The all-new group of death!

Sadly, we've had a couple of withdrawals from the XMT - Enkhjin and Enkhmunkh apparently have to stay at home to sit their exams, instead of amazing the world with their speed-memory prowess. It's a great shame, but the silver lining is that Wessel Sandtke and XMT veteran Johann Randall Abrina get to join the fun instead. It's also a good thing for me, because that bumps me up into a higher pot for the group-stage draw! A draw, incidentally, that can be watched right here, tomorrow, 5pm British summer time!



So now the draw will look like this - the first in the groups will be our top six from last year:

• Group A - Johannes Mallow
• Group B - Boris Konrad
• Group C - Simon Reinhard
• Group D - Alex Mullen
• Group E - Katie Kermode
• Group F - Christian Schäfer

And the other three spaces in each group will be filled from the following:

• POT 1 - Lance Tschirhart, Johannes Zhou, Marwin Wallonius, Yanjaa Altansuh, Purevjav Erdenesaikhan, Tsetsegzul Zorigtbaatar
• POT 2 - Shi Binbin, Anaduri Adiyasuren, Bat-enkh Shijir-Erdene, Melanie Höllein, Sengesamdan Ulziikhutag, Ben Pridmore
• POT 3 - Marlo Knight, Johnny Briones, Jan-Hendrik Büscher, Everett Chew, Wessell Sandtke, Johann Randall Abrina

So just like last year, I need to reallocate my choices for groups of death and life. The rules of the draw mean I can't end up facing Katie or Marlo, which is a bit of a relief, especially when it comes to Marlo - he's certainly the group-of-deathiest among the final pot. It's still rather full of dangerous young people who could do something unexpected and special, though.,,

Johann has two previous XMTs under his belt, so will be well accustomed to it by now, which probably makes him the most dangerous in the group. My gut feeling for least dangerous is Johnny, just because (I think) he's been around in the memory world for longer than the others, and so I think I have a clearer idea of what he's capable of.

With Tsetsegzul moving up into pot 1, I think she becomes the group-of-lifiest there, so here's my revised list that I'm crossing my fingers for tomorrow: Group F - Christian, Tsetsegzul, Ben, Johnny

And the horrors I particularly want to avoid: Group C - Simon, Lance, Ben, Johann.

So here we go! Let's get extreme! I had to miss the live draw last year, but this time round we've got a meeting in the morning that I hope I can get away from and get back home by five to join the fun! Woooooo!