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Most of the big names may have scrubbed out early today, but there's still plenty of action left to see heading into the Top 8. James Coffman hit the exacta today, making it to the Top 8 for the second consecutive Richmond Power 9 tournament after just missing the Top 8 in the Inaugural event. With performance like that, he could be heard lamenting the fact that the other Power 9 events are out of his travel range, as he's posting impressive results south of the Mason-Dixon line.

Team Short Bus member Ben Kowal started off the day with a 4-0 record, easing into the Top 8 with a win and a draw in his last two rounds. Team Short Bus placed another member in the Top 8 when Eric Miller was able to draw in the final round to secure his second Power 9 Top 8 with a new version of The Man Show, featuring Illusionary Mask, Phyrexian Dreadnought, Juggernaut, and many of the hated lock elements that make Mishra's Workshop decks so much fun to play against. Star Wars Kid also got in on the action and showed that play skill translates across formats when he channeled his Grand Prix abilities toward Type One and came out of it with a spot in the Top 8.

The rest of the players in this Top 8 are in the process of making names for themselves as well, looking for a couple of good results in the single elimination rounds to project them towards a better draft spot and possible Type One stardom.

Here's what the bracket looked like for the Top 8:

1) Ben Kowal (Worldgorger Dragon)
8) Chris Marchand (Stax)

5) Mike Gumbinger (Food Chain Goblins)
4) Eric Miller (The Riddler)

3) Rocky McCumbee (Oath)
6) Cody Vinci (EBA)

7) Chris McDaniel (Control Slaver)
2) James Coffman (Stax)

Kowal dropped game 1 to early Smokestack + Trinisphere lockdown, losing game 1 to a pair of Sundering Titans with only a Bazaar of Baghdad left on the board. He roared back in game 2 with a turn 3 Dragon - and then bettered it in game 3 with a turn 2 Dragon, pushing the number one seed in the Swiss into the quarterfinals before any other match had finished two games.

Gumbinger (or Gumby, as he is known to his friends) and Miller finished just after Kowal's match, when Miller powered out artifact fatties via Illusionary Mask before Gumby could really get started, giving Short Bus a full half of the Top 4 decks.

McCumbee took game 1 on the back of a quick Oath of Druids and no countermagic from Vinci, but then lost a prolonged fight in game 2, even though he Force of Willed two early spells from Vinci and resolved a turn 3 Oath. Vinci was able to overcome the two early setbacks by playing Meddling Mage and a pair of Phyrexian Negators while never letting McCumbee catch up in the card advantage game. McCumbee then got the God Draw in game 3 with first-turn Oath plus Force of Will backup, bouncing Vinci out of the tournament with a sixth-place finish.

Star Wars Kid's run to glory stopped in the quarterfinals, when Coffman quickly played the full Stax lock in game 1 for a victory, and then watched as the Kid's deck crapped out on him in game 2, putting at least one of the tournament's most-popular decks into the semifinals, and sending the kid home with a lowly seventh-place draft pick. (And yet I can't find it in my heart to feel sorry for him - The Ferrett)