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 Louis Mackie on
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The vengevine Naya list looks really solid and I think it's one of the better decks out there especially against UWr (and it's very good against Grixis :D). I've put a decent amount of time into the Grixis deck so I'm sticking to what I know.
That Ginger One said: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 ;)
[SNIP] Flores grixis has nothing on this (I think).
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Permalink Reply by Dan Barrett on
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Louis - sticking to what you know is good. That's how i Q'd with a tier 2 deck last year.
Charlie - well come rub me then, i got 4...
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Permalink Reply by Nick Lovett on
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I knew this was all gonna go sooo sooo wrong as soon as i read that!
Dan Barrett said:Charlie - well come rub me then, i got 4...
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Permalink Reply by Charlie Grover on
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Sighs... the things I do for magic cards. presuming you read the article, how much of that deck can you lend me for the weekend?
Dan Barrett said:Louis - sticking to what you know is good. That's how i Q'd with a tier 2 deck last year.
Charlie - well come rub me then, i got 4...
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Do you want the same 75 that's in Verhey's article?
That Ginger One said:Sighs... the things I do for magic cards. presuming you read the article, how much of that deck can you lend me for the weekend?
Dan Barrett said:Louis - sticking to what you know is good. That's how i Q'd with a tier 2 deck last year.
Charlie - well come rub me then, i got 4...
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Permalink Reply by Thomas David Baker on
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Is everyone else* getting the 09:20 London Euston to Milton Keynes?
(Same train the Head Judge is getting, arrives 10:06, event is 7 mins drive or 30 mins walk away, starts at 11.)
See you at Euston at 09:05?
* = Ben Taylor, Ben Lei, Charlie Grover, Ben Titmarsh and Louis Mackie?
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Sounds good. I know Ben Lei won't be joining us as he's in Washington for the GP.
Thomas David Baker said:Is everyone else* getting the 09:20 London Euston to Milton Keynes?
(Same train the Head Judge is getting, arrives 10:06, event is 7 mins drive or 30 mins walk away, starts at 11.)
See you at Euston at 09:05?
* = Ben Taylor, Ben Lei, Charlie Grover, Ben Titmarsh and Louis Mackie?
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Nope, im in a crazy car
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Permalink Reply by Daniel Royde on
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Seriously? Crazy? I'm hurt.
That Ginger One said:Nope, im in a crazy car
If anyone has a pair of vengevines they'd lend me on Sunday I'd be ever so grateful- *cough* car seat *cough*.
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I could call it awful if you wanted... no insult to the driver though ^^
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Jason and Charlie qualified at 4-0-2 with Naya. Looks like an insane deck.
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