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...

[Charlie Grover]

The deck is just so brutal, feels just a little bit like cheating...

[Thomas David Baker]

Anyone going to Coventry? I love a nice early start, a drive to some obscure location followed by 1-2 or 2-2 drop because I have not spent any time testing and am terrible. Plus then there are drafts ...

And Brighton?

[Daniel Royde]

It's such a depressing thought- VERY tempted to pretend we've gone to the NQ and just stay in london, maybe picnic + draft in the park?
It feels like it'd give us the same result, only without so much driving.

Thomas David Baker said:

Anyone going to Coventry? I love a nice early start, a drive to some obscure location followed by 1-2 or 2-2 drop because I have not spent any time testing and am terrible. Plus then there are drafts ...

And Brighton?

[Thomas David Baker]

Can we take a football? Sounds good. Fuck Nationals, let's Side Event ...

Daniel Royde said:

It's such a depressing thought- VERY tempted to pretend we've gone to the NQ and just stay in london, maybe picnic + draft in the park?
It feels like it'd give us the same result, only without so much driving. Thomas David Baker said:

Anyone going to Coventry? I love a nice early start, a drive to some obscure location followed by 1-2 or 2-2 drop because I have not spent any time testing and am terrible. Plus then there are drafts ...

And Brighton?

[Daniel Royde]

If someone has one- I'll quite happily spas a football into my own face for people's amusement.


Thomas David Baker said:

Can we take a football? Sounds good. Fuck Nationals, let's Side Event ...

Daniel Royde said:

It's such a depressing thought- VERY tempted to pretend we've gone to the NQ and just stay in london, maybe picnic + draft in the park?
It feels like it'd give us the same result, only without so much driving. Thomas David Baker said:

Anyone going to Coventry? I love a nice early start, a drive to some obscure location followed by 1-2 or 2-2 drop because I have not spent any time testing and am terrible. Plus then there are drafts ...

And Brighton?

[Kieran Symington]

Sounds like someone had fun in Milton Keynes. LCQs are so the way to go - draft to victory!

Thomas David Baker said:

Anyone going to Coventry? I love a nice early start, a drive to some obscure location followed by 1-2 or 2-2 drop because I have not spent any time testing and am terrible. Plus then there are drafts ...

And Brighton?

[Jason Savage]

I have to agree with charlie, the deck was great to play.

I dropped one game all day and that was my own fault as I miscalculated how much damage he could do.

I hardly every felt behind in games and even when my opp cast Day of Judgement I still won the game easily.

I woud recommend the deck to everyone!

[Dan Barrett]

Amen, before i gave the deck to Charlie i won Game Day with it.

Did you end up playing with the same sideboard changes as i made?

Jason Savage said:

I have to agree with charlie, the deck was great to play.

I dropped one game all day and that was my own fault as I miscalculated how much damage he could do.

I hardly every felt behind in games and even when my opp cast Day of Judgement I still won the game easily.

I woud recommend the deck to everyone!

[Jason Savage]

I did not bring the Baneslayers in.

I did have two Escorts though, but I did not really need them.

Dan Barrett said:

Amen, before i gave the deck to Charlie i won Game Day with it.

Did you end up playing with the same sideboard changes as i made?

Jason Savage said:

I have to agree with charlie, the deck was great to play.

I dropped one game all day and that was my own fault as I miscalculated how much damage he could do.

I hardly every felt behind in games and even when my opp cast Day of Judgement I still won the game easily.

I woud recommend the deck to everyone!

[James Mills]

Is it still cool to borrow the deck for Reading?

Dan Barrett said:

Amen, before i gave the deck to Charlie i won Game Day with it.

Did you end up playing with the same sideboard changes as i made?

Jason Savage said:

I have to agree with charlie, the deck was great to play.

I dropped one game all day and that was my own fault as I miscalculated how much damage he could do.

I hardly every felt behind in games and even when my opp cast Day of Judgement I still won the game easily.

I woud recommend the deck to everyone!

[Dan Barrett]

"huh what?" @ Mills.

[James Mills]

You said you were not going to Reading - I asked if I could borrow the deck. You said yes.

Dan Barrett said:

"huh what?" @ Mills.