2006 West Coast Championships Report
by Wilson Fisher, Runner-Up

With the West Coast Qualifier fast approaching, my playtesting buddies and I thought it would be help our game to start playtesting. So, in natural Santa Barbara fashion, we spend the smallest amount of playtesting as possible and kept changing decks up until the night before. We now flash forward to October 20th. In Chris Donati’s car from the future, we make our trek to Shuffle and Cut to scout out the competition. Again, in Santa Barbara fashion, we pay little attention to who, and what people are playing and just spend this precious time chatting it up with friends, making fun of Anthony Escobar, and finding cards that would round out our decks, i.e. The Finisher, Divine Interventions and other staples to a “good deck.”

Chris and I head to our truck stop hotel (Point Eric) and notice that the whole place resembles a mixture of a cemetery and a prison. The whole hotel was surrounded by security, which did not make me feel safe, but rather made me wonder why there was this much security. We get to our hotel room and it is actually much nicer than we thought it was going to be. Chris then took me out for the most fancy dinner I’ve had in quite some time…once we were at Denny’s Chris and I got down to some serious brainstorming. We had narrowed it down to either a unique Stacy discard build or a Hurri-friends multi build. For me it was either a William Regal deck that played a lot like Billy Gunn, just without the amazing agro aspect of it, or a net decked Randy O-tron deck that I have never played before. We paid for our meal (Thank you Chris) and made our way back to the hotel where we then spent the majority of our time teching out our decks for the upcoming tournament. Eric and Justin both chose to stay out and play in rumble drafts until very late…it’s nice having such great team mates who look for the good of the team and come in early so we can have a good nights sleep…alas, we did not have such a pleasure. After a few (2) games against Justin with Orton, I thought he was the best. Here is the deck list:

Randy Orton
Raw/Heel/Fan Favorite
Backstage Cards (3)
Signing Appearance
Backstage Signature
Raw Deal 5th Anniversary

Pre-match (10)
Boston, Massachusetts
Managed By Vince
Armageddon is Upon Us
White Wedding
Backstage Shenanigans
A No Show
The Title on the Line
WWE Spinner Belt (Insert John Cena theme music here)
Givin’ ‘Em High Fives TB x2

The Pre-match is just something that has to adapt to the opponent. Wedding for Andre, No show to grab Thunder Bulldog and Manager, Spin their hand with the belt and use a pinch of Managed by Vince, Armageddon is Upon Us and Shenanigans for that extra dash of seasoning.

Mid-Match (10)
The Legend Killer
The Road to KFC
Chain Barrier
Sustain Damage
Shoot Counter
Introduce Your Brain to Your Mouth
You’re as Graceful as a Cow on Ice
Backlash!
The King Interferes!
Unscrupulous S.O.B.

The Chain Barrier is there because I hate chain decks with a passion that burns hotter than a thousand fiery suns. I never played it once however.

Maneuvers (17)
European Uppercut TB x2
Atomic Lariat x3
Thunder Bulldog x2 (THUNDER!!!)
Shoot Lock-Up x2
Shoot Double Arm Lock x2
Boston Crab x3
The Ego Cutter
Dynamic Finisher
The Finisher

Randy Orton SMASH!

Actions (11)
Over the Ropes x3
That’s Broken x3
Ego Boost x2 (With Hogan on the picture. Insert sad face here. At least he is a legend)
Fully Evolved: Only the Strong Survive
I Spit in the Face of…
Destiny

Destiny is like the One and Only. Only on more crack.

Reversals (32)
Anything and Hate it
The Raw Deal Revolution
It’s Great to be Back Here In… x3 (Must be said in a Scottish accent)
A Revolution of the Mind x3
The Coach Says, “Today’s the Day!” x2
Manager Interferes x3
Elbow to the Face x3
Sidewalk Slam TB
Spine Buster TB x3
Don’t Try This at Home x2
Let’s Wrestle Already!
Chained Heat x2
Volley This x3
“Cowboy” Bob Orton Interferes (Speaking of broken cards)
Third Generation Superstar
Overdrive
…….RKO!

This deck made me happy because it plays a lot like Billy Gunn. Cheats fortitude onto the table, sits on super pain reversals and can stall out if need be. The one suggestion I would make if you are going to net deck this deck is to take out the 2x Coach Says and put in 1x Enter the Stratusphere and 1x Divine Intervention. Why wasn’t DI in the deck? Well I didn’t own one. Happy?

Welcome to October 21st. I wake up at 8 in the morning and I roll over only to see a sight most only hope to see in the morning sharing a bed with you. Bed buddy Justin stayed on his half of the bed during the night, which I thought was nice, I would have also broken him if he tried anything. I then realize that I am going to be playing Raw Deal all day that day. At that very moment, I knew it was going to be one of those bitter Wilson days. Eric and Justin both tell us that the tournament starts at ten. So we rush to get up, shower and run out the door (forgetting my phone charger in the process). We grab a breakfast at, what I think was, the slowest McDonalds in the continental US. We get to Shuffle and cut only to see that the store has not even opened yet. Ugh. Point again for Eric. Once we get inside I give Drew a call and ask him is he has a Vince GRA (Which I ended up not using). We talk for a little bit and he asks if I am still playing Regal. I say, “No, it’s a surprise. What are you playing?” he responds “Orton.” My stomach bottoms out. After a quick exchange of words, we change his mind and switches to Leader of the Edge Army. Major props to Drew right there. Raw Dealers file in and it looks like we are finally ready for the tournament. Lets throw down!

(Side note: I am not going to pretend I remember names. I am sorry in advance)

Round 1:
Shane O’Mac
Well, my wealth of Raw Deal knowledge betrays me here and my lack of playing the game for the past year catches up with me. Since when did they give Shane a mid-match reversal?! I mean, come on! I scoop early because I can’t handle the high risks.

0-1

It’s okay. I can handle this. S’all good.

Round 2:
Extreme Diva
This is another one of the Burbank kids. I know their play style, so hopefully that’ll favor me. I am expecting a lot of those wacky female/diva maneuvers. I pull off my combo with the Over the Ropes on the first turn. It’s all pretty down hill from there. I let his clutches go through but stop his Apply. He pops Flaunt. I Unscrupulous it. I think I finish him off with big pain reversals and one of the three finishers in the deck. Maybe RKO.

1-1

Round 3:
Lita
Ooook. At least I will know what’s coming. I get my combo off, he also gets flaunt off. It’s a little back and forth for a while. Destiny helps me a bunch in this game. We know this is going to come down to the wire. We both keep throwing stuff. He has no hand and throws his Art of Persuasion and he has 4 cards left. Cowboy Bob finished him off.

2-1

Round 4:
Anthony Escobar playing Kurt
Anthony and I have always had a long running grudge between us. I win Comic Con, he wins Comic Con. I do really well at Best In The West, he wins last years West Coast Championship….okay, I think maybe he is one up on me. But here is my time to shine. He gets some early fortitude against me. I am able to chew through a It’s True, It’s True and put some big fortitude on the board. We are battling, but time isn’t on our side. We get down to time and decide to flip a coin. He calls tails and wins.

2-2

Round 5:
Andre
Great. Just what I wanted to play after a marathon match against Anthony. I am actually able to keep his hand down by throwing Spine Buster as a maneuver and then beating him up with big maneuver pain. He eventually throws something and I reverse with Cowboy Bob for the pin. Yay pin!

3-2

Ok, I think I am in pretty good shape. My tie breakers are big pimpin’ after playing Anthony (Who didn’t have a loss) and there wasn’t any other Orton decks in the field. Thanks again Drew. I had good feelings going into the next match.

Round 6:
Edge
I lose. Lose lose lose lose lose. You Think You Know Me blows up my first turn combo and then his big Volley maneuvers eat at my deck. I also had a very very bad drew during this game. Well, I hope I still luck sack into the top 16.

3-3

The top 16 are announced and my name is called out. My peeps give a cheer and we get a hour break for dinner. Chris got into the top 16, along with Eric and Albert. The club sandwich gave me the energy to face down my first opponent in the top 16. Here’s where we take the plunge.

Top 16:
JYD
He throws out Major Announcement. I can start to see where this is going. I throw my combo out and score 13 fortitude with a Thunder Bulldog. He played Raw and Ready to grab a card. He takes my maneuver on the chin and begins his turn by shuffling in cards with I have a Major Announcement (Cannonball!). That’s when I see it. The most broken card ever to be printed on card board. JYD’s chain. WHERE IS THE DOWNSIDE HERE PEOPLE!?!?! This card is a monster among men. He keeps doing his trick with the chain and I don’t ever see where the engine will end. Then he does it for me. He plays the chain to the ring area. Now, I am able to reverse it, but I know with him having a free discard and a way to recover fast than I can throw stuff, I will have to let it through. I say pass and there goes my hand. He throws a Back Breaker (I think. 9F 10D) and I reverse it with King. I use Destiny to shuffle back Ego Boost, grab Ego Boost and do more Destiny tricks. I have a way to build up my hand. Ego boosts are letting me draw two every turn for the chain and Destiny is letting me recover. I finish him off by reversing one of his maneuvers with a……… RKO!!!

I take a breather and we move on to the top 8. Oh goody, look whom I get to face.

Top 8:
Andre
This is Kandy’s Andre build and I really can’t complain about net decked decks, because I was piloting one myself. During this whole match I feel like it’s one big Cat and Mouse game. Andre “The cat” was batting around little Orton “The mouse” just long enough until he stopped having fun and it was time to eat me. He hid has backstage card and grabbed Head butt and activate. He did away with my White Wedding and proceeded to play janky cards like Sparks of Glory, Feel the heat and Watch out for Davari (Which was a little eerie because we had a costume contest and Vic chose to dress as Davari. He ended up winning the costume contest. The eerie part of this was that he was watching the whole match. Funny huh?) I keep throwing big maneuvers and he keeps bumping me down with 8th Wonder, which he did twice! The second time he left me 9 fortitude, which was a Shoot Counter and a Backlash. I Over the Ropes into a Spine Buster, which he does not reverse. I say go. It’s his turn and he makes the only mistake of the game. He throws a Slap multi (Sizzlin’ Clothesline). I ask “Can the be reversed?” maybe a little too giddy. He says “Yes” I ask “How many cards are left in his arsenal?” He replies “6” I then throw a Manager and a Cowboy Bob to end the game on a count out. I have no clue how this happened, but the Legend Killer took down the big man.

I felt like I just ran a marathon. But I have to go straight into my top 4 against:

Top 4:
Anthony Escobar’s Kurt Angle
Revenge is a dish best served cold! I own this match. He can’t get on the board and I hold him down with big pain reversals and even bigger maneuvers. This is a squash match and I end it with him playing Angle’s Uppercut with 4 cards left in his arsenal. I have the Shoot Double Arm Lock in my ring area and Shoot Counter still in my Backlash deck. You can do the math here.

After a pep talk with Drew, we then talk about the finals. I know I might have a chance against Kevin Fish playing a very good HBK deck. Although I know I have no chance against Albert playing Vince. The other top 4 match ends, the dust settles and Albert is still standing. We now have our top 2.

Top 2:
Albert Rubio’s Vince
I think we all know how this ended. The only mistake he made was playing Switcheroo on my Boston, thinking it would stop the first Set-up. Well, he stopped it anyways with Restricted Use and McMahonis-Interruptus. That really put me at a disadvantage and Inferno Match plus Now Way out just kept eating away. I lost. But I don’t think I made a single mistake.

My congratulations go to Albert piloting one of the best decks in the field. Seriously hope you can take down worlds.

Well, that’s it. The show is over. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at Crewmanwilson@cox.net, other than that. Keep you’re cool, it’s just a game, and remember….You’ve just been home schooled!