My friends and I are planning to attend in 2027 and have never been to magiccon, I was wondering if anyone would volunteer some information or tips and tricks? Things you wish you’d known going into it for the first time! Also, would love to hear how much anyone thinks we should save for it? I was thinking around $5-6000 total for the trip. Any info or sharing is appreciated!
Posting about this for three reasons. One, I think it's a really cool MTG story that folks will appreciate. Two, I feel like it needs to be shared as sort of a time stamp since it just happened, and three, I am personally curious about the collectability/value of the card. Also have to note that this is not a card I own, it belongs to my friend who was at MagicCon as well, let's call them "Alex". So, story time...
This past weekend, Alex and I were at our first ever MagicCon. It was awesome. I have plenty other stories besides this one, but you didn't come here for those. Yesterday was the last day of MagicCon, and Alex and I were signed up for the Gavin Verhey Unknown 2-headed giant event. We had no idea what this was going to be.
We sit down, Gavin reveals what we're doing, and it's a commander sealed event with 6 packs and a pack of "playtest" cards that are cards that just have a blank, white sticker over the front with a mix of fun, goofy, interesting, weird or just downright bad mechanics. Super exciting!
We open our cards and start trying to figure out our deck and about 10 minutes into doing this, Alex shows me this card. I immediately looked at them and said, "we gotta get out of here." We packed up and left for artist ally.
This event started at noon, so it was roughly before 1pm when we got to artist alley. This is the last day of the con, so doors are closing at 6pm. On the way, we were talking about who were some of the OG and/or favorite artists we could have sign the card. The rest of the day was lines and there were some cool interactions and stories along the way, but I'm going to skip most of that.
At around 5 pm, we've got 4 signatures on the card and we get in Chris Rahn's line behind about 6 other folks waiting BEHIND the "line cap" sign. Basically, we only get a signature if the 12 people in the actual line finish getting their signatures and they decide to let more people through. and at around 5:40pm they start letting the us through one at a time for 1 signature each (2 if you are getting a single color).
We get through the line just shy of 5:50, we get our "I survived Chris Rahn's line sticker" even though most folks earlier in the day waited hours for that, and most importantly he signed Alex's card. So we're elated at this point. We take our time moving through the con, looking for the last 1 or 2 cards we were hoping to buy before 6:00pm rolls around and they announce the con has ended.
As we start to exit, we are weaving through booths, and just before we reach the end of the main floor, we turn past the last booth and see Gavin wrapping up a chat with some other folks in that booth. Alex races over, marker in hand and asks for the signature on the bottom. Gavin looks a little stunned when he sees the card, but he signs and we tell him the elevator version of what went down since we were handed the cards and bailed on his event (which we apologized for but it had to be done). We said our thank you's and made our exit.
And that was how our first ever MagicCon ended. Pretty epic. And I feel like Alex now own's likely one of the most unique cards that a person could own. They might put it into a deck to replace a command tower or and just rule-zero-warn folks that it's in there and I think most people who appreciate magic will get a kick out of it.
On the collection side, and this purely my curiosity since Alex has no intention of selling this card, I'm wondering if there's any real value to something like this? I'm assuming so, since I have seen folks selling playtest cards signed by Gavin online. But I've never seen something like this where the signatures are part of the mechanic of the card. Since I am a casual player and collector myself, I'm just curious if anybody who knows more about it could provide some insight.
The signatures on the card are:
W: Dan Frazier
U: Mark Poole
B: Douglas Shuler
R: Chris Rahn
G: Rebecca Guay
Bottom: Gavin Verhey
Thanks to everybody who attended MagicCon, whether we bumped into you or not, for the good vibes and a great weekend. Hope you all have some cool stories as well.
TLDR: My friend pulled a playtest card that sent us on a side-quest to get artist signatures at MagicCon and we somehow pulled it off. No
Happy Post-MagicCon! Now that MagicCon is wrapping up, I’m curious what changed from expectations vs reality. I plan to make this a post next year to help people out.
For those who attended:
Bonus / Appreciated:
Selfishly, I'm going to MagicCon Amsterdam and want to prepare as best as possible since I'll be flying from overseas.
I'll also share from a FB post I made on recommendations in the comments below related to what was recommended, what people said to leave behind / don't overdue, and Situational / FYI.
TLDR… likely will not find this [[Pithing Needle]] in a [[Haystack]]…
I greatly appreciate all the well wishes and people reaching out to their friends and sharing. At this point, I’m losing hope, but it was a beautiful experience nonetheless. I’m posting this as a last-ditch effort, and to close the book if nothing comes of it.
I think his name was Dean. His friend’s name was Brandon. He wore a white(?) or pink (?) cap and a plant-patterned shirt. We talked in front of the Witherbloom tent at the Area15 party, “Secrets of the Archaics”. He loves Slay the Spire. He later mentioned doing some ticketed play events at the con.
I was the dark-haired lady in a red ruffled shirt and black pants. I talked about Art of Magic a lot, and spent most of the con there.
Wherever he is, I hope he had a fun weekend!
A bird decided to poop on a fellow players deck at about 3-4pm Sunday in the back corner of the freeplay area right behind the family play area, so I pulled out a clear box that houses the hard plastic deck boxes (the part you throw away) that was on top of my wet tissues to help clean them off and I left that box on the table ;;;-;;;
My most prized cards that I bought at the con were inside and I'm begging if anyone might have scooped them up, I will reward you for their safe return.
I had 2 scroll foil Nazguls
1 Wall of Ba Sing Se signed
1 Fire Nation Drill signed
2 Thanos Swords to Plowshare sealed
One artist proof and a few others that I spent the con gathering.
I am incredibly grateful for any information anyone might have on my lost box of cards, so please don't hesitate to say something if you saw something 🥲 much love
What time did everyone get to the store in order to not have to queue as long inside?
Crossed out cards are sold already, let me know if anyone in Vegas wants to link and pick something up. :)
We spoke in front of the Witherbloom tent at the Area15 party. Your friend Brandon was with you. You wore a white(?) cap and a plant-patterned shirt. You LOVE Slay the Spire, and convinced me to start playing it when I get home. I enjoyed talking with you, and would love to pick up where we left off.
Want to get a game in before all this is over?
(Redditors, please work your magic!)
As the title implies. I’m here solo from out of state so I don’t really have anyone to collaborate with. The Silverquill one was the easiest for me. All the others are pretty tricky.
Did anyone find any homework easier or harder than the others?
Howling salt mine signed Kambal. My play group is always salty to play against it. And since the guys at howling salt mine just talked about it I figured why not get them to sign my boy. What was everyone else's favorite item?
Did anyone else stand in the merch line for 3 hours only to not be able to purchase the one item you wanted? Items were being updated as out of stock as I waited, but they somehow failed to mention the zip up hoodie was out in every size except 5XL. This feels like a major ball drop on WOTC part. You know exactly how many people are coming yet you dont have even remotely enough merch for every attendee. I wasted over half my day at the convention standing in a line for nothing. This majorly impacted my experience and will likely be the reason I do not attend another.
Looking to trade or sell for 10-15% below tcgplayer low! Selection of pages attached but also have lower priced odds and ends!
What deals did you feel good about?
Did you find anything cool?
Exceptional pulls?
This was my first one. I only did Saturday and had a blast, but didn't get to do a lot because I did two events. I'm planning for the next Con and I want to know how to maximize my experience next time, but more importantly I want to avoid some traps.
Hey y'all, making this thread in case anyone is stuck on a particular puzzle for the colleges homework or wants to share to the class their answers so we can "study from" 🤭. The professor just said had to be completed and turned in. Didn't say the gathering couldn't gather 👉👈😗
Misplaced a homemade playmat bag my girlfriend made, at this point I don’t even care about the mat I just really need to get the bag back. It’s a brown leather playmat tube that looks like a cartographers bag. If anybody sees it please let me know I’ve been looking for half the day
1 - near the command zone meetup table
2 - vendor area
3 - near Red Bull tavern entrance
4 - artist area
5 - right side of the mana stage far down
6 - family magic in the corner
7 - near the wristband meet and greets
8 - Outside the quiet room
Edit: The prize is fucking stickers don’t even bother. The clues are fucked up and the guy at the prize booth said they might move the signs.
Trying to catalogue all the pins that can be pulled from the Mystery Pins Booster available at the official merch store & all the Pin Program Sponsor options, since WotC hasn't published a nice graphic including all the info as they did for previous cons.
Mystery options known so far, all from Lorwyn Eclipsed card art:
- Changeling Wayfinder
- Grub, Storied Matriarch
- Crossroads Watcher
- Ashling, Rekindled
- Disruptor of Currents
In the past there's been 7 or 8 common pulls in the Mystery pack plus 2 chase options, for a total of 9 or 10 possibilities (sometimes 11 if there was a Pin Trading Booth which had one you could buy outright!). Unclear whether the same is the case this year, but if the pattern continues there are 4 or 5 more designs. Please comment if you've found any others! (pics much appreciated)
The list of Pin Program Sponsors, with pin name if known:
Cool Stuff Inc: Elesh Norn
Journey's End Games: Elspeth
Strike Zone: ?
Pink Bunny Games: ?
Stomping Grounds: ?
J.K. Entertainment: ?
Trans Lifeline: ? (official merch store has 2 🏳️⚧️ pins in partnership with them, but presumably their booth has one of the chibi art style pins for a card/character)
If you know which sponsor has Chandra, Urza or the Doubling Season goose please let us know so this can be updated for posterity! Photos of Elspeth or the other 2 sponsor pins would be amazing as well.
Last pic is the Fblthp "Staff Exclusive" pin that can be traded for (best bet is the info desk). It was also given to every Black Lotus VIP badge holder.
If anyone is going for a big prize wall item, me and my friends have around 40k prize tickets for sale. Looking for $1 per 100, dm me if interested thanks!
Edit: we’ve sold most of the tickets. We only have around 5k tickets left
Edit2: none left thanks everyone
At least there's air conditioning and wifi.
Me and some buddies boarded the train around 5:15 from the Sahara and found a box of MTG stuff somebody left on the train.
It’s in good hands, but if it’s yours, message me what’s inside the box and we can return it to you.
Have a nice con!