10:40 They Dropped Like . . . Scrubs at a Yu-Gi-Oh! Tournament

Flies have nothing on it. We started the day with 524 players, pushing us to ten rounds — but now, as we head into the last of those rounds, the big one-zero, there are only 191 players left. It’s definitely been a long day, and lack of sleep and food definitely took its toll the last few rounds. Most of them will be back again tomorrow for the Regionals, after a nice dinner and some sleep!

 

 

10:20 Who’s at the Top Table — Round 10

Finally, we’ve reached the final round! It’s been a long and tiring day, but here are the players who are vying for those Top 8 spots:

Table 1 — Ramoh Ahmonzar (8 wins) vs. John Jensen (9 wins)

Table 2 — Robert Ackerman (8 wins) vs. Keith Gibson (8 wins)

Table 3 — Bobby Chamber (8 wins) vs. Josh Kavalauskas (8 wins)

Table 4 — Bryan Coronel (8 wins) vs. Adam Donahue (8 wins)

Table 5 — Lazaro Bellido (8 wins) vs. Dustin Hayes (8 wins)

Table 6 — Gregory Pantazis (7 wins) vs. Pat Sullivan (7 wins)

Table 7 — Jonathan LaBounty (7 wins) vs. Kris Perovic (7 wins)

Table 8 — Joseph Shurtleff (7 wins) vs. Geoff Watson (7 wins)

 

Well, we’ve got no Scrub Brush Competitors in there for the last round, so it’s not looking good for getting a winner here in Boston.

 

 

 

9:40 Who’s at the Top Table — Round 9

One round after this! Only one more chance to make Top 8!

Table 1 — Robert Ackerman (8 wins) vs. John Jensen (8 wins)

Table 2 — Bryan Coronel (7 wins) vs. Chhoeun Noun (7 wins)

Table 3 — Josh Kavalauskas (7 wins) vs. Alfonzo Yamakawa (7 wins)

Table 4 — Bobby Chamber (7 wins) vs. Nicholas Eaton (7 wins)

Table 5 — Dustin Hayes (7 wins) vs. Brice Thompson (7 wins)

Table 6 — Ramoh Ahmonzar (7 wins) vs. Chris Winkler (7 wins)

Table 7 — Keith Gibson (7 wins) vs. Ashton Glenn (7 wins)

Table 8 — Lazaro Bellido (7 wins) vs. Joseph Shurtleff (7 wins)

Well, we lost Cesar . . . and with that, I have to wonder if we’ll get any winners in the Challenge today . . .

9:43 A Considerable Gap, and My Apologies

Well, I wasted over an hour waiting downstairs for Chinese food that didn’t come . . . so, I’m starving and I’ve missed a round or so. I’ll go get this uploaded, and try and catch up on what I missed.

 7:30 It’s Been A Long Day For the Judges . . .

Today we had a staff of 11 judges, to wrangle 524 players into submission. They’ve done a pretty good job of it, too, despite the tables being somewhat spread out. Running on little more than pizza and some chocolate chip cookies, they’ve given it their all and are still holding in there despite the lateness of the day. They’ve still got 3 rounds to get through, but I think they’ll manage.

7:20 Who’s at the Top Table — Round 7

Well, that was a quick jump ahead. What changes do we have since Round 6?

Table 1 — Bobby Chamber (6 wins) vs. Alfonzo Yamakawa (6 wins)

Table 2 — Dustin Hayes (6 wins) vs. John Jensen (6 wins)

Table 3 — Robert Ackerman (6 wins) vs. Paul Lynn (6 wins)

Table 4 — Walter Chan (6 wins) vs. Ashton Glenn (6 wins)

Table 5 — Daniel Barbacoff (5 wins) vs. Cesar Gonzales (5 wins) [SBC Competitor]

Table 6 — Joe Crisara (5 wins) vs. Antoine Rivera (5 wins)

Table 7 — Bryan Coronel (5 wins) vs. Dan McNelis (5 wins)

Table 8 — Ramoh Ahmonzar (5 wins) vs. Quincy Gordon (5 wins)

There’s not many rounds left for a comeback — only 3 remain! But most importantly, we finally have a Scrub Brush Challenge competitor in the Top 8!!! The x-1s are starting to appear, too.

6:15 Who’s At The Top Table — Round 6

It’s getting closer to crunch time, let’s see who’s on top this round . . .

Table 1 — Bayron Almanzar (5 wins) vs. John Jensen (5 wins)

Table 2 — Walter Chan (5 wins) vs. Brice Thompson (5 wins)

Table 3 — Adam Donahue (5 wins) vs. Alfonzo Yamakawa (5 wins)

Table 4 — Robert Ackerman (5 wins) vs. Bryan Coronel (5 wins)

Table 5 — Dustin Hayes (5 wins) vs. Scott Schneider (5 wins)

Table 6 — Ashton Glenn (5 wins) vs. Michael Hamilton (5 wins)

Table 7 — Bobby Chamber (5 wins) vs. Paul Levitin (5 wins)

Table 8 — Paul Lynn (5 wins) vs. Chris Winkler (5 wins)

Still no Scrub Brush Challenge competitors at the top tables . . . this is so disappointing!

6:00 A Brief Aside on Today’s Photography

Doesn’t everyone look great in their pictures? The lighting in here is perfect . . . there are huge floor to ceiling windows on both sides, letting in plenty of good light, while the light colored walls and ceiling diffuse it. This is definitely the right event to try and get your picture on Metagame, because you are just going to look fantastic. The sun is going down, so I guess from here on out it won’t be as great, but yeah. 

5:40 The Official Downhill Point

Round 5 just ended, so we’re on our way to the end. Let’s keep those rounds going! There’s still five rounds left in the day! Move move move!

5:20 Who’s at the Top Tables — Round 5

Well, it’s all downhill from here! 

Table 1 – Brian C. Clark (4-0) vs. Brice Thompson (4-0)

Table 2 – Donald Myers (4-0) vs. Chris Winkler (4-0)

Table 3 – Keith Gibson (4-0) vs. Michael Hamilton

Table 4 – Danny Cook (4-0) vs. Adam Donahue (4-0)

Table 5 – Ashton Glenn (4-0) vs. Nicholas Palermo (4-0)

Table 6 – Walter Chan (4-0)  vs. Nicholas Eaton (4-0)

Table 7 – Jose Arocho (4-0) vs. Scott Schneider (4-0)

Table 8 – Dan McNelis (4-0) vs. Alfonzo Yamakawa (4-0)

There are several players here who’ve been here for quite some time, but alas, none of them are Scrub Brush Challenge competitors. That’s not looking good . . .

4:00 The Mike Pianka Shirt Mystery Solved

Maybe you’ve never noticed that Mike Pianka always seems to have the same shirt on at every event, but I have. I always have the same shirt on too, but I actually own 6 identical black shirts. I couldn’t help but wonder . . . ”Did Mike buy multiples? Or does he just really like this one particular shirt?” So, I did what anyone who wants to know something should do — I asked! Turns out, he owns two of these shirts. There you have it.

 

3:50 Who’s at the Top Table — Round 4!

Ok, we aren’t halfway through yet, but we’ve still got some players hanging onto the top table spots. Take a look!

Table 1 — Bobby Chamber (3-0) vs. James Nunez (3-0)

Table 2 — Daniel Fitzgerald (3-0) vs. Antoine Riviera (3-0)

Table 3 — Larry Giang (3-0) vs. Alfonzo Yamakawa

Table 4 — Ramoh Ahmonzar (3-0) vs. Michael Hamilton

Table 5 — Logan Achorn (3-0) vs. Steven Aissis (3-0)

Table 6 — Walter Chan (3-0) vs. Nik Ristoski (3-0)

Table 7 — Jose Arocho (3-0) vs. Rich Miller (3-0)

Table 8 — Toby Boas (3-0) vs. Nicholas Palermo (3-0)

3:45 Side Event 1 Begins!

Yeah, yeah, I got going a little late today. Here’s a look at the top tables, in Round 3!

Table 1 — Jimi Johnson [SBC Competitor] (2-0) vs. Nik Ristoski (2-0)

Table 2 — Daniel Fitzgerald (2-0) vs. Zacha Gabriel (2-0)

Table 3 — Glen Legend (now that’s a name) (2-0) vs. Brice Thompson

Table 4 — James Laurent (2-0) vs. Gregory Pantazis (2-0)

Table 5 — Ashton Glenn (2-0) vs. Carlos Santiago (2-0)

Table 6 — Ramoh Ahmonzar (2-0) vs. Ricky Ryder (2-0)

Table 7 — Dylan Hayes (2-0) vs. Scott Schneider (2-0)

Table 8 — Brian C. Clark (2-0) vs. Devan Scheib (2-0)

2:25 For Goodness Sake, Jason, Write Faster

There will be no feature match this round, because Jason is frantically tearing through deck profiles. I guess there are a lot of decks he likes at this event. Isn’t that exciting? You can’t wait, can you?! Deck profiles are on the way!

2:20 Round Three Begins!

Pretty much what it says right there. Round Three began at 2:20! Let’s go!

1:50 An Interlude of Lull before Round 3

With over 520 players, it can take a bit of time to get things going between rounds. The break does get the players out of the room for a bit, and lets the air circulate which improves the atmosphere immeasurably. The players can get a bite to eat, shop at the vendor alley, socialize, or look out the windows.

1:30 Soda Off the Table

If you leave your soda on the table, Head Judge John Williams will confiscate it. He means it, as many players have been dismayed to find out today. I don’t know when John will have time to drink all that soda, but it’s his now.

1:20 I’m Just Part of the Exhibit

There’s a sculpture exhibit in the area I’m using to access the internet. People are coming in to see it, and taking pictures of it. I tell them I’m not part of the exhibit, but they’re taking pictures of me anyways. Go figure.

It seems like just about everyone is playing “something different,” judging from the number of people who’ve come up here to show us their decks. And the people standing in the food lines who say they brought something new. And the people standing around talking about how they’re trying something new. Jason’s certainly found a few decklists he likes, so look forward to hearing about them as the rounds go on.

12:30 Kris Perovic, Bring Me Back My Pop-tart

Kris Perovic is trying to steal my food. Can you believe it? Oh, he brought it back . . . but he was touching it. Do I still want to eat it?

11:50 Desperately Seeking Internet

It’s got to be around here someplace . . . the trouble is it doesn’t seem to want to let me communicate with the editor. You know, I’ve just had terrible luck with this kind of thing lately haven’t I?

11:45 Or Not

Late arrivals have pushed us into 10 rounds — there’s 524 people registered to play now. Ah well! I guess that means more x-2s have a chance. Looks like we’ll be here a little later!

11:30 9 Rounds By The Skin Of Our Teeth!

There are 512 registered players, which is the highest you can cram into nine rounds. Round 10 has been narrowly avoided!

10:40 Please Don’t Feed the Metagame Writers

They’ve finally set us up with our own little area, roped off from the crowd.  I feel a lot like an exhibit in the zoo, though. There are some unused sign holders as part of our barricade . . . hmm . . . I could get creative there . . . Anyways, unlike the animals in the zoo, we like to encourage people to feed the Metagame writers.

9:40 Hmm, I Wonder What’s Going On Up There