After Prerelease usually comes Release weekend when your FLGS holds draft events using the new set.

But WotC have been fiddling with the events, and the order they happen. So not only will your FLGS be doing the above draft events, they will also now be holding an Open House.

Open House events are great for those that want to learn MtG, or try it to see if they like it, or returning players who haven’t played in a long while.

At the Open House you will be given a free welcome deck (it’s free so will not have any cards of value in it) and taught how to play.

You then get to play some games of MtG against other players, and after about 4 games you get given a free promo card.

For the Open House I believe it’s this lovely full art Liliana’s Triumph.

The Welcome decks are great for learning, however they are not something you would use at say FNM or whatever event replaces Standard Showdown.

For those two events you really want to get one of the new Challenger decks. They are a great basis to build a deck from, plus straight out of the box unchanged competitive (ie you will win a game or two with them).

The Planeswalker decks are great for casual play, but once again not strong enough for the more competitive events.

So if you like MtG after trying it. Depending on if you want to just be casual or competitive you know what the next best product is to buy.

Obviously you could jump right in and build your own deck. But that requires buying boosters or singles, learning how to build a deck, and is a steepish learning curve.

With it also being draft weekend as well as the open house, you could always hang around and take part in the draft event.

If you did you’d get this sweet promo…

I won’t explain draft here, but it’s a fun format that doesn’t require you to have a deck or lots of cards to build one from. If you do decide to take part in the draft event the store owner and other players will be more than willing to help you and give advice.

So next Saturday head on down to your FLGS to learn how to play MtG, get a free welcome deck, play some games and get a promo card.