The Road to Pro Tour: San Diego

Congrats to my friend Josh Xiong and his wife Mai Kao Xiong, who currently reside in Shanghai! This past weekend Josh went to a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) for another Magic tournament that is going to be held in San Diego, called Pro Tour: San Diego (PT: San Diego). He won the tournament outright and was given permission to play in PT: San Diego and a free round trip plane ticket. I know that in the States you're given a highly desired "blue envelope," that has the plane ticket voucher and the letter of permission to play in the following Pro Tour (PT). I wonder if in China they hand out the highly desired "blue envelope" as well? Maybe it's a "red envelope instead? One of my goals for the next couple of months is to qualify for Pro Tour: San Diego. We'll see what happens. Here are a number of high level events that will be taking place in the region over the next month or so, all of these events, except for States, will help me qualify for PT: San Diego. Wish me luck!

Grand Prix Trial: Minneapolis (winner gets a 3 round bye for GP: Minneapolis)
- Sat. Dec. 7 @ Monsters Den (Mpls, MN) - $25
- Sun. Dec. 8 @ Outpost 2000 (Coon Rapids, MN) - $25
- Last Chance Trials on Fri. Nov. 14 @ noon-7pm - $25

Grand Prix: Minneapolis (Top 16 qualify for PT: San Diego)
- Sat. Nov. 14th - 15th, Registration @ 8am-9:30am - $40

Pro Tour Qualifier: San Diego (Winner qualifies for PT: San Diego)
Nov. 15th @ GP: Minneapolis - $30
Dec. 19th @ Misty Mountain (Madison, WI) - $35

States 2009
- Sat. Dec. 5 @ Misty Mountaing North (Burnsville, MN) - $25

Grand Prix: Minneapolis is in a few weeks and it looks like it's going to be a crazy event! I plan on playing Magic all weekend. Here's a list of the side events for GP: Mpls:

Side Event Championship – We are giving away a set of Power – and you only have to win one match to get a piece!!

Play in a Side Event – get Play for Power Tickets! Different events give out a different number of tickets. You put your name on the ticket and put it in the Play for Power Drawing. At the end of the weekend, Sunday at 3:00pm we will draw 14 names from all the tickets collected over the weekend. The players whose names are drawn play in a free Booster Draft with a FULL SET OF POWER going to the Top 8!

1st Place: Black Lotus/Timetwister
2nd Place: Ancestral Recal
3rd Place: Times Walk
4th Place: Mox Saphire
5th Place: Mox Jet
6th Place: Mox Ruby
7th Place: Mox Pearl
8th Place: Mox Emerald

That’s right! You never won an event all weekend, doesn’t matter….

Didn’t play in the Grand Prix (why didn’t you?!) – but it doesn’t matter….

Only played in one side event all weekend (no excuse for that…) – it doesn’t matter!!

Win just one match in the Play For Power Finals – you win a piece of Power!!

The more you play – the better your chances – so get started at noon on Friday (that’s when the weekend’s festivities begin) and keep playing until Sunday afternoon. Every side event counts (and what the heck, we will give 2 entries away to people who signed up for the Grand Prix) – and you know you want to win free entry into this booster draft!

*This is such a cool incentive to play as much Magic as you can! Those prizes are super nice!*

Available all weekend, at all times!!

Go Infinite* Booster drafts (2 Power Ticket) $18.00 entry
Booster drafts of Zendikar. 1st Prize – 6 boosters and free entry into another booster draft (or get 3 extra packs!), 2nd Prize – 4 boosters, 3rd/4th – 1 booster each

8 Person Constructed Win-A-Box (2 Power Ticket) $18.00
Prize Payout – 1st Place wins a Box – 2nd Prize wins free entry into a Win-A-Box tournament! Any format we can get 8 folks to play! Standard, Extended, Legacy, even vintage!

4 Person EDH/Plane Chase Events (1 Power Ticket) – Each player receives a ticket when seated. Eliminate a player, take his ticket! Turn in your tickets for 2 packs!

Friday Featured Side Events

Grand Prix Trials (4 Power Tickets for entering) $25.00 entry – Sealed/Zendikar
Starting at noon. 32 Person Single Elimination
1st Place wins a 3 round bye to the Grand Prix!
2nd place wins ½ Box!
3rd/4th win ¼ Box each!

*Hopefully, I would of won a GPT by now and won't need to play in this event*

MEGA FNM - Win A Box!! (4 Power Tickets for entering) - $20 entry
6 p.m. registration – 7 p.m. start
Format: Standard, 4 Rounds of Swiss
Prizes by Record
4-0 = BOX of Zendikar
3-0-1 = 21 Packs of Zendikar
3-1 = 9 Packs of Zendikar

*This is the 2nd reason why I hope to of won a GPT by now. My first chance to play in a Mega FNM*

Saturday Featured Side Events

Legacy For Land!! (5 Power Tickets!)- $25.00 entry
1 p.m. registration – 2 p.m. start
Swiss rounds with cut to Top 8

First Place - Play Set of Fetch Lands from Zendikar AND Onslaught (40 cards total), yep – 4 each of all 10!!

Second Place - Set of Revised Dual Lands* (10 cards total)

Third / Fourth Place - Third gets to choose which they want! Split a set of Revised Dual Lands between Allied and Enemy (each player receives 5 cards)

5th - 8th Place - One Underground Sea and one other random Revised Dual Land for each player
If over 64 additional pack prizes will be handed out.

*Wow! This event is going to be huge up here in MN! There's such a large Legacy following up here in MN. This is one that I would love to see Vern win!*

Extreme Extended!! (5 Power Tickets!)- $25.00 entry
Format: Extended
4 p.m. registration – 5 p.m. start
Swiss rounds with cut to Top 8

1st – Playset of Zendikar Sac Lands (20 cards) or Playset of Ravnica Shock Lands (40 cards)
2nd – Two Sets of Zendikar Fetch Lands (10 cards) or Two Sets of Ravnica Shock Lands (20 cards)
3rd/4th – Set of Zendikar Fetch Lands (5 cards) or One Set of Ravnica Shock Lands (10 cards)
5th – 8th – One Tarmogoyf OR One Baneslayer Angel per player

Standard Madness for Zendikar – Win-A-Box!! (4 Power Tickets for entering) - $20 entry
7 p.m. registration – 8 p.m. start
Format: Standard, 4 Rounds of Swiss
Prizes by Record
4-0 = BOX of Zendikar
3-0-1 = 21 Packs of Zendikar
3-1 = 9 Packs of Zendikar

Sunday Featured Side Events

PTQ San Diego – Win a trip to San Diego – and your spot on the Pro Tour!!
(5 Power Tickets)
Sealed Format (Zendikar) - $30 entry
8 a.m. registration – 9 a.m. start

Prizes: Pro Tour Invite! Zendikar Boosters, Pro Tour Qualifier Top 8 Pins and Travel Award!
1st Place – Pro Tour Invite and Travel Award to San Diego*
Top 8 win PT Top 8 pins, additional booster pack prizes to Top 16 TBD by participation
(we expect insanely huge amounts of Zendikar booster prizes to be handed out – don’t miss this PTQ!!)

*If I don't make it to day 2 then I be will participating in this crazy event.*

Vintage for Power (4 Power Tickets) Vintage Format - $25 entry
10 Proxies allowed (unsanctioned)
10 a.m. registration, 11 a.m. start
Tournament Structure – Swiss plus cut to Top 8

1st Place – Ancestral Recall OR sets OR 3 Boxes of Zendikar
2nd Place – Mishra’s Workshop OR 1.5 Boxes of Zendikar
3rd/4th Place – From The Vault: Exiled or Mana Drain OR 1 Box of Zendikar
5th – 8th Place – From The Vault: Dragons or 24 Packs of Zendikar
If more than 64 players, a random Dual Land for 9-16th place will be awarded

There will probably a lot of vendors there as well as some artists too. I think the IL crew should really consider coming up for the weekend. It will be time well spent in efforts to join Josh in San Diego. Peace!