Over the weekend of October 15 and 16, during the Cleveland Indians' undefeated streak in the MLB playoffs, Team Mystic left the comforts of the north and traveled south to Columbus to compete at the Ohio State University's Scarlet and Gray Invitational. The goal: win another trophy for the Land. Team Mystic is coached by Rachel Rubenstein and Bradley Ouambo, two former mockers who never argue at all and agree on everything. The team is comprised of three veterans: Athavan Balendran, the human garbage can, Maria Pawluk, a.k.a. "Sassy B****," and Sanjna Arvind, the fan of a team who blew a 3-1 lead in the NBA finals. The rest of the team? Five wide-eyed, innocent neophytes, untouched by the cruel mock gods: Emily Ahlstrom, Rocky Kaftol, Kyle Parker, Varna Thayaparan, and Sam Weinberger.
The competition was fierce. We opened with a Plaintiff round against Vanderbilt A, a team coached by David Payne, Brad's former teammate. The two teams clashed hard, from powerful opening statements to dramatic closing arguments. The round was close; as the dust settled, we learned that each team had picked up a ballot by a small margin. In the following round, Team Mystic faced off against the University of Georgia and lost both ballots to their methodical case and disciplined performances.
After taking the night to regroup and receive lengthy comments from Brad and Rachel, the team went into Day Two, determined to grow and to avoid the mistakes of the day prior. The day began with an even match-up against Xavier B. Team Mystic learned the hard way that time management is critical to a team's success. With lengthy cross after lengthy cross, Team Mystic did not save enough time to get out all of their important points; Athavan was left with only three minutes and thirty seconds to perform an entire cross. Despite this struggle, the team managed to eke out a draw, winning one ballot. In the final round, the team faced off against Eastern Michigan University. Here, the team put on their most clinical performance yet. Their efforts were rewarded in a clean sweep of the ballots, picking up both ballots by a strong margin.
Team Mystic finished with a record of 4-4 after a strong performance on Day Two of the tournament. Athavan and Kyle both earned Outstanding Witness awards for their portrayals of Kirby Doolittle and Austin Perez, respectively. Next, Team Mystic looks to defend the Land in the Spartan Throwdown, hosted by Case Western Reserve University.