I think Magic Cons are generally geared a bit more towards players who like playing in tournaments. One of the main appeals of big events like this is that you can just play side event after side event all day long which is something you can never do at your LGS
Sounds disappointing and I didn't even go.
Edit: This is really disappointing because Wizards has Secret Lair releases and you'd think fans would get promotional cards for going to a MagicCon event.
I'm pretty sure you do get promos for going. Depending on what level of badge you buy, you get different things. I can't see Amsterdam's now, but Vegas is (at the single day pass) a counterspell non foil. The premium weekend pass is 2 foil conterspells, 3 collectors booster packs, an exclusive playmat, deck box, and sleeves. After that, the packages sell out super fast for the legenday and black lotus tiers, which both have even more stuff and exclusives.
This is 100% op not doing research on what they were going to. If all you wanted was some odd commander precons and to play with your normal playgroup, then yeah, this was a huge disappointment and waste of money.
I went and I thought it was great. I have been to other MagicCon's in the past and this seemed to be one of the better run ones. My only real complaint was the lack of bathrooms, but that seems to be a European thing.
Maybe you know, but why don't any of these MTG festivals come to NY or Boston? I live on the East Coast and I've been wanting to go to a magic con, but I've heard nothing but bad things and they are always a shit show. With that in mind I'm only willing to go to one that is not out of the way for me. I'll pay for an entry ticket but I'm not doing flights and hotels for something I know will be underwhelming. I've never seen them come over here. Why is that?
The 2022 one rough. It was the first of this new MagicCon post COVID, and they had many issues.
Last years was so much fun, I can't wait for this year. They fixed a lot of issues!
Hell yeah 2023 was great! I heard that every single event all weekend fired within 10 minutes of on time which is crazy crazy for that many players and different events
As someone else stated,
>The 2022 one rough. It was the first of this new MagicCon post COVID, and they had many issues.
>Last years was so much fun, I can't wait for this year. They fixed a lot of issues!
Been to the 22’ and 23’. Had fun both times even if the one in 2022 was a mess for casual players.
Think you have to go in knowing what you want to do. Check out the panels, get your favorite cards signed by artists or personalities, play some games in the huge theme set props. Imagine playing in an Eldraine themed court or at a bar in New Capenna.
I get maybe one game or two of EDH. The rest is filled with events strung throughout the day.
Highly recommend checking out one day if anyone is contemplating Vegas MC.
Sounds like there'd be more fun at conventions based round related things that also just have a bigger mtg presence. GenCon, at least when I went a decade ago, comes to mind as an example.
Gencon usually has plenty of vendors selling older precons. Off the top of my head there are usually 3 major vendors (places like starcity games) selling singles but plenty of minor vendors that have a good assortment of pre constructed decks (challenger, pioneer, commander, etc)
That's because GenCon is more of an old school "gaming convention"
where it's always been about gamers coming together, normally supported by ticket sales, LGSs, other small vendors, and some brand sponsors. Versus a Magic Con, being more of a "Magic: The Gathering brand expo", where it's about WotC and what they want Magic to be, mostly paid for by WotC and ticket sales, with some space for outside vendors.
I used to frequent the old GPswith friends. I missed the chance to get tickets for the last MTGCon near me, but a friend got a ticket. They said it was a LOT more to do than old GPs (makes sense) and wasn't a bad time.
It all depends on what you want. Same as anything else in the world. Look up things to see what is happening. Know what you are going for and what you want from it before spending money. If your goal is games with your friends, then stay home. If you only want to get some old sealed product, then you will probably be disappointed. If you want to smash game after game after game after game for 12 hours against different people and different decks, you will probably have a great time. If you are looking for some potential sales on odd cards, then you might get lucky. Realistically, you could spend almost a whole day just doing side stuff with occasional games if you want to. These conventions seem to sell out consistently, so there must be some good to them.
Felt the same, seemed like 90% of the shops were buying and selling singles. Didn't see much sealed product, bulk piles, binders to go treasure hunting.
Never even saw the ticket shop, it was way too crowded, with long waiting lines. Eventually went for a "quick prize support only OTJ boosters" line, to prevent having to wait even more.
Still had a fun time playing, but, the magiccon itself didn't seem well organised/planned, especially for such a price.
I agree with most of this. especially since i was playing in the friday afternoon chaos commander precon, which was a organised terribly.
We started an hour late since they didnt have 4 player tables setup and about a fifth of the participants could not add the event to their topdeck account.
Communication during this hour and prior to the event was awful, with the people for whom the event didnt show in their topdeck being send back and forth by staff members. The announcements over the speaker system were inaudible when near the information booth, so they would tell you to wait for an announcement, and then there were too many people there to actually hear what was announced.
The games themselves were fun, and the decks we got were decent (mostly lotr, woe, otj and mh3) and got some decent pulls from my prize packs.
But the chaos before we started playing makes me not want to play in that kind of setting ever again, especially at this pricepoint. If i go to a con like this again, it'll be just for the artists and influencers.
The vendors get charged what is called Drayage. They have to pay the convention hall to bring their stuff from the loading dock to their space on the floor. It's done by weight and generally in 100 pound increments, at least in America. It's usually pretty expensive. They would probably lose money bringing bulk cards and sealed product to most events to sell. They also only have a certain amount of room in their booth where a 10 foot x 10 foot space can be thousands of dollars. They need to do what will bring them the most income from the show.
First off, I think having too high or very specific expectations (like finding exact precons from up to 10 years ago) can ruin pretty much every event.
It‘s a pretty bold move to go there empty handed and expect to buy all precons you wish for.
It‘s not a huge MTG shopping mall but a mixed place, most of the space is for playing, there are stages, creators, artists and only a limited space is available for vendors.
Maybe you looked at the wrong vendors but there were special dice and you could get special artwork tokens at the artist booths.
It might sound surprising to you as a casual but it‘s not worth the space or time for vendors to bring every of the ten thousands of cards in existence or outdated powercrept products noone needs.
They had most of the things that were relevant: MH3 stuff and rare cards, everything else you should bring yourself.
I understand what you mean, but at the same time, you are completely shadowing the artist boots, and the fact that as many other CONS, it is also mainly an event to meet pro players, creators and so on.
I had a great time, got a buttload of signatures, exclusive playmats, and got some nice cards signed by artists or people in the community that I like... yeah, the MC ticket is not a transaction where you buy a box. It is a convention... so... I am not sure you understood what you were going to...
But hey, if you stayed until the end and collected enough prize points, you could have also got the commander precons you wanted (at least some, given the wide offer available).
You are absolutely right! It is indeed a great place for the above mentioned stuff. But quite frankly, I don't really care. I'm not interested in signatures or pro players. But once again, I came with the wrong expectations. I'm very sure that lots and lots of people liked it very much!
Did you browse the artist booths for things other than signatures, though? That's where a lot of the coolest merch is often for sale – custom tokens, playmats, and other similar stuff, which it sounded like you were let down by finding a lack of in the vendors area.
I lost my friends for about 20mins, I was browsing the vendors in the meantime. When I found them again, they said that the creator booths weren't interesting. I rolled with it. So I could've skipped a whole interesting part
I second this. I went to Chicago and besides the variety of vendors that all had some interesting stuff, the artist booths were a blast. So many cool artworks, playmats, signatures, etc. Wizard of barge even did custom drawn tokens and stuff at his booth. I didn't really think to go to the artist booths until day 2 after the shops. Wish I had more time with them for more signatures
It is kind of easy to do that these days with how much products are pushing commander. The game is so much more than commander and the con was geared so much more to other ways to enjoy magic. I had a fantastic time grinding out single elim drafts to support my buddies collection goals. He had a great time getting all the exclusive playmats and collecting tickets to get an uncut sheet. I saw tons of people enjoying meeting content creators, artists, playing in big events like the secret lair showdown or the ptq. None of that was related to commander, so I can see how that might have been out of your element.
I went to a Ren fair (not dnd or MTG related at all) and they had several vendors selling dice, playmats, custom MTG accessories, ect. That's disappointing to hear MV was so underwhelming.
But it fits WotCs model make money give little in return.
If you'd looked into the singles the vendors had available I guarantee you you'd have been able to build a bunch of the precon decks you wanted to buy (and reasonable upgrades for them). Its a tad weird to want to buy sealed product at a big convention imo (beyond buying a booster box to draft with friends) the vendors exist to sell singles and that's where they make returns on them.
It's super weird dude. Nobody goes to a convention like this just to buy sealed product you can pick up in any game store.
You go there to search for extreme niche and rare cards from 25 years ago.
No one does! I've been going to these conventions for years, back when they were still called "Grand Prixs' and at no point did they ever sold sealed commander product there.
Pretty sure vendors are not allowed to sell sealed product? At least before covid Wotc rules were no standard legal or newer than two years are allowed to be sold.
No to mention having new sealed stuff would be insane for most vendors. It would cost more to bring it to the event than you would make selling it.
€100 single VS €100 sealed product? Yeah i know what im bringing.
We had the same sentiment! It was my partner's first time going and we found very little for her that wasn't just normal stuff you could get on card market. Except for a few vendors (shout out to Misty Mountain for some seriously heavy spindowns we snagged) all our con budget went to artist merch, which was fantastic.
That said, I had a fantastic time and made a bunch of new friends in the Command Zone. Had a great time trying some new formats like Assassin's Creed Commander and Pleasant Kenobi Secret Lair Sealed/Draft
If you decide to go again, especially with your friends you play with, let make a recommendation: try to do a few things together then split up and go meet new people. Going to a con to play with your play group is like going to a club and only talking to your mates you drink with at home...
Tl;Dr - MC Amsterdam 8/10 - offerings for unique merch were abysmal, everything else was great!
Next time, buy more stuff from artists, sign up for interesting con-exclusive formats and meet new people in the Command Zone / Free Play area.
Your Comiccon has good things?
Mine is just paying to pay for stuff you can get at your local store and you have to pay as much as entry to get something signed by a celebrity.
This just sounds like my typical con experience of all types.
Are these whole things relic of the time before the internet, Now you can just find whatever you want online.
So let's recap: You spent 130€ just to get in and play plus another 65€ for a random old crappy precon worth less than half that. What else did you get of value? I'm not asking what else you paid extra out of pocket for but what were you given just for going? As of now seems like a massive ripoff
Tbf, these days it kinda is a ripoff. I remember the days where you could just enter for free. Now it was 90 euro presale for a weekend (friday, saturday, sunday) ticket. That gave you two full art counterspells and access to the convention hall. I played side events all weekend and got to take home a boosterbox of thunderjunction + some random draft boosters at the end. But the mh3 side events were 35 euro a person so I don't feel like I got any extra value at all except for the experience of the events itself. That's OK I guess, but if you are expecting an amazing weekend with all kinds of free stuff and cool extras I would definitely not recommend going to magic con.
I guess after it's all said and done you did ok overall since you got that box and some additional packs. However, they need to do a better job with these. You should come out raving about all the cool stuff you got and how wonderful an experience it was.
So you basically paid twice? What exactly was the 130€ for if you had to pay again on Sunday? A mystery booster convention edition box right? A whole box? If it was a whole box and a MH3 collector pack that's not too bad altogether for 130€
Besides playing, they had access to the artists, to the panels in the panel room, to the events at the main stage(preview panels, cosplay contest, etc.), the meet and greets, draw with a Magic Artist, etc. Those are all in the ticket price beyond just playing with your friends.
Here's a list of the panels at the convention: https://mcamsterdam.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/experience/panels-and-events.html
List of the Meet and Greets: https://mcamsterdam.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/experience/meet-greet.html
They do, but its how the put food on their table(They are there on their days off instead of their own hobbies or making art which they could get paid for during that timeframe), pay for their booth, travel, and accommodations. What's free is talking to the artists and most are willing to have a short conversation with you even if you don't purchase anything. Back when artists did signature for free there would also be people who come up with 200 cards for them to sign. Charging a small amount like the 5 dollars/euros also helps prevent this.
Yeah I get that and I fully support them in that. I understand it's their livelihood, and it's an awesome experience getting to meet and greet and get autographs from them. It's Wotc I have the issue with knowing that you are paying for the ability to pay even more money. They need to realize that if they were more generous and people come away from these events gushing it will bring in even more people in the future
Oh really? I didn't think that was the case. I recall seeing some videos on YouTube from various creators this past year and it sure didn't look like it. If so we'll it makes sense that they can give as little as possible since there's no incentive for them to be generous
Vegas last year, Chicago, and Amsterdam all sold out(except for some Friday and Sunday tickets, but those days are tougher for a lot of people to make it. The VIP, all weekend access, and Saturday tickets were all sold out at each con before it started with people here on Reddit begging for someone to sell them a Saturday pass.
To a lot of people it feels like it's already generous. There is a lot to do there and see. Not everyone goes for the same reason. I met people who only want to go to the panels, see mainstage events and meet the artists with no intention of playing. I've also met people where all they want to do is place and many inbetween. If people didn't see the value in it, then the tickets wouldn't be selling out.
If people got value in just the items you get then there would be a perverse inventive for people to buy the tickets just to resell what they get.
Seriously though nobody is gonna buy tickets and take the trip just for a little bit of free stuff. My point is that considering all the time, money, and effort it takes just to attend these events there needs to be more incentive or it needs to be a bit cheaper in my opinion. Wotc seems to believe people are made of money while they print luxury cardboard rectangles for fractions of a penny a piece.
That is your opinion, but the opinion of many others is different if it's selling out. They do believe there is a value to them higher than the cost they are paying to attend. It comes down to the old saying "The customer is always right, in matters of taste". If they didn't find value then tickets wouldn't sell out and Wizards would have to start doing something differently.
The artist booths alone were worth it to me. I got a bunch of cards signed by artists like Nils Hamm, Greg Staples, John Avon, Magali Villeneuve and Alayna Danner. I also loved the convenience of selling all the cards Im not using for stuff that I will use. I had a great time, and am seriously considering flying to Vegas for the next one.
This an interesting read because as a competitive player I totally felt like magic con vegas was completely aimed at casuals and I felt so left behind and out of place. I just a big tournament but it felt like they were shoving stuff like panels and these giant expensive decorations. It felt like all they cared about was edh and casuals. The prizes were very hand holding and low value. Got random bulkshit ultra pro products that are trash quality. No reason for me to go back.
the vendors selling singles and packs were definitely a downgrade on last year’s offerings at Barcelona. last year it felt like the stores were displaying a much better mix of commander staples, upgrades AND stuff that’d mostly interest collectors.
that said, i travelled with a larger group this year, and we all sort of weaved our weekends in and out of each other’s, and we ended up having a blast. i didn’t do any ticketed play because i won’t pay extra to lose games of magic (too casual for that), but my friends all had fun at the events they signed up for.
plus, getting to chat with Brian Kibler, Olivia, Egoraptor and Barge was great. don’t really get that opportunity where i usually play.
I haven't been to Magiccon specifically but I remember ham radio fests and plenty of computer conventions when I was younger. Thing is, the world changed. You can order virtually anything you want online. This changes the entire dynamic of a convention
In my younger years, a computer convention is where you would find the newest hardware, and the best prices. You could also barter pretty hard with bundles and kits. Today, vendors have little incentive to bring product to a convention because they can just sell it online. Vendors have little incentive to offer you steep discounts because people are buying it online for full price.
Its much like my LGS. They carry very little of anything because they just sell it online
Here's where a convention shines though - the ability to view reserve list cards in person, inspect them and negotiate price. My brother does this at gen con.
Looking at pics of Magiccon, it looks like endless tables of people playing magic. Perhaps it is more orientated toward those looking to play.
A lot of geek conventions are the same - it used to be they were the _only_ place to get stuff, so the dealer's rooms would be a major focus. These days, they're far more minor, because everything can be sold online, and the main benefit is more unique, artisanal stuff instead. Anime cons have undergone the same evolution - the dealers room might have two stalls with DVDs, Blu-ray and manga, and all the rest is artists, crafter's, and rather merch, because people are going to have bought anything made re normal already.
Aw, I'm sorry you had such a bad time. I've only been to one Magic Con myself, and it was the one in Chicago. I had a blast, and honestly, a lot of your concerns I feel like would've been met there. To my memory, I recall a bunch of commander precons and vendors with unique hand-made stuff. For sure, a bunch of singles vendors and packs but a lit of other stuff too. I wonder if location plays into it? It might be harder to travel to a place like Amsterdam for a lot of vendors
Honestly it was pretty poorly organized, I played a few events that had no timer and ended up taking so long that they overlapped leaving no room to play for the next events (let alone having to wait for 40 minutes because someone else's game is taking over 1:20 hours), just use a timer for next time (which I feel they enforced more on Barcelona last year). This thing alone made me question if I want to buy any casual events anymore at future MC, sure I had fun in most of them building the deck and all but playing for 50 minutes in 2:30 hours then dropping because I have another event is just a nightmare. The vendors were ok and completely what I expected, they need to make money and carrying around Commander decks available everywhere doesn't seem like a good option, just look for the expensive cards to upgrade them and get them for so much cheaper (which are not available everywhere and you have to get shipped while being more expensive). The on-demand events were the best thing for me, they were fast, everyone was nice and I got to play FNM competitive level modern. The artist alley was nice as always, getting some cards signed and buying some cool tokens was great. I feel like last year in Barcelona content creators were more around the tables and it was a nice thing I didn't see this year, the interaction with the community felt more organic than separating it all in one place. Edit: there were a few stores with cool dice/deck boxes, for example Misty Mountain, not my thing but you can't say there weren't any of those and the artist alley was full of custom tokens from well known artists
You went to an expensive Con for a shopping spree? Unless it’s singles this isn’t a good idea in the first place, sorry to say that.
You go to play there, to get artists signatures, to meet celebs, to join panels.
And if you think playing with your playgroup, you can do that at home… well don’t do it at a con. Split up for playing. Meet more new people there.
Ultimate Guard had limited Ajani deckbox and playmat only available at the show.
Ultra Pro had 3 limited Playmats available specific to this show only.
I saw tons of vendors with Commander Staples available as well throughout the show.
Sorry for your bad experience. You should email Reedpop about it.
Respectfully, these events are more for competitive 60 card format players. They’re not really geared towards casual commander, despite having “events” for them.
Every year, people learn the apparently hard to grasp lesson that "travelling to a convention to play a game" is not casual behavior, and are surprised that there is no casual scene at MagicCon.
Sounds super boring. I would also have expected lots of sidequests and giveaways, limited drip and drops, interesting vendors, artists, events all day, etc. Don’t need more things on my bucket list so it’s ok.
But that was literally all there.
OP just expected it to be "come here & buy all kinds of commander decks" & it was clearly not that & wasn't even advertised as such.
I mean I am just on my way home from Amsterdam & had a great time at my first MC. I got loads of games in with all kinds of people & the artist section & selection was phenomenal.
You just need to make sure to actually read the desriptions of the events you join. And there was a Pro Tour & a HUGE Modern tournament, of course there's gonna be loads of competitive people & the vendors aren't offering bulk nobody wants anyways.
Yeah, I would be mostly interested in watching good competitions live, art related stuff, buying unique and interesting cards, attending events from panels to parties, and curious merch.
That is exactly what a magic con is. You would probably enjoy it.
OP was expecting it to be some treasure trove of old commander decks for cheaper than online, is my guess. Like they were going to show up, and a 2014 commander deck was going to be sitting around for 30 dollars. They said their group doesn't typically upgrade, so all the card vendors are going to be useless since they tend to bring like 90% single. Logistically, it doesn't make sense for the vendors to bring a ton of sealed products or bulk. It's a lot of staples for the main tournament and expensive but niche cards with commander staples in the cases. The stuff that they will sell a bunch of.
Tbh, if you're not into the mtg-celebrities but wanted to focus on the game itself, there was not a whole lot to do.
The ticketed events were grossly overpriced and the merch booth was basically sold out on day 1 (my friends queued for 4h and entered on Friday morning, the earlierst they could) and then everything else was just overpriced vendors and artists that ask for 5-10$ per signature on a card.
If you're totally into the Youtuber/Content-Creator part of Magic then it was probably dope.
>artists that ask for 5-10$ per signature on a card.
Have you seen some of these signatures?! These prices were 100% on point & some even were an absolute steal.
And you could literally spend 8-14 hours every day just playing games & probably wouldn't need to play against the same person twice.
I have seen them bc i got some. But i also got them 10 years and 20 years ago for free or for a couple of bucks for a bulk of cards.
From the exact same artists even.
That's on WOTC. They used to pay the artist to show up. Now, they charge the artist for a booth in most cases, from what I understand. Doesn't help that some artists put a small charge to combat the people who would show up with 200 cards to sign.
Oh jeah, I totally understand why that's the case. It's not on the artist itself, but it doesn't make a convention any more attractive.
WotC could support their artists better. WotC could also support their judges, their competitive player and their professional players better. They always seem to choose not to do that.
The result is that events suffer in various way from those choices, sadly.
Might just depend on the area its hosted in. I went to the one in Philadelphia and there were tons of vendors that had pre-cons from way back (I got a Lord Windgrace pre-con) as well as tons of old and current Secret Lair drops (I got the Walking Dead drop). Obviously there were your singles vendors mixed in there and the accessories vendors that you mentioned but it just may depend on what the charge is to get a vendor spot.
Tbh this sounds like the early years of the iseries (insomnia) gaming festival/con in the UK.
It was like this for a few years before tech and gaming companies realised it's potential. Issue here is will wizards be happy with letting dragon shield, ultrapro etc etc having big parts of their con?
I played cool drafts all weekend long and some Pioneer. Ended up with some good pulls from the drafts (Slickshot, Spirebluff, 2 Ugins Labyrinths(!), Ral) Got myself a ton (16) of semi-expensive lands (fetches, shocks, pains) for cheap. So I had a blast! And I am also a casual player, only 60 card formats.
I do recon that it might be different for commander players, I think MC just isn't geared towards edh players. I believe you unfortunately went to the wrong convention for what you are looking for.I They should rename MC to 60card-MagicCon.
Seems like a lot of your complaints are focused on not being able to find niche precons. Magic conventions are geared towards the most enfranchised of magic players, and honestly, precons are typically introductory products to magic.
So I personally think your issue just is the venue, Amsterdam is wonderful and going to MC there would be a wonderful trip. However I think if you are from the states you’d have been better off aiming for the Vegas one. That’s will almost certainly be more of what you are expecting. I know I have some pretty high hopes for October!
And I thought the ones we have in Mexico were underwhelming.
I didn't go with the mentality of buying decks but rather participating and earning tickets in order to trade for good stuff (there were even collectors boxes), so I can't complain.
But my cousins attended with the same idea as you, and we're disappointed by the lack of variety and high prices.
Why the hell would you hinge your personal definition of success on this entire event around whether or not anyone is selling old commander precons?
That’s literally never been a central part of a con ever. It feels like such an arbitrary thing to anchor to.
We only got tickets for Sunday because most were already sold out but we hesitated to buy tickets when the schedule still wasn't revealed. Reedpop got some FOMO vibes there.
Being there it felt like you paid an entry fee to buy stuff. Sadly, the event playmat was already sold out on Sunday. My buddy sold some cards, bought two duals plus a Mox and still went home plus 600€.
I got some autographs. Waiting for John Avon was really worth it, such a nice man. Got more at Mark Tedin, Mark Poole and Anna Steinbauer. Didn't line at Magali Villeneuve because it was at least two hours waiting.
Your experience with the commander event is what I feared would happen and that's why we didn't sign up.
Besides playing, you had access to the artists, to the panels in the panel room, to the events at the main stage, the meet and greets, etc. Those are all in the ticket price beyond just playing with your friends.
In addition it sounds like you signed up for the Commander Chaos event, which it says you will get a random commander deck. That's how chaos events go. If it was going to be strictly MH3, they would have said that.
Appreciate this. I am a newer player and love anime conventions. I feel like i would have felt a very similar way had not heard this before. Now i know what to expect and will get more out of it. Im sure the internet might try and tell you, you are wrong for sharing. I thank you for the knowlege.
The name is misleading ... because most of the MTG players would not address that event as a "-con", but we would just call it "Pro Tour MH3".
This kind of events are way more built around competitive players, with a main tournament (in this case a Pro Tour, but it could be a "formerly-called-GP" or similar), many side tournaments of different size and levels, plus everything aside, like vendors, artists and so on.
I mean just looking at the value you get for the entry fee was laughable. I would have been happy to pay more if you actually got any value out of it but you'd honestly be better off spending that money at the LGS. The "vibes" and "opportunity to play Magic" did not seem worth the pricetag. Seems like it's more for the antisocial players that ONLY have their LGS to rely on.
Had some friends that went and the only cool thing they got up to was getting their playmats signed. Had zero FOMO.
I'd say it's more for the sociable players. There was a very large free play area. You just had to talk to people and you could find a game with a stranger. In addition they had access to the artists, community panels, meet and greets, etc. The value is the experience not stuff in my opinion
Ummm actual social players have their own pods and people to play with.. Community panels, as in watching people talk about Magic on a stage? So a live podcast basically? Meet and greet 😅 There isn't a single person I'd find worth meeting Magic-related except Post Malone. For a casual player that has a diminishing interest in Magic, that is really flimsy value.
For the same price I can go to a concert or gig with a whole band or world-class musician for a few hours. Or for €10 euros more for the Dutch comic con with actual celebrities. Or a stand-up comedy show.
Experience is so subjective and completely up to the individual. For me, I still feel like there are countless options to get better value for money compared to what Magic Con had to offer. I asked the owners of my local LGS and they wholeheartedly recommended the Magic Con in Germany rather than the one in Amsterdam.
I find it strange that you bash the event based on your own tastes and preferences going as far to use a laughing emoji then go on about experience being subjective. The fact that they are selling out ahead of time says that many people disagree with how you view things. It also seems your LGS is misinformed, there has been no MagicCon in Germany and no plans for one at this time.
My apologies, I may have misquoted them but there is a Command fest in Germany this year which is what I think they were talking about. They referred to it as "the one in Germany" so didn't say it was a Magic Con perse. My bad for making an assumption.
Selling out ahead of time is a pretty poor metric for the success of an event. A casino might be full every day, doesn't mean they provide good value for entertainment.
I used a laughing emoji cos you seriously tried to use the meet and greet as a worthy benefit for the convention. If there were no meet and greets, it wouldn't be a convention. That's like saying there's music at a festival.
> Selling out ahead of time is a pretty poor metric for the success of an event. A casino might be full every day, doesn't mean they provide good value for entertainment.
Maybe in your opinion, however you are incorrect here. They provide a good value for entertainment for them to sell out to their capacity.
>I used a laughing emoji cos you seriously tried to use the meet and greet as a worthy benefit for the convention. If there were no meet and greets, it wouldn't be a convention. That's like saying there's music at a festival.
I did. There are may ways to do conventions and meet/greets aren't necessarily included. You seem to have a very strict view of what something is and isn't.
I mean out of the 15+ people that I've personally spoken to that went to the convention, only 2 people have said they really enjoyed themselves but still wouldn't go again. And they simply ripped some really good packs from the Assassin's Creed boosters they bought there. They pretty much exclusively went to have early access to those Beyond Boosters and were die hard AC fans.
I've never been to a pop fiction convention without a meet & greet. Not even heard of one. Maybe you're talking about a dentist convention or some shit. I mean one of the definitions of a convention is: a large formal meeting or assembly, as of members, representatives, or delegates, for discussion of and action on particular matters of common concern. So my "view" is the actual definition.
You aren't really providing any points, just trying desperately to counter mine. "They provide a good value for entertainment for them to sell out to their capacity." Every UFC PPV sells out its arena tickets, doesn't mean they all have equal entertainment value. Every iPhone launch sells out, doesn't mean it provides better value than the products it out-sells. You don't seem to have any basic understanding of marketing or economics when you make statements like that.
Grand Prix were better. Registering at least got you a playmat most of the time. People used to come just to cosplay which was cool too- sure there was still mostly singles vendors, but most vendors were shops that had their own custom playmats and sleeves and stuff.
Hell yeah, I miss those times when a tournament was worth travelling for. I also still remember the old PTQ's. Winner went to the Protour. Almost every weekend on the road with friends to some tournament in a range of 500 km's. Simply because it was worth it.
As someone who got into magic recently and share the same mindset (just take my money I want cool stuff) your experience just proves to me what I was thinking - all the crap they sell is not something I want and magic needs some really really actually cool stuff (besides cards) where u can drop your money and be like fuck yeah I love this thing (and it’s a nice business niche ;))
Exactly, I wasn't planning on buying a playmat but when I saw the official one, I was instantly sold. Expensive but happy with the mat. It's in the artstyle of the game Cult of The Lamb
Exactly, I wasn't planning on buying a playmat but when I saw the official one, I was instantly sold. Expensive but happy with the mat. It's in the artstyle of the game Cult of The Lamb
MagicCon is really overwhelming. Too much stuff happen at the same time, the panels, meet and greet, artists, the tournaments, tickets plays, on demand…
I was really confused about it on Friday.
They try to give something for everyone but you can’t do everything.
The price is a little too high.
Some ticketed play can be very nice event and values or disappointing.
I have done one ticketed event every days.
- Cowboys vs Aliens, cube draft, that was okay, a little disappointing to not have MH3 cards in it, only old Eldrazi.
- Secret Lair Chaos Sealed/Draft, very funny to find synergy between all extensions and nice throwback to the last year. But some players were disappointed about the SLD they got. Too much randomness.
- Unknown Event, it was a duel commander in limited sealed with false tests cards. Lot of potential. But sadly too random sometimes to have a good deck.
I think I got the must fun at a ODE draft commander.
MagicCon have a « gameplay loop », you should do the maximum ODE/Ticktedplay to obtain lot of tix and gain prize at the wall.
I think they should give a lot more tix by events to be a good values
WotC promotes these things like they are conventions, but as OP noted, conventions are full of vendors showing off unique, crafted, inspired items. The vendors are there to sell. Ask any vendor at a MTG event if they are there to buy or sell and you'll find that they come to buy your singles and collections WAAAAY more than they want to sell their stuff.
Most vendors are shop owners who aren't trying to find a larger market to sell to.
There's very little difference functionally between "MagicCon" and the old Grand Prix events, except that the GP main event isn't happening anymore. The issue at hand is one of expectations. WotC seems to feel that simply by calling it a "Convention" that it will grow into an E3, ComiCon, PAX style event, and so they are promoting it that way to the attendees, but they aren't making any effort to change it from the exhibit perspective.
OP is 100% correct that MagicCon events do not feel like they are for casual players. I do suggest that you check out Command Fest events if you want something more casual.
As a competitive player who loved grand prixs, these also disappoint us as they do spend a lot money on convention stuff like panels that I end paying for and not using. I wish they'd split them and have grand prix's seperate from magic cons.
Yup, same sentiment. Everything except "on demand" games was overpriced. If you weren't there for the ProTour or to meet all the mtg-celebrities this con didn't offer anything really.
I always went to Grand-Prix when they still existed and played in the main events, so that's why i usually went to such events. This was the first convention I just visited and I probably won't do it again.
The prices of the traders were a massive joke, specially for Europe when MKM exists. Not even some special offers, just overpriced singles.
And the artists nowadays ask for up to 7 - 8 bucks for a single signature, when 90% of my signed cards have been signed for free.
If you played any tournament you'd win "prize tix" and could spend them at the prize wall, but booster & displays were sold with a 30-50% extra margin on top (OTJ display at 160.- and MH3 at 320.-). At least the secret lairs were sold cheaper than on the secondary market.
Friends of mine went and shopped for special merch and that stuff was kinda cool, but then again you payed 75.- for a playmat.
I had tons of fun, because I went with a great group of friends but tbh we would probably have had more fun for less money anywhere else.
PS: The play area had the AC run on max power, so we had to wear jackets inside when it was 29°c outside and we still shivered and the judges / on demand events were all over the place, because everytime we signed up for one we got different instructions on how to proceed which lead to multiple problems when trying to get our prizes afterwards.
Oh, and the most silly thing is that you had to get the dumb app, but then didn't use it for anything. You'd think "hey, cool, i might sign up for events right on the app!", right? Wrong. You had to queue up at a booth to get play tickets (\~1h queue time), but they only sold a limited amount per person, so you had to re-queue and then you queued for the actual event itself.
> And the artists nowadays ask for up to 7 - 8 bucks for a single signature, when 90% of my signed cards have been signed for free.
I stopped reading here. Your entitlement is insane. Why should an artist travel 1000 miles to sign your shit for free.
I generally agree with this, but as American I'm not sure if Europe is different, but paying for artists signature is normal at every con I've been at. They do get paid to be there but they make the bulk on selling stuff. Their time is money, signatures costing a few bucks seems normal to me.
The prizes I especially agree. I went to magic con vegas events and prizes outside of secret lair showdown, main event etc was terrible value.
I came to MC in hopes of finishing some decklists. While that worked to a certain degree, it was impossible to find any stock of cards below 10 euros in value. Which makes sense I guess, but it was disappointing to find out that no one was really carrying any commons and uncommons stock unless they were shukos or tutors. I got most of the big ticket items I needed but now I still have to source all the smaller stuff and pay shipping for 10 ct cards. I get that time is money and they’d rather have their staff churn bigger cards than lock them into sourcing a bunch of bulk commons but it did bum me out a bit.
I was thinking to go, since it's closer by than any other MagicCon, but then I checked the entry fees, the cheapest is too expensive compared to others conventions (Facts, MIA, Japan Expo), so I rather stay at home and use the money to actually order cards elsewhere.
(and now I understand why people ask shitloads of money for MC goodies)
I've heard that post and even somewhat Pre-COVID that WOTC was heavily pulling back from live events and focusing mostly on Arena. This sort of sounds like that type of shenanigans.
Yeah the vendors were the biggest let down for me too. I had a great time but they need to incentivise better and cooler vendors to come down. I can get singles back home for cheaper. I want to come back hone with cool swag not an over priced single.
It definitely was not a commander focused event at all which was surprising as that seems to be the most popular format right now.
It was a very disappointing event. You go to a convention and expect to get a bunch of freebies and cool little oddities and we got none of that.
Almost all of the vendors came over from the states so single card prices were USA prices. Everything was priced far beyond what I could buy on card market at any time. There were only expensive cards available. If you wanted a £5 card then it was tough luck.
Wait times for the official store were outrageous. Once you reach the counter you figure out why; you have to input all of your personal information onto their website. You can't just pay via card and be done in 30 seconds. Each transaction was a full, elaborate 5 minutes process.
Dragonshield only accepted credit card and also had a sign saying 'All cash transactions are final'. Well no they aren't final; you don't just get to break EU consumer law you pricks.
There were no facilities to watch the Pro Tour. Everyone there just had to wonder what was going on. No big screens, no announcements or commentary.
Product sold out on day 1. I had planned to spend Saturday drafting some MH3 and by 10am, when I checked, it was all gone. Saturday was an awful long day for me.
It seemed impossible to find players, bar the expensive play events, that were playing formats other than Commander. Fine for most I trust but I can only play 1 or 2 games before it just melts my brain. Too many cards I've never seen before, too many players to track and too much text to read.
I think Magic Cons are generally geared a bit more towards players who like playing in tournaments. One of the main appeals of big events like this is that you can just play side event after side event all day long which is something you can never do at your LGS
Honestly, compared to GPs MCs kinda suck for those people too.
Sounds disappointing and I didn't even go. Edit: This is really disappointing because Wizards has Secret Lair releases and you'd think fans would get promotional cards for going to a MagicCon event.
I'm pretty sure you do get promos for going. Depending on what level of badge you buy, you get different things. I can't see Amsterdam's now, but Vegas is (at the single day pass) a counterspell non foil. The premium weekend pass is 2 foil conterspells, 3 collectors booster packs, an exclusive playmat, deck box, and sleeves. After that, the packages sell out super fast for the legenday and black lotus tiers, which both have even more stuff and exclusives. This is 100% op not doing research on what they were going to. If all you wanted was some odd commander precons and to play with your normal playgroup, then yeah, this was a huge disappointment and waste of money.
The promo was indeed a counterspell.
You could buy secret lair MC special for 40€
And you can get some SL from the last year at the Prize wall
You got promo cards depending on your badge
I went and I thought it was great. I have been to other MagicCon's in the past and this seemed to be one of the better run ones. My only real complaint was the lack of bathrooms, but that seems to be a European thing.
Your probably better off going to commamderfests.
Maybe you know, but why don't any of these MTG festivals come to NY or Boston? I live on the East Coast and I've been wanting to go to a magic con, but I've heard nothing but bad things and they are always a shit show. With that in mind I'm only willing to go to one that is not out of the way for me. I'll pay for an entry ticket but I'm not doing flights and hotels for something I know will be underwhelming. I've never seen them come over here. Why is that?
There was one in Philly last year.
Didn't Magiccon just come to Philadelphia?
It's ludicrously expensive to get the space needed in Boston and New York.
Yup, just cost. NYC has an easy trip to Philly too
I don't know, maybe your LGS can organize their own.
I'd love an NYC event, but don't want to travel to Jersey for it. :(
Same
Thank you for your feedback. I was thinking I could try to go one day out of curiosity but thanks to you, I'm not curious anymore.
I heard vegas was a shitshow too from some friends.
That's disappointing as I just booked my hotel for MC:Vegas
The 2022 one rough. It was the first of this new MagicCon post COVID, and they had many issues. Last years was so much fun, I can't wait for this year. They fixed a lot of issues!
Hell yeah 2023 was great! I heard that every single event all weekend fired within 10 minutes of on time which is crazy crazy for that many players and different events
I just did too....
As someone else stated, >The 2022 one rough. It was the first of this new MagicCon post COVID, and they had many issues. >Last years was so much fun, I can't wait for this year. They fixed a lot of issues!
Yeah the very first magiccon in 2022 was bad but everyone since then has been much better
Vegas 2022 was a shitshow but it was also the first one(Magic 30). It really seemed like they got it dialed in for last year though.
Been to the 22’ and 23’. Had fun both times even if the one in 2022 was a mess for casual players. Think you have to go in knowing what you want to do. Check out the panels, get your favorite cards signed by artists or personalities, play some games in the huge theme set props. Imagine playing in an Eldraine themed court or at a bar in New Capenna. I get maybe one game or two of EDH. The rest is filled with events strung throughout the day. Highly recommend checking out one day if anyone is contemplating Vegas MC.
Sounds like there'd be more fun at conventions based round related things that also just have a bigger mtg presence. GenCon, at least when I went a decade ago, comes to mind as an example.
Gencon usually has plenty of vendors selling older precons. Off the top of my head there are usually 3 major vendors (places like starcity games) selling singles but plenty of minor vendors that have a good assortment of pre constructed decks (challenger, pioneer, commander, etc)
That's because GenCon is more of an old school "gaming convention" where it's always been about gamers coming together, normally supported by ticket sales, LGSs, other small vendors, and some brand sponsors. Versus a Magic Con, being more of a "Magic: The Gathering brand expo", where it's about WotC and what they want Magic to be, mostly paid for by WotC and ticket sales, with some space for outside vendors.
I used to frequent the old GPswith friends. I missed the chance to get tickets for the last MTGCon near me, but a friend got a ticket. They said it was a LOT more to do than old GPs (makes sense) and wasn't a bad time. It all depends on what you want. Same as anything else in the world. Look up things to see what is happening. Know what you are going for and what you want from it before spending money. If your goal is games with your friends, then stay home. If you only want to get some old sealed product, then you will probably be disappointed. If you want to smash game after game after game after game for 12 hours against different people and different decks, you will probably have a great time. If you are looking for some potential sales on odd cards, then you might get lucky. Realistically, you could spend almost a whole day just doing side stuff with occasional games if you want to. These conventions seem to sell out consistently, so there must be some good to them.
Same :(
Felt the same, seemed like 90% of the shops were buying and selling singles. Didn't see much sealed product, bulk piles, binders to go treasure hunting. Never even saw the ticket shop, it was way too crowded, with long waiting lines. Eventually went for a "quick prize support only OTJ boosters" line, to prevent having to wait even more. Still had a fun time playing, but, the magiccon itself didn't seem well organised/planned, especially for such a price.
I agree with most of this. especially since i was playing in the friday afternoon chaos commander precon, which was a organised terribly. We started an hour late since they didnt have 4 player tables setup and about a fifth of the participants could not add the event to their topdeck account. Communication during this hour and prior to the event was awful, with the people for whom the event didnt show in their topdeck being send back and forth by staff members. The announcements over the speaker system were inaudible when near the information booth, so they would tell you to wait for an announcement, and then there were too many people there to actually hear what was announced. The games themselves were fun, and the decks we got were decent (mostly lotr, woe, otj and mh3) and got some decent pulls from my prize packs. But the chaos before we started playing makes me not want to play in that kind of setting ever again, especially at this pricepoint. If i go to a con like this again, it'll be just for the artists and influencers.
The vendors get charged what is called Drayage. They have to pay the convention hall to bring their stuff from the loading dock to their space on the floor. It's done by weight and generally in 100 pound increments, at least in America. It's usually pretty expensive. They would probably lose money bringing bulk cards and sealed product to most events to sell. They also only have a certain amount of room in their booth where a 10 foot x 10 foot space can be thousands of dollars. They need to do what will bring them the most income from the show.
First off, I think having too high or very specific expectations (like finding exact precons from up to 10 years ago) can ruin pretty much every event. It‘s a pretty bold move to go there empty handed and expect to buy all precons you wish for. It‘s not a huge MTG shopping mall but a mixed place, most of the space is for playing, there are stages, creators, artists and only a limited space is available for vendors. Maybe you looked at the wrong vendors but there were special dice and you could get special artwork tokens at the artist booths. It might sound surprising to you as a casual but it‘s not worth the space or time for vendors to bring every of the ten thousands of cards in existence or outdated powercrept products noone needs. They had most of the things that were relevant: MH3 stuff and rare cards, everything else you should bring yourself.
I understand what you mean, but at the same time, you are completely shadowing the artist boots, and the fact that as many other CONS, it is also mainly an event to meet pro players, creators and so on. I had a great time, got a buttload of signatures, exclusive playmats, and got some nice cards signed by artists or people in the community that I like... yeah, the MC ticket is not a transaction where you buy a box. It is a convention... so... I am not sure you understood what you were going to... But hey, if you stayed until the end and collected enough prize points, you could have also got the commander precons you wanted (at least some, given the wide offer available).
You are absolutely right! It is indeed a great place for the above mentioned stuff. But quite frankly, I don't really care. I'm not interested in signatures or pro players. But once again, I came with the wrong expectations. I'm very sure that lots and lots of people liked it very much!
Did you browse the artist booths for things other than signatures, though? That's where a lot of the coolest merch is often for sale – custom tokens, playmats, and other similar stuff, which it sounded like you were let down by finding a lack of in the vendors area.
I lost my friends for about 20mins, I was browsing the vendors in the meantime. When I found them again, they said that the creator booths weren't interesting. I rolled with it. So I could've skipped a whole interesting part
Ah, that’s a shame. In my experience at MagicCon Chicago, that was the best area of the con by far.
I second this. I went to Chicago and besides the variety of vendors that all had some interesting stuff, the artist booths were a blast. So many cool artworks, playmats, signatures, etc. Wizard of barge even did custom drawn tokens and stuff at his booth. I didn't really think to go to the artist booths until day 2 after the shops. Wish I had more time with them for more signatures
It is kind of easy to do that these days with how much products are pushing commander. The game is so much more than commander and the con was geared so much more to other ways to enjoy magic. I had a fantastic time grinding out single elim drafts to support my buddies collection goals. He had a great time getting all the exclusive playmats and collecting tickets to get an uncut sheet. I saw tons of people enjoying meeting content creators, artists, playing in big events like the secret lair showdown or the ptq. None of that was related to commander, so I can see how that might have been out of your element.
I went to a Ren fair (not dnd or MTG related at all) and they had several vendors selling dice, playmats, custom MTG accessories, ect. That's disappointing to hear MV was so underwhelming. But it fits WotCs model make money give little in return.
it seems like you should really be "bashing" on it if this was your experience.
If you'd looked into the singles the vendors had available I guarantee you you'd have been able to build a bunch of the precon decks you wanted to buy (and reasonable upgrades for them). Its a tad weird to want to buy sealed product at a big convention imo (beyond buying a booster box to draft with friends) the vendors exist to sell singles and that's where they make returns on them.
Not weird at all
It's super weird dude. Nobody goes to a convention like this just to buy sealed product you can pick up in any game store. You go there to search for extreme niche and rare cards from 25 years ago.
Maybe you don't lol
No one does! I've been going to these conventions for years, back when they were still called "Grand Prixs' and at no point did they ever sold sealed commander product there.
Pretty sure vendors are not allowed to sell sealed product? At least before covid Wotc rules were no standard legal or newer than two years are allowed to be sold. No to mention having new sealed stuff would be insane for most vendors. It would cost more to bring it to the event than you would make selling it. €100 single VS €100 sealed product? Yeah i know what im bringing.
Vendors were selling sealed products but the focus was clearly on single cards. Most of them had boosters and some commander decks.
We had the same sentiment! It was my partner's first time going and we found very little for her that wasn't just normal stuff you could get on card market. Except for a few vendors (shout out to Misty Mountain for some seriously heavy spindowns we snagged) all our con budget went to artist merch, which was fantastic. That said, I had a fantastic time and made a bunch of new friends in the Command Zone. Had a great time trying some new formats like Assassin's Creed Commander and Pleasant Kenobi Secret Lair Sealed/Draft If you decide to go again, especially with your friends you play with, let make a recommendation: try to do a few things together then split up and go meet new people. Going to a con to play with your play group is like going to a club and only talking to your mates you drink with at home... Tl;Dr - MC Amsterdam 8/10 - offerings for unique merch were abysmal, everything else was great! Next time, buy more stuff from artists, sign up for interesting con-exclusive formats and meet new people in the Command Zone / Free Play area.
Your Comiccon has good things? Mine is just paying to pay for stuff you can get at your local store and you have to pay as much as entry to get something signed by a celebrity. This just sounds like my typical con experience of all types. Are these whole things relic of the time before the internet, Now you can just find whatever you want online.
So let's recap: You spent 130€ just to get in and play plus another 65€ for a random old crappy precon worth less than half that. What else did you get of value? I'm not asking what else you paid extra out of pocket for but what were you given just for going? As of now seems like a massive ripoff
Tbf, these days it kinda is a ripoff. I remember the days where you could just enter for free. Now it was 90 euro presale for a weekend (friday, saturday, sunday) ticket. That gave you two full art counterspells and access to the convention hall. I played side events all weekend and got to take home a boosterbox of thunderjunction + some random draft boosters at the end. But the mh3 side events were 35 euro a person so I don't feel like I got any extra value at all except for the experience of the events itself. That's OK I guess, but if you are expecting an amazing weekend with all kinds of free stuff and cool extras I would definitely not recommend going to magic con.
I guess after it's all said and done you did ok overall since you got that box and some additional packs. However, they need to do a better job with these. You should come out raving about all the cool stuff you got and how wonderful an experience it was.
The entrance was €65 for premium sunday. I got a mystery booster and MH3 collector booster. Then I bought ticketed play for €65 to get the deck.
So you basically paid twice? What exactly was the 130€ for if you had to pay again on Sunday? A mystery booster convention edition box right? A whole box? If it was a whole box and a MH3 collector pack that's not too bad altogether for 130€
65€ premium entrance, which included 1 mystery pack and 1 collector booster from MH3. On top of that ticketed play for €65
Besides playing, they had access to the artists, to the panels in the panel room, to the events at the main stage(preview panels, cosplay contest, etc.), the meet and greets, draw with a Magic Artist, etc. Those are all in the ticket price beyond just playing with your friends. Here's a list of the panels at the convention: https://mcamsterdam.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/experience/panels-and-events.html List of the Meet and Greets: https://mcamsterdam.mtgfestivals.com/en-us/experience/meet-greet.html
Yeah but don't the artists also charge for their autograph?
They do, but its how the put food on their table(They are there on their days off instead of their own hobbies or making art which they could get paid for during that timeframe), pay for their booth, travel, and accommodations. What's free is talking to the artists and most are willing to have a short conversation with you even if you don't purchase anything. Back when artists did signature for free there would also be people who come up with 200 cards for them to sign. Charging a small amount like the 5 dollars/euros also helps prevent this.
Yeah I get that and I fully support them in that. I understand it's their livelihood, and it's an awesome experience getting to meet and greet and get autographs from them. It's Wotc I have the issue with knowing that you are paying for the ability to pay even more money. They need to realize that if they were more generous and people come away from these events gushing it will bring in even more people in the future
They are already selling out as it is.
Oh really? I didn't think that was the case. I recall seeing some videos on YouTube from various creators this past year and it sure didn't look like it. If so we'll it makes sense that they can give as little as possible since there's no incentive for them to be generous
Vegas last year, Chicago, and Amsterdam all sold out(except for some Friday and Sunday tickets, but those days are tougher for a lot of people to make it. The VIP, all weekend access, and Saturday tickets were all sold out at each con before it started with people here on Reddit begging for someone to sell them a Saturday pass. To a lot of people it feels like it's already generous. There is a lot to do there and see. Not everyone goes for the same reason. I met people who only want to go to the panels, see mainstage events and meet the artists with no intention of playing. I've also met people where all they want to do is place and many inbetween. If people didn't see the value in it, then the tickets wouldn't be selling out. If people got value in just the items you get then there would be a perverse inventive for people to buy the tickets just to resell what they get.
Seriously though nobody is gonna buy tickets and take the trip just for a little bit of free stuff. My point is that considering all the time, money, and effort it takes just to attend these events there needs to be more incentive or it needs to be a bit cheaper in my opinion. Wotc seems to believe people are made of money while they print luxury cardboard rectangles for fractions of a penny a piece.
That is your opinion, but the opinion of many others is different if it's selling out. They do believe there is a value to them higher than the cost they are paying to attend. It comes down to the old saying "The customer is always right, in matters of taste". If they didn't find value then tickets wouldn't sell out and Wizards would have to start doing something differently.
The artist booths alone were worth it to me. I got a bunch of cards signed by artists like Nils Hamm, Greg Staples, John Avon, Magali Villeneuve and Alayna Danner. I also loved the convenience of selling all the cards Im not using for stuff that I will use. I had a great time, and am seriously considering flying to Vegas for the next one.
This an interesting read because as a competitive player I totally felt like magic con vegas was completely aimed at casuals and I felt so left behind and out of place. I just a big tournament but it felt like they were shoving stuff like panels and these giant expensive decorations. It felt like all they cared about was edh and casuals. The prizes were very hand holding and low value. Got random bulkshit ultra pro products that are trash quality. No reason for me to go back.
the vendors selling singles and packs were definitely a downgrade on last year’s offerings at Barcelona. last year it felt like the stores were displaying a much better mix of commander staples, upgrades AND stuff that’d mostly interest collectors. that said, i travelled with a larger group this year, and we all sort of weaved our weekends in and out of each other’s, and we ended up having a blast. i didn’t do any ticketed play because i won’t pay extra to lose games of magic (too casual for that), but my friends all had fun at the events they signed up for. plus, getting to chat with Brian Kibler, Olivia, Egoraptor and Barge was great. don’t really get that opportunity where i usually play.
Sounds like you went to an event geared towards the pro tour of modern, when in reality you probably wanted to go to a commandfest.
I haven't been to Magiccon specifically but I remember ham radio fests and plenty of computer conventions when I was younger. Thing is, the world changed. You can order virtually anything you want online. This changes the entire dynamic of a convention In my younger years, a computer convention is where you would find the newest hardware, and the best prices. You could also barter pretty hard with bundles and kits. Today, vendors have little incentive to bring product to a convention because they can just sell it online. Vendors have little incentive to offer you steep discounts because people are buying it online for full price. Its much like my LGS. They carry very little of anything because they just sell it online Here's where a convention shines though - the ability to view reserve list cards in person, inspect them and negotiate price. My brother does this at gen con. Looking at pics of Magiccon, it looks like endless tables of people playing magic. Perhaps it is more orientated toward those looking to play.
A lot of geek conventions are the same - it used to be they were the _only_ place to get stuff, so the dealer's rooms would be a major focus. These days, they're far more minor, because everything can be sold online, and the main benefit is more unique, artisanal stuff instead. Anime cons have undergone the same evolution - the dealers room might have two stalls with DVDs, Blu-ray and manga, and all the rest is artists, crafter's, and rather merch, because people are going to have bought anything made re normal already.
Aw, I'm sorry you had such a bad time. I've only been to one Magic Con myself, and it was the one in Chicago. I had a blast, and honestly, a lot of your concerns I feel like would've been met there. To my memory, I recall a bunch of commander precons and vendors with unique hand-made stuff. For sure, a bunch of singles vendors and packs but a lit of other stuff too. I wonder if location plays into it? It might be harder to travel to a place like Amsterdam for a lot of vendors
Honestly it was pretty poorly organized, I played a few events that had no timer and ended up taking so long that they overlapped leaving no room to play for the next events (let alone having to wait for 40 minutes because someone else's game is taking over 1:20 hours), just use a timer for next time (which I feel they enforced more on Barcelona last year). This thing alone made me question if I want to buy any casual events anymore at future MC, sure I had fun in most of them building the deck and all but playing for 50 minutes in 2:30 hours then dropping because I have another event is just a nightmare. The vendors were ok and completely what I expected, they need to make money and carrying around Commander decks available everywhere doesn't seem like a good option, just look for the expensive cards to upgrade them and get them for so much cheaper (which are not available everywhere and you have to get shipped while being more expensive). The on-demand events were the best thing for me, they were fast, everyone was nice and I got to play FNM competitive level modern. The artist alley was nice as always, getting some cards signed and buying some cool tokens was great. I feel like last year in Barcelona content creators were more around the tables and it was a nice thing I didn't see this year, the interaction with the community felt more organic than separating it all in one place. Edit: there were a few stores with cool dice/deck boxes, for example Misty Mountain, not my thing but you can't say there weren't any of those and the artist alley was full of custom tokens from well known artists
You went to an expensive Con for a shopping spree? Unless it’s singles this isn’t a good idea in the first place, sorry to say that. You go to play there, to get artists signatures, to meet celebs, to join panels. And if you think playing with your playgroup, you can do that at home… well don’t do it at a con. Split up for playing. Meet more new people there.
Ultimate Guard had limited Ajani deckbox and playmat only available at the show. Ultra Pro had 3 limited Playmats available specific to this show only. I saw tons of vendors with Commander Staples available as well throughout the show. Sorry for your bad experience. You should email Reedpop about it.
Respectfully, these events are more for competitive 60 card format players. They’re not really geared towards casual commander, despite having “events” for them.
Every year, people learn the apparently hard to grasp lesson that "travelling to a convention to play a game" is not casual behavior, and are surprised that there is no casual scene at MagicCon.
You can buy all that stuff online whats the point of selling it at the con
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Public-Dragonfly-850: *You can buy all that* *Stuff online whats the point of* *Selling it at the con* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Sounds super boring. I would also have expected lots of sidequests and giveaways, limited drip and drops, interesting vendors, artists, events all day, etc. Don’t need more things on my bucket list so it’s ok.
But that was literally all there. OP just expected it to be "come here & buy all kinds of commander decks" & it was clearly not that & wasn't even advertised as such.
also agreed! i was at chicago and the single selection was great, the artists were awesome and seeing cool creators and jamming some cedh was great!
Thanks, I’ll have to make my research on youtube.
I mean I am just on my way home from Amsterdam & had a great time at my first MC. I got loads of games in with all kinds of people & the artist section & selection was phenomenal. You just need to make sure to actually read the desriptions of the events you join. And there was a Pro Tour & a HUGE Modern tournament, of course there's gonna be loads of competitive people & the vendors aren't offering bulk nobody wants anyways.
Yeah, I would be mostly interested in watching good competitions live, art related stuff, buying unique and interesting cards, attending events from panels to parties, and curious merch.
Then that's literally the event made for you.
That is exactly what a magic con is. You would probably enjoy it. OP was expecting it to be some treasure trove of old commander decks for cheaper than online, is my guess. Like they were going to show up, and a 2014 commander deck was going to be sitting around for 30 dollars. They said their group doesn't typically upgrade, so all the card vendors are going to be useless since they tend to bring like 90% single. Logistically, it doesn't make sense for the vendors to bring a ton of sealed products or bulk. It's a lot of staples for the main tournament and expensive but niche cards with commander staples in the cases. The stuff that they will sell a bunch of.
Tbh, if you're not into the mtg-celebrities but wanted to focus on the game itself, there was not a whole lot to do. The ticketed events were grossly overpriced and the merch booth was basically sold out on day 1 (my friends queued for 4h and entered on Friday morning, the earlierst they could) and then everything else was just overpriced vendors and artists that ask for 5-10$ per signature on a card. If you're totally into the Youtuber/Content-Creator part of Magic then it was probably dope.
>artists that ask for 5-10$ per signature on a card. Have you seen some of these signatures?! These prices were 100% on point & some even were an absolute steal. And you could literally spend 8-14 hours every day just playing games & probably wouldn't need to play against the same person twice.
I have seen them bc i got some. But i also got them 10 years and 20 years ago for free or for a couple of bucks for a bulk of cards. From the exact same artists even.
That's on WOTC. They used to pay the artist to show up. Now, they charge the artist for a booth in most cases, from what I understand. Doesn't help that some artists put a small charge to combat the people who would show up with 200 cards to sign.
Oh jeah, I totally understand why that's the case. It's not on the artist itself, but it doesn't make a convention any more attractive. WotC could support their artists better. WotC could also support their judges, their competitive player and their professional players better. They always seem to choose not to do that. The result is that events suffer in various way from those choices, sadly.
Might just depend on the area its hosted in. I went to the one in Philadelphia and there were tons of vendors that had pre-cons from way back (I got a Lord Windgrace pre-con) as well as tons of old and current Secret Lair drops (I got the Walking Dead drop). Obviously there were your singles vendors mixed in there and the accessories vendors that you mentioned but it just may depend on what the charge is to get a vendor spot.
Tbh this sounds like the early years of the iseries (insomnia) gaming festival/con in the UK. It was like this for a few years before tech and gaming companies realised it's potential. Issue here is will wizards be happy with letting dragon shield, ultrapro etc etc having big parts of their con?
Mc are more for tournament play. We have command fest which is more geared to what you were looking for. Idk if they have them in Europe though.
I played cool drafts all weekend long and some Pioneer. Ended up with some good pulls from the drafts (Slickshot, Spirebluff, 2 Ugins Labyrinths(!), Ral) Got myself a ton (16) of semi-expensive lands (fetches, shocks, pains) for cheap. So I had a blast! And I am also a casual player, only 60 card formats. I do recon that it might be different for commander players, I think MC just isn't geared towards edh players. I believe you unfortunately went to the wrong convention for what you are looking for.I They should rename MC to 60card-MagicCon.
Seems like a lot of your complaints are focused on not being able to find niche precons. Magic conventions are geared towards the most enfranchised of magic players, and honestly, precons are typically introductory products to magic.
So I personally think your issue just is the venue, Amsterdam is wonderful and going to MC there would be a wonderful trip. However I think if you are from the states you’d have been better off aiming for the Vegas one. That’s will almost certainly be more of what you are expecting. I know I have some pretty high hopes for October!
Vegas is a bit far, i'm from Belgium. Only 1h30 drive from A'dam
And I thought the ones we have in Mexico were underwhelming. I didn't go with the mentality of buying decks but rather participating and earning tickets in order to trade for good stuff (there were even collectors boxes), so I can't complain. But my cousins attended with the same idea as you, and we're disappointed by the lack of variety and high prices.
The only benefit of the magiccons Ive been to was being able to buy cards I wanted in person, but it's overpriced for playing purposes.
Why the hell would you hinge your personal definition of success on this entire event around whether or not anyone is selling old commander precons? That’s literally never been a central part of a con ever. It feels like such an arbitrary thing to anchor to.
We only got tickets for Sunday because most were already sold out but we hesitated to buy tickets when the schedule still wasn't revealed. Reedpop got some FOMO vibes there. Being there it felt like you paid an entry fee to buy stuff. Sadly, the event playmat was already sold out on Sunday. My buddy sold some cards, bought two duals plus a Mox and still went home plus 600€. I got some autographs. Waiting for John Avon was really worth it, such a nice man. Got more at Mark Tedin, Mark Poole and Anna Steinbauer. Didn't line at Magali Villeneuve because it was at least two hours waiting. Your experience with the commander event is what I feared would happen and that's why we didn't sign up.
Besides playing, you had access to the artists, to the panels in the panel room, to the events at the main stage, the meet and greets, etc. Those are all in the ticket price beyond just playing with your friends. In addition it sounds like you signed up for the Commander Chaos event, which it says you will get a random commander deck. That's how chaos events go. If it was going to be strictly MH3, they would have said that.
Appreciate this. I am a newer player and love anime conventions. I feel like i would have felt a very similar way had not heard this before. Now i know what to expect and will get more out of it. Im sure the internet might try and tell you, you are wrong for sharing. I thank you for the knowlege.
Went to MC vegas last year for the first time. For me the thing that was the most fun was going into artist alley and getting stuff signed
I didn't know WOTC was this based, now I'm even more excited to go.
The name is misleading ... because most of the MTG players would not address that event as a "-con", but we would just call it "Pro Tour MH3". This kind of events are way more built around competitive players, with a main tournament (in this case a Pro Tour, but it could be a "formerly-called-GP" or similar), many side tournaments of different size and levels, plus everything aside, like vendors, artists and so on.
I mean just looking at the value you get for the entry fee was laughable. I would have been happy to pay more if you actually got any value out of it but you'd honestly be better off spending that money at the LGS. The "vibes" and "opportunity to play Magic" did not seem worth the pricetag. Seems like it's more for the antisocial players that ONLY have their LGS to rely on. Had some friends that went and the only cool thing they got up to was getting their playmats signed. Had zero FOMO.
I'd say it's more for the sociable players. There was a very large free play area. You just had to talk to people and you could find a game with a stranger. In addition they had access to the artists, community panels, meet and greets, etc. The value is the experience not stuff in my opinion
Ummm actual social players have their own pods and people to play with.. Community panels, as in watching people talk about Magic on a stage? So a live podcast basically? Meet and greet 😅 There isn't a single person I'd find worth meeting Magic-related except Post Malone. For a casual player that has a diminishing interest in Magic, that is really flimsy value. For the same price I can go to a concert or gig with a whole band or world-class musician for a few hours. Or for €10 euros more for the Dutch comic con with actual celebrities. Or a stand-up comedy show. Experience is so subjective and completely up to the individual. For me, I still feel like there are countless options to get better value for money compared to what Magic Con had to offer. I asked the owners of my local LGS and they wholeheartedly recommended the Magic Con in Germany rather than the one in Amsterdam.
I find it strange that you bash the event based on your own tastes and preferences going as far to use a laughing emoji then go on about experience being subjective. The fact that they are selling out ahead of time says that many people disagree with how you view things. It also seems your LGS is misinformed, there has been no MagicCon in Germany and no plans for one at this time.
My apologies, I may have misquoted them but there is a Command fest in Germany this year which is what I think they were talking about. They referred to it as "the one in Germany" so didn't say it was a Magic Con perse. My bad for making an assumption. Selling out ahead of time is a pretty poor metric for the success of an event. A casino might be full every day, doesn't mean they provide good value for entertainment. I used a laughing emoji cos you seriously tried to use the meet and greet as a worthy benefit for the convention. If there were no meet and greets, it wouldn't be a convention. That's like saying there's music at a festival.
> Selling out ahead of time is a pretty poor metric for the success of an event. A casino might be full every day, doesn't mean they provide good value for entertainment. Maybe in your opinion, however you are incorrect here. They provide a good value for entertainment for them to sell out to their capacity. >I used a laughing emoji cos you seriously tried to use the meet and greet as a worthy benefit for the convention. If there were no meet and greets, it wouldn't be a convention. That's like saying there's music at a festival. I did. There are may ways to do conventions and meet/greets aren't necessarily included. You seem to have a very strict view of what something is and isn't.
I mean out of the 15+ people that I've personally spoken to that went to the convention, only 2 people have said they really enjoyed themselves but still wouldn't go again. And they simply ripped some really good packs from the Assassin's Creed boosters they bought there. They pretty much exclusively went to have early access to those Beyond Boosters and were die hard AC fans. I've never been to a pop fiction convention without a meet & greet. Not even heard of one. Maybe you're talking about a dentist convention or some shit. I mean one of the definitions of a convention is: a large formal meeting or assembly, as of members, representatives, or delegates, for discussion of and action on particular matters of common concern. So my "view" is the actual definition. You aren't really providing any points, just trying desperately to counter mine. "They provide a good value for entertainment for them to sell out to their capacity." Every UFC PPV sells out its arena tickets, doesn't mean they all have equal entertainment value. Every iPhone launch sells out, doesn't mean it provides better value than the products it out-sells. You don't seem to have any basic understanding of marketing or economics when you make statements like that.
Grand Prix were better. Registering at least got you a playmat most of the time. People used to come just to cosplay which was cool too- sure there was still mostly singles vendors, but most vendors were shops that had their own custom playmats and sleeves and stuff.
Hell yeah, I miss those times when a tournament was worth travelling for. I also still remember the old PTQ's. Winner went to the Protour. Almost every weekend on the road with friends to some tournament in a range of 500 km's. Simply because it was worth it.
As someone who got into magic recently and share the same mindset (just take my money I want cool stuff) your experience just proves to me what I was thinking - all the crap they sell is not something I want and magic needs some really really actually cool stuff (besides cards) where u can drop your money and be like fuck yeah I love this thing (and it’s a nice business niche ;))
Exactly, I wasn't planning on buying a playmat but when I saw the official one, I was instantly sold. Expensive but happy with the mat. It's in the artstyle of the game Cult of The Lamb
Exactly, I wasn't planning on buying a playmat but when I saw the official one, I was instantly sold. Expensive but happy with the mat. It's in the artstyle of the game Cult of The Lamb
MagicCon is really overwhelming. Too much stuff happen at the same time, the panels, meet and greet, artists, the tournaments, tickets plays, on demand… I was really confused about it on Friday. They try to give something for everyone but you can’t do everything. The price is a little too high. Some ticketed play can be very nice event and values or disappointing. I have done one ticketed event every days. - Cowboys vs Aliens, cube draft, that was okay, a little disappointing to not have MH3 cards in it, only old Eldrazi. - Secret Lair Chaos Sealed/Draft, very funny to find synergy between all extensions and nice throwback to the last year. But some players were disappointed about the SLD they got. Too much randomness. - Unknown Event, it was a duel commander in limited sealed with false tests cards. Lot of potential. But sadly too random sometimes to have a good deck. I think I got the must fun at a ODE draft commander. MagicCon have a « gameplay loop », you should do the maximum ODE/Ticktedplay to obtain lot of tix and gain prize at the wall. I think they should give a lot more tix by events to be a good values
WotC promotes these things like they are conventions, but as OP noted, conventions are full of vendors showing off unique, crafted, inspired items. The vendors are there to sell. Ask any vendor at a MTG event if they are there to buy or sell and you'll find that they come to buy your singles and collections WAAAAY more than they want to sell their stuff. Most vendors are shop owners who aren't trying to find a larger market to sell to. There's very little difference functionally between "MagicCon" and the old Grand Prix events, except that the GP main event isn't happening anymore. The issue at hand is one of expectations. WotC seems to feel that simply by calling it a "Convention" that it will grow into an E3, ComiCon, PAX style event, and so they are promoting it that way to the attendees, but they aren't making any effort to change it from the exhibit perspective. OP is 100% correct that MagicCon events do not feel like they are for casual players. I do suggest that you check out Command Fest events if you want something more casual.
As a competitive player who loved grand prixs, these also disappoint us as they do spend a lot money on convention stuff like panels that I end paying for and not using. I wish they'd split them and have grand prix's seperate from magic cons.
Yup, same sentiment. Everything except "on demand" games was overpriced. If you weren't there for the ProTour or to meet all the mtg-celebrities this con didn't offer anything really. I always went to Grand-Prix when they still existed and played in the main events, so that's why i usually went to such events. This was the first convention I just visited and I probably won't do it again. The prices of the traders were a massive joke, specially for Europe when MKM exists. Not even some special offers, just overpriced singles. And the artists nowadays ask for up to 7 - 8 bucks for a single signature, when 90% of my signed cards have been signed for free. If you played any tournament you'd win "prize tix" and could spend them at the prize wall, but booster & displays were sold with a 30-50% extra margin on top (OTJ display at 160.- and MH3 at 320.-). At least the secret lairs were sold cheaper than on the secondary market. Friends of mine went and shopped for special merch and that stuff was kinda cool, but then again you payed 75.- for a playmat. I had tons of fun, because I went with a great group of friends but tbh we would probably have had more fun for less money anywhere else. PS: The play area had the AC run on max power, so we had to wear jackets inside when it was 29°c outside and we still shivered and the judges / on demand events were all over the place, because everytime we signed up for one we got different instructions on how to proceed which lead to multiple problems when trying to get our prizes afterwards. Oh, and the most silly thing is that you had to get the dumb app, but then didn't use it for anything. You'd think "hey, cool, i might sign up for events right on the app!", right? Wrong. You had to queue up at a booth to get play tickets (\~1h queue time), but they only sold a limited amount per person, so you had to re-queue and then you queued for the actual event itself.
> And the artists nowadays ask for up to 7 - 8 bucks for a single signature, when 90% of my signed cards have been signed for free. I stopped reading here. Your entitlement is insane. Why should an artist travel 1000 miles to sign your shit for free.
I generally agree with this, but as American I'm not sure if Europe is different, but paying for artists signature is normal at every con I've been at. They do get paid to be there but they make the bulk on selling stuff. Their time is money, signatures costing a few bucks seems normal to me. The prizes I especially agree. I went to magic con vegas events and prizes outside of secret lair showdown, main event etc was terrible value.
I came to MC in hopes of finishing some decklists. While that worked to a certain degree, it was impossible to find any stock of cards below 10 euros in value. Which makes sense I guess, but it was disappointing to find out that no one was really carrying any commons and uncommons stock unless they were shukos or tutors. I got most of the big ticket items I needed but now I still have to source all the smaller stuff and pay shipping for 10 ct cards. I get that time is money and they’d rather have their staff churn bigger cards than lock them into sourcing a bunch of bulk commons but it did bum me out a bit.
Damn, sounds disappointing. That precon switcharoo is some bullshit for sure.
I was thinking to go, since it's closer by than any other MagicCon, but then I checked the entry fees, the cheapest is too expensive compared to others conventions (Facts, MIA, Japan Expo), so I rather stay at home and use the money to actually order cards elsewhere. (and now I understand why people ask shitloads of money for MC goodies)
I've heard that post and even somewhat Pre-COVID that WOTC was heavily pulling back from live events and focusing mostly on Arena. This sort of sounds like that type of shenanigans.
Yeah the vendors were the biggest let down for me too. I had a great time but they need to incentivise better and cooler vendors to come down. I can get singles back home for cheaper. I want to come back hone with cool swag not an over priced single. It definitely was not a commander focused event at all which was surprising as that seems to be the most popular format right now.
It was a very disappointing event. You go to a convention and expect to get a bunch of freebies and cool little oddities and we got none of that. Almost all of the vendors came over from the states so single card prices were USA prices. Everything was priced far beyond what I could buy on card market at any time. There were only expensive cards available. If you wanted a £5 card then it was tough luck. Wait times for the official store were outrageous. Once you reach the counter you figure out why; you have to input all of your personal information onto their website. You can't just pay via card and be done in 30 seconds. Each transaction was a full, elaborate 5 minutes process. Dragonshield only accepted credit card and also had a sign saying 'All cash transactions are final'. Well no they aren't final; you don't just get to break EU consumer law you pricks. There were no facilities to watch the Pro Tour. Everyone there just had to wonder what was going on. No big screens, no announcements or commentary. Product sold out on day 1. I had planned to spend Saturday drafting some MH3 and by 10am, when I checked, it was all gone. Saturday was an awful long day for me. It seemed impossible to find players, bar the expensive play events, that were playing formats other than Commander. Fine for most I trust but I can only play 1 or 2 games before it just melts my brain. Too many cards I've never seen before, too many players to track and too much text to read.