The Pre-Release: A Return to Greatness

This little tale begins with a troubled thought. While sitting in my office playing some online poker I stared endlessly at a Rafiq of the Many and for whatever reason I began to wonder----What would ever happen if Wizards stopped making Magic cards? What if they decided to pack their bags, fold up the tents, and sneak out of bed without leaving a number? No more Grand Prix's, Friday Night Magic's, DCI, guys in zebra shirts running around. No more Magic, no more nuttin'? What would happen if that ever truly came to pass? What would we all do? Would we as players leave too? Would we yield to those unwanted winds of change and chalk it up to fate's cruelty?

But then a smile crept across my face. No, that would never happen. Case in point, the State Championship and the ever popular Magic: The Gathering Pre-Release Event. At the beginning of 2008, Wizards handed down some rather unpopular changes to its very devoted players of our little card game. Two of them being the demise of the ever popular State Championship, and the severe attenuation of our beloved Pre-release events.

Instead of shrugging and accepting our fate, we as players did something about it. We let Wizards know just how much we cared about both of these events: that eliminating States and reducing the Pre-releases to the local store level was a terrible mistake. The customers banded together to complain and the supplier did something that every good supplier should do: they listened and made an effort to understand what is most important to their clients.

With the help of the Regional TO's and the driving demand of the players, the State Championship was successfully resurrected, and our adored Pre-releases have been restored back to the full blown gigantic status it was always meant to have. I'll rest easy knowing that Wizards won't stop making our cards, nor will they completely stop running the events for all of us to play in, as long as we stay diligent and continue to have the fortitude to stand up and communicate our likes and dislikes.

That said, not only are the Big Pre-releases coming back...they're coming back with a vengeance. Never in my 14 years of playing Magic have I ever seen or heard of a pre-release with this many attractions, fanfare, or excitement. Lets begin with the basics...

Front Range Magic presents... THE CONFLUX PRE-RELEASE EVENT

   When - Saturday, January 31st and Sunday Febuary 1st
   Where - The Crown Plaza at I-70 and Chambers
   Who - YOU!

THE GOOD STUFF

• Sign-up for Sealed Deck pods will begin at 9am (we decided to give you Springs guys an extra hour for sleep/breakfast/etc :-). This will be a bit of a different format than what you are used to as there will be no tournament pack: decks will be constructed with 3 boosters of Shards of Alara and 3 boosters of Conflux.
• The (first) Two Headed Giant Event will begin at 10am, or when 32 teams have entered, whichever comes first. Again, no tourney packs: decks will be constructed with 3 boosters of Shards of Alara and 4 boosters of Conflux.
• Side Drafts will commence at 2pm. The format will be Shards - Conflux - Conflux.

THE GREAT STUFF

• Dan Frazier will be in attendance!
• Douglas Shuler will be in attendance!
• Rob Alexander will be in attendance!

THE AWESOME STUFF

Front Range Magic will have two very special guests flying in to "gunsling" with all of the players attending the Pre-release. Manuel Bucher and "The Innovator" Patrick Chapin will be here in Denver playing Magic, answering questions, and giving advice to everybody in attendance. Here's your chance to play with two of the best in the world at our game and maybe even win a pack of Conflux!