First of all congratulations to Scott, you the man.  Also to Steele for
coming second in the juniors.

I just have a few observations regarding the Waikato Open.

Hamilton Magic is stronger than it was 2 years ago.  I put it down to a
few things, one being the young guns such as Leighton, Nico, Scott, and a
few others are now a bit older and play better magic through experience. 
With magic being played throughout Hammy (Fri-lite etc) and
increased popularity in MTG in general we are getting better.
 

A few observations from watching Steele play against the lad
from Auckland....He told Steele that his deck was a better build and he
would win (mind games at its best, in whose opinion is it a better build?)
He had been undefeated the whole day (hard to swallow when you have to
play him) He was rushing Steele in his turns, causing Steele to forget to attack,
 even 1 point can make the difference. 

I find when in a pressure game it's best to relax take your time, count mana
and don't fall victim to pressure from your opponent.  Study your opponent
for weaknesses.  If I were playing the junior from Auckland and he kept asking
 me if I were done yet, "No" would have been my response even if I was. 
It frustrates the begeezus out of a fast player.  He was playing a very quick
deck and usually people in that situation like the game to smoke along,
slow them down and watch for errors there's a good chance this will occur.

In one of the forums reference is made to the Auckland players being stronger,
 this is not true, sure they have some very good players but believe me,
they have more than their fair share of scrubs as well.  Same goes for
most areas that play Maggies, Hamilton is no exception. One thing is for
certain, Hamilton is going to get stronger in the future and I for one will be
happy to see this happen.

My 2 cents

David Williams