12:27 p.m.

After the first round, there have been no major upsets yet. From the top eight seeded players, seven of them have won. The only person to lose lost to another player in the seedings list—this was covered in the first round feature match. Dark horse Tyng-Yann also won his first round, and is off to a good start in his first $10K championship. There were no errors in deck registration or play errors that concluded in a game loss which means that the players are very on to it today.


1:30 p.m.

Round 2 saw all of the seeded players win their rounds. Both of the dark horses also won their rounds. Some of the players in the 0-2 bracket can’t wait for the next Sealed Pack to begin.

2:05 p.m.

At the top of the standings is Early Nguyen, who is from Brisbane and has had multiple $10K Top 8 finishes to his name. The only seeded players who have a perfect 3-0 record are Alex Brown, Luke Bartter, Scott Hunstad, and Anthony Macali. Every other seeded player, including each dark horse, is 2-1.

2.45 p.m.

Round 4 has ended, and it hasn’t come soon enough for some players. At the top of the heap are five players with 4-0 records—Scott Hunstad (2), Anthony Macali (8), Toby Ryan, Adrian Capilitan, and Andrew Corney. There was also no lunch break today, but everyone had until 3 p.m. until the next Sealed Packs were opened, so the players rushed around everywhere to go get food.

4:52 p.m.

Round 5 has finished, and it looks like there was an upset—Anthony Macali trumped Scott Hunstad. As the match ended, Marc Lopser (one of the three judges here) walked by and asked Scott if he was crying! Otherwise, there were no upsets. At about this time people started to walk up and ask about tonight’s side events, the Highlander and Iron-man Mini Master!

5:32 p.m.

Only two players are left undefeated, Andrew Corney and Anthony Macali. While there have been a few upsets this round, the competition looks to be very tight as we go down to the last two rounds.

6:06 p.m.

Andrew Corney is the only undefeated player. The sad news for him is that he has to go back home tonight so he can pick up his girlfriend from the airport at 5:00 a.m.! This means that Andrew will have to drop from the tournament after today. Some of the players will be putting it all on the line for a spot in Day 2 going into the final round. There is also a chance that Andrew Corney might make it 8-0 for the day.

6:51 p.m.

It’s official—Andrew “Cornstar” Corney is the king of the heap with his flawless 8-0 record. It’s a shame he will not be with us tomorrow, but massive props to him for bringing his A-game and devastating each opponent.

7:16 p.m.

The standings have been finalized; here is a synopsis of how the seeded players performed.

4. Anthony Macali (seeded eighth)
6. Alex Brown (seeded first)
7. Scott Smith (seeded sixth)
9. Luke Bartter (seeded fourth)
17. Scott Hunstad (seeded second)
23. Shaun Hayward (seeded third)
25. Tyng-Yann (dark horse)
27. Kerryn Rubin (dark horse)
32. David Redfern (seeded fifth)
43. Chris Kawn (seeded seventh)

So out of my Top 8 prediction, six of the eight players made Day 2—that wasn’t a bad prediction at all. The dark horses only missed out on tiebreakers, and the worst player still managed a respectable forty-third place.

Have you guys made any predictions?