 Just a quickie from me this week. I had an opportunity to have a chat with Frank Bowker, captain of the Colorado Springs feature team for the Front Range Magic Team Challenge, and thought I would give you all some insight into our fearless leader. But first, I want to address the mouthful that is the name of this event. I just had to try like a dozen times to accurately type the name and came up snake-eyes every time. I eventually had to cut-n-paste. I think the real problem is that it just doesn't have a snappy acronym. FRMTC? No matter how many times I say it, "farm-tick" sounds like something I want to be avoiding. The Colorado Springs feature team consists of captain Frank Bowker (one of the premier deckbuilders in Colorado over the last six or eight years), Paul Bradford (numerous Q top-8s and high GP finishes), Chad Lorash (a former JSS superstar and constructed specialist), and Chris Otwell (Pro Tour player, Magic podcaster and veteran road warror). The team is definitely a strong Constructed team and will be pushing to win the entire farm-tick into the final rounds. I sat down (virtually) with Frank and got a little insight into the man fronting this team.  Weapons of Mass Distraction: How did you get started in Magic? Frank Bowker: This is a 2 part story. First part is easy. I was back in California and bought a pack of Beta from the local 7-11. Yes, it had a Mox Emerald in it. Had no idea it would grow into what it is today, and back then, I had many other things to do in Cali. The second part is my second introduction to the game. An argument with my ex-girlfriend (who is my ex-wife as well) led me to meet Lee Anne, who taught me how to play on the floor of her apartment. This was late 1996, and I have been hooked ever since. WMD: What types of decks do you prefer to play? FB: I feel I can play any style deck well, but if I had to choose, it would be mid-ranged control decks, hands down. I find that throughout a tournament, I am too impatient to play permission. I find the lack of versatility of an aggro deck doesn't fit my style. Combo has always given me headaches (doesn't it everyone?). I love the versatility of mid-ranged decks. My favorite deck is Rock. I was playing it before it was known as Rock. WMD: What do you consider your crowning achievement in Magic? FB: It hasn't happened yet. If I had to choose of anything I have already done, it would be that I tweaked the Ghazi-Glare list for Jeremy Burt to play in States one year. Ryan Cimera tested against the deck and decided to run the same list, and both T8'd. Jeremy ended up taking it all. While I consider myself a decent player, I don't think I commit enough to the game to play tight enough to go anywhere. I am a designer at heart. Eventually I will commit to this game to be good at it. WMD: What do you think of the format selected for the Front Range Team Challenge? FB: I would rather it be the 'invitation only' event we thought it would be. While I don't like to exclude anybody, it takes from the prestige of the event when it is open to all. I would have also liked to see something more similar to our own 'Manaslinger Showdown', where we had 4 different events, and tallied the score based on individual finishes in each event. This would get a more accurate reading of who the best team is that day. WMD: Do you think it places enough emphasis on a team performance? FB: Team events like this are tricky. While you are playing for your team, your team is vulnerable to individual poor showings. I think this is more showing the captain's knowledge of his/her players to fill his team with players that can do well in single Swiss competition. WMD: Which team would you be most happy to outperform? FB: There is not one team I want to outperform over the other. They are all the enemy this day. I want to win, and believe that our team can win. Of course, with all that hooplah out of the way, it is without a doubt Djinn's team. Maybe after this, they will stop looking down their nose at us, and maybe man up and give us the respect we deserve. WMD: Do any of the other announced teams make you worry a little? FB: Nope. If you want me to elaborate on this, Hell NO! Why should they worry me? Personally, if I play tight, make no mistakes, and lose, then it wasn't in the stars. I feel that anyone on my team can play with anybody on that list of teams, if they put their mind to it. I have beaten many names on that list. My teammate has a pretty damn good record against the so called best players on that list. I will never bet against Paul, and as long Piley (Otwell) keeps his confidence, he will surprise many people. So, no, none of the names on that list strike fear in my heart. WMD: How did the selection of the members of Team Colorado Springs take place? FB: I think everyone agrees that Paul Bradford and Chad Lorash are probably the best in our city. If anybody out there disagrees with this, please come talk to me and show where they are not. For the fourth member, I spoke with Chad and Paul, and I basically narrowed it down to a few names. If some of our non-active players were still playing, it would have been a no brainer who the 4th was. So, since I couldn't narrow it down, I took a vote at our local FNM. I asked people to write down the top 3 players not named Chad Lorash, Paul Bradford, Frank Bowker, or themselves (no voting for yourself). I took the results as a guideline to try and narrow it down to 2 or so, and it did. Robbie Richardson and Chris Otwell were far and away the 2 favorites amongst the local crew. That is good too, as these 2 were on my final list as well. I took this vote not as a final say as to who was the 4th, but rather as a tool to help narrow it down. In the end, the last 2 people to vote, spread the gap between the two players in Piley's favor. After discussing this with the only teammate there at the time (Chad), we both agreed that Piley would be the pick. Besides, he has tenure, we have to let the old man play with us, don't we? WMD: How are you and your team preparing for the Team Challenge? FB: The short notice kind of affects our testing. Real life gets in the way sometimes. I am hoping to get with everyone this weekend [Ed: that was last week], and do some deck analyzing, meta analyzing, and I have 2 sets of 8 man drafts at my house to test with. WMD: What do you think of the current state of Standard, and the probable metagame for the Team Challenge? FB: With the quality of players that are going to be at this event, I would expect nothing but the best. Rogue decks will be few and far between. The standard meta has had it's first main event in a long time, and I expect the major decks there to be 5CC, Boat Brew, Faeries, BW Tokens and Kithkin varieties. I do think that Dark Bant (or Bantoran as I like to call it) will be there as well. As for the current state of Standard, I hate Fae. While the meta is much better than it was a few months ago, as a designer at heart, I don't like having my decks designed for me by R&D and WotC, like they have done with Faeries and Kithkin. Until these decks are gone, the state of standard will be a sad one for me. WMD: What will you do with all that cash cash money money that you will be winning on March 21st? FB: If I win any money at this thing, I will more than likely invest it back into the game. My collection is still lacking for my standards, and I am tired of pushing the burden of my hobbies (or addictions) on to others. I have been on that side of the ball, loaning out cards, and it can get a bit frustrating at times. I do appreciate all those that help me out, more than they know. But before all that, I will be buying my team a round of beer! Thanks for your time, Frank, and best of luck to you, the team, and everyone else from the Springs who will be making their presence felt at the farm-tick. And I expect everyone within the sound of my voice to be showing up for this thing -- while there is cash to be won, this one is about bragging rights and pure pride! (Heck, I'm already excited about NEXT year's farm-tick.) -- dave [Ed: obviously, we'll be working on that name... FRaM-TiC, maybe?] |