I arrived in the morning for the first day of competition. I had signed up for the first session, so that I can get it over with and so that other players can get the more popular sessions.
As a volunteer, I got to enter the expo before the official opening time. Showing up early meant there were plenty of stations to choose from. I picked the one that was close to the stage and where I can see the large LED screen on the stage. That way, I can look at the timer to know how much time I have left in my 2-hour session.
When the expo officially opened, I checked in at the CTWC Front Desk and got my professional photo from aGameScout. From there, I went back to the game station to practice some Level 19 before the qualifying session began.
During my practice run, I chatted with Zrobot who was sitting across from me. I asked him how many maxouts he got in his mock qual, he said he got 2 maxouts. I told him that he has a good chance of making the Silver bracket. Since Zrobot was not qualifying until the third session, he took off to another table where players could practice. That table was not used in the first session.
My Qualifying Session Begins
Once the countdown was initiated, the qualifying session began. I was not as nervous as last year. But, I was more nervous than the Jonas Cup because I knew I had a chance to make the Bronze bracket. I estimated that I would need to score about 550K to make it in the Bronze bracket. At the very least, I wanted to score 500K.
In one of my first games, I scored in the 200K range. I didn’t like the score, but I submitted it anyway so that my name would appear on the leaderboard. Being in the first session meant that any score I submitted would make my name appear on the livestream.
I reached Level 19 in one of my games, but I had a low transition score of 300K. I didn’t last very long at Level 19, so I didn’t score much past transition.
One thing I learned from qualifying is that it is very frustrating when you keep failing to get the score that you’re aiming for. I was feeling the frustration, so were the players sitting across from me.
I quickly pulled myself together, knowing that once I get a mid 500K, none of these past games will matter. About 90 minutes into the session, I had another game where I reached Level 19, with a 500K transition score. I topped out with a score of 521,040. I was a lot happier with that score.
I couldn’t beat that score in the last 30 minutes of the session. I knew the score I got did not guarantee a spot in the Bronze bracket. But no matter what, I did a lot better than last year and I was happy about that. I was currently the number 28 seed, but that rank will definitely not last.
There were 2 more sessions that day, and one more the next day. I stayed at the venue since I was assigned to be the qualifying judge for the next 2 sessions.
