So Friday ended, and Saturday morning rolled around. I slept in slightly later. However, I did make sure I got downstairs to the breakfast room in time to eat. (Breakfast on weekends was 07:00-10:00.) With breakfast out of the way, I would make my way into the tournament room around maybe 09:30.

Mar 16, 9:38am Jacks Open 60,050 *
Mar 16, 9:46am Super Spin 70,940
Mar 16, 10:01am Kiss 577,720
Mar 16, 10:15am Diner 2,843,780
Mar 16, 10:30am Avatar 3,758,370
Mar 16, 11:14am Terminator 2 27,764,120
Mar 16, 11:47am Foo Fighters Pro 53,659,340
Mar 16, 12:24pm Whirlwind Entry Voided (739,820)
Mar 16, 12:46pm Jacks Open 130,910

When selecting my games, I very carefully picked which games I played for my final entries to give myself the best chance of qualifying for playoffs somewhere. In this situation, one can take nothing for granted. Note that I played no Diner, Avatar, or Foo Fighters earlier in qualifying. I played these specifically to have the best chance of boosting my overall ranking. Terminator 2 I played again as my previous score was nowhere near representative of what I could do, and I felt I could improve.

For part of the afternoon I was flirting with squeaking into B division. Again, I knew the score on Whirlwind was so crummy so time for another “just void it”. I felt pretty good about the Jacks Open score I posted at the end. Finishing qualifying on a high note like that was a huge relief.

I would take my lunch break at around 13:30. On the menu this time was what was supposed to be kind of a Philly cheesesteak with brisket. Except this particular cheesesteak was stretched across three slider rolls, instead of on proper sandwich bread. Worse, the cheese made it a bit of a mess. Somehow I still managed to eat it.

After eating, it was time to head back up to the area near the tournament room, taking a peek in periodically to see how things were progressing.

Unfortunately making A division playoffs just wasn’t in the game plan this year. As the end of qualifying drew closer, it was obvious B division wasn’t happening and I would be in the Novice division playoffs, though given the way things had gone previous years I wasn’t all that sure even of that until the tournament directors announced the end of Wizards qualifying. I took nothing for granted, but one final refresh of the standings confirmed that indeed, fifth seed in the Novice division playoffs was mine.

As 16:45 approached I made my way back up to the tournament room and prepared for my first time in the Wizards playoffs. At stake, a possible $200 and a trophy.