Nats and Nats Qualifiers - explanation, dates... and organisation? (!)

[Dan Barrett]

I sort-of explained (not very well i might add!) what the deal is with Nationals and Nationals qualifiers to a couple of people (Louis, Alex), and said i would do a better job of it here on DT. Well, here's to trying...


What is "Nats"?

Nats = Great British National Championship, an annual event in which 200-odd of the country's best players are invited to battle it out over 12-14 rounds of standard constructed and draft Magic, in order to determine a champion for that year, and the 4-player team which will go on to represent our fine country at Worlds. It also is a breeding ground for many shenanigans and fun times, such as sleeping on a beach and losing all your belongings in the sea...

This year Nationals will be held here in London, at the Royal National Hotel, August 19 to 22. I believe the format this year will be 4 rounds standard, 3 rounds draft on day 1, same again day 2, then cut to a top 8 single-elim on day 3.

An important thing to note is that Nats is not just for players who have qualified! There are a billion (possible overestimate...) side-events, which i am sure Jason will announce shortly, which likely include GPTs, PTQs, old set draft/sealed, discount drafts, etc...

So how to i get to play at Nats?

To earn an invite/qualify for Nats, you need to either be in one of the country's top 75 based on your rating (very unlikely to most reading this, you need to be around 1900 to autoqualify), or, win a place via one of many National Qualifiers...

And what exactly are those?

Each Nats Qualifier is a standard constructed tournament, at which there is 1 place at Nationals for every 8 players who participate.So if 72 players turn up, the top 9 qualify, etc. These are held all over the country on weekends between March and April. Plus, there are likely to be last chance qualifiers (LCQs) on the night before Nationals, which may include limited formats as well as standard.

So when are these?

The following list is taken from the Wizards UK group, and may be likely to change - contact individual TO's for details. In bold are the ones within an hour and a half travel time, and thus most likely to be attended by London players.

13/03/2010     Southampton
14/03/2010     Newcastle
21/03/2010     Glasgow
21/03/2010     Reading
28/03/2010     Plymouth
03/04/2010     Manchester
04/04/2010     Bury St Edmunds
04/04/2010     Dundee
10/04/2010     Nottingham
11/04/2010     Oxford
02/05/2010     Gravesend
08/05/2010     London
09/05/2010     Downend
15/05/2010     Birmingham
16/05/2010     Portsmouth
16/05/2010     Altrincham
15/05/2010     Cambridge
23/05/2010     Milton Keynes
23/05/2010     Cardiff
29/05/2010     Sheffield
29/05/2010     Coventry
30/05/2010     Brighton

Will post some more on testing, and organisation, in a bit...

[Paul Hodgson]

actually now looking less likely that I'll be hitting Cambridge :(

[Kieran Symington]

I might do Cambridge - there's a 9:15 from Kings Cross that gets in just after 10. Alternatively, I could stop trying to qualify for Nationals, play at the games club Standard events, and try and get in on an LCQ - apparently they're drafts this year!

[Dan Barrett]

Keep at it!

The more people we have Q'd in advance, the more motiviated people will be to test = greater chance of London doing well.

Kieran Symington said:

I might do Cambridge - there's a 9:15 from Kings Cross that gets in just after 10. Alternatively, I could stop trying to qualify for Nationals, play at the games club Standard events, and try and get in on an LCQ - apparently they're drafts this year!

[Daniel Royde]

I'm doing both of these this weekend in super end of exams style- see you there?

Thomas David Baker said:

Anyone still not qualified? My one attempt so far ended 1-2-1 so I am vaguely considering Cambridge or Portsmouth this weekend. Is anyone else? How/when are you getting there?

[Dan Barrett]

Let me guess, Time Sieve GRVing people all the way?


:P

[Daniel Royde]

If only :(

Something easier for this weekend.

Dan Barrett said:

Let me guess, Time Sieve GRVing people all the way?


:P

[Thomas David Baker]

OK looks like I am getting in Ray's car at Golders Gren tomorrow morning at 0900.

What the fuck am I playing? Is Mono R a viable deck? There doesn't seem to be anything on deckcheck. I'm jetlagged and terrible at Magic I need a mindless aggro deck. Jund?

What changed with Rise? I have no Rise cards.

[Ben Titmarsh]

Play Time Sieve, it has a near unlosable matchup vs UW Control and Super Friends providing they're not packing > 4 counters which is normally the case. The deck is full of commons, other than a couple of planeswalkers and time warp, it's easy to practise because you can just goldfish it on your own without an opponent for the most part, and best of all it is fun as hell! If I were playing this weekend, I would be taking this:

4 Howling Mine
4 Kaleidostone
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Time Sieve
3 Everflowing Chalice
4 Angelsong

4 Open The Vaults
4 Time Warp

4 Mistvein Borderpost
4 FieldMist Borderpost

2 Jace Beleren
2 Tezzeret The Seeker

1 Emrakul, The Aeons Torn

4 Marsh Flats
4 Island
3 Plains
2 Swamp

SB:

4 Kor Firewalker
4 Spell Pierce
4 Negate
3 Day of Judgment

Only ever side out Angelsong, Chalice and *maybe* Emrakul, everything else is core engine and you'd miss it. A note on Emrakul... sometimes you just end up losing your two Tezzeret, either through permission, hand discard, burn, whatever. Falling back to Jace Beleren's ultimate is a pretty miserable prospect. As the guys who were at the London NQ can testify, it really isn't that difficult to hardcast the fattest creature ever, once you go off. Ok, you might have already won with Tezzeret anyway, but it just provides that extra win con that I think this deck needs. Also in maybe 1/20 games you may find yourself in a position where you could mill yourself, or your opponent is looking to mill you. Shuffling your GY into your lib isn't really what you want to be doing with OtV and all, but it gives you options.

In the previous two tournaments I only had 4 counters in the side, but as Charlie points out Spell Pierce is your best shot vs Duress (finding howling mine is painful), and Polymorphs 8 counters are just too much for this deck with 4 counters.

[Dan Barrett]

Calm down Tom, there are options, providing you can see Mike/borrow cards before then:


Mono-R - http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/standard/19214_Innovations_MonoR...


Geopede Jund - http://strategy.channelfireball.com/featured-articles/silvestri-say...


UWr Super-Friends - take a look at the 3rd place - http://www.thegamesclub.org/mtg/results/national_qualifier/gb_10.htm


You can dock with me by way of thanks next time we meet.

Thomas David Baker said:

OK looks like I am getting in Ray's car at Golders Gren tomorrow morning at 0900.

What the fuck am I playing? Is Mono R a viable deck? There doesn't seem to be anything on deckcheck. I'm jetlagged and terrible at Magic I need a mindless aggro deck. Jund?

What changed with Rise? I have no Rise cards.

[Gary Lynch]

Dont play mono red, its rubbish. Play a Jund deck with 3 Thought Hemorage in the side, poss 2 Duress if you can find room as well.

Jund is the deck that is best likely to qualify as it has a raw power no other deck can compete with. Play 2 Bitblasts main as they are nearly always good. Also run 4 Pulse main as it has so many targets. I would probably go 61 cards as if you can fit it 2 Eldrazi Monument you get free wins. I would also probably advocate running more Siege-Gangs and 0 Broodmates as he gives you more options and is amazing with Monument.

Jund is a pretty easy deck to pilot, just remember not to cast Bloodbraid on an empty board as you often hit removal. Personally I found Lightning Bolt to be the weakest card in the deck so you could go down to 2 of those.

Alternativly if you can borrow 2 Eldrazi Conscription play Mythic as thats pretty decent too and can pull out wins from nowhere.

Good Luck

Thomas David Baker said:

OK looks like I am getting in Ray's car at Golders Gren tomorrow morning at 0900.

What the fuck am I playing? Is Mono R a viable deck? There doesn't seem to be anything on deckcheck. I'm jetlagged and terrible at Magic I need a mindless aggro deck. Jund?

What changed with Rise? I have no Rise cards.

[Thomas David Baker]

Apparently I'm playing this dreck:

3 Forest
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
4 Plated Geopede
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Bituminous Blast
Sideboard
4 Sedraxis Specter
1 Island
1 Bituminous Blast
3 Consuming Vapors
OR 3 Thought Haemmorage
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Doom Blade
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Burst Lightning

How unfortunate.

[Paul Hodgson]

Specter in the side is spicy, potentially loses some of it's surprise value after last weekend but really helps suppress walkers (unless they have the wall of denial counter-tech) and jumping out of the graveyard can really mess with opponent's calculations.

Thomas David Baker said:

Apparently I'm playing this dreck:

3 Forest
3 Swamp
3 Mountain
1 Scalding Tarn
4 Verdant Catacombs
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Evolving Wilds
4 Raging Ravine
4 Savage Lands
4 Plated Geopede
4 Putrid Leech
4 Sprouting Thrinax
2 Borderland Ranger
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Siege-Gang Commander
2 Lightning Bolt
4 Blightning
4 Maelstrom Pulse
2 Bituminous Blast
Sideboard
4 Sedraxis Specter
1 Island
1 Bituminous Blast
3 Consuming Vapors
OR 3 Thought Haemmorage
1 Chandra Nalaar
2 Doom Blade
2 Lightning Bolt
1 Burst Lightning

How unfortunate.