Ever since National Championships earlier this year, Melbourne Magic has been taking giant steps, with 4 of the Top 8 including 1st and 2nd, it was made clear that the old school players in our city were under threat from a new guard taking charge, with the old school being pushed to the side.
Melbourne's first 2 GP Trial's have been won by Tom Haddy and Dante Rosati, these two players along with a force of others will be showing just why Victoria is the dominant state. A few names will be missing, Shun Jiang and Jarron Puszet will not be making the trip to Brisbane due to school commitments.
Taking a leaf out of Pang Ming Wee's book, here is a preview of the Victorians to look out for.
Rob Nadebaum
What better place to start than with the National champion, with a 2nd place at Regionals, 1st place at Nationals and a very strong showing at World's Rob must be considered one of the strong favourites even though starting with only 2 byes.
Andrew Gordon
After Top 128 at worlds, qualifying for PT Barcelona and 2nd at Nationals Andrew has had a stellar year, with consistent performances throughout the year he will be satisfied with nothing less than Top 8 even though starting with only 2 byes.
John Ou
After the controversy that was caused at Nationals with his disqualification, John will be looking to make amends although the thoughts of 9th at GP Melbourne and 9th at GP Sydney will be hard to shake. Starting with 3 byes John must be considered a real threat.
Glenn Shanley
With the recent controversy surrounding him and Team Cardheaven and the DeathDealers, Glenn has been receiving more attention than he deserves, Glenn has admitted he hates Rochester so if he does make the trip up to Brisbane, a strong Day 1 showing is likely but Day 2 will be different.
Dante Rosati
After making his first Top 8 at regionals this year Dante has been on a hot streak, with a solid performance at Nationals, Dante has consolidated himself as one of Melbourne's finest players with a qualification to PT NY teaming with Richard Johnston and myself, a GP Trial win and splitting in the final of PTQ NO with myself. With three byes and great form, Dante is a certainty for Day 2, but being his 2nd major event it is yet to be seen if he can stand up under higher pressure.
Tom Haddy
Tom, or as he likes to be known, Gaddy, is really a mix of old school and new school, with consistent results spanning many years Tom is looking for a Top 8 at Brisbane and this is very achievable with 3 byes, Tom is one of Melbourne's biggest chances.
Joe Connolly
Since GP Sydney Joe has done nothing, absolutely nothing, admitting himself to be a Counter-Strike addict Joe's 2 Melbourne results this year have been a 2-2 drop at PTQ-Barcelona and a personal record of 4-3 at PTQ-NY which includes keeping 7 land hands. With performances like these one is forgiven for ruling out Joe as a real threat at GP-Brisbane unless he gets his act together and actually does some testing.
Justin West
After losing 200 limited points in 12 months Justin's rating has dropped from the 1900's to the 1700's leaving himself with one bye. Justin will be looked to make amends for his as of late poor performances with a solid result at GP-Brisbane.
Andrew Varga
After a 2nd place at PTQ Barcelona shortly after moving to Victoria, Andrew has performed consistently with multiple Top 8's. He has also done a lot to further the development of magic in regional Victoria. I don't think anyone will be surprised with a T8 from Andrew.
Daniel Clifton
Starting the year with a 1500 limited rating getting a first round bye was always going to be hard for Daniel, but with very solid performances, he has boosted his limited rating to above 1700 now, but unfortunately not quite before the bye deadline. With 0 byes Day 2 will be a struggle but not impossible, anything more than Top 64 would be outstanding
Richard Johnston
Richi has quickly become Melbourne's version of Ryan Fuller, with a vast array of trash talking techniques and even being punished for unsportsmanlike conduct Richi has let his reputation get in the way of many fine results including a qualification for PT New York. Richard will be disappointed if he misses day 2, but anything more will be a bonus.
Chris Nadebaum
Chris, the younger brother of Rob hasn't quite got the results of his brother but with many solid results and being one of the biggest miser's in the game Chris cannot be counted out of making the money.
With all the above competitors, it's more then likely that multiple Victorians will be in the Top 8.
Adrian Rimmer
Atgr@ozemail.com.au
