Dave S has now confirmed to me that invites do pass down. So 5th place at Norway Nationals was indeed supposed to receive the invite. *is relieved* This is good to know for Italy too!
I've updated the lists with Norway Nationals ranking changes.
It surprised me that the rankings weren't affected *that* much. Why are the top 2 Master (Willy and Kim) players from Norway not in the top 50 rankings at all? Did they have such low rankings before Nationals began?
I was surprised too, and first thought it must be a K-Value error or something, but then I realized it made sense after all.
Willy Cun hasn't played at all since Nationals 2008. He has actually somewhat quit the game, but as a good friend of the legendary Cheung family, he still goes to Nationals every year with them. So he started at 1600 at this tournament. Kim Erik Eriksen had 1548.62 before Nationals. He is a player with eclectic deck choices, pretty much changing his deck for every tournament he goes to, and he's tried some crazy rogue decks this season that have flopped completely - giving him records such as 1-4 in Swiss at an STP. He does however have the skills, so when he chose to go with a genuinely good deck at Nationals, he managed 2nd place.
Khanh and Mikkel are in the top of the rankings, as you can see. Regarding the final invitee, Linnea Vestre, her story is similar to the others. Before Nationals, she had only attended three tournaments all season: One City Championships where she used a deck that didn't work, and bombed. One City Championships where she used a good deck and became 3rd. One STP where she again used a good deck and became 4th. While she did top cut in 2/3 tournaments, it wasn't enough for a high rating, even not after her 5-2 performance at Nationals (losing only to EU Top50's Khanh and Mikkel).
Ah, I never get tired of talking about ratings and rankings. :')
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