6:05 Chris Moosman Sneaks in for One Last Picture

Not willing to risk being the most photographed person here today, Chris comes off an undefeated tournament to pose with Winged Kuriboh . . .

 

 

6:00 Team Profile — Team OTK

Team OTK could barely fit their entire team in the photo! With a whopping sixteen members, it took a bit of pushing and shoving to cram them all in. This team consists of Byron Martz, 16 years old; Daniel Wood, 14 years old; Eric Ing, 14 years old; Harold Rilo, 21 years old; Jim Martz, 52 years old; Jonathin Martz, 16 years old; Kacey Couricso, 21 years old; Kobe Jones, 18 years old; Kong Sokha, 34; Nathan Bell, 12 years old; Nathan Strand, 19 years old; Micheal Durbin, 16 years old; Rajvir Singh, 14 years old; Steven Durbin, 18 years old; Tora Yu, 23 years old; and Willem Phillipo, 17 years old. 

 

Team OTK is a Washington based team, although many of the members live hundreds of miles from each other. They do maintain contact with one another, though, and meet up for practicing. Kong Sokha was the team’s founder, and the team has since grown to be a diverse group, with ages varying from 12 to 52 years old! Currently they’re unsponsored, and are actively seeking one out. 

 

Team OTK put several members in the top 16 spots at U.S. Nationals over the past three years. Half of the team is already qualified for next years National Championship, and they always manage to place teammates in top slots at every Regional and other event they’ve attended. Eric Ing, Rajvir Singh, and Tora Yu have dominated the Northwest Regional scene, with Eric taking a Top 8 spot in every Seattle regional for the past year. He’s also currently ranked #2 in North America.

 

They were impossible to miss in their striking light blue and yellow jerseys, and have definitely made a showing here today!

 

 

5:45 Almost Done and Then We Can All Get Some Dinner

Can you believe it? It’s not even 6 pm and we’re well into the final round of the day! It looks like it’s about time, too . . . not even the croissant sandwiches and all that ice cream was enough for Simon . . . he’s hungry enough to eat a Kuriboh. A Winged Kuriboh, even! Look out for hairballs, Simon.

 

 

5:35 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 8! Last Round! This is it!

Make your final bets on who’ll be heading to The top 8!

 

Table 1 — Neil Karunatilaka (6 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (7 wins) [SBC competitor!]

Table 2 — Maurice Cariaso (6 wins) vs. Harold Rillo (6 wins)

Table 3 — David James Piercy (6 wins) vs. Kevin Wang (6 wins) [this round’s feature match!]

Table 4 — Robert Lim (6 wins) vs. Erik Scott (6 wins)

Table 5 — Sam Gomez (6 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Tyler Ziegler (6 wins)

Table 6 — Max Engman (6 wins) vs. Joseph Zeng (6 wins)

Table 7 — Kyle Lopez (6 wins) vs. Tora Uy (6 wins)

Table 8 — Jake McNeely (6 wins) vs. Augusto Mota (5 wins)

Aww . . . we lost five Scrub Brush Challengers!

 

4:30 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 7

This is the next to last round, and would you look at the clock? It’s only 4:30! Glory alleluia! There’ll be time for more seafood tonight! Anyway, to get back to the point, let’s see the top tables . . .

Table 1 — Maurice Cariaso (6 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (6 wins) [SBC competitor!]
Table 2 — Kyle Lopez (5 wins) vs. Harold Rillo (6 wins)

Table 3 — Fili Luna (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Tyler Ziegler (5 wins)

Table 4 — Sam Post (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Tora Uy (5 wins)

Table 5 — Adam Corn (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Joseph Zeng (5 wins)

Table 6 — Neil Karunatilaka (5 wins) vs. Lloyd Swanson (5 wins)

Table 7 — Austin Kulman (5 wins) [SBC Competitor!] vs. Jake McNeely (5 wins) [This round’s feature match!]

Table 8 — Sam Gomez (5 wins) [SBC competitor] vs. Eric Ing (5 wins) [SBC Competitor!]

Good heavens, this is definitely a first. Seven out of sixteen players at the top tables are all Scrub Brush Challenge competitors! Imagine if we get a Top 8 consisting entirely of challengers!

 

4:20 Team Profile: Team Fusion

Team Fusion is out in force today, ready to defend their home turf! They’re a local team sponsored by Sportscard Mint, located in Bellevue, Washington.

Being local, they’re able to appear en masse — let’s meet the team!

The 11-person membership roster includes Austin Kulman, age 12; Sam Muvihill, age 20; Robert Lim, age 21; Sam Post, age 17; Kevin Wang, age 18; Ed Smith, age 24; Jerome Olson, age 34; Art Atayan, age 19; Jonathan Wiegle, age 12; J.P. Gentry, age 17; J.P. Gentry, age 17; and Josh Hansen — and they’re all here today!

They look sharp in their matching jerseys, and they’ve got an impressive list of credentials. Austin was the U.S. National Champion this year, at age 11, and won a Seattle Regional at age 10. He’s got 2 Regional Top 4’s so far this year, is ranked 3^rd in Washington state, and claimed 14^th place at this years World Championship in Tokyo. Sam Mulvihill, has four Regional Top 8s (two top 4) and has qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006 and 2007. Robert Lim, took second at last year’s Seattle Shonen Jump, walked away with the side event Des Voltsgalph at last year’s San Francisco Shonen Jump, and qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006 and 2007. Sam Post has had four Regional Top 8’s, qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006, and is a Level 2 Judge.

Kevin Wang has four Regional Top 8’s, and has qualified for U.S. Nationals four times — in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007! Ed Smith also has four Regional Top 8’s, and has qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2007. Jerome Olsen has two Regional Top 8’s, qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006, and is a two-time Greater Seattle Champion. Art Atayan has one Regional Top 8, and qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006. Jonathan Weigle also has one Regional Top 8 (at age 11) and qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2006.

J.P. Gentry has run an original deck in every major event that he has ever participated in, and wants everyone to know that he beat Tony Lee at the last Seattle Shonen Jump Sunday Regional with a Strike Ninja deck. Josh Hansen is a Level 2 judge.

The team grew out of a group of friends playing the game at the same shop and local tournaments. Sam Post, Jerome and JP came up with the idea of getting a Humanoid Worm Drake signed by each opponent at the next Regional, so their original intent was to call themselves "Team Humanoid Worm Drake" and get one of the cards signed at each major event (Regionals, Greater Seattle Tournies, Speak Peaks, Nationals, Shonen Jumps, etc.). They changed it though, replacing the Drake with a new Fusion card at each major event, earning the name "Sportscard Mint's Team Fusion." They became Washington State's first major team.

Their team goal is to attend as many events as possible, despite a lack of funds, and make an impact at each one with class and dignity. They've established themselves in the Northwest, now it's time to take the West Coast by storm and work their way East!

 

4:10 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 6

Only two more rounds to go! What goes on at tables one through eight? Let’s take a look!

Table 1 — Eric Ing (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Chris Moosman (5 wins) [SBC competitor!]

Table 2 — Maurice Cariaso (5 wins) vs. Kevin Wang (5 wins)

Table 3 — Sam Gomez (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Harold Rillo (5 wins)

Table 4 — Neil Karunatilaka (5 wins) vs. Joseph Zeng (4 wins)

Table 5 — Kenny So (4 wins) vs. Jamycheal (4 wins)

Table 6 — Andrew Conklin (4 wins) vs. Max Engman (4 wins)

Table 7 — Patrick Brown (4 wins) vs. Kyle Lopez (4 wins)

Table 8 — Dylan Young (4 wins) vs. Wilson Yu (4 wins) [SBC competitor!]

Check it out, Once again we have three Scrub Brush Challenge competitors at the top! This is a great weekend for the challenge!

 

Kris Perovic couldn’t be here in person, but he called Emon. Then he asked Emon if he could talk to Jason, who wouldn’t take his phone call. Poor Kris!

3:10 Ice Cream FTW!

2:50 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 5!

It’s all downhill from here, folks. They’re playing pretty quickly, but I managed to get a picture before a lot of the matches ended.

Table 1 — Patrick Brown (4 wins) vs. Eric Ing (4 wins) [SBC competitor!]

Table 2 — Sam Gomez (4 wins) [SBC competitor!]  vs. Kevin Hor (4 wins)

Table 3 — Antonio Giorlando (4 wins) vs. Neil Karunatilaka (4 wins)

Table 4 — Chris Moosman (4 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Kenny So (4 wins)

Table 5 — Maurice Cariasco (4 wins) vs. Matt Laurents (4 wins)

Table 6 — Justin Breese (4 wins) vs. Kevin Wang (4 wins)

Table 7 — Andrew Conklin (4 wins) vs. Harold Rillo (4 wins)

Table 8 — Richard Haynes (4 wins) vs. Timothy Strange (4 wins)

Would you look at that — three, count ‘em, three Scrub Brush Challenge competitors at tables 1-8! I might have to give out several interviews tomorrow! There’s some determined players up here — I think Antonio has been sitting at this table for several rounds now.

1:45 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 4

Hey hey, half way! Who’s sitting in the lofty tables 1-8? Let’s take a look:

Table 1 — Dustin Hessdorfer (3 wins) vs. Neil Karunatilaka (3 wins)

Table 2 — Sam Gomez (3 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. James Schofestoll (3 wins)

Table 3 — Steven Brown (3 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (3 wins) [SBC competitor!]

Table 4 — Maurice Cariasco (3 wins) vs. Christopher Ramirez (3 wins)

Table 5 — Steven Duvbin (3 wins) vs. Antonio Giorlando (3 wins)

Table 6 — Harold Rillo (3 wins) vs. Jonathan Weigle (3 wins)

Table 7 — Kevin Hor (3 wins) vs. Francisco Rivera (3 wins)

Table 8 — Andrew Conklin (3 wins) vs. Jake McNeely (3 wins)

Well well, there are two SBC competitors hanging in there! With four more rounds to go, things are looking good for them so far.

1:30 Team Profile — Team ICON

Team Icon hails from the Illinois/Missouri area, and has a good-sized roster of seven regular members — Eddie Turks, Glenn Cheng, Ted Scheresky, Tyler Scheresky, Chris Ballard Sr., James Little, and Matt “Gearfried” Stille — two “duelists in training” — Daniel Schmiehl and Chris Ballard Jr. — and two honorary members — Chris Cheatham and Don O’Bee. The team gets a bit of sponsorship from The Collector Store in St. Charles, Missouri.

They’ve got some decent credentials to their names. Eddie Turks has Top 8’d half of the Regionals he’s attended, and Ted Scheresky has won a Regional and Top 8’d numerous others.

Tyler Scheresky has Top 8’d several Regionals as well and Glenn Cheng is probably best known as a notable Level 3 judge.

Chris Ballard Sr. takes advantage of his huge card collection to put together “oddly good” decks that come out of nowhere, and

Matt Stille is best known for his Top 8 at Shonen Jump Austin with a Geafried deck. He also judges, and sometimes finds it difficult to decide between the two.

The team was founded by Eddie, to round up the best players in the St. Louis meta and get them to events where they could represent it. The team got quite large, and some members split off to form the well-known Team Betrayal. Team Icon hopes that players will identify them with innovative and original deck ideas, put together with skill. They’re certainly running some original decks today; five more rounds will show how well they did!

1:15 Seattle’s Secret Anti-California Tech

I thought they had a lot of Starbucks in New York! (“Are we in this Starbuck’s, or the one around the corner?”) There’s a lot more coffee places here. I don’t drink coffee, but I did get a nice . . . venti? . . . steamed milk to try and warm up in here. I hope it doesn’t put me to sleep. Jason ordered something with ice in it — crazy Canadian.

 

12:20 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 3!

All right, let’s see if there’ve been any changes . . .

Table 1 — Andrew Conklin (2 wins) vs. Tyler Difloe (2 wins)

Table 2 — Justin Breese (2 wins) vs. John Redmond (2 wins)

Table 3 — Max Engman (2 wins) vs. Kenny So (2 wins)

Table 4 — Marcos Alvarez (2 wins) vs. Jonathan Weigle (2 wins)

Table 5 — Sam Gomez (2 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Erik Scott (2 wins)

Table 6 — Jack Arnold (2 wins) vs. Carl Engel (2 wins)

Table 7 — Eric Ing (2 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Mike Powers (2 wins) [this round’s feature match!]

Table 8 — David Biggart (2 wins) vs. Jim Nelson (2 wins)

Well, we’ve got a few SBC competitors in there this time, and a few players from last round holding strong. Look for the Mike Powers vs. Eric Ing coverage coming soon from Jason!

11:45 We Love Organized Events!

An excellent judge to player ratio and a well-thought-out series of procedures helps keep events moving along smoothly. Head judge Simon Choy has taken advantage of his judge to player ratio to have match slips verified, reducing the chance of error, and keeping the rounds clicking right along. There’s plenty of room for players to stand and socialize with each other once their matches are done, so the judges can focus on the players who are still going at it. While quite a crowd has assembled at the feature match area to watch Emon and Ryan duke it out, people are still able to move around easily.

11:31 The Weather in Seattle Is . . .

Foggy and a little chilly. The venue is quite nice, on the ground floor with a wall of windows and doors that open right outside. They’ve got them open, though, and it’s a little bit chilly here in the venue. I should have brought a blanket! 

 

11:15 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 2

Ok, let’s see who’s starting out the day at the top of the tournament!

Table 1 — Carl Engel (1 win) vs. Alexis Leon-Martinez (1 win)

Table 2 — Emon Ghaneian (1 win) vs. Ryan Hayakawa (1 win) (this round’s feature match!)

Table 3 — Todd Carlson (1 win) vs. Tyler Difloe (1 win)

Table 4 — Walter Moore (1 win) vs. John Weigant (1 win)

Table 5 — Justice Chang (1 win) vs. James Schofestoll (1 win)

Table 6 — Jonathan Jefferson (1 win) vs. Jason Nguyen (1 win)

Table 7 — Kevin Hor (1 win) vs. Dylan Young (1 win)

Table 8 — Max Engman (1 win) vs. Chuck Messinger (1 win)

That’s quite a matchup at table 2, hm? A pair of two-time Shonen Jump Champions facing off! Look for some match coverage from Jason coming soon!

10:10 Ready To Start 

The first of 8 rounds has begun! Nice and on time, circumstances are looking good for today’s event. The players are orderly, the judges are attentive, and head judge Simon Choy has laid down the law as far as sportsmanship goes, and we are on our way. I’m getting the Scrub Brush Challenge intro done, so keep your eyes open for that!

9:30 I Can’t Believe We Made It