MagicCon | Image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast/ReedPop

Welcome back to How To Be New, where I give advice for new Commander players by a new Commander player. But I'll be honest, I'm not sure how long I'll be able to carry that tag. Because I did pull an Urza, Lord High ArtificerUrza, Lord High Artificer at a prerelease and it feels like a real turning point. It calls to me to do crimes I never would have even considered when I was first learning to play Commander. But now I've seen the Hullbreaker HorrorHullbreaker Horror and I'm... well... I'm afraid I won't be able to look away...

So, You Wanna Go to MagicCon?

MagicCon is in Las Vegas this weekend. As a Magic player, you might reasonably want to go. But as a new player, I'm sure you probably have some unanswered questions: What can I expect at a MagicCon? Will people play Commander with me? What's the percentage chance that someone will see me misplay, yell, "Hey! They're too new to be here!" and then a group of 30-80 people will lift me up, carry me outside, and dump me onto the street?

These are all extremely natural questions for you to have. They're all questions I had before my first MagicCon earlier this year. So let me share my story and some friendly advice to help answer these questions and more.

Some time around last December, I became aware that MagicCon would be taking place in February in Chicago. I happen to live in Chicago, so I had a relatively low barrier to entry. But still, it felt like such a big leap.

I've been going to board game conventions for years without any worry, but one specifically for Magic? Would they expect me to know things about Magic? Would they expect me to be good at it??

These questions plagued me. I was still going to FLGS Commander Nights mostly, and at that time didn't really have a regular rotation of players I liked to play with, so I didn't have any friends I could ask about it. Information online was somewhat scant.

But eventually the temptation of a "free" Collector Booster of Aetherdrift was enough for me to buy a weekend pass (Collector Boosters have always seemed too expensive to justify buying them on their own, which makes them a perfect incentive to buy a $150 convention ticket).

So, on that extremely cold Friday in February I made the trek down to the McCormick Place Convention Center. Over my weekend there, I got answers to many of my questions. Let me pass those answers along to you, so you can focus on more important questions like, "I shouldn't get a Final Fantasy Collector Booster... right?" and "What if I just cut like one or two lands from this deck?"

What Is There to Do at Magiccon?

There are quite a few things to do at MagicCon, to be sure. There are panels, events, and probably some other things too. But mostly what I spent my time doing was playing Commander at the free play tables. There's an ocean of free play tables with different sections allocated to different play experiences (casual vs. competitive, for example).

They also have volunteers there to connect people with open games, so you can just see one of them and they'll broadcast to the area to find you a table with an opening. It's really an excellent setting, and they do amazing work for the number of people who are playing there.

As with all public Magic experiences, your mileage will vary based on the other players in your pod. If you have any friends to go with, that's certainly helpful, but not required. And if you're not meshing with your pod, just leave the table after your game, go somewhere to have a snack or a drink, and then come back and find a new pod to play with.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea" has never been more true in a Commander setting than it is here.

Ok, Cool. Is There Anything Else to Do?

I'll be honest with you, based on my first experience, it seems like by and large the answer is no.

I spent a little time wandering the show floor. But if you've been to the show floor at other gaming conventions, like Gen Con or Origins, you'll get a very different vibe at MagicCon.

Since there's only one game here, there's not row after row of booths demoing different games. Instead, there's a few vendors you might expect, like Dragon Shield and Ultra PRO selling relatively expensive sleeves, deck boxes, playmats, etc.

There are also some areas set up by different card dealers, setting appointments to buy and sell cards from people who seem to be serious collectors.

Those places felt literally above my paygrade, and even when I did work myself up to try and sell a Cyclonic RiftCyclonic Rift I'd picked up to get a Craterhoof BehemothCraterhoof Behemoth, the usual trick of standing around and looking like you'd like to speak with someone didn't work.

It very much seemed like they had more important business to conduct than to give their time for my meager trade offer, so I ended up just leaving.

I will give a quick aside to say that a local arcade had brought a few of the brand new Dungeons and Dragons pinball machines to the show floor for folks to play. And seeing as pinball is another one of my nerdy vices of choice (look for the initials SKA on a pinball machine near you) I did spend some time on those.

But I wouldn't expect that to be a regular feature.

There's also a huge line for official show merch. This is true seemingly at all times of day and on every day of the con. I can't imagine wanting any of the things they were selling bad enough to brave that queue. Especially when I could head downstairs and drop ExpropriateExpropriate on a table of unsuspecting strangers, and then copy it, so that I end up taking 15 turns in a row.*

I also want to say that if meeting artists and getting their cards signed is your jam, this is very much the place for you. There are also some meet and greets and the chance to say hi to some of your favorite content creators. Unfortunately, Spice8Rack didn't attend this one, so I couldn't get them to sign my newly acquired Goblin GrenadeGoblin Grenade. Maybe next time.

*It was this incident, and the bad vibes that came after it, that finally made me take ExpropriateExpropriate out of my The ValeyardThe Valeyard deck. I simply couldn't be trusted with that sort of power.**

**Ok, but also, those guys definitely could've, and should've, just conceded. Plus, then one of those guys got out a ToxrillToxrill deck, so you tell me who the real villain is here.

You Mentioned Events Before. Should I Try to Do Those?

Yes! The other thing I spent most of my time on was events. There are all sorts of events running through the weekend. And above all else, my best advice is to look for events that seem like the most fun to you. Because the odds are that you'll meet people at those events who are the most like you. And people who are alike are more likely to get along.

Overall, low pressure events seem to bring in the most friendly, easygoing players. For example, the two events I participated in were a Precon Chaos event and an event put on by Brian David Gilbert and Ify Nwadiwe (with special guest Ally Beardsley!) with a light D&D/Umm, Actually theming.

The PreCon Chaos event was first. They sit you at a table, have people come by and drop off a random PreCon for you to open, sleeve, and play with. And that's it! No deckbuilding, no hard decisions, only vibes!

And the vibes were amazing at those tables. Nobody had their ego hinging on how they did in this event. Everyone got the same number of prize tickets (tickets you'll get from events which you can turn into any number of packs and other merch). It was all just for fun.

It didn't hurt that I got the Nelly Borca, Impulsive AccuserNelly Borca, Impulsive Accuser precon and immediately fell in love (turns out I'm a sucker for roleplaying the act of accusing Sliver QueenSliver Queen of a heinous murder, and also am head over heels for Brash TaunterBrash Taunter, one of my favorite lil bois in all of Magic).

One of the last events of the weekend was the Umm, Actually event, and it was packed with my kind of nerds.

I put together a Sidisi, Brood TyrantSidisi, Brood Tyrant deck and had a wonderful time. There was one other player who removed my Commander somewhere around five or six times in a single game, which I didn't love. But I did knock him out of the game in retaliation, which honestly felt great.

Another great thing about these events is that the people at your table can easily turn into people to start pods with in the play area later in the weekend. Just strike up a little conversation around the table and suddenly you're planning to meet up at the tables around lunchtime tomorrow to compare Landfall decks.

And if you're lucky, those people will then turn into friends who you play with outside of the con! It's like combo-ing off, but with human companionship. And I highly recommend it.

Will I Have Fun?

Well, it sort of depends on you. MagicCon isn't going to be spoon fed to you. You'll have to take an effort to find a game for yourself, to sign up for events you'll enjoy, to hopefully make new friends. But these things are absolutely achievable. And if you enjoy playing Magic, you can very easily find yourself having a blast at MagicCon. I know I did.

Lastly, I did want to shout out the excellent people from EDHREC who I got to meet up with at MagicCon. They're extremely kind people. I even lucked into an in-person Am I the Bolas when I was playing a game with Mike where I happened to knock a stranger out of the game relatively early and they got fairly salty about it (and it even turned out that I wasn't the Bolas in the situation, which was a huge relief).

If you get the chance to meet any of them at a MagicCon, absolutely take it. They're uniformly wonderful.

Any Last Tips?

Yes, I do have a few. In no particular order.

• Bring a waterbottle. In Chicago, the water coolers were somewhat few and far between, and often empty, so you'll want to stock up when you see an opportunity.
• Bring snacks. They're welcome around any Commander table. And as their owner, by extension, you'll be welcomed too.
• Don't bring all of your decks. Go with fewer than you'd bring to your regular Commander night. That backpack gets heavy as you lug it around all day. Do yourself a favor and drop a couple fringe decks. You can bring them tomorrow if you really want.
• Have Rule Zero conversations. You're playing with strangers. Talk about the things your deck can do.
• Leave extra space in your bag for decks, cards, and merch you'll acquire throughout the weekend.
• Go to MagicCon. Just go for it. You'll be happy that you did.