Hey everyone, TwentyNine here again! I’m taking a break from commander deck techs to talk about my single favorite way to play Magic. I like it even more than Commander…Sealed! Prerelease events are casual Sealed tournaments at game stores. For anyone that doesn’t know what Sealed is: you take 6 booster packs, you lay it all out on the table and make a 40 card deck out of it. Will you end up with 6 total bulk rares? Maybe. Will your packs be absolutely insane and you get all the best cards? Probably not. Will everyone get the same chance at a great or awful card pool? Absolutely. It presents a puzzle to work your way through. What do you make with your pool? How do you overcome weakness in the cards you have? 2 colors? 3 colors? 4 colors? All 5? A wonderful amount of possibility awaits you.
Specifically, what I want to talk about are the prerelease events. I love the prerelease events. However, it wasn’t always this way. I used to be intimidated by and scared of them. The people that were playing in them were tournament grinders or a bunch of people that played constantly and would wipe the floor with me. I’d get laughed out of the game store. That is totally the opposite of every prerelease event I’ve been to. Everywhere I’ve been, it’s been people that just wanted to play some Magic with some new cards that only a few of the players know in depth.
What should I do leading up to the prerelease?
Practice? We’re talking about practice?
If you want to, you can actually practice at home. For the Secrets of Strixhaven prerelease, I took my partner with me. My partner had never built a sealed deck before or played against anyone besides me in a format that wasn’t Jumpstart (which is actually my second favorite way to play Magic). In preparation, I bought a box of Lorwyn Eclipsed Play Boosters (that I probably would have bought anyway) and we sat down and practiced building sealed decks. We each took 6 packs opened them up and built the decks.
After we were done, we talked about our decisions and looked at our card pools. I gave my partner feedback. A box of cards will give you enough play boosters for 4 sealed decks. You can practice 4 times by yourself or twice with a friend. For myself and my partner, the first set of packs we built our decks without a timer. For the second set, we put on a stopwatch to see how long it would take. This way my partner wasn’t under a time pressure, but had a good knowledge of how long it would take start to finish. You’ll also learn the way that you want to organize your cards when it comes time to build your prerelease deck. Organization is key.
I bought 6 Murders At Karlov Manor packs from my local game store to show how I organize my playmat at a prerelease. Here’s a link to the pool of cards I pulled from these packs. I added a random rare or mythic from a Scryfall search to replicate the promo card, which turned out to be Steamcore Scholar. Take a look at the pool. What would you build?
Here’s an image of how I organize:
Rares go in the bottom left, Removal in the bottom middle, multi colored on the bottom right, colorless cards above that. Then I have commons/uncommons in color stacks. From there I’ll separate the commons/uncommons into creatures/non-creatures.
What else can I do before the prerelease?
Another thing that can help is to read through the spoiled cards. Reality Fracture spoilers are all up now, so if you’re going to that prerelease, give them a read. For my first few prereleases, I spent a lot of time watching videos. I found that I would forget most of what was in the video. The more prerelease decks you make, the more that you’ll get a better idea of how an organization flow works for you. I’ll say it again, organization is actually a big thing when you get to the prerelease. If you have your cards laid out where you can easily access them, it’ll be faster to read them, faster to understand them and faster to build. If you’d like to watch a video, here is Gavin Verhey’s video on the Lorwyn Eclipsed prerelease.
How do you pick where to play a prerelease?
Depending on where you live, you’ll have anywhere from zero to many stores to play at. Prizing can vary from store to store. Some stores give a pack to everyone that attends, others will only give packs if you win matches. If you really want to come out of the event with a pack, you might want to find a store that gives a pack to everyone, regardless of record.
Who shows up to prereleases?
It’s going to sound like a meme, but there is just about anyone you can expect at a prerelease. I’ve been in prereleases with old retired guys, I’ve been in a prerelease with a 9 year old kid. I’ve been in a prerelease with the starting quarterback of the local college football team. There’s all kind of people at prereleases. Everyone is there to have a good time. You’ll get first timers and enfranchised players. I played against a guy who only joined the prerelease because he was the only one that showed up for the Gundam TCG tournament that was scheduled at the same time. He said to heck with it and played Magic for the first time. It was a fun game. The prereleases I’ve been to are as much hanging out as they are about playing.
It’s prerelease day, what should I expect?
The first thing you’re going to need at the event is your phone. You’ll want to make sure your phone has enough charge to make it a couple hours. Download the Wizards Companion app to your phone. If you don’t have an account yet, make sure that the name you enter when you’re filling out your profile is a name that you want people to call you. That name will show up on other people’s devices and it’s probably what you’re going to be referred to as.
I always eat something before going to a prerelease. I don’t like relying on the game store for food because unless your game store is a restaurant you’re going to be looking at candy bars or beef jerky at best. Maybe I’m old or picky, but I don’t like that being a meal for the day. I don’t eat too much or drink too much though so that I’m not feeling tired or bloated.
I personally throw on a fresh amount of deodorant before I head out to the store as well. The Spiderman prerelease I went to was on an unseasonably hot day and the game store’s air conditioning was struggling to keep up. Everyone was sweating. I’ll be honest though, I’ve never actually sat next to someone that smelled bad at a prerelease. However, I’ve heard enough stories that make me just want to make sure I’m not the guy from the story though.
I like to get to the store at least 10 to 15 minutes before the start of the event. You’ll need to check in with someone at the store. They’ll check you in, then direct you to scan a QR code or enter a short code on the Companion app. This completes the sign in. You’ll see a message on your app that you’re checked in. Find somewhere to sit down and then you’re ready to go for the event.
Whoever is running the event at the store will call out when it’s time for the prerelease to start. They’ll pass out prerelease kits and once everyone has a kit they’ll tell you when you can open the kit and start to build. You’ll be making a 40 card minimum deck.
How does a Magic: The Gathering Prerelease event work?
After you open your kit, you’ll have 50 minutes to open your packs, build your deck, and sleeve your cards. You don’t have to sleeve cards if you don’t want to. Some people build 2 decks, a main and a backup. I’ve never done this; it depends how quickly you build decks. Your store will provide you basic lands if you didn’t bring any.
I set myself a few milestones. I want to be done with pack opening and sorting in 10 minutes and then deckbuilding by the 40 minute mark. This way, I can quickly deal some practice hands out to myself to make sure my deck’s not a total disaster. After the 50 minutes, the organizer will call out that the round 1 pairings are available and you’ll need to find your opponent. The app will assign you a table number. Some stores I’ve been to didn’t have table numbers so we just shouted out names until we found our opponent.
Once you find your opponent, the round will start. You’ll play best of 3 on a time limit. You don’t get any free mulligans. If you mulligan you have to draw 7 and then put cards equal to the number of mulligans you took on the bottom of your deck; also known as the London mulligan. Unless you’re in a special prerelease event, your games will be 1v1 and you start with 20 life.
After you’re done with your best of 3, either you or your opponent will need to report the results in the app. If I’m reporting the results, I usually put in the results and then show my phone to my opponent before hitting submit. Unless you have a game that runs really long, you’ll probably end up with some time left over. I’ve had some wonderful conversations with random people at my prerelease events. If you’re not a small talk person and don’t want to, there’s usually time to just browse the store. I’ve done more than enough impulse shopping during this time. You’ll do this 2 more times and then the event will be over. Most events take around 4 hours to complete.
Every prerelease I’ve been to does Swiss-style pairings. What that means is if you lose, you’ll play against someone that lost. If you won, you’ll play against someone that won. Through the event you’ll always be playing against someone with around the same record as you. Some of the most fun games I’ve played at a prerelease have been after going 0-2 and then ending up against someone else that went 0-2. You can commiserate on the mutual failing of your decks.
Prerelease Etiquette Dos and Don’ts
DO keep your garbage contained to your area. Your prerelease kit is going to generate a significant amount of garbage. The outer cardboard, 6 pack wrappers and the “promo” card wrapper. Most game stores have a garbage can you can get to easily or the employees will collect garbage as you go.
DON’T put your drink on the table. Most events I’ve been to, you get very little space between you and the game next to you. I’ve nearly knocked over more than 1 drink just by reaching for my library to draw a card.
DO read your cards out loud when you play them. You might know what Illvoi Light Jammer does, but most likely your opponent doesn’t.
DON’T get distracted during your games. You’re on a timer and I find it rude if you’re chatting with your friend playing Warhammer 3 tables over.
DO ask for help if you need it. If you’re confused by wording of a card, just ask someone. You’re not playing on the Pro Tour.
DON’T be a jerk. Everyone is here for a good time.
DO try to play somewhat efficiently. Your games are timed and sometimes a draw counts the same as a loss, so you don’t want to go to time limit.
DON’T leave early if you can help it. Having a bye at the event does mean you get a win but it’s also less fun than actually playing the game.
What should I bring with me to the prerelease?
You don’t have to bring anything with you, but it can help out if you have a few things.
A playmat
The tables at the game stores I’ve been to have been various levels of Wal-Mart to Costco folding tables. I don’t blame the stores, they’re here to sell games, not provide you the most comfortable furniture. Sometimes the cards slide well on the table, sometimes they don’t. A playmat can be a fun conversation starter as well. I’ve had some good conversations with people that just started from their playmat. The other thing that a playmat can help do is to mark out what space is “yours” for the deckbuilding part. I’ve seen some people at the prerelease events that like to spread out. Put out your playmat and it says, “This area is mine”. If you don’t own one or you forgot yours, most of the stores I’ve been to will let you borrow a playmat for the night, just don’t forget to return it.
A pack of sleeves
Usually for a prerelease I bring a pack of cheap sleeves. You can usually get a pack of 60 sleeves for around $5 or less if you buy them on the internet ahead of time. When I’m looking for prerelease sleeves, I buy the silliest looking art sleeves I can find. Not for the fact that I want to show off the Pokémon on them (it was a while until I found out it was Teal Mask Ogerpon). If you end up playing cards onto your opponents board or playing theft decks, it’s really easy to tell when your opponent sweeps up your card with theirs if your sleeves are strange. It’s happened to me more than once just accidentally.
Personally, I find playing without sleeves to be kind of strange feeling. I don’t love riffle shuffling new Magic cards because they can be stiff to shuffle. For the most part you’re not going to sleeve because of value. Your sealed deck probably won’t be worth a whole lot. Going through the last 5 sealed decks I built, the financial value was:
Hobbit: $11.62
Tarkir Dragonstorm: $49.60 ($39.36 being 1 copy of Ugin, Eye of the Storms)
Marvel Super Heroes: $7.85
Marvel Super Heroes: $10.53
Secrets of Strixhaven: $9.50
Some six sided dice
Having dice of your own can be nice for when you’re marking +1/+1 counters. I just have a bunch of dice that were left over from either board games that got thrown away or mini dice I impulse purchased. You don’t need more than a handful. I personally bring a lot of dice just to be nice and offer them to my opponent in case they don’t have any. If you’re going to offer out dice, don’t bring any dice you mind losing. I’ve had a couple get accidentally taken from me by my opponent. Also if you have dice, you can play Yahtzee when you get bored before the prerelease starts.
A bottle of water with a tightly closing lid
I usually bring a big bottle of water because I don’t particularly want to pay the $1 or $2 for a cheap bottle of water. Most stores will have a policy on no outside food or drink, but I’ve never seen one that cared about a bottle of water. Make sure that it has a tightly closing lid though, you don’t want to be that guy that spills their water on the floor (or worse the table).
A few scraps of paper and a pen (or whatever dry-erase tokens you have)
I have only once gotten the correct tokens that I needed for the deck I built and it’s only because I traded tokens with a guy at the same table as me. I personally bring a couple junk sleeves with some basic lands/advertisement cards in them and some pieces of paper cut to around the size of a Magic card. This way I can quickly make some 1 time use tokens so that I’m prepared. Your rounds are timed so if you’re spending 2 minutes digging for a token, it can make a difference. If you don’t have a pen, almost every game store will let you borrow one.
Your own basic lands
I concede that this is totally unnecessary, but I personally feel like at a prerelease there’s enough for me to remember with the brand new cards. It takes time and mental energy for me to remember what my forests or mountains looked like. I also don’t want the mental energy of any basic land looking different. If you want to go this route you realistically won’t need more than 15 of each land type and you can probably get away with 10 of each land type. Another benefit of bringing your own lands is that you can just pack up your stuff at the end of the night you can go home and take your stuff out of sleeves later. I personally bring 25 of each land (which is far too many) so that I can loan them to my friends if they came with me.
I’m convinced, I’m going to the next prerelease!
Hopefully that helps take some of the fear out of going to a prerelease. If you’re a new player, be honest about your experience level. Most of all have a good time! Also, since you made it this far, here’s Illvoi Light Jammer 
.