by Randy Buehler
Pittsburgh's best got paired up against Columbus's best in a round 1 Feature Match that looked like it could easily have happened late on Sunday. Andy Johnson, Aaron Forsythe, and Andrew Cuneo make up the "Car Acrobatic Team" and took on Jason Means, Dave Weitz, and Randy Wright of "Egghead Games."
US National team member Aaron Forsythe has a ridiculous mono-black deck. The C.A.T. busted open 3 Snuff Outs, Ascendant Evincar, Primeval Shambler, etc. His deck was particularly good against Jason Means' blue/green deck. A free Deepwood Legate, a Rathi Intimidator, and a couple of Snuff Outs were more than enough to win game. However, Andrew Cuneo drew 8 lands, a Kris Mage, and a lone Pygmy Razorback - not nearly enough to take his game 1 against Dave Weitz. And Randy Wright won a surprisingly quick blue/white versus blue/white match against Andy Johnson.
Forsythe used Primeval Shambler to lock up he ground in game 2 and Belbe's Percher dealt a lot of early damage. Means forced him to trade the Shambler for a beefed up Mungha Wurm, but Forsythe got it back with Soul Strings and Means had no answer the second time around. When Cuneo drew a bunch more land in his own game 2, that meant it all came down to the blue/white on blue/white mirror match-up.
Both Johnson and Wright played Waterfront Bouncers in game 2. Wright had a Diplomatic Escort that made things even more complicated, but Johnson managed to set things up so he could attack for damage with a Spiketail Drake and evened the match at 1-1. However, Wright took game 3 and the match.
Car Acrobatic Team 1 (now 0-1)
Egghead Games 2 (now 1-0)