Tournament of Dreams

     In the movie Field of Dreams, a farmer was instructed, "If you build it, they will come."  And so my friends and I did everything we could to launch a tournament at SM North.  It took time, guts, and sacrifices but eventually we were able to tell the Magic community that we had convinced Comic Quest and Padi's Point to sponsor our event last Sunday.  Old and new faces did come, gathering to battle in our old hunting grounds. 

     We expected eight people to show up, the minimum to run a tournament.  Lo and behold, twenty-six came to participate in the festivities and it was festive because everyone was guaranteed a pack regardless of their performance.  Seeing all those people fill up empty tables and chairs like the one pictured above made all our efforts worthwhile.

     These were some of the people who kept asking if there was going to be a tournament in SM North.  They're all smiles in this picture because it had finally happened.  We are going to try very hard to keep them smiling because it's them who made all these possible.

     Plenty of girls came to duel as we invited them to play for FREE.  We always knew they were good but when five ladies took us on our offer it was the proof we needed that they not only enjoy slinging spells but are awesome at it.  Thanks for coming and shaking up the tournament scene.  We'll definitely try to do more for the fairer sex in our upcoming events.

     How cool was it to behold Aki, the youngest to play in our tournament go up against the eventual champion Brian?  Our talented kid even managed to pose for the camera before they began the match.  This validated our goal of developing more Magic players so that the game will flourish for a long time.

     She played while he watched.  Often the reverse would hold true at most tournaments but we turned that upside down as guys cheered on the girls instead.  None of the girls cracked the top four this time out but sooner rather than later someone will.  Maybe even a couple will get to be at the top spots.  How terrific is that?

      One of the things I admired about our players was that they smiled in the heat of battle.  It was our task to make sure that they enjoyed themselves even when engaged in something as complex and competitive as Magic.  I hoped we succeeded even just a little bit.

     Because in the end, this was a tournament of dreams being fulfilled. :-)