April TMR R10K Coverage: Behind the Scenes
As a passionate Magic player over the past 14 years I have seen a lot of changes when it comes to competitive Magic. One of the most dramatic things that nearly destroyed the South African competitive scene was when our PTQ’s were effectively cancelled.
Top Deck tried to fill the void with a GPT which had a flight ticket to Madrid as the first prize. Unfortunately, we had a poor turn out and have been hesitant to risk making a substantial loss again. The South African community is robust and it has been exciting to see how the TMR R10k tournaments have grown and now offer probably the most exciting competitive Magic I have ever seen in our country.
But these tournaments don’t just happen and I just wanted to thank all the people that continue to contribute to growing the game that we all love so much. First the 3 men who dreamt up this concept and who put in all the effort to get it off the ground. Wesley Lampbrecht, Jarcque Henning and Renier Rousseau are TMR and they are 3 awesome guys who ensured that we didn’t lose competitive magic in South Africa.
{Some how Renier managed to avoid the camera.}
One thing you will notice if you watch them play is that they are always having a good time. One of the things I think deserves a thank you is the time they put into these tournaments. They spend a large amount of time in the lead up to the tournaments promoting the event, arranging the venue and all the table and chairs etc. On the day they get started at before 7 and are the last to leave. Additionally, they pay the same entry fee as all the rest of the players and don’t do this to make a profit.
Next up was our Tournament Organisor (TO), TMR look to rotate this amongst various people and the April event was run by David Cohen from My Exalted. The event ran smoothly and timeously, so thank you David.
Outer Limits in Melville is possibly the store that has been around the longest, it’s a place many of learned to play the game and Grant and his team have done so much for the game over the years. Grant donated various draw prizes and set up a store onsite so that players could play with new sleeves or buy new product at the event. Another Outer Limits stalwart is Mike West who manned the Outer Limits shop and who has been the TO for a number of previous events.
As Top Deck we were very excited to be invited to get involved with the TMR R10k and we hope everyone enjoyed being able to buy singles as well as supplies from our store that was manned by Euan Myers throughout the day.
Dave and I had a lot of fun with the coverage and I hope those who were unable to be there enjoyed being kept up to date with what was happening and maybe evening watching the live streaming of the feature matches.
As many Magic players will know it takes a special spouse to be married to a Magic plyer who often spends hours and hours playing cards. But I believe Dave’s wife Antoinette deserves a special thank you not only for letting Dave join us to provide coverage but also for all the amazing photo’s from the weekend.
Last but certainly not least I’d like to thank Dr Nadia De Beer who ran the kitchen this past weekend. I’m not sure whether I preferred the cheese burgers of the wors rolls but it is fantastic to have food available at the event.
All these people volunteered their time to help grow Magic in South Africa and provide a great event. Thank you.