Match or Barroom Brawl and shit like that. Even with all that, it's still a little far for us to travel normally, but having the experience was a good thing.