Winning the Magic: The Gathering Junior Super Series Tournaments when You're Over Age

When it comes to Magic: the Gathering Touraments, JSS (Junior Super Series) Tournaments are the ones to win. Unfortunately, for most everyone, joining in the JSS Tournaments and their Qualifiers isn't possible because we're overage. With that in mind, and while we're on the subject of making money in Magic, I'd like to tell you the story of how I won a few JSS qulifiers at the age of 22.

The deal with JSS tournaments is that they are made for kids under the age of fifteen, and are a great way to get them interested in higher level tournaments once they pass that age. Mostly, the kids are there because their parent's found out about the sizable scholarship opportunities available, and probably paid their kid's entrance fee. Most of the competitors are not strong players, and often they'll play decks made up of the first 60 cards they could grab from their commons box. This would be a goldmine for any experienced and strong player, but none of the kids seem to notice. Yet, despite the fact that I was never once qualified for this event while playing in Tournament games, I managed to win no less than four of these JSS Qualifiers during the time I played.

Here's the deal: When you win JSS, you get four things. A nifty pin, which signifies your making the Top 8 of a Qualifier (only if a certain number of people play), a box of product, a small travel stipend or scholarship (Depending on the event), and an invitation to JSS Nationals if they win. Pretty good huh? So how do the really good players get their hands on this kind of prize?