Malaysian wins Grand Prix Kitakyushu

Magic: The Gathering, a trading card game, is a big thing. In other countries it's covered in the sports channels. While I consider myself retired from regular competitive play, I do follow the scene from time to time. And just like other more conventional games or sports like chess or badminton, I always feel a sense of pride when a Malaysian makes it to the top in a major tournament. Which is what happened last weekend.

Raymond Tan, Grand Prix Kitakyushu Champion

Grand Prix Kitakyushu was held in Japan in the space of two days.

Some numbers for you:

No of people: 1183
Price of entry: 4000 yen, or RM130 or so.
Prize for winning: a cool USD3,500.
Actually winning the whole damn thing: Priceless.

Kitakyushu in Japan. Emerging No. 1 out of 1,183 is a crazy achievement. And this 29 year old Engineer did it! In Japan, which has a huge community of MtG players.

Squaring off against 2012 World Magic Cup Champion Tzu-Ching Kuo

Trivia: They mistakenly reported him as Singaporean at first, but quickly realised their error!

I remember the first Malaysian who pretty much established Malaysia as a country to be taken seriously: Sim Han How. He finished in the Top 8 of the Worlds Championship, which is no mean feat. Imagine, the Top 4 players from countries all over the world playing out to finish right at the top and he finishes in the Top 8.  What made it even more memorable was that a lot of people who met him remembers him for being an all-round nice guy, making him a great ambassador for Malaysia.

I hope MtG gets the recognition it deserves in Malaysia. It is not a game just for kids, there is quite a sizeable community of players here, from students to professionals in the workforce. Some play it as a hobby, others play seriously to win tournaments.

An all-time favourite of mine!

Malaysia Boleh!