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Canadian Nationals: Watch Out!

Canadian Nationals. The one time a year where all the best Canadian players come together, and friends from across the country can meet up and enjoy each other’s company. But above all else is the competition.

Each testing team is working hard, trying to get the best deck, to master the draft format, and to crush all opposition. As Brad Nelson says, “The moment a tournament starts, you have no friends.” While this is not exactly true, each player is out to win in the cutthroat event that is Canadian Nationals. While Nationals is an invite-only tournament with the cream of the crop players, these 10 players are some you don’t want next to your name on the pairings.

If you needed one word to describe Samuel Tharmaratnam, better known as SammyT, it would be consistency. He just thinks a level ahead of most players. Having qualified for the Pro Tour long ago, but being unable to go, he finally qualified again with a top 16 performance at GP Toronto. At GP Atlanta he finished 22nd. He then followed up with a 50th place finish at Pro Tour Paris; propelled mainly by his 5-1 performance in draft. At one point being second in the Rookie of the Year race, Sammy declined to go to Nagoya. If I had to state his one weakness, it would be that school comes before Magic for Sammy. Having experienced his skills firsthand, I can say that I would rather be paired against anyone but Sammy at Nationals.

When you mention Canadian magic, you can’t help but think of up and comer Pascal Maynard, who got 3rd place at last year’s National Championships. The Canadian Team placed 5th at Worlds, helped in no small part by Pascal’s top 50 finish, propelled by his 6-0 extended record with Tempered Steel. Pro Tour Paris didn’t go well, but Pascal won a Montreal PTQ to qualify for Nagoya anyways; again placing in the top 50. That wasn’t enough winning for him, so he also won the CMT in Montreal, and was featured in Brian David Marshall’s column on the mothership. He has simply been playing tight and running hot and you don’t want to have to face this 18 year-old as he tries to upgrade last year’s result.

KYT calls him his constructed mentor and for good reason. Justin Richardson is probably one of the best constructed minds in the country, constantly tweaking decks to perfection, and playing them just as well. While he has yet to play on a Pro Tour, he qualified for Pro Tour Philadelphia this season and we all expect great things. Known as a local shark, Justin has been constantly dominating local Montreal tournaments unlike any other*. While in the past Justin’s limited skills have been lacking, he has been practicing and winning a lot of M12 draft which, combined with his previous 6-0 and 5-1 constructed records at Nationals, can probably propel him to the top 8.

Robert Anderson is not even qualified for Nationals due to the change of the rating cutoff, but has played on 2 Pro Tours and has just qualified for Pro Tour Philadelphia as well, going 9-0-1 to get there. One of the infamous members of Team Westmount**, Rob is simply unbeatable when he gets in the zone. While he has never made top 16, Rob has played in 8 Grand Prix, and only failed to make Day 2 once, a percentage that few Pros can match. If Rob fails to grind in, I will be very surprised, so I put him on this list because he is most certainly one to fear.

Marcel Angelo Zafra is a name that anyone from Alberta should recognize. He basically wins every PTQ out there, not to mention winning a PTQ at GP Portland. He made an 11-1 run at PT Austin, but unfortunately missed out on top 8. Also, to quote DougP, “Marcel is just the nuts.” Marcel is also so confident he is going to make the National Team that he has been actively rooting against Pros making their National team, so that he will have less competition when Worlds comes around. Watch out!

“Hometown Hero Seizes the Initiative!” Despite Jon Smithers not coming from Toronto (he’s from Ottawa), the GP Toronto champ is one to watch. Called “the Conley Woods of Canada” by some, he is excellent at making decks for known metagames, has shown his expertise with the Tempered Steel deck, that he and Pascal played to a combined 11-1 at Worlds, and with the Reliquary Scapeshift deck he and Sammy T played at GP Atlanta, where Jon missed out on the top 16 on tiebreakers. With both an excellent understanding of the game and excellent limited skills if Jon comes up with some crazy brew he will take Nationals by storm.

Winning Nationals is already enough of a feat, but Jasar Elarar, better known simply as Jay, has done it the past two years! Having played the game for around 15 years, Jay has played on the Pro Tour, and is one of the handful of Candian players with a Pro Tour top 8, as the ‘unknown’ in perhaps the greatest top 8 of all time at Pro Tour Chicago back in 2000. He even top 16ed Pro Tour Amsterdam this past year, with an incredible 9-1 record in constructed, giving him the highest constructed rating in the world. Jay doesn’t play as much as he used to, but when he does play, he lights the tournament on fire.

Another previous national champion, Dan Lanthier has continued to improve his skills after a year on, and then a year off the Pro Tour circuit. Despite losing in the finals of CMT Toronto, Dan is relentless in his search for the trophy. An incredibly tight technical player, with a top 50 at Pro Tour Honolulu, Dan certainly can play, and he will stare into your soul with the cold hard stare of a killer. He will show you about as much mercy too. He will capitalize on any mistake that you make.

David Caplan, known for his love of Canadian Threshold, has been playing better and better. He recently won the Magic Online Championship Series, qualifying himself for Worlds and for the Magic Online World Championships, where he is guaranteed 4000$. The only question is if he can pull off the Trinity and also play as a Canadian Team member.

The only player on this list to never be qualified for a Pro Tour, Ben Moir is a young Ottawa player to watch. He continues to perform and got 17th on tiebreaks at GP Toronto with the same record that propelled some into the top 8! Perhaps the player most famous for 9th place finishes*, Ben just keeps getting so close to his goal, yet falling short. Ben usually plays good decks and plays them well, so I would be wary of facing him while his fire to win burns bright.

While there are many other excellent players who will be attending Canadian Nationals this year, I cannot name them all. Honorable Mention to Rich Hoaen, Francis Cormier, Dan Kramer, Lucas Siow, Shaun Mclauren, Francis Toussaint, Andrew Noworaj, Eric Gaudreault, Phil Samms, Nick Leblanc, Felix Tse, Kar Yung Tom, Joey Smith, Dan MacDonald, Ben Murphy, Noah Long, and Vincent Thibeault. It should really be interesting who else also pops out from the unknown to show themselves as a strong player, and I look forward to seeing all of you.

*Possible exception of Yours Truly
**There is only 1 other member of that team

What about me? Well, to quote the Great Dictator(aka KYT), “You may not like him, but Alex is the player nobody wants to sit across from at Nationals”. But naw, don’t worry, **waves hand** This is not the player you are looking for.

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