WHOA! We’re just drowning you folks in information this week! This weekend is gonna be Magic history: three simultaneous Modern Masters GPs, in three continents. The event in Las Vegas has broken the records for largest Magic event and largest TCG event over its knee like a feeble twig, and as of this writing sits pretty at nearly 7000 registered players! As such, we’ve decided to give you lovely readers (and your friends- share share share!) some information about these specific events, as well as some tips in general. We’ll start out with the general advice!
First, the prep-work. Before you head to the venue, you should be doing a little homework (like reading this post- great start!). It’s helpful to know where to find food nearby, how to GET to the venue itself, and things like that. Each event currently has an amazing Travel Guide put together by some awesome people, so please feel free to share those around with everyone going to your event! You should also know what to bring: the bare minimum, when it comes to cards. The less you have with you, the less there is to keep track of (and potentially lose- yikes). If you’re going to be in the main event, leave your Commander decks and your Cube and your trade binder at the hotel for now, and go back for them if you need them later. You should bring along some new sleeves (or a little cash to pick some up from one of the many vendors on-site), a deckbox for your deck, a pen and paper for notes and life totals, dice for counters/tokens, and a playmat (unless you plan on using the awesome playmats given to you at the event). Know your DCI number- if you have a 10 digit number, it’s super helpful to put it into your cell phone as a contact named “DCI”! It’s also a great idea to bring along a sturdy water bottle, and some kind of snacks- something non-messy that’ll keep for a while, like jerky or trail mix. Sometimes you won’t have time to properly make it to ‘real food’ between rounds, so having something to munch is a good backup. Likewise, dehydration leads to bad headaches and bad misplays, so HAIL HYDRATE and keep yourself in tip-top shape. Make sure you eat a decent breakfast before you head out, and make sure you get a good night’s sleep the day before! Lastly for prep-work, it’s a great idea to have some cash handy, especially if you’re going international, or don’t know if there will be ATMs for your bank. Better to just pull out some cash before you leave than to eat huge fees, and some vendors won’t take cards for small purchases.
On to the staff: Grands Prix are huge events. Vegas is nearing 7000 people, Chiba is completely sold out at 4000, and Utrecht has over 3000 people signed up already. And that’s just the main event! It can be a little bit overwhelming, but don’t forget that there’s plenty of staff there to help you! Judges can obviously help you with rules questions during your matches, but we’re more than happy to give you any info we can regarding the venue itself, or your questions. And if we can’t help you, we’ll sure point you in the direction of someone who can! If you need questions answered, looking for a friendly face in a black shirt that says JUDGE on the chest is a great way to start. You should also never feel bad about calling a judge during a game. It doesn’t make you a jerk, or a rules lawyer- we’re there to make sure things run right, and fix mistakes (among other things), so please call us! Your question or situation isn’t ‘too small’ or ‘stupid’- we’re happy to help. Likewise, the support staff (who are the absolute lifeblood of an event, especially one this size) are there to help you, too. If you’re closer to an Event Stage than you are to a judge, you can probably get a ton of your questions answered there; and again, if they can’t help you they’ll find out who can!
The Main Event! This is what (most) of you are here for: cracking 6 packs of sweet, sweet Modern Masters and gunning for Day 2. As I said above, get plenty of sleep the night before, and show up a solid 30 or 40 minutes before the event is supposed to begin. This gives you plenty of time to get there stress-free, and figure out where to go. There will be a Player Meeting, where everyone will be seated alphabetically and the Head Judge will make various announcements. Pay attention to these- they’ll have important information, and awful puns! This is also when your sealed product will be handed out. Unless you purchased a VIP package that came with a pre-registered pool, you’ll be opening these 6 packs and registering their contents, before passing them on and getting YOUR pool- the one you’ll play with. You’ll have time to build a deck out of that pool, and then submit a decklist- this is a Competitive event, so your deck has to match your decklist for Game 1 of every match! Sideboarding between games is fine, but not between matches, so make sure to desideboard after you finish a round.
Pro Tip: Use your phone’s camera to take a picture of your completed deck list to help you remember how to properly desideboard. You can use your phone between matches, just not during a match!
Not long after construction ends, pairings will be posted; where and how will be announced beforehand by the Head Judge. This is where you find out who you’re playing, and where to do so- just head to the table number listed by your name, confirm that your opponent is who they ought to be, and get ready for some Magic!
There’s also plenty to do beyond the main event: There are side events, pick-up games, trading, and vendors upon vendors. You can offload some of the cards you don’t want and pick up new ones! You can buy awesome playmats and sleeves! You can ogle foils and Power! There’s also artists at each event (again, check the event info linked below for specifics). Usually they don’t charge to just sign a card or two, but you should highly consider tipping them or buying a print or somesuch if you want to get more than a few cards signed- or just for fun! Those prints are gorgeous, after all. If you have a lot of artists you want to hit up, you might want to wait until you finish the main event on Saturday, or until Sunday- the lines can get a little crazy. Please, don’t buy or sell cards with other players, though (trading cards for cards is ok)- if you want to buy or sell, head to a vendor.
Finally, and most importantly: Have fun! GPs are an amazing, draining, crazy circus of Magic and fun. Make memories. Laugh often, and deeply. Make new friends. Have an amazing weekend, sharing and enjoying this game we all hold dear. Now, onto the event-specific stuff!
GP Chiba Info
- Event Website: http://www.hareruyamtg.com/gp/en/
- Travel Guide: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/travelguides/files/2015/05/GPChiba2015TravelGuide.pdf
GP Las Vegas Info
- Event Website (contains info on vendors, artists, hotel, venue, schedule, and more!) : http://www.grandprixvegas.com/location__travel
- Travel Guide: ADD LATER
- Artist Spreadsheet (special thanks to Ryan Brierley
!):
GP Utrecht Info
- Event Website: http://tournamentcenter.eu/news
- Travel Guide: http://blogs.magicjudges.org/travelguides/files/2015/05/GPUtrecht2015TravelGuide.pdf