It has not sold out. There are tickets left, about 8 of them at last count.
Yes he is the game designer and yes he's very good. But so are Sharkbait, Littlenog, Biblofilter, Jimillia, Zot, and a whole host of other players. This is promising to be a very exciting tournament with a lot of great matches brewing. I would recommend even players who are uncertain about their skill compete as the best way to learn and grow is through competition and that's one thing I can promise we're serving up lots of!