Regionals 2009

~

Quick reminder about the Regionals this Saturday . . . yes - THIS Saturday. This post is directed at fellow Canadians, if you are an American (my condolences), here is your LINK to info.

Date : May 16, 2009

Format : Standard-constructed format

Tournament Length : 50 minutes per round, Swiss rounds based on attendance

Invitations : All Canadian Regional Championships will award invitations to the 2009 Canadian National Championship based on attendance.

Calgary, Alberta (Western Canada Premier Events)

Vancouver, British Columbia (U2KR)

Winnipeg, Manitoba (Gamer's Lair)

Moncton, New Brunswick (Gamezilla)

St. Johns, Newfoundland (NL Magic / MUN Student Centre)

Halifax, Nova Scotia (Trinity Gaming)

Toronto, Ontario (SkyFox Games) - MAP

Montreal, Quebec (SpellKeeper Events)

Regina, Saskatchewan (ComicReaders)

~

There is a very limited volume of time for players to effect an in-depth analysis at to how the latest expansion set of Alara Reborn impacts the Standard environment before Regionals on Saturday. This, of course, is also further complicated by the fact that when you do have a list of new cards to acquire, there is little of no time to pick these cards up.

One thing of note that I am rather happy with is that it appears that DCI finally modified he number of invites to Nationals based on attending participants instead of the previous byzantine and ill-representative broken system of obligatory invites from the smaller and far-flung provinces while Ontario / Quebec get a quick jerk on the invite leash . . . thanks - these are important improvements!

~

Also of note is that DCI appears to have dropped the conventional 'Top 8' pairing and substituted the straight swiss standings. And, as always bless Marvin's black soul for hosting this event yet again at the LEGION. If you are not from Canada, you may not understand this - community Legion Halls is where we send our war veterans to drink their faces off - and the same place where we often find ourselves after being turned away from our own favourite watering hole for being egregiously inebriated.

~