All,

A quick Nationals Qualifier report. We had a good turnout for the
Nationals qualifier at the weekend with 48 players and 6 qualification
slots up for grabs. The top six players that qualified were:

Manveer Samra
Tom Van Doorsselaere
Matthew Reynolds
James Corwood
Phil Scott
Nigel Barham

Congratulations to you all!

Next up, a change of pace.

STAFFORD ALL DAY STANDARD EVENT SUNDAY 22nd OF JUNE 2008

After a long time debating what to run this weekend at Stafford I
settled on a popular event that I haven’t run in a while, the all day
standard event. For those not familiar with the event, you turn up in
the morning when we open, pay the £5 entry fee for the day and then
put your name onto an 8 player elimination standard event sign up
sheet. When the sheet fills, the event runs and the next sheet goes
out. This works really well with more than 12 players at the venue
because that way as soon as you are knocked out of an event, you have
to quickly get yourself onto a rapidly filling sheet for the next
event. You can play in as many Standard events as you want to, all for
just the original £5 cost paid at the start of the day.

This type of event has been popular in the past for two reasons.
Firstly it is a whole lot of fun and you can end up playing in
multiple sanctioned events [great for Frequent Player Rewards].
Secondly it allows you to test a deck and make changes between events
to tune your build. With the Nationals on the horizon all qualified
players ought to be interested in a bit of practice. All players that
haven’t yet qualified might want to come along and tune a deck for the
next Qualifier they plan to attend.

So, I hope to see you at Stafford bright and early for the All Day
Standard on Sunday.

STAFFORD ALL DAY STANDARD EVENT SUNDAY 22nd OF JUNE 2008

VENUE: Oddfellows Hall, Greengate Street, Stafford, ST16 2HP

START TIME: Enrolment from 9:30am onwards.

FORMAT: The format for the event is Standard Constructed.

Rules Enforcement Level: 1

ENTRY FEE: £5.00 for main event

Cost of entry includes as many Standard events as you manage to enter!

PRIZES: Per 8 player event.


SIDE EVENTS: Triple Shadowmoor 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 2008.

I have been at work to try to book my events for the rest of 2008.
Please note that additional Birmingham dates will be confirmed as
forthcoming PTQ dates are announced. At the moment the calendar looks
like this:

July – Saturday 12th – Birmingham – Eventide Pre-Release
July – Sunday 13th – Stafford – Eventide Pre-Release

Eventide arrives in July and the usual Pre-Release Weekend has been
booked. Please note, at the moment I haven’t planned on running an
Eventide Release event [which would also take place in July] because I
am on holiday then. I suspect that a lot of players will also be away
on holiday too. This may change but if so I’ll make an announcement in
a future e-mail.

August – No events are currently booked for August due to summer
holidays. There is always M-Fest to go to though!

September – Saturday 20th – Birmingham – Shards of Alara Pre-Release
September – Sunday 21st – Stafford – Shards of Alara Pre-Release

Wow, another Pre-Release already? Yes, at the end of September the new
block begins with a set entitled Shards of Alara.

October – Sunday 21st – Stafford – Shards of Alara Release

As usual the Release event will take place on Sunday at Stafford. This
is the first chance to buy Shards of Alara singles, boosters, boxes,
theme decks and fat packs.

November – Sunday 16th – Stafford – Big Bag Draft

The Big Bag Draft is the usual way to end the year. This year in
response to player demand I have moved this iconic event into November
so that players can manage to fit it in around the demands of the
festive season. This year the places will be limited to probably about
40 players so when registration opens for the event make sure you get
your name down as soon as possible.

December – No events are currently booked for December.