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Six tips for your first Magic Pre-Release

By Trick Jarrett ⋅ April 15, 2008 ⋅ Post a comment ⋅

Short and sweet, here are my six tips for those of you going to your first or your hun­dredth pre­re­lease tournament.

1. Have fun. If this is your first pre-release or your 100th, these are events meant to be fun. And they are espe­cially geared at being relaxed and fun for new­com­ers. Do not go to these look­ing for hard­core com­pe­ti­tion. So set out for this event with fun in mind and as your only goal for the day.
2. Look over spoiler lists. Some will say that there is a cer­tain amount of fun in open­ing packs and see­ing cards you’ve never seen before, and if that is your ket­tle of fish — go for it. If you are look­ing instead to win at least a few packs, you need to know what to expect before you begin competing.
3. Bring your own food. Food is essen­tial, your brain needs energy to func­tion and while venues always offer some­thing, it may be over­priced, or it may be lim­ited and unde­sir­able. It just saves you the headache and extra cash. This is of course depen­dant on the rules for your event orga­niz­ers, be respect­ful and respon­si­ble if you bring your own food.
4. Meet peo­ple. Like other events, peo­ple will travel to their near­est pre-release and it is a great oppor­tu­nity to meet new peo­ple. So often peo­ple sit at their deck con­struc­tion and they hardly speak to one another except over a few cards, please speak up. Talk about any­thing. Sports. Your sig­nif­i­cant other. TV shows. Etc. Just intro­duce your­self to the neigh­bors and see where it goes. If you’re new to the game, this is key when it comes to enjoy­ing Magic — know­ing people.
   
5. Try some­thing new. This is the time to reach out­side your nor­mal rou­tine and try some­thing new. If you play aggro, look for an oppor­tu­nity to play con­trol. If you play con­trol, play aggro. These are the low K value tour­na­ments which will hardly affect your rat­ing, and its the time to exper­i­ment. As a new player, it’s impor­tant to gain expe­ri­ence with dif­fer­ent styles.
   
6. Exam­ine your mis­takes. Even though this is a fun, low pres­sure event, mis­takes still mat­ter. If it is a mis­take in deck con­struc­tion, game play, or judg­ment, it doesn’t mat­ter. You only get bet­ter by under­stand­ing what you did wrong. Since it’s low pres­sure, feel free to talk to your oppo­nents after the game.

It’s short and to the point this week.

— Trick

Updated: As was pointed out on the forums, bring­ing your own food is sub­ject to event orga­nizer rules. Updated to reflect this.

Trick Jarrett is the host and founder of ManaNation.com, he writes, edits, covers, and spoils Magic for a living. Playing it whenever he can manage to find the time. He is engaged to a lovely woman who refuses to learn Magic, and they have a cute cocker-spaniel puppy who is all too eager to play Magic.

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