Wow what a day!! Thanks to everyone that played and made it such a hit. Special thanks to the out of towners ( John,Adam,Dharyl and Justin) for making the effort! 30 players battling it out- a great day! In the 10- we only had 3 players so they naturally all qualified for Nationals. First place was taken by a London player Adam Hawkins who played superb all day. Second and third were taken by a couple of local new boys who have only just started playing- well done the Strowger brothers!
The 11-14 was an altogether more intense affair with some of the more stronger players making their presence felt. It pretty much came down to the favourites in the T4 with Shaun Banham, Dharyl Wilson, Addison Cripps and Sean Dawdrey battling it out! Dharyl beat Sean and Shaun beat Addison setting up a great final between the two frontrunners. Dharyl took the first match with Shaun evening it up in the second.What a truly amazing match in the third! Dharyl went 5-1 up in prizes with his excellent Blastoise ex/Quagsire deck. It looked all over for Shaun and his Dragtrode deck but he steadily came back to even it up at 5-5 when he played his trump card and ATM Rocked Dharyl's Quagsire with 5 damage counters on it! Both players played brilliantly with Shaun just edging it at the end!
In the 15+ again it pretty much came down to the favourites in the T4 with John Hawkins,Tariq Sagaiar,Bruce Kelf and Marcus Church( playing his best tourney yet!) John had played strongly all day and almost made a clean sweep in the Swiss but came up against an in-form Bruce Kelf in the Semis who just took it 2-1. In the other one Tariq was just too hot with his Blaze/Rayquaza/Manectric deck and went through to the final.The last few matches took place outside in Daniel Holland's car boot as Battlenet had to close.Yes, the Car Boot Challenge!! LOL. In another close final Tariq was playing on top of his game and went through to pip Bruce and his Dragtrode deck.In the end it was about 8pm when we finally brought the day to an end. Loads of boosters handed out during the day for good play, good combos etc. Everyone had a blast!! Now a few days to recover before the Ex Emerald Pre-Release!!
