WA:Â I`ve been playing Raw Deal as a member of Team Tapevest since the game first came out. I had been really getting more serious about winning earlier last year when I started having a lot of Success with an Immortal One deck in my area, and then getting to the cut with it at the Philly Qualifier. With Gen Con approaching i was actually pretty lax about preparing. I knew I was going to play IO in the AB event but had no real idea about the AA one. A few weeks prior to this I had played in a replica belt tourny with a Highlight of the Night deck and got myself all the way to the finals, finally losing to the MLX with a Piper deck. After talking to Mark and coming up with a way to deal with Piper I decided to play Highlight in AA. The choice was really based on hearing so many people explain how good their deck was followed by the phrase "Well, it loses to Highlight and LotEA but nobody plays those anyway.". aaaanyway, with my totally tried and true Hogan deck totally bombing out (1-3 and dropping out) in the Friday event I got ready to get destroyed the next day with sad ol` Jericho.
  The Axxess event actually turned out quite the opposite. I mowed through some tough competition, including a piper deck, and got into the cut. Wrestlemania took it`s toll on my 32 and 16 opponents, and a Doink deck in the top 8 gave me the hardest match I`ve ever played. Top 4 had me scared facing a Heat Seekers, mostly because I didn`t know their ability or what any of their cards did (yeah, i`m not too good on preparing for this game) but somehow I squeaked out a win. In between each round I had been calling my teammates at home to tell them "top 16, call you back when I lose next round." and now going against a 7-1 Bobby Heenan deck piloted by Andrew Trebing, one of the best players in the game, I assumed I was done. Oops, wrong again. Sorry Treb, got lucky, negated the Test ability, and won out. God only knows how, but somehow I managed to sneak into the world championships.
TCO: We are now just two weeks before the World Championships, do you know who you are going to use?
WA: No idea. I have my Revo deck ready cause it`s real easy to build one of those. Otherwise i have a couple ideas but haven`t really played much recently. If I knew though, I wouldn`t tell ya.
TCO: What decks do you feel are your biggest threat?
WA: Andre, Piper, Kennedy, Lashley, Teddy. Those all jump to mind. I know there are plenty others to worry about but i`d like to be ready for those
PSYCHO: Hey... can I have $5?
WA: $ Texas
TCO: ::Looks confused:: Anyway... If you win the World Championship, you get to make your own card. Do you have plans already for what card you’re going to make? Are you willing to share it with us?
WA: Yeah I already know what I`m gonna make. Suffice to say it won`t be very useful, but it`ll be funny for me and Mark and have some ridiculous applications in game.
TCO: Has the late announcement of the formats for the worlds impacted your preparation at all?
WA: Yes, I wasn`t prepared at all and now having to build two in time`s gonna be real tough. However, I am totally in favor of the change. It just should have been that way from the start.
TCO: Raw Deal seems to be becoming more political over the last year. Has this impacted you at all, do you see this impacting you at all?
WA: I don`t go on any message board except the RawdealMA group for my local play group here in MA so I don`t notice the politics too much. from everything I hear it sounds like too many people have their intrests ahead of what will be fun for the game and players. This goes for players, playtesters, and makers of the game. Everybody`s squabbling too much.
TCO:Â What are your feelings on Revolution?
WA: I think right now it`s a lot of fun for beginners and it adds spice to AA and AB. That said right now it is around 100 cards and 8 superstars so it is still a format meant for beginners. The inclusion of it into the World Championships as a major format without also adding Revo 2 was just silly. Now, Revo 2 looks awesome and I`m really looking forward to it. The only real problem I ever saw with Revo 1 was that it was so forced down players throats as being this fully-realized awesome idea that it rubbed everyone the wrong way when it should have been honestly presented as the beginning of a new era but still in it`s infancy.
TCO: The Mark Laroche Xperience – a great party, or the greatest party?
WA: Hold on, let me ask him.....greatest party.
TCO: Besides yourself, is there someone that you’re cheering for this year at the World Championships?
WA: MLX because Mark laroche is my friend.
TCO: What are your plans for the future?
WA: Success!
TCO: Which is better, Cake or Pie?
WA: I would choose good cake over bad pie. So Suck on that Muskrat Boy!
TCO: ::Raises an eyebrow:: Muskrat boy?! Moving on... will the Saints make it to the Superbowl next year?
WA: No, the Raiders will. Just the Raiders, they will get a bye in the superbowl due to a poorly thought out floor ruling.
TCO: The soapbox is yours. Are there any parting comments you’d like to share?
WA: I find that my comments are always parting from me so I won`t give them the satisfaction of doing it for them.
TCO: Will, you are an interesting individual. Thank you for taking the time to chat with us today.