Former champions Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Mark Williams all qualified for the German Masters on the final day of preliminaries in Barnsley.
However, the action on Friday saw many of the top seeds fall by the wayside in their attempt to reach the last 32 in Berlin.
Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Joe Perry were all dumped out at the final qualifying round and will not feature at the Tempodrom in February.
Jimmy White produced a wonderful comeback from 3-0 down to reel off five frames on the spin to beat Perry.
The 54 year-old, the most senior competitor on the Main Tour, needs a strong second half of the season if he’s to regain his card on the circuit by his own merit.
The ‘Whirlwind’, who compiled a 94 and an excellent 61 clearance in the last frame to seal the victory, will meet Robin Hull in Germany after the Finn edged Matthew Stevens by the same scoreline.
If White’s comeback was good, John Astley went one better as he charged back from 4-0 down to Wilson to prevail in a decider – taking each of the last four scrappy frames on the colours.
Murphy also went the distance before being sent packing, losing a high-scoring affair with Chinese youngster Yan Bingtao despite constructing a brace of tons.
It marks the second time the 16 year-old has beaten Murphy and prolongs an amazing run of form during his rookie campaign.
Yan has already reached the last 16 of a ranking event on four occasions and will feature at that stage again should he overcome Dominic Dale in the last 32 in a couple of months.
Trump, meanwhile, crashed out much more easily following an unexpected one-sided 5-1 loss to Tom Ford
Selby had few worries, though, with the UK champion recording a second successive whitewash scoreline of the week in defeat of Fang Xiongman.
Williams and Carter, champions in 2011 and 2013, required all nine frames in respective victories against Mark Joyce and Ross Muir.
Elsewhere, world no.2 Stuart Bingham, Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Barry Hawkins and Marco Fu all managed to advance unscathed.
Anthony Hamilton continued his resurgence in form this season with a 5-3 triumph over Thailand’s Boonyarit Kaettikun.
However, there was some joy for the Thai contingent with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Akani Songsermsawad both progressing in deciders.
Ryan Day, Michael Holt and David Gilbert – three highly rated players who are still chasing their maiden ranking event successes – each booked their plane tickets to one of the most popular tournaments on the calendar.
Jamie Jones, Ben Woollaston, Stuart Carrington and Zhang Yong rounded off the qualifiers from the last piece of action at the Metrodome.
