Team Omar

Here’s my report from the master’s division at this year’s Nationals.

First, a little about the event. My daughter and I have been planning to attend Nationals this year ever since we failed to go last year. We knew we were golden when we convinced my wife to come along and treat it like a family vacation. The drive from Michigan was easy, about 5 hours, and we made it with plenty of time to get the early registration t-shirts. We didn’t really grasp the scale of the event until Friday morning though.

The venue was gigantic, easily the biggest single room I have been in for a long time (in fact I am having difficulty recalling another time when I was in a room this size.) There are tons of people milling about. There are people in line for the Video Game Tournament. There are side rooms with vendors, open playing, and just hanging out. In the main room there are separate sections for each of the age groups, one for league play and side events, one for eating with tables and one for the video game stuff too.

Throughout the weekend we see people we know from Michigan…

I just talked to Omar. We may have to rename the to Team Beast if he keeps this up. It seems that Omar’s only loss was to his unlucky pairing against Tyranitar. Otherwise, he won tough matches against Jumpluff and Sabledonk. He ended the day 6-1, which has to put him in the running for the top cut.

He mentioned that there were 1336 players (which he pointed out was one short of the LEET 1337 / 826 masters, 300 seniors, 210 juniors). That field is split into two groups, and there will be a top-64 in each group. I believe that the field will be cut down to top-16 in each group by the end of Saturday.

Abdi and Benny are also representing Team Omar. Each of them are 3-4 at the end of Day 1. That puts the team at 12-9, which I’m very proud of. Cheffords, reporting for #TeamOmar, went 4-3 for the day with his daughter going 3-3 in Juniors.

I also heard a little about the rest of the MN players. This could be completely wrong, but I’ll mention it anyway. It sounded like Andy, Radu, and Emmanuel were having a tough time with their…

Since I haven’t seen this discussed much, I figured I’d put it up for those of you who care. Please note that this may not be official or correct. I have taken my information from this schedule and this post.

Check our our Nationals Coverage if you can’t go but still want to follow along. If you are going and want to provide updates to those that can’t, please feel free to use the #teamomar hash tag.

Thursday, June 24th
4PM – 8PM : Preregistration (get your National Championships T-shirt and promo card)

Friday, June 25th

Get in line for registration by 8:30am, or you’re lookin’ at a first-round loss. Have your decklist complete and get seated by 9:30am. Then there will be a players’ meeting. If you’re not ready and seated, you may be dropped from the tournament.

8AM – 9AM : Final Registration (just the National Championships promo card)
9AM : Play Begins, Game On!
10AM – 5PM : Pikachu Character Appearances
10AM – 6PM : Mini League Play
10AM – 6PM : Creative Center
12PM – 11PM : Side Events
12PM – 2PM : Travel Allowance and Travel Reimbursement Pick-Up
5PM – 7PM : Travel Allowance and Travel Reimbursement Pick-Up

Saturday, June 26th

Be seated by 9:00am, or you’ll get a game loss for that round and will be dropped from the event if you’ve not reported by the end of that round. Top cuts will be played until there are 16 players left.

9AM : Play Begins, Game On!
10AM – 5PM : Pikachu Character Appearances
10AM – 6PM : Mini League Play
10:30AM – 5PM : Creative Center
12PM – 9PM : Side Events
12PM – 2PM : Travel Allowance and Travel Reimbursement Pick-Up

Sunday, June 27th

Today’s main event is the remaining single elimination rounds (top-16) for all age groups. Be ready to play by 8:30am!

8AM : North American Professor Cup
9AM : Game On for the top 16 players!
9AM – 3PM : Side Events
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