WotC Release: US Team Chosen
Sparky!!
Players on the Road to the MAGIC World Championships
Renton, Wash. (July 27, 1995)‹Fans of the popular trading card game
Magic: The Gathering(TM) recently gathered in Philadelphia from across the
United States to vie for a chance to represent the United States at the
Magic World Championships in Seattle, August 56, at the SeaTac Red Lion
Inn. The National Magic Champion-ship, held during Origins '95 (the
largest game expo and fair on the East Coast), offered enthusiasts the
opportunity to match their playing skill against some of the best in
the country. The top four players, determined after a competitive five
days of qualifying rounds, will represent the United States at the World
Championships in August 1995. A total of 19 nations will compete for the
prestigious World Title. All participants have placed in the top four in
competitions from their respective countries. The championships are
organized by the Duelists' Convocation, a division of Wizards of the
Coast, Inc. (the company that released the hit trading card game Magic:
The Gathering). Mark Rosewater, freelance writer for Wizards of the
Coast¹s(R) The Duelist magazine, recently caught up with the winners of
the U.S. National Magic Championship.
AMERICAN CONTENDERS
by Mark Rosewater
"What can I say? It was a lucky weekend," said a smiling Mark Justice,
who came out of the losers¹ bracket to win the 1995 U.S. National Magic
Championship, held July 16 at the Origins International Game Expo and
Fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Justice, a baseball and Magic card shop owner from Salt Lake City, Utah,
not only won the second National Magic Championship, but also spent his
first two days winning the two sanctioned Type I tournaments at the
convention.
Justice got off to an inauspicious start in the final round of the
championship, a double-elimination event, by losing to Peter Leiher.
"That meant I had to play my way up through the losers¹ bracket to win,"
he said. "This included playing Peter again‹not something I was looking
forward to."
In the end, Justice prevailed, beating Leiher and advancing to the finals,
where he faced Henry Stern, an engineer from Los Angeles, California.
Since Stern had gone through the final round undefeated, Justice faced
the daunting task of beating him not once, but twice. "We had played in
the semi-finals the day before and I beat him two to one," said Stern,
the only one of the finalists ranked in the top 25 of the Duelists'
Convocation, the official Magic tournament organization. "All I was
thinking is that I hoped I could do it again."
Justice's good fortune held up through the final matches, a tense two-hour
series of duels, as he beat Stern 32 and 30. "Henry is a very good
player," said Justice. "Had a few more cards come his way, you'd be
sitting here interviewing him."
Justice, Stern and Leiher, along with Michael Long, will represent the
United States in the 1995 Magic World Championships.
Players qualified in one of three ways: by taking one of the the top
two spots in any one of seven different regional tournaments, by
placing in the top 25 slots of the Duelists' Convocation, or by
qualifying for one of 32 wildcard spots. The latter were filled by
the winners of eight different qualification tournaments held over
the first two days of the Origins convention.
The only wildcard qualifier to make it on the U.S. team was Long, and
he almost didn't make it through the qualifying tournament. "I'd been
up late the night before playing a lot of ante games," the Centerville,
Virginia resident said, "and well, I didn't quite wake up when I was
supposed to. So once I realized what time it was, I raced to the
tournament to discover that there were just seven minutes left before
the sealed-deck section was scheduled to begin.
"[They] told me I could play but that I only had seven minutes to build my
deck. So I built it in seven minutes." Long smiled. "It wasn't that bad."
The following is a partial list of national competitions and the
winners of each. The complete list of winners in all the national
competitions will be included in a special "Road to the World Title"
pamphlet, which will be available at participating retailers in August
1995.
The Trek for the World Title
American National Team Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mark Justice July 1316
Henry Stern
Peter Leiher
Michael Long
(more)
Australian National Team Adelaide, Australia
Dale Aitken July 1
Jeremy Lucas
David Low
Michael Johncock
Danish National Team Odense, Denmark
Jesper Thrane June 911
Michael Vivet
Peter Jacobson
Sven Geertsen
French National Team Ville D¹Avray, France
Marc Hernandez May 68
Benoit Moulin
Pierre Woirgard
Laurent Lebas
Norwegian National Team Oslo, Norway
Denis Brækhus June 24
Tor Toyomasu
Haakon Monson
Bjorn Olarruud
Spanish National Team Madrid, Spain
Fernando Garcia Jorge July 810
Ricard Saldaña Garcia
Javier Perez Fresnevo
Jorge Ramirez Tomás
Czech National Team June 17
Lukás Hanka
Jirf Janovsky
David Korejtko
Nicolas Chudyba
Italian National Team Date & location not currently available
Ivan Curina
Gabriele Pisicchio
Alessio Iavaroni
Andrea Redi
Swiss National Team Date & location not currently available
Amiel Feldmann
Donat Hauser
Thomas Robertson
Alexander Blumke
--
Marc Schmalz, aka Sparky!!
Wizards of the Coast Customer Service Team
spa...@castle.wizards.com
David J Low
>All participants have placed in the top four in
>competitions from their respective countries.
This is not entirely true - in our case, the top four finishers *who
were willing/interested in making the trip* were the eligible ones.
That is, let's say that #1 and #3 didn't want to go, or couldn't find
the $1000 shortfall in sponsorship that would let them make the trip.
In that case, #5 and #6 would become eligible. If enough people didn't
want to go, I'd be going :-)
We were sending four from Oz regardless of their placing. It's just
that the top finishers got first option on the plane tickets :-)
>Australian National Team Adelaide, Australia
>Dale Aitken July 1
>Jeremy Lucas
>David Low ******************
>Michael Johncock ^
|
Hey! That isn't right at all! If it is, I want my ticket!!!!
These were the *state* results, not the nationals. Dale couldn't make
it to the Nationals, I finished somewhere in the bottom of the top ten
there, while Nathan Russell and Lou the Peg (who finished 5th and 6th
in the State event) finished in the top four at the Nationals. They're
currently flying to Vancouver, then on to Seattle, along with Chris
Hudson (from Queensland) and a bloke who no one I ask knows :-)
The Australian Nationals were held in Sydney on July 15th.
Regards,
David.
--
| David J. Low dl...@physics.adelaide.edu.au Oooo. |
| ( ) |
| WWW: http://www.physics.adelaide.edu.au/~dlow/dlow.html ) / |
| "I'd rather be lost in the Darkness than blinded by the Light" (_/ |