Announcing...

Great weekend of magic just gone with Gatecrash Game Day - well done to Jack Biddell and Mark Smith for walking off with the title of Game Day champions (and a rather nice playmat).  Personally I managed a 3rd and 2nd - yet again always the blushing bridesmaid and never the bride!

I know I promised this last week but this is something that we were not allowed to bring to you until Wizard's were going to put it on the main web site.  However, Jim has had an e-mail from them to say that we can announce this on the blog before it is announced on the mother ship so this is a kind of exclusive (maybe I should ask them if I can have a card to spoil for Dragon's Maze?  Ok maybe not...)

Pro Tour "Friends" will be in Dublin on 11 - 13 October 2013 and Patriot Games Sheffield will have a Pro Tour Qualifier on Saturday 13th April 2013!  The tournament will be constructed standard and will be held at the Royal Victoria Holiday Inn which is a short walk from Patriot Games and looks a lot like this;

Its a fabulous Hotel and has enough room to comfortably seat 400 players.  This is the first constructed PTQ we have had and we intend to make it a big one.  There will be side event drafts (at £10 with prize support) and other attractions will be announced in the next few weeks. The Holiday Inn is offering free parking to all players (yes free parking in the centre of Sheffield) and will have cheap bottles of water and a special menu available for players.  Full details , including cost, will be posted here shortly (as soon as Jim and I have worked them out).  Also to help travellers from out of town there will be special room rates at the very close by in the Holiday Inn Express.  We tried to show players what you can do with a PTQ last year and the feedback was really fantastic, so we want to deliver on all fronts again this time.

But that's not all.  As anyone who reads my ramblings will know we are trying to make the whole Magic experience in Sheffield something special and cater to everyone who wants to come along and play some cards so adding value to the things we do is kind of a thing for us.  We started the Invitational to recognise excellence in our player base and give everyone in Sheffield something to aim for if they didn't make the Pro Tour.  Celebrating peoples achievements is part of that and so we will be shortly unveiling the Sheffield Magic Hall of Fame where the Planeswalker points scorecards of players who have achieved something in the world of Magic the Gathering.  A full list of inductees tot he hall of fame will be announced soon but it will include the 6 members of the Steel City Patriots.

So standard PTQ 13th April 2013 in Sheffield.  You really don't want to miss this one!