On March 26, 2004 at 7:00am , I was on a plane to Seattle , WA for the North West Regional. I was with fellow $yndicate member, Chris "The Matrix", on a "spiritual" journey you could say. I wasn't going to N.W.R to try to win money but rather to see if I still got the hunger to play. For the last year I've been all about the money at tournaments and I didn't care how I got it. There were tournaments where I didn't even get top 3, yet I still made a profit. Therefore I went to Seattle to rekindling the old drive I once had. As for Chris he was going to Seattle in search for "Cody" to unlock the secrets behind the power of Storm's infinite! haha.

When we arrived in Seattle, Sean "Psianyd", Mandel "Soy Sauce" and Frank "FrankDaDank "picked us up from the airport. We then went to Sean's house to drop off our bags and clean ourselves up. While there, we played a couple games of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, then Joe "Super Joe" showed up. Later, their friend Jeff stopped by to play also. Jeff was a look-a-like of Mike"Mixup" Mixon, so we called him Switchup (By the way, he is taking EVO this year). Then we went to the mall to look around and kill time. There, I took some pictures of Chris with some random females which we just so happen to meet. Heh! We then went to Jack in the Box to eat, and then back to Sean's house. After a little nap, we went to Lanwrex, the place where N.W.R was held.

Lanwrex is an internet café/arcade facility, with a model store also. I met up with all the Seattle players I met at EVO and some new faces as well. I met the person who is going to run N.W.R, Zack. He is a really cool guy; he left Marvel on free play all weekend for the tournament. Row, Kuan, and Randy Lew showed up. Randy is from is from North California . It was nonstop Marvel playing for about 4 to 6 hours at Lanwrex. During that time, I, Chris, Kuan, and Randy played some unconventional personal games that just so happen to involve dead presidents; let's just leave it at that. That went on for about an hour or so, and then we went back to Sean's house to sleep. However, when we got to Sean's, Rat was there waiting for us. So we played a few more games of Marvel, but I was tired so I passed out.

It is now Saturday, and the Marvel vs. Capcom 2 tournament is about to start. In the beginning of the tournament, everything was going according to plan. I was winning all my matches without getting too nervous. However, during the tournament, Rowtron lost to Jason Mar. I was happy and mad at the same time because I wanted to face Rowtron myself. I fought Jason Mar next in the semi-finals, I lost 2-1. Fortunately, I would get to face Rowtron so it didn't bother me that much. Rowtron and I started our 2 out of 3 set, I won the first game. Second game I had him defeated but I missed my super move, so now it's tied up 1-1. Last game started off smoothly, but in true Marvel vs. Capcom 2 fashion it turned around in a matter of seconds, and I lost. I was real mad because I had him beat in the second game; I just walked away in disbelief.

Kuan ended up winning the tournament; with Jason Mar getting 2nd, Rowtron getting 3 rd, Randy Lew getting 4 th . I got 5 th , not what I expected but respectful nonetheless. After the tournament, I decided to start.ahem.personal matches to try to leave with something profitable. I, Rowtron, Chris, Randy, Rat, and Jason were playing these personal matches for about 3 hours non-stop. Afterwards, we went back to Sean's house to pack our bags because our flight is at 6am . At Sean's house Row and Chris were betting money on coin toss, true $yndicate fashion. At first, Rowtron was losing, but then he ended up winning over $60 off Chris. Next, we went to Rowtron's house to get back Justin Wong's belt he won at EVO2K2. We went to Denny's next to eat before the flight back to NYC. We talked about random crap in the tournament and about them coming to East Coast Championship 9. We then took a group picture and headed to the airport. Even though I didn't win, this was one of the best tournaments I ever been to and I will definitely try to go again next year.

Xecutioner
Writer.