Alternate Universes, Holmes will be hosting a Grand Prix Trial for Grand Prix, Washington on on Sunday, May 18th.    Pregistration opens at 11AM and play will begin at noon.  Format is Sealed.

Prizes:  4 booster packs for each player participating will put in the prize pool!

Grand Prix Trials (GPTs) are smaller, regional Magic Tournaments that award at least one 2-round bye to the appropriate Grand Prix. Players with a 2-round bye at a Grand Prix get a “leg up” in the event – they don’t have to play in the first two rounds of the tournament and are considered to have won those rounds!

Grand Prix events are large, regional Magic tournaments open to all players. Grand Prix award invites to an upcoming Pro Tour and award cash prizes. Other activities offered at Grand Prix include Magic artist signings and dozens of other public tournaments.  Grand Prix Washington will be held June 27th – 29th at the Dulles Expo & Conference Center North Hall, 4368 Chantilly Shopping Center, Chantilly, VA 20151 

Here are all the details for the GPT:

When:  Sunday, May 18th, 2014.  Registration opens at 11:00 AM, tournament begins at Noon.

Format:  SEALED

Entry Fee: $30

Premier Event — Tournament Officials (Tournament Organizer, Store Owner, Judges, Scorekeeper) may NOT play in the event.

Rules Enforcement Level — Competitive

Planeswalker Points Multiplier — 3x

Who said Madness could only happen in March? Not us!

Everyone had such a great time at the inaugural Duel Deck Battle we figured why not do it again?

For those who missed out the first time, here’s the deal. Every Duel Deck plus the decks from the Anthologies, Beatdown, and Deckmasters box sets (32 total) will battle it out in a double-elimination tournament until only one is left standing!

AU will provide all of the decks for the tournament. (No need to crack the sealed Elves vs. Goblins you’ve been sitting on.) Bid on the deck of your choice Auction of the People-style using your starting life total and/or cards in hand! You can start each game you play with up to 8 cards in hand and 25 life!

$10 entry fee – LIMITED TO THE FIRST 32 PLAYERS! You may RSVP through the Facebook event page, although that will not guarantee you a seat. To guarantee a seat please come into or call the Holmes store to prepay. (We expect far more interest in this tournament than the first one, so preregistration is definitely recommended!)

Prizes (in AU store credit): ALL PRIZES ARE 100% GUARANTEED, REGARDLESS OF ATTENDANCE!

TOP 8 PRIZES: 

1st place – $80
2nd place – $60
3rd place – $50
4th place – $40
5th – 6th place – $25 each
7th – 8th place – $20 each

(Note that in a double-elimination tournament there are distinct 3rd, 4th, 5th-6th, and 7th-8th place finishers.)

ADDITIONAL PRIZES: 

Participation: One random promo
Each match you win: One random promo
Eliminate the March Madness champion (Wil Rosario): THS-BNG-JOU draft set! (If he is unable to play this prize will pass down to eliminating the 2nd place finisher, and so on. And yes, if the person with the bounty on their head wins the tournament, they may collect their own bounty!)

Also, one lucky player selected at random will win a From the Vault: Twenty!

TOURNAMENT PROCEDURE:

Decks will be seeded based on the results of your votes in the online survey linked below. The survey will close and the bracket published on Selection Sunday, April 27th.

Each match will be best 2 games out of 3. Each player will be allowed one free mulligan each game. Randomly determine who plays/draws first each match.

Each match will begin once both participants have been determined and they are ready to play. Rounds will be untimed, however if a match significantly delays the progress of the tournament DCI end-of-match procedure for single-elimination matches will be invoked:

“In single-elimination rounds, matches may not end in a draw. If all players have equal game wins, the player with the highest life total wins the current game. In the event all players have equal life totals (or are between games and the game wins are tied), the game/match continues with an additional state-based action: if a player does not have the highest life total, he or she loses the game.”

BUT WAIT, THERE’S STILL MORE!

Presenting the END BOSS CHALLENGE! A few people have asked me (Glackin) if I played in the last tournament. No, I did not. Well, I will play in this one! The winner of the tournament will then play against me using their same deck, starting life total, and hand size. I will choose any other deck and start with 8 cards in hand and 25 life. If the winner defeats me in a best 2 out of 3 match they will win a Journey into Nyx Fat Pack! How cool is that?

HELPFUL LINKS:

• Survey that will seed the decks: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9H3PZ8G
• Link to all decklists: http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Category:Magic_sets (for Anthologies, Beatdown, and Battle Royale click on “Magic compilation sets.”)
• Explanation of Auction of the People rules: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom%2Ffeature%2F261
• Auction of the People log from a past Invitational: https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=sideboard%2Fmi02%2Fauctionlog
• March Madness tournament results: http://challonge.com/dueldeckmarchmadness

If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! Hope to see many of you on the 4th!

Once the Magic: the Gathering Duel Decks: Jace vs. Vraska releases this weekend there will be 13 unique Duel Decks.  Add the three “old Duel Decks” (Anthologies, Beatdown, and Deckmasters) and that makes 16 releases and 32 decks!

So here’s the plan. Every Duel Deck plus the decks from the Anthologies, Beatdown, and Deckmasters box sets will battle it out in a double-elimination tournament* for the Duel Deck Championship!

* Yes, we know NCAA March Madness is a single-elimination tournament. But who wants to go one-and-done in a tournament like this?

AU will lend out all of the decks for the tournament.  No need to crack the sealed Elves vs. Goblins you’ve been sitting on.

Decks will be seeded based on the results of your votes in our in-store “Random MTG Research Project” AND the online survey here. Decks will be drafted Auction of the People-style. For an explanation of the rules, click here.

Brackets will be finalized on Selection Sunday, 3/16. When it is your turn to nominate, you may pick any remaining deck, not necessarily the highest seeded deck remaining.

Each match will be best 2 games out of 3. Each player will be allowed one free mulligan per game. Randomly determine who plays first each round. (Higher seed does not have choice.)

$10 entry fee – LIMITED TO THE FIRST 32 PLAYERS! You may RSVP through the Facebook event page, although that will not guarantee you a seat. To guarantee a seat please come into or call the Holmes store to prepay.

Prizes (in AU store credit):

1st place – $90
2nd place – $70
3rd / 4th place – $40
5th – 8th place – $20

In addition, there will be plenty of assorted promos given away to all players, and one lucky player selected at random will win a From the Vault: Twenty!

In the meantime, click here to study up on the decklists!

UPDATE: The bracket has been published!