Learning the hard way...

Is something I try my level best not having to do. The trick is to be able to learn from other's mistakes and accept that not all things could have been done better. The problem of course is some people have a thing with wanting to prove they can be better, in which case they will most likely learn things the hard way. Unfortunately for me, sometimes you can't avoid it and learning this way surely leaves a permanent impression (not to mention the amount of people who will remind you of your mistake!)

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2 cabs and 10 minutes later, we arrived at Suntec Convention Centre. As this was my third time, I was on autopilot and proceeded directly to the tourney venue. The venue this time was smaller compared to the past 2 years; The latest expansion of Raw Deal left it's mark in Singapore with many quitting and some saying that this was their swansong before letting their cards go on cheap, which is excellent for us from Malaysia. Unfortunately I forgot to do the enough wheeling and dealing to gain from this 'sale'.

As usual, first thing we do once we arrived was to complete our decklist and register. No prizes for guessing who registered first! Just for the fun of it, the 'lovebirds' in the photo are Azmin & Andy while NebNeb is just behind that much despised Evertonian known as Ahmad.

Our final Malaysian player was Michael Toh, who thought he could drive to Singapore at 2am in the morning and play in a tourney when he arrived. It's no surprised he didn't exactly win much and dropped out after awhile; Not before convincing the Organiser to grant him the prizes for 32nd to 48th placing (he was number 49th, which is the number of players that day). We made up a sixth of the total turnout, which is our biggest yet. To commemorate this and thanks to Loco for bringing a camera, here's the Malaysian Contingent 2007!

For the fun of it, since all the names are fake anyway, from L-R:

Andy"Rowdy Piper" Putra, Michael "Batista" Toh, Emil "Ken Kennedy" Ali, Me "Mr. PPV" la, Bryan "Leader of the Peepulation" See, Lo "Stacie Kiebler" Co, Azmin "Victoria" Mohd Khalib, Ahmad " Al Snow" Farith Ismail & last and (not) least Neb "Edge" Neb...

Because I've taken so bloody long to reach this stage of the trip, I don't recall all my matches anymore. I'll try to relate what I do:

Round 1: Largest Athlete in Sports Entertainment

It was supposed to be a walkover and walkover it was. Taken out by huge new REVO manuevers, my MrPPV eventually pinned since I had limited reversals and he kept pummeling me over and over again. 3 Manager Interferes and 1 Fury of the Storm wasn't enough to handle all those collosal manuevers. 0-1

Round 2: ????

I won this match, but I can't recall who I played against....1-1

Round 3: ????

Can't recall either, but won. 2-1

Round 4: Rowdy Piper

Luckily it wasn't Andy's, else he would have known the problem with my deck. With Piper's ability, I had no other option but to let him go ahead by 10 fortitude before my Let Me Get a Shot In would be usable. After that, it was relative smooth sailing for me against him since I had manuevers he couldn't reverse. Unfortunately, again due to my lack of omni reversals, I was running out of defence and have yet to kill him off. With 10 or so cards remaining in my arsenal I got hit by a Claw which I reversed illegally with It's Great to be Back Here. My opponent didn't realise it until he hit me again with Claw; This time the spectators help us both realise our mistakes. Knowing that, a final Apply Illegal Leverage after the Claw would have finished me off, but luckily he didn't have his Apply. I won. Just (and illegaly to some extent) 3-1

Round 5: Bobby Heenan

This was a round I should have won. My opponent went first turn Pump Kick. Later he went Clutch, Apply & Boston Crab which I took all, without realising a timely Undermine the Competition would have ended his turn when he 'Applied' me and leave him with just 1 fortitude. I didn't and after recovering a bit I couldn't kill him off as he continued to recur. Enforcing Rikishi, in the end he kept on hitting me with The Brain until I ran out of reversals. I lost, quite stupidly (this is still not my worst mistake!) 3-2

Round 6: Hurrifriends

At this point I thought I've missed the top 16 cut, with Diversity rules enforced and another Mr.PPV ahead of me. Not to mention no playtest with Hurrifriends before, so I have almost no idea how to deal with this. Luckily the deck relies too much on the Manager to draw an ungodly handsize; Without it (thanks to Unscripted), the deck was doomed. Needless to say, I won. 4-2.

That was it. 4-2, 17th position and second best as Mr.PPV. Or was it? By some stroke of luck the top Mr.PPV had decklist issues and got DQed. Hearing this ( I was about to leave the premise), I quickly went to see the Organiser to explain that as the next Mr.PPV and higher positioned player, that top 16 spot should be mine. He agreed and so for the first time in 3 years I made it to the elimination rounds. Happy and nervous, I was obviously ill-prepared for the occasion and it told in my next match.

Last 16: Paul Heyman

Herman told me this is the most experienced Paul Heyman in Singapore and I should not underestimate him. With a starting hand of 2 That's Broken, I could hardly believe myself since I could search for another one with R-V-D, making it so easy for me to find my Sidewalk Slams (TB) which reverses foreign objects; Heyman's main manuever type. Knowing he will enforce Cole and over time strip my hand of reversals, I went truly aggro from get go and it was a matter of time before I had control in the match. With his manuevers easily reversed with 2 hidden Sidewalks and 1 Elbow to the Face, I hit him with one last Trademark Finisher and he had no cards in his arsenal. He is count out. I win. Then I said, "Go". My opponent gave me a surprised look while I was busy thinking how to pin him next turn. Only during his turn did I realised I had already won, but it was too late. He flipped in Duchess of Queenbury Rules and recovered from the count out. Now that he has recovered, I eventually got pinned by the most obvious way; First Blood Match stipulation. My fairytale trip to Wrestlemania was over.

I had won but in the end I lost. While me playing in the eliminations wasn't really deserved, you know what they say, "Make the most out of every opportunity you get. You never know when you'll get the next one". I didn't and thus this is me learning from the hardway. Last year I learnt to NOT go to a Qualifier without playtest; This year I learn that Count Out COUNTS!!!

Oh well. The rest finished not as good as I, though I doubt they expected to do as well as I. Higher you climb, harder you fall. Just for fun's sake, here's Loco with all his Manuevers on the table losing to the Home Team with just 2 Judo Chokes(TB) on the table. He's since promised to tear every Judo Chokes(TB) he sees in play.

Will finish of the last part of the Singapore trip in the next post. If you see me and feel like making me go all mad over you, feel free to remind me of my greatest tournament mistake.