Magic: the Gathering in the UK
Nats and Nats Qualifiers - explanation, dates... and organisation? (!)
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...
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...
Views: 95
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dan Barrett on
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Yea all the (good) control lists run 3x Wall of Denial now.
The real spice? All is Dust
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It appears that this weekend qualified:
Sat: Amar
Sun: Ray, Paul Y, ?
Come on guys, still a few more opportunities, starting with MK on sunday, good luck to you all!
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Permalink Reply by Charlie Grover on
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I seem to be missing infi qualifiers to hang out with girls. I cant tell if im doing it wrong or right... i guess right, but im still gonna fail to q...
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Even though i might fail at Magic, often, i'm X-0 in life.
Take from that what you will.
That Ginger One said:I seem to be missing infi qualifiers to hang out with girls. I cant tell if im doing it wrong or right... i guess right, but im still gonna fail to q...
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Permalink Reply by Louis Mackie on
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Will need 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Milton Keynes. The deck I plan to play is pretty good, assuming that there will be as much UWr as there was in the other tournaments.
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Permalink Reply by Gary Lynch on
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Come on, at least tell us what it is.... Im guessing Flores Grixis deck
Louis Mackie said:Will need 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Milton Keynes. The deck I plan to play is pretty good, assuming that there will be as much UWr as there was in the other tournaments.
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Yes! I've had it proxied up for about a week with a few alterations and it's a really good deck and fun to play.
Gary Lynch said:Come on, at least tell us what it is.... Im guessing Flores Grixis deck
Louis Mackie said:Will need 4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor Milton Keynes. The deck I plan to play is pretty good, assuming that there will be as much UWr as there was in the other tournaments.
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*cue Gary going on about how Flores is "so bad"*
Deck looks alright, i take it you've watched his run through videos on YT?
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Hehe, yeah I've seen the video's and have done quite a bit of playtesting, so I know how to play in most matchups, particularly Super Friends (cast Cruel Ultimatum successfully).
Dan Barrett said:*cue Gary going on about how Flores is "so bad"*
Deck looks alright, i take it you've watched his run through videos on YT?
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He is bad, he even admited it himself. I think he used it to say if he could Q for nats with that deck it meant the deck was good.
I think the deck is pretty good, I miss casting Cruel Ultimatum.
Dan Barrett said:*cue Gary going on about how Flores is "so bad"*
Deck looks alright, i take it you've watched his run through videos on YT?
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I'm pouring out a 40 in the street for 5 colour control right now.
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Flores is god awful, but plays alot and is very full of himself. Apparently this deck is the best deck in the format (courtesy of Verhey via GerryT, he says it qualed a bunch of guys for US nats including himself (he also apparently wrote an article on it that i havent read), which i'll be running in MK if I can rub people the right way to get vengevines ;)
Wild Nacatl
1 Scute Mob
3 Lotus Cobra
2 Stoneforge Mystic
4 Cunning Sparkmage
4 Knight of the Reliquary
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Vengevine
3 Ranger of Eos
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Behemoth Sledge
3 Raging Ravine
2 Stirring Wildwood
2 Sunpetal Grove
1 Evolving Wilds
2 Terramorphic Expanse
2 Mountain
2 Plains
5 Forest
3 Misty Rainforest
4 Arid Mesa
Sideboard
3 Manabarbs
2 Qasali Pridemage
3 Oblivion Ring
2 Pithing Needle
1 Behemoth Sledge
4 Path to Exile
Flores grixis has nothing on this (I think).
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