West Coast World Qualifier Report
by Playtester Vick Babikian

Stay Away From Vick. That was the theme for the West Coast World Qualifier Tournament this past weekend. No, it’s not because I’m a scary guy. It’s because for the Halloween Havoc costume contest, yours truly dressed as the one and only…..Daivari. Yes folks, our 2005 West Coast Qualifier Champion Anthony Escobar planted the seed by complimenting the fact that Daivari and I share a few facial features, and that led to winning the greatest costume contest ever. With that said, I urge all fellow Raw Dealers to change the card title from “Stay Away from Daivari” to “Stay Away from Vick”…..it’s for the love of the game…..wait, the Kandyman has a copyright on that. Shoot!

On the more serious, and interesting, side I wanted to go over this past weekend’s Qualifier to give you a glimpse into what really went on in through my eyes. I had an Edge build and here is my deck list:

Edge Face/SmackDown/Fan Favorite
Backstage Signature (never needed throughout tourney)
Backstage Signing Appearance (never needed throughout tourney)
Raw Deal 5th Anniversary

Pre-match (13)
Little Rock, Arkansas
All Together Now
Managed by Lita
Pyrotechnic Volley x 3
Unrelenting Assault x 3
WWE Championship Belt
Big Slide into the Ring x 3

Mid-match (7)
You Think You Know Me?
You’re as Graceful as a Cow on ice
The Road to Victory
This is Between You and Me
This is Going Nowhere Fast
Ready to Fight
Volley Finisher

Actions (6)
Soda’s Rule
That’s How I Roll
Volley Call x 2
I’ve Waited Long Enough x 2

Maneuvers (16)
Edge Kick
Straight Clothesline x 3
Straight Head Butt x 2
The Ol’ Straight Arm Shot x 3
The Maneuver of Doom
Kidney Punch x 2
Cold-Cocked x 2
Fisticuffs x 2

Reversals (38)
Scream if You Want It
Edge-O-Matic
Edge’s Spear
Edge-acution
Downward Spiral
Edge’s Running Spear x 2
The Rated “R” Superstar x 3
Love-Fury-Passion-Energy
Divine Intervention
The Raw Deal Revolution
A Revolution of the Mind x 3
Volley This x 3
Once is Enough x 3
Back Fist x 3
Ap Chaki Kick x 3
Baseball Slide x 2
Reverse Clothesline x 2
Get Back in the Ring
Volleyed Beyond the Edge x 3
Flurry of Strikes x 2

I’ll keep the basic strategy of this build simple. Use Edge’s large hand size to draw a few of the cards that you need. Use “Managed by Lita” to put a card you don’t need back into your Arsenal and search for an “Ap Chaki Kick”, and use “WWE Championship Belt” to search for “Ap Chaki Kick”. That is of course unless you play Roddy Piper, in which case you search for Straight Clothesline. Then you use ONE “Pyrotechnic Volley” (just to see what your opponent has) by discarding any other Volley maneuver, hopefully “Kidney Punch.” Make sure you get a good look at their hand. Don’t just go straight for their Reversals, but make sure to take away anything they can use against you that you can’t Reverse as well. If need be, use the other two Pyrotechnic Volleys. Then when the game starts, you use “Ap Chaki Kick” to lower your opponent’s hand size and hopefully you have that advantage throughout the game. I thought this strategy was pretty sound, and with some good match-ups in the playoff pairings, that I could have a shot at the finals.

If I could change anything it would be to add in two “Don’t Try This at Home” cards since many people played Activated Card Effects. And by many, I mean most every opponent I faced.

My first opponent was Mr. Pay-Per-View played by Matt Hatcher. It was a game that could’ve gone either way, but in the end I didn’t have the Reversals in my Arsenal to stop his High Risks. Congrats for a great game Hatch. So I’m 0-1 in this 6 round Swiss tourney.

Second, I faced a Bobby Heenan Dynamic build. All the deck needed was about 6 Fortitude, which he had from his Mid-match cards “My name is Matt Striker….and I am your Teacher”, coupled with 2 or 3 “The Luck of the Draw” in his Pre-match. With that, you basically reshuffle your Reversals from your Ringside into your Arsenal all day long. I forgot how it ended, but he beat me fair and square. I’m now 0-2 with the feeling that the only way into the top 16 playoff was to win every game.

Then I faced Wilson Montevilla’s Ultimate Survivor Volley build. After my Pre-match I had 9 cards in hand. After his Pre-match card “You Couldn’t Pay Me Enough” I had 2….luckily for me I had Love-Fury-Passion-Energy (L-F-P-E) left. First turn of game, I draw something I don’t need and pass. He uses his ability to search for “The Matt Hardy Movement has begun” and I play L-F-P-E, draw 3 cards and Volley This (which I had just drawn). After a few more turns I ended up with my first Vick-tory of the day….1-2.

Fourth match was against myself, sort of. I played Drew’s Leader of the Edge Army Chain build. It was a pretty intense game in which I would reverse his Chain cards and he would continue his turn via “Unbreakable Chain.” Fortunately, I got my maneuvers to go through and won a very difficult battle. 2-2, and hoping for some Divine Intervention.

The second to last match before playoffs, I face Martin’s JBL deck. It started out pretty slow for me since he had 2 “A Revolution of the Mind” in his “Limo”, but eventually the maneuvers stuck and he didn’t have enough cards in his Ringside to Reverse all the Volley maneuvers. Great game, my 10 Gallon Hat goes off to him.

The final game to determine if I could make playoffs was against Wilson Fischer and his Randy Orton build. I had heard rumors that his deck was tough throughout the day, and also that there was another Edge deck with my same record. So you can only imagine the things going through my head for this last match. Anyway, we start off with our Pre-match and I get his reversals off his hands with “Pyrotechnic Volley”. I actually get his hand pretty small with my “Ap Chaki Kicks”. But Orton is Orton and can search for quite a few cards with his ability. He plays “Over the Ropes”, which can’t be revered since he has “Boston, Massachusetts” in play. His next maneuver can only be revered by Unique or Hybrid Reversal cards. Luckily for Edge, he has quite a few of those. It was a great game that ended in a Vick-tory for me, and I finish 4-2 with a good spot in the playoffs….or so it seems.

After a break, we meet again for pairings. Lo and behold, I get matched against the same Bobby Heenan that I played earlier. Only this time, I knew that I had to do everything to get Action Reversals in my hand and keep them there any way that I could. He reveals Michael Cole as his Enforcer to get rid of my Actions one turn at a time. But I start the game and he has 2 cards in hand. I play “This is Between You and Me” to remove “Managed by Jimmy Hart” and luckily he doesn’t have “The Road to Victory” in his Backlash. Then I play “Ap Chaki Kick” and he has to discard his 2 cards in hand and take some damage and, luckily again, he doesn’t Reverse on the overturn. After every Volley maneuver I had played throughout the day, I never forgot to draw for “Managed by Lita”, this time I did, but luckily I had a decent hand size. I have 3 Action Reversals in my hand and “That’s How I Roll”, which I would use after he gets rid of 2 of them via Michael Cole. Then I play “The Ol’ Straight Arm Shot”, draw for “Managed by Lita”, he Reverses on overturn and I draw 2 Stun. In my head, I knew if he had played one successful “My Name is Matt Striker….” that I would have very little chance to win the match. It was a very long game, strategy was very crucial, and at times things looked like it could’ve gone either way. But the drawing effect of “Managed by Lita” and the Stun Value on most all Volley Maneuvers let me draw lots of Reversals. In the end, it was a hard fought battle and I pulled away with a victory. It was a great game which I won’t forget.

Now I find myself in the Top 8 facing my good friend Anthony Escobar with Nate Weiss’ Kurt Angle build. To be honest, I knew that this game could be lop-sided either way. If he had packed his Feud, “Just Hold on a Second, Mister!,” I knew that the advantage would be on his side. If not, I knew I did. As fate had it, Anthony packed his Feud and things looked grim. To my surprise, I started the game strong by getting to11 Fortitude with ease and I kept his hand size low. I would Reverse his “Angle’s Uppercut” a few times, but then I ran out of Reversals and they started to go through. Before you know it, his hand size if back up, his Ringside is back in his Arsenal, and we had a game to play. In the end, Anthony pulled the victory and that was the end for Edge…..the Rated “R” Superstar couldn’t finish it off against the Wrestling Machine.

All in all, it was a great tournament ran by Adam Crites, greatest Raw Deal Manager ever. Albert Rubio ran away with the Championship win against Wilson Fischer. Albert ran a terrific Vince McMahon “Burn Baby Burn” build that was very unique and sound through and through. I never doubted his ability to play with his Vince deck, and I’m very proud of him with the way he pulled a victory in the Finals. We all went away with prizes, memories, and new friends.

The Great American BASH set has opened doors to most every superstar in this game. Who would’ve thought the final four would feature Kurt Angle, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Vince McMahon? Well, change is good for the game……especially when it involves “official” card title changes like “Stay Away from Vick.” Good luck to all contestants at the World Championships!

Vick Babikian