While Saturday was the first day for the $10K, players have been battling furiously since Thursday at Gen Con UK 2005. With PCQs and Sneak Peek events for the new Justice League set, there have been ample opportunities for players looking to get their Vs fix, whether it’s last-minute testing for the $10K or a first look at the cards that will be shaking up the metagame in weeks and months to come.

For those that were looking for something a little bit different, there was plenty of opportunity to try out new games and generally soak up the atmosphere of a big gaming convention. For oneMetagame.com reporter (who celebrated his 23rd birthday on the first day of the event) there was quite a lot of soaking to be done, and along with it some fun with a brand new live action roleplaying cricket bat. There aren't many places where you can run around hitting people with a rubber cricket bat for eight hours without people batting an eyelid, so it was with some relish that the rare opportunity that Gen Con represents was taken to the absolute limit.

In other news, the very first PCQ of Gen Con saw something of a star emerge in the form of Nathan Patterson. At 11 years of age, he was the youngest player in the event, and he may well be the youngest player in the $10K. His impressive level of play and masterful stylings got him to the finals, and it seems likely that we have not heard the last of this pre-Teen Titan. On the other end of the scale, in a DC Modern Age PCQ, Neil Palframan distinguished himself on turn 5 of the game with an aggressive move from his Olapet, which he hoped would end the game outright. His first Oa pump made the plant impressively large. Unfortunately for Neil though, the second Oa, replacing his first, was marginally less effective, as the lost resource sliced Olapet's willpower down to the point that he was no longer lethal. Oops.

Stay tuned for tales from around the room all day long—be they good plays, great plays, misplays, or simply some reporter’s continuing adventures with his favorite rubber cricket bat.