We had to take the red-eye flight to Atlanta on Wednesday night last year. That was a nightmare. Our team looked like a bunch of zombies during the practice rounds on Thursday. But with a good night's sleep (and a lot of caffine) we were ready for competition the next day. My advice would be to get a lot of sleep thursday night so you can be on the top of your game for the qualification matches. (Halo can wait till Friday
)