The largest Day Two field of any Grand Prix staggered in early this morning after a grueling nine-round Day One. With a starting field of 854 players a recent addition to the DCI policy triggered. Grand Prix's with an attendance of 800 or greater now cut to a whopping Top 128 instead of the heart-breaking Top 64 in Birmingham.
The expanded field meant their was plenty of star power drafting in the hopes of a Top 8 berth. All told there were ten different Pro Tour winners, eleven Grand Prix winners, three US National Champions, one Canadian National Champion, one World Champion, and a smattering of Masters Series winners.
There were two Pro Tour winners sitting opposite each other at the Top table. Matt Linde could only shake his head at a smirking Mike Turian as they sat down to draft. Turian was seated right next to his good friend and teammate Eugene Harvey. A few tables away the founding members of YMG--Rob Dougherty, Darwin Kastle, and Dave Humpherys--were all seated at the same pod.
There are players you would expect to see in a Top 8 from the top to the bottom of this six round day.
The extra sixty-four players means that a run from the bottom of the standings is going to be a tougher than usual haul but a clean sweep of six rounds should be sufficient.
Aim your browser toward Columbus and keep up with the action throughout the day.