GP TORONTO SVU

2015 GP TORONTO SVU

So let me preface this by stating at 3am Friday morning, I did not know I was going to be able to make it to Toronto. I was in the midst of the 30hr on call and given its nature, you never know what will come through the door. By 8am that morning I knew this was perhaps my only realistic chance to meet a good number of the #HMSVU #EhTeam and other virtual twitter buddies I'd met along the way and said, life it short let's go for it!

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Given the nature of my degree, my down time largely consists of connecting with a tight circle of friends, with people virtually, or travelling to and from destinations to study. Simply put, I felt this was my one shot in the next few years (potentially) to put faces to names. I'll let the photos do most of the talking :)

HMmidget, the first guy I met at the event. I sat down unannounced, said his hoodie looked awesome
and proceeded to lose my mind with his friendliness and helpfulness at meeting all the
other SVU and MTG fans we both knew through twitter. Awesome guy and thank you
again for signing that proxy :)

The man with the marker, El Derf!! Here seen trying to rip my heart out.
Was so so cool to meet derf, I felt like a million bucks when he first did my
avatar for twitter which proxy since has put on my token. Such a talented dude,
I was grinning from ear to ear just getting to see him at work!

Ken - Designer of my current HM/BSB/Kraken playmat, I know of 3 people globally who have decided to get one based on seeing mine!
TSG - Honestly got the sense I could have spent hours shooting the shit with him, extremely approachable, very likeable guy, one day hopefully we'll get to play cube together!
TMoles - One of the most dedicated travellers to events I know, drove from hours away to be at this even and I'm so glad I got to meet him! Hopefully we get that rift in time!

The GeistFather himself MrScottyMac! - One of the warmest personalities I have met. Completely got caught up in the moment and forgot to ask you to sign the angel token I had in my Team Geist deck with me!

BATMAN! A busy man so didn't get to chat but great meeting you in person!

Had to get some shout outs to those who couldn't make it (Bruce)!! 

EvilKYT - Not as evil as you would think! He actually went on to crush this thing going X-3, attaboy!

Nick El Nutz - First grapple shirt I've spotted in the wild! First GP! Nice hanging out and talking PUCA!

BloodFrayGiant and BloodyMessJess! Didn't think I was going to get a chance to meet you two but Midget came through at the 11th hour and managed to say hi on the way out (2 hours was not nearly long enough). Until we meet again!

Finally, MattyStudios, caught in the act by KerryDan slinging the cardboard. I am so grateful that he is still leading the charge with Heavy Meta SVU or I'd never have been anywhere near the event today or to be honest probably MTG! Keep at it bud, must have missed you by minutes!

Until the next one! 

So despite having to study my ass off the rest of the weekend, I made it and met some awesome awesome people along the way. Not pictured were Trevor and Genevieve who were in the midst of games so I didn't want to disrupt their play but got a hand shake in at the least and Tony from F2F games, awesomeEVERYday :)

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One thing that struck me about this group was how approachable everyone was, there was a real sense of familiarity and energy that everyone was just really happy to be there and to meet people they had in some cases "known" for years but had never met. Crazy world we live in. Next time I meet you all I want to be playing in the event. That's my goal for sometime in the next 2 years. 

Rico :)