With no UK Nationals event happening in the UK this year, I decided to send out invites to the winners and top of swiss across all of the districts and megacities in the UK. After shuffling some dates around to find the one most people could attend, and then a series of roll-downs through a half baked system I would definitely be redesigning if I did this again, I have gathered 16 of the UKs best performing players, and have invited them to play in an invitational tournament!

• Nemamiah: The defending champion.
• Cornelius: Top of Swiss at Reading Megacity.
• Meathir: 1st at Birmingham District, 1st at London District, 2nd at Reading District.
• lif3line: 3rd at Birmingham District (joint top of Swiss).
• ChonkySeal: 1st at Reading District, 1st at Bristol District, 2nd at Bristol Megacity, 2nd at Cambridge Megacity, 5th at Reading Megacity, 6th at Birmingham District (joint top of Swiss).
• diamond_deluxe: 2nd at Bristol District (joint top of Swiss).
• Hello: 1st at Birkenhead District.
• echo: 1st at Bristol Megacity.
• Dull_Bulb: 1st at Cambridge Megacity, 4th at Reading Megacity, high Swiss at Reading District and Bristol Megacity.
• l0velace: 2nd at Bathgate District (joint top of Swiss), 3rd at Reading Megacity.
• 34Witches: 3rd at Bathgate District (joint top of Swiss), 7th at Cambridge Megacity.
• MotionBlur: 1st at Ipswich District, 2nd at Brighton District, 3rd at London District, 8th at Cambridge Megacity, high Swiss at Reading District.
• BucketHatBen: 2nd at Reading Megacity, 4th at Bristol Megacity, high Swiss at Bristol District and Reading District.
• MrVellis: 4th at Bristol District.
• xccam: 6th at Bristol District.
• knightfromchess: 3rd at Brighton District, high Swiss at Reading District and Birmingham District.

The event is going to be a double elimination tournament, with players seeded in the order I just listed them in (determined by the aforementioned terrible algorithm that I used for roll-downs that I would completely overhaul if doing this again in the future).

All participants and volunteers will receive a playset of Hermes by Brindelmold. Top placing players will receive a playset branded with their placement in the flavour text as well. Other prizes are still in the works.

The event will be livestreamed hopefully, but failing that will be recorded, commentated over, and released after the fact. I am hoping to organise remote commentary, so if you are interested in helping commentate please reach out to me.

I have no idea if I'll ever do this again, but it's going to be a fun experiment!