START…
… Your weekend off right with the Dragon’s Maze Prerelease!
Most weekends have a StarCityGames.com Open Series, a Grand Prix, a SCG Classic Series event, or some other large event or two to attend. It takes a big deal to put all of that on hold—and that "big deal" this weekend is the Dragon’s Maze Prerelease! Players around the world will begin cracking packs mere seconds after midnight on Saturday, April 27, 2013, and the full Return to Ravnica block will be available for Constructed play soon after.
The Star City Game Center in Roanoke, Virginia is one of the many stores getting in on the fun, so I’m going to talk a little about the events that we are running here in the Star City* so you know what you can expect at your local LGS this weekend.
*Roanoke, Virginia, formerly Big Lick, Virginia, was established in 1852 and chartered in 1874. Within the city limits is Mill Mountain, which stands detached from surrounding mountain ranges. At its summit is the Roanoke Star, an 88-foot tall steel structure with neon lighting that is the world’s largest freestanding illuminated man-made star and was constructed in 1949. Roanoke has been nicknamed "The Star City of the South" ever since!
The Star City Game Center Dragon’s Maze Prerelease will feature some events that are unique to our store, but some are much more ubiquitous. One such event is the midnight Prerelease, starting as soon as we are allowed to get going by Wizards of the Coast, and other traditional Sealed Prereleases as the weekend goes on.
For those of you who took part in the Return to Ravnica and/or Gatecrash Prerelease, you know the deal by now with the guild Prerelease packs. As you sign up, you will select your guild preference and receive a guild-specific pack for your sealed pool with a special focus on that guild’s cards.
The guild Prerelease packs at the Dragon’s Maze Prerelease are going to be a bit different than the Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash Prereleases. Just as Dragon’s Maze forces different guild champions to participate in Cooperation with other guild members, so too will you have to forge an allegiance with an unknown ally. Inside of your sealed pool of cards, you will receive:
- Four Dragon’s Maze Booster Packs
- One Gatecrash Guild Booster Pack
- One Return to Ravnica Guild Booster Pack
At the start of the event, just like in the last two Prereleases, you will choose your guild—but you will also receive a secret ally guild! Your ally will be in a partnered color to your guild but will be from the other set. For example, if you decide Bribery is your best bet and wish to extort your enemies and select Orzhov (which is in the Gatecrash expansion), your ally will either be Azorius, Rakdos, Selesnya, or Golgari. Each of those four guilds shares a color with Orzhov and is from the Return to Ravnica expansion, not Gatecrash. Understand? Okay!
The Star City Game Center is running four such events on April 27-28: midnight on Saturday at 12:01 AM, Saturday at 10 AM, Saturday at 8 PM, and Sunday at 11 AM. The Sunday event has a little something extra for our participants, but we’ll get to that a bit later on…
Of course, the big attraction of the Dragon’s Maze Prerelease is the Implicit Maze in-store event. Your guild (the one you select at the beginning of the Prerelease, not necessarily the same as your affiliated guild on PlaneswalkerPoints.com) will be competing against the other guilds to reach Maze’s End first! At the start of the event, you will receive a guild symbol button to show you allegiance to your guild. Each time you win a match during the tournament, your guild will move farther through the Implicit Maze.
Each member of the first guild to complete the Implicit Maze will get a "Champion of the Maze" achievement code card, which can be redeemed on PlaneswalkerPoints.com for a badge and achievement. Additionally, members of each other guild to complete the Implicit Maze after the first will receive "Maze Runner" achievement code cards, which can be redeemed on PlaneswalkerPoints.com while supplies last. When the Maze is completed, each player participating in the Implicit Maze will receive an alternate art foil Plains promo card (while supplies last)! How exciting!
Implicit Maze events aren’t the only gig in town, though. Your local game store might also feature Two-Headed Giant events like we are here in Roanoke, and you should be aware of the format in those as well. In order for your team to build stronger and more consistent decks, Two-Headed Giant participants will receive:
- Four Dragon’s Maze Booster Packs
- Two Gatecrash Guild Booster Packs
- Two Return to Ravnica Guild Booster Packs
We are hosting a pair of Two-Headed Giant events at the Star City Games Center: one at 3 PM on Saturday and one at 4 PM on Sunday. As always, check with your local Prerelease headquarters to learn your schedule.
Here at the Star City Games Center, we want to make these events extra special. Not only will you be winning packs of Dragon’s Maze, but you’ll double your prizes by adding the same number of packs of Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash to your winnings! For example, if you win eight packs of Dragon’s Maze, you’ll also get four packs of Return to Ravnica and four packs of Gatecrash!
I would suggest that you preregister for any and all events you’re planning on playing in this weekend. The Star City Games Center wishes for you to do the same as well because if you reregister now for any of the Sealed Deck flights at the Star City Games Center below, you’ll save $5 off the regular price!*
*Preregistration discount not offered for 2HG.
The last event you should be aware of here in Roanoke is a pretty unique one: brunch with Ben Bleiweiss! If you join us at the 11 AM Dragon’s Maze Sealed on Sunday, April 28, you can be a part of our "Free Brunch" Prerelease Tournament Flight, where StarCityGames.com General Manager Ben Bleiweiss will be on hand serving free bagels, donuts, juice, and milk to all participants! How neat is that?
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Magic players—when we all get brand new toys to play with for the very first time! Won’t you join us?
Good luck, have fun, and be the first to reach Maze’s…
…END!
Video and Coverage Content Associate and Social Media Admiral for StarCityGames.com
Listen to the @InContention podcast! It’s the official podcast of the StarCityGames.com Open Series with @kstube, @affinityforblue, and myself. Our most recent episode, The Ral World, guest starring Cedric Phillips, can be found here.