All,

Well it has been a very busy week this past week at MagicGeek towers
and we don't seem to have stopped working ever since the Lorwyn pre-
releases, hence the delayed tournament report.

The Lorwyn Pre-Release weekend report.

The Pre-Releases themselves were a bit of a game of two halves to coin
a football phrase. On Saturday at Stafford we ran the biggest ever
Stafford event in history. 62 players out of a possible 64 took part
and made for a huge first day. After six rounds of Swiss the event was
finally won by Ian Davis who had been in two minds about coming to the
event at all because he was moving house. In the end Ian decided to
play and was obviously very glad that he did. Well done Ian!

The next day at Birmingham expectations were high, however we ended up
with 34 players in the event which was a bit smaller than usual.
Running on the Sunday Birmingham does face a tougher challenge than
Stafford but attendance in Birmingham is usually the equal of Stafford
so I was a bit surprised at a turnout that was lower than anticipated.
At the end of six rounds of Swiss the Birmingham event Champion was
Martin Milota. Well done Martin!

So overall the weekend was a success as usual but I'm left with two
concerns. The Stafford venue is filling almost to capacity which means
that you really need to pre-register for Stafford events in future to
ensure that to get your place. Meanwhile the Birmingham attendance is
slipping a bit which means that I'm going to be working hard over the
next few months to really push Birmingham events in anticipation of
January's pre-releases for Morningtide. I think that I'm going to be
visiting Birmingham area shops to ask for space for a poster to
advertise the Birmingham events. If you are a Birmingham local with
any ideas for shops or clubs to visit and/or people to contact then
please e-mail me with the details so that I can contact the right
places. Thanks in advance for all of your help.

What is the latest www.magicgeek.co.uk news?

The Lorwyn pre-orders have been coming in and will be despatched as
soon as the Lorwyn stock arrives. Last week I added Fifth Dawn and
Darksteel to the range of single cards as well as expanding the range
of Fat Packs on offer. Lorwyn single cards will arrive on the site in
the next few days.

I'd also like to add that MagicGeek is now signed up as a proud
sponsor of http://mtgtwincast.com The guys at twincast have been
working really hard to promote Magic in the UK and to provide
interesting articles and competitions for Magic players. Please have a
look at the site and the forums and help to add to the buzz
surrounding this site. I always use the forums to advertise events and
will be trying to contribute regularly to the threads with various
posts and perhaps a competition or two! Add Twincast to your
favourites today!!

Well, on to the Lorwyn Release event this weekend at Stafford. Here
are the event details:

STAFFORD LORWYN RELEASE EVENT SUNDAY 14th OF OCTOBER 2007

To ensure your place in the events and to reserve your promotional
foil card, please pre-register by following the process described
below.

Event notes:

[1] This event is limited to 36 players so please make sure that you
pre-register to guarantee your place and receive a promotional foil.

[2] We will be using deck pool registration at all Release events.

[3] Price for admission is £16.00 for two reasons. Firstly, it falls
in line with Wizards of the Coast pricing guidelines and secondly
because the product given to each player to use on the day is one
Lorwyn TM starter deck and three Lorwyn TM boosters.

[4] As an incentive to those of you who attended the Lorwyn Pre-
Release events at Stafford and Birmingham I am running the following
promotion. If you played in either of the Stafford or Birmingham
Lorwyn Pre-Release events, I will offer a £1.00 deduction on the entry
fee into the Release event. If you played in BOTH of the Stafford and
Birmingham Lorwyn Pre-Release events, I will offer either a £2.00
deduction in the cost of entry OR a free pack of 50 plain Ultra Pro
sleeves of the colour of your choice [while stocks last]. I realise
that this isn't an enormous saving, but I think that it rewards my
most regular players for their loyalty.

[5] Those of you who pre-ordered a box of Lorwyn boosters from me can
also claim your £2 discount per box from the entrance fee for the
Release event on top of any other discounts explained in point [4]
above.

[6] I'll be filling the traditional Grab Bag with the contents of some
Lorwyn TM boosters as additional prizes.

[7] As an additional prize, I have had a winner's trophy engraved. The
trophies are a popular part of the Pre-Release events and have been
made part of the Release event tradition too.

Here are the usual event details:

STAFFORD LORWYN RELEASE EVENT SUNDAY 14th OF OCTOBER 2007

VENUE: The Centre for the Blind, North Walls, Stafford, Staffordshire,
ST16 3AD

START TIME: Enrolment from 9:30am till 10:30am. Deck construction will
start at about 11:00am.

FORMAT: The format for the Release tournament is DCI TM-sanctioned
Lorwyn TM Sealed Deck.

Rules Enforcement Level: 1

ENTRY FEE: £16.00 for main event

Cost of entry includes one (1) Lorwyn TM tournament pack and three (3)
Lorwyn TM boosters.

PRIZES: As per Wizards of the Coast premier event prize structure.

Special commemorative Lorwyn TM card for each tournament participant,
while supplies last.

SIDE EVENTS: Time Spiral TM, Planar Chaos TM and Future Sight TM mixed
OR triple Lorwyn TM Booster Draft side events available all day long.

ENTRY FEE: £8.00 for Booster Drafts (12 Boosters as prizes split
5/3/2/2)

TO PRE-REGISTER FOR AN EVENT:

Send an e-mail to this address: stephen DOT avann AT ntlworld DOT com
with your FULL NAME and DCI NUMBER (If you have one) BEFORE 5:30PM on
the FRIDAY NIGHT before the events, as this is the last time that I
will check my e-mail before the tournament. Alternatively I can be
contacted on my mobile from 6:30pm until 10pm on the following number:
07989201808. Please don't try to phone me before 6:30pm as I will be
busy.

Hope to see you at the event,

Steve

FUTURE EVENTS

October - Saturday 27th - STAFFORD - Standard County Champs

A second event in October at my Stafford venue? Well, as I always run
the Staffordshire County Champs events I didn't want to disappoint
anyone by not running it. I'm going to see how this goes and if two
events in one month at Stafford knocks attendance too much I'll have
to rethink it for next time. Hopefully, both events will be as well
attended as they usually are and everyone will just enjoy double the
fun.

At the moment however, this replaces an event in Birmingham in October
as I feel that three events in one month is simply too many to cope
with.


November - Saturday 10th - STAFFORD - Grand Prix Stuttgart Trial

The first of two Stuttgart events on my calendar, the format of the
event will be Lorwyn sealed deck. GP Trials are a great way to get
started with international play at large events. The winner of the GP
Trial wins three byes for the actual Grand Prix event, an excellent
way to start an event! Booster prizes are also on offer so please be
sure to attend and take your first steps into the joys of the Grand
Prix circuit.


November - Saturday 17th - BIRMINGHAM - PTQ Kuala Lumpur

The Pro Tour event has now confirmed as being held in Kuala Lumpur. My
November event at Birmingham will be a Pro Tour Qualifier for that
event. Fight your way to the top and win your place on the Pro Tour
for the first event of the 2008 season. The event format will be
Lorwyn Sealed Deck. More details will follow when I have them.


December - Saturday 1st - BIRMINGHAM - Grand Prix Stuttgart Trial

The second of the two Stuttgart events on my calendar, the format of
the event will again be Lorwyn sealed deck. Side events will also be
available so do let me know if you would like to play something
unusual, or even something standard.

December - Saturday 8th - STAFFORD - Big Bag Draft 2007

The Big Bag Draft event at Stafford is an excellent way to end the
2007 event calendar. The event will be limited to fifty players and as
we had over forty last year it would be wise to pre-register to ensure
your place in the event. More details will follow when we get nearer
to the event.