Magic the Gathering prerelease event at TokyoMTG

In Japanese there are several sayings about autumn, e.g スポーツの秋 (autumn is for sports), 読書の秋(autumn is for reading), 趣味の秋 (autumn is for hobbies). Although the weather is still very nice in autumn and you can enjoy the autumn leaves in Japan, a lot of autumn activities tend to be indoors. For me personally, this autumn will be for hobbies. I recently started playing the trading card game "Magic the Gathering."  I mainly play "Magic" online but I recently attended my first event a card store.

Over the course of the year, several new expansion sets for Magic are released. One is usually in autumn. With the release of a new set prerelease events will be held all over Japan where you can play with the new cards one week before the official release. These events are perfect for new players as they are rather casual and as everyone is playing with new cards for the first time everyone makes mistakes.

If you used to play Magic in your home country you might want to continue doing so in Japan.

When you are in Tokyo there are a ton of different stores to choose from. I decided to attend the Magic the Gathering prerelease at Tokyo MTG in Suidobashi and would like to share my experience.

Tokyo MTG is kind of a bilingual store with a lot of foreign players attending events there. The staff speak English and Japanese as well. A heard that some Japanese players dislike playing against foreigners that don't speak Japanese but at Tokyo MTG most of the Japanese players are fine with foreigners. The store advertises its events as bilingual so Japanese players that attend know they might run into foreigners with little or no Japanese-language skills.

At the event I attended I would say about 40% of the players were foreigners. I was quite surprised to see quite a few female attendees as well since Magic events are dominated by male players most of the time.

At a prerelease you get a special prerelease kit with 6 booster packs and a promo card and make a deck out of the cards you pulled. Then you play against other players and can receive prices if you win matches.

In most Japanese card shops you will play with Japanese cards but at Tokyo MTG you can choose between English and Japanese cards for your kit. But even if you chose English for your cards you might have to play against someone with Japanese cards.

I saw matches between Japanese players with only little English knowledge and foreign players with only little Japanese knowledge and it mostly worked out fine. In cases of miscommunication, you can call a staff to help out. 

I would say you can enjoy events at TokyoMTG without any Japanese knowledge but the more Japanese you speak the easier it will be playing against Japanese players and the more friends you can possibly make. 

Tokyo MTG is a small store and prerelease events tend to be popular, therefore I would recommend reserving a spot. The fee for attending an event is 3,000 yen and it usually lasts 3 to 4 hours. 

As the theme of the new expansion was fairy tales the store was decorated really nicely. Overall the atmosphere is nice as they have a lot of magic illustrations on the walls and also a corner with comfy couches where you can rest between matches.

All in all, I enjoyed the event, especially the atmosphere at the store but I think the price is quite high. Most card shops in the Akihabara and Shinjuku area charge 3,000 yen for a prerelease but there are other shops that include little extras like a free pack of sleeves etc.

You can also find stores that only charge 2,500 yen, especially if you look in minor areas like western Tokyo, for example, but I don't think you can get English cards there.

I can definitely recommend this store for non-Japanese speakers. If your Japanese skill is good enough to play with Japanese cards I guess it is best to compare prices, location and prizes at different stores and choose the one that fits you best.