I have to say, the people at Upper Deck REALLY have a hella lotta fun, and they did a great job of making it a fun experience for everyone involved. Even though I was about as nervous as I've ever been, their penchant for humor eased the butterflies for me. I loved that they don't take themselves too seriously, and that having a good time is the name of the game. Alex Charsky proved to be a man of amazing patience and wisdom, even though I'm sure he bordered on the edge of overload the grand majority of the time. Jeff Donais was the ultimate MC, from his Canadia humor to passing on his ultimate wisdom for all of us players, "Don't be a dick." I love it. I did my best to live up to that (sorry, Chippy...I lub you anyways). =P

The set up was incredible. UDE went out of their way to show the world that they are not only committed to this game...they are committed to the players of the present and the future. As a dealer, it gives me full confidence in their game and product. As a player, it should do the same for you, too. Great job, team UDE!! Keep it coming!

On to the tournament...

I was one of only 3 girls to make the Indy Pro Circuit tournament (yes, the "first one ever"). A bit of a heavy burden to bear (yeah, Kai, guess the "girl-bye" didn't pan out for you I hear...seems she got the "Kai-bye). Even though (last I checked) I have the honor of being the highest ranked female limited Vs. player in the world, that holds little water with some. That's fine. I finished 89th overall. Where did you finish, Kai? =)

My main dilemma coming into this was that I had literally not played a sanctioned Vs. tourney for 4 months, and only 3 casual games during that time. I had NEVER picked up DC at all. Yeah, that was fun..."May I read your card?" was the question of the day for me. Knowing that my goal was to make Day Two (going 4-3 would do it), I decided my best bet was to play Big Brotherhood, an extremely solid deck that, while offering no surprises for my opponents, did offer me a tried and true, straightforward choice.

Christine Gerhardt and Dave "Chipmunk" Eckhard (former Pojo Pokemon Deck Mechanic, and current Score Lead Game Designer) square off on Day 2 of the Vs. System Pro Circuit at Gen Con 2004.

Very solid, and I was quite happy with it. Its only downfall was that it lost badly to a newer deck in the environment, Teen Titans. If I had known Titans was there in force, I would have thrown in a few Total Anarchy's to deal with it. I lost solidly to 2 Titan builds the first day, and my 3rd loss was a mirror that I barely lost 1-2, even with 2 horrid draws. So an overall 4-3 record accomplished my goal, and on to Day Two I went. "Thrilled" does not adequately describe how I felt.

On the first draft, I got pushed into League of Assassins, but the build turned out very solid, and I splashed Teen Titans for some tricks. 3 team up cards completed it, and the deck was smooth..like buttah. I beat my first 2 opponents fairly easily. I was elated, to say the least. Match 3 I ran into Rob Dougherty. My comment to him was..."um...you were supposed to play your draft deck, not your constructed one." His Teen Titan build with minimum 3 Go, Titans Go was unreal. Great drafting on his part, and he beat me mercilessly. Props to Rob for being such a nice guy while utterly destroying me.

The second draft was another story completely. My first picks centered around Titans and Gotham Knights. But I was getting pushed hard out of both by the end of the first pack, and 1/3 of my draft was all for naught. At that point, I knew I was in deep crap. I dabbled in League of Assassins again, while trying to switch to Arkham Inmates, but the pool was poor. Dabbling Assassins didn't pan out, with Loyalty precluding it. Looking back, I should have pushed Assassins hard, and splashed for other affiliations. My lack of DC drafting experience killed me, plain and simple. I lost the first 2 matches, and won the 3rd because my opponent dropped. He should have played me. =(.