7:40 Who’s At The Top Tables — Round 9
And at last we’ve made it to the start of the final round. Haza! You’ll be seeing a few of these guys tomorrow, I’m sure. Who will it be?
Table 1: David Rodriguez (7 wins) vs. Jesus Suarez (8 wins)
Table 2: Alex Ballard (7 wins) vs. Tomas Mijares (7 wins)
Table 3: Mark Garcia (7 wins) vs. Mario Matheu (7 wins)
Table 4: David Huertas (7 wins) vs. Gerard Ramirez (7 wins)
Table 5: Hooman Farahbakush (7 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (7 wins)[SBC Competitor] [This round’s feature match!]
Table 6: Geoffrey Fisicaro (7 wins) vs. Juan Lopez (7 wins)
Table 7: Andrew Becker (7 wins) vs. C hris Vang (7 wins)
Table 8: Allen Hin (6 wins) vs. Austin Martinez (6 wins)
Well, there you have it! Top 8 will follow!
6:50 Oh My Goodness, They’ve Got Cotton Candy Over There
So, right across from the venue, is a park, and there’s a Christmas fair going on. “Christmas in the Park.” And they’ve got cotton candy. I know this because there are players walking around with cotton candy, and they said they got it in the park. I wonder if a) I’ve got time to run out there and look for it, and b) if it’s worth getting out from under the blanket pile.
After thinking it over, I’ve decided it’s not worth getting out from under the blanket pile. It’s blue cotton candy, anyway. Who wants blue teeth? I know I don’t!
6:30 Who’s At The Top Tables — Round 8!
Next to last round! One more to go! Everyone keep their energy up and keep going! Let’s see who we’ve got . . .
Table 1: Chris Moosman (7 wins) [SBC Competitor] vs. Jesus Suarez (7 wins)
Table 2: Gerard Ramirez (7 wins) vs. David Rodriguez (6 wins)
Table 3: Mark Garcia (6 wins) vs. Lance Leonhardt (6 wins) [this round’s feature match!]
Table 4: Tomas Mijares (6 wins) vs. Vincent Tran (6 wins) [SBC Competitor]
Table 5: Geoffrey Fisicaro (6 wins) vs. Jackie Jian (6 wins)
Table 6: John Hubbard (6 wins) vs. Juan Lopez (6 wins)
Table 7: Alex Ballard (6 wins) vs. Giorlando Antonio (6 wins)
Table 8: David Huertas (6 wins) vs. Matthew Murphy (6 wins)
Chris looks like he’s gonna win another Scrub Brush Challenge . . . will Vincent Tran be joining him?
5:40 Leonhardt #2 Headed For Top 8?
His dad, Kirk, made it to Top 8 in Anaheim, and expressed the wish that his son had made it instead. Looks like he’ll get that wish today, as Lance is making a determined play for a final spot in the Top 8. While there are plenty of parent-and-child pairs that play, none have ever Top 8’d one right after the other! If Lance can hang in there for two more rounds, the Leonhardts will have scored a first.
5:25 Who’s At The Top Tables — Round 7
Two rounds left! Which is good, because I’m getting kind of tired. You know who’s not tired? Some of these guys! They just will not be shifted from the top tables.
Table 1: Gerard Ramirez (6 wins) vs. Joseph Zeng (6 wins)
Table 2: Lance Leonhardt (6 wins) vs. Jesus Suarez (6 wins)
Table 3: Chris Moosman (6 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Matthew Murphy (6 wins) [Check it out, undefeated [Chain Strike] vs. undefeated Chain Strike!]
Table 4: Alex Hin (5 wins) vs. David Rodriguez (5 wins)
Table 5: Alberto Daniel Gonzales (5 wins) vs. David Huertas (5 wins)
Table 6: Jose Suarez (5 wins) vs. Hargi Yamsuan (5 wins)
Table 7: The-Anh Troung (5 wins) vs. Eric Virgen (5 wins)
Table 8: JP Gentry (5 wins) [SBC competitor!] vs. Jackie Jian (5 wins)
Now we’ve got two Scrub Brush Challenge competitors up there! Go, go, go!
5:10 Last Call For Side Events!
They’re wrapping them up, folks, so now’s your last chance to give up on a lost cause and enter the final side event. It looks like side event attendance has been pretty decent, but a lot of players are opting to remain in the Shonen Jump and play it out. There’s only two rounds left so really, what have they got to lose? Looks like we’ll be out in time for a decent dinner, which is great news . . . except I still have some lunch sitting here, and I am so not hungry anymore. Those Shintake rolls are so gooooooood though . . . awww, I totally forgot to order a Yum Yum Heather roll! I didn’t try it last night!
4:40 Who’s At The Top Tables — Round 6
It’s all downhill from here!
Table 1: David Monterroso (5 wins) vs. Matthew Murphy (5 wins)*
Table 2: Jesus Farias (5 wins) vs. Gerard Ramirez (5 wins)
Table 3: Alberto Daniel Gonzales (5 wins) vs. Lance Leonhardt (5 wins)*
Table 4: Hargi Yamsuan (5 wins) vs. Joseph Zang (5 wins)
Table 5: Brodie Heinrichsen (5 wins)* vs. Jesus Suarez (5 wins)
Table 6: Michael Bucno (5 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (5 wins)*[SBC competitor]
Table 7: The-Anh Troung (4 wins) vs. Xiong Yang (4 wins)
Table 8: Randy Cervantes (4 wins) vs. Antonio Giorlando (4 wins)
*the starred players are all running that Chain Strike deck that seems to be the talk of the town right now. Looks like we’ll be seeing more of it, hmmm?
4:00 Team Profile — The Syndicate
I’d say its about time for a team profile, wouldn’t you? Here’s a closer look at a local area team, The Syndicate, a team based out of Sacramento, California. It’s a pretty sizeable team with a solid 17 members, most of which have won several Regionals. Take a look at the roster!
Neil Karunatilaka, the team leader, qualified for U.S. National Championships in both 2006 and 2007, and came in 9th at this year’s Shonen Jump Seattle. He also made it to top 8 at a GenCon iPod tournament. Andrew Dakhill qualified for U.S. Nationals three times — in 2005, 2006, and 2007. He’s had six Regional Top 8 finishes. Tim Perry has qualified for next year’s U.S. Nationals, and made Top 8 at this year’s Shonen Jump at GenCon. He was also the winner of A-1 Comics Xbox 360 tournament, held this year. Sai Cha qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2005 and 2006, and came in 13th at this year’s Shonen Jump at GenCon. Patrick Holmes has the distinction of qualifying for four U.S. Nationals Championships — 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007! He’s had six Regional Top 8 finishes, and made Top 8 at the first-ever Shonen Jump Championship, way back in the day at GenCon SoCal. Jeff Vertrees qualified for U.S. Nationals in 2005 and 2006, and has three Regional Top 8 finishes. Alex Hin has qualified for next year’s U.S. Nationals, with two Regional Top 8 finishes. Allen Hin has made it to a Regional Top 8, but has yet to qualify for U.S. Nationals. Brendan Chock qualified for last year’s U.S. Nationals, and made it to the Top 4 of Shonen Jump San Francisco in 2005. Chico Khang qualified for the 2005 U.S. Nationals, and has two Regional Top 8 finishes. Jason Shannon qualified for both 2005 and 2006’s U. S. Nationals, with five Regional Top 8s. Anthony Kuhl qualified for last year’s U.S. Nationals, and finished 11th at last year’s Shonen Jump San Francisco. Vishaal Desai is working towards the credentials of his other teammates, with an 11th place finish in a Regional. So is Matt Knowland (9th at a Regional) along with Vijay Chawla, Riley Barry, and Mielad Majlessi. There are a few of The Syndicate’s members participating in the Scrub Brush Challenge, so we’ll have to wait and see if they’ll earn further glory for the team.
The team has seen a lot of change over the course of its life — originally begun by Neil and two of his friends, it grew to include the people that they played and hung out with at A-1 Comics in Roseville, California. They soon became close friends, and then merged with the former Team A-1 (which used to be Sac-Town’s Finest). Got all that?
The team has a great deal of pride in the members and their accomplishments, and are happy to represent the Sacramento area. Fourteen members are here today, and they all hope to add more high-placed Shonen Jump finishes to their growing roster.
3:30 Who’s At the Top Tables — Round 5!
Is it time for another round already? Well, let’s see what’s going on at tables 1-8, shall we? We’re more than halfway done with the event, so these guys are going to be doing all they can to hang onto these high spots.
Table 1: Brodie Heinrichsen (4 wins) vs. John Hubbard (4 wins)
Table 2: Marc Manalo (4 wins) vs. Matthew Murphy (4 wins)
Table 3: Alberto Daniel Gonzales (4 wins) vs. Chris Monterroso (4 wins)
Table 4: Joseph Maestas (4 wins) vs. Chris Moosman (4 wins) [SBC competitor!]
Table 5: Michael Bucno (4 wins) vs. Ricardo Gaytan (4 wins)
Table 6: Jesus Farias (4 wins) vs. Daniel Nguyen (4 wins)
Table 7: David Monterroso (4 wins) vs. David Rodriguez (4 wins)
Table 8: Juan Lopez (4 wins) vs. Gerard Ramirez (4 wins)
Hmm . . . there’s a few people who’ve been here for a little while. And look at that, we’ve got one of our Scrub Brush Challenge competitors up there again! Maybe we’ll have a winner this time!
I missed the first few rounds; sorry about that! We’ve got the system in place now though, so let’s take a look:
Table 1: Antonio Giorlando (2 wins) vs. Brodie Heinrichsen (2 wins)
Table 2: Hooman Farahbakush (2 wins) vs. Augusto Mota (2 wins) [this round’s feature match!]
Table 3: Gerard Ramirez (2 wins) vs. Wang Vue (2 wins)
Table 4: David Huertas (2 wins) vs. Hargi Yamsuan (2 wins)
Table 5: Ryan Cook (2 wins) vs. Salvador Perez (2 wins)
Table 6: Gilbert Bui (2 wins) vs. Marco Salgardo (2 wins)
Table 7: Lance Leonhardt vs. Wilson Yu (2 wins) [SBC competitor] [almost a feature match!]
Table 8: Blaine Eikel (2 wins) vs. Chris Ware (2 wins)
1:15 I Guess I’d Better Go Take Some Pictures
. . . but I really, really, don’t want to get out from under my pile of blankets. The sacrifices I must make . . . I hope to goodness you all appreciate them. Off I go, to freeze on the floor.
1:00 My Thoughts Turn Lightly to Lunch
Head judge Simon Choy took us to this fantastic sushi place last night. Even though the spicy tuna brought tears to my eyes (it was so hot), it was all excellent so I grabbed a take-out menu. Jason wasn’t there, and, after hearing my stories of how good the sushi was, he was all about ordering it for lunch. So was Alex Charsky, who did go last night, and well, I didn’t get enough either so we ordered more for lunch. I hope it gets here soon, and, don’t worry, I’ll be telling you all about it. In detail. I know you can’t wait.
12:40 So Many Distractions . . .
I can’t help but notice, as I walk back to the venue from the hotel after sending in some content, how many things line the sidewalk, tempting me to dereliction of duty.
I could go take a freezing cold Ferris wheel ride . . .
Or I could roll back into the event on a Segway! Talk about a grand entrance!
The problem I see with the Segway, though, is I’m pretty sure most people can outrun it. Which means I probably wouldn’t remain in possession for long — because, yeah. Everyone would want to ride it, and I’m one of the smallest people here.
11:06 Round 1 Pairings Are Up!
Bit of a late start, due to a computer problem, but they’re ready to go. We’ve got 365 players so that means nine rounds. Let’s hope the event moves along quickly!
10:15 Look Ma! No Internet!
Well . . . there was supposed to be internet, but alas there is no internet, and that’s about the size of it. Jason and I will be taking turns to walk a few blocks back to the hotel and pass things along to the editors, although I’ll probably do it more often so he can do match coverage. We know how much you like match coverage! So, please bear with us — the updates won’t come as often as they did in the last events where we had internet access on site, and there’ll be some down time where we can’t generate content because we’re carrying what we do have back to the hotel to turn it in. Should you feel inclined to censure, remind yourself that all you have to do is sit in front of your nice warm computer and wait for the content to arrive in front of you, instead of running out in the cold to hand it in! Wow, I’m glad I’ve got this pile of blankets.
10:00 Registration’s Closed . . . Where Is Everyone?
So far there seems to be about 250 players. Usually the California events draw much bigger crowds, so what’s going on? Maybe we’ll get a big inrush of late arrivals. Anyways, the players who are here are eager to get going and it sounds like a lot of them have shown up with some out-of-the-ordinary decks. And hey, fewer people will give players more of a chance to recover from a loss or two. I’m sure we’ll have some more arriving soon.
9:20 The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Blankets
Ok, I’m always going on and on about how cold I get at these venues. Well, this time it paid off! Look at all the blankets people brought for me! I’ve got several blankets “liberated” from airplanes as well as one that was made especially for me. I’m warm and I’m good to go. Thanks guys — this feels great! I don’t want to get up out of my chair.
9:10 Yay! We Found The Venue!!
The entrance is pretty tricky to find . . . it’s sort of hidden behind a pillar, so thank goodness for the marquee outside which announces it. The inside of the building is rather interesting to look at, hinting at exciting events yet to come. It leads to a seen-one-seen-‘em-all kind of convention hall style room, but still.