Wizard of the Coast and Hasbro transformed the Legends Ballroom at the Hard Rock Hotel into the Magic: The Gathering x Spider-Man New York City themed experience that was available Thursday, July 24 through Sunday, July 27 for participants with an RSVP. The reservation link was released through the Magic: The Gathering socials and luckily for me, I was able to secure a spot!
I felt that the reservation process was quick and simple and appreciated that there were a lot of time slots to choose from each day (15-minute increments). I was looking forward to checking out how the MTG game play mechanics would apply to the Spidey universe and of course get to take home one of the five possible Welcome Decks that would be available to use for the demonstration (White: Spider-Man, Blue: Spider-Man 2099, Black: Venom, Red: Ghost-Spider, and Green: Miles Morales).
Being a long time Magic: The Gathering player and Marvel fanboy I was really excited to attend this event and see how my two fandoms would combine. I do have to admit though, I was a little bit concerned on how Spider-Man would be received and how much care would be put into the game since MTG has been going a little crazy with their Universes Beyond IP’s (Final Fantasy, SpongeBob, Assassins Creed, Fallout) over the past year and I really want this to be something I can invest my time in.
The event had six activations that were available for participants to interact with in any order. The Friendly Neighborhood Game Store, Daily Bugle Newstand, Divine Doughworks, J. Jonah Jameson’s Desk, New York City Grafitti Alley, and a Spider-Man Stand-in Magic Card. When you enter the event they gave you a random Welcome Deck and were given the option to wait for an opening for the Friendly Neighborhood Game Store to get a demonstration or visit the other activations. The incentive for trying out the game was that the participants would get another Welcome Deck and a ticket for a promo comic book. This was an easy choice for me to make as I entered the queue to get into the game store.
Friendly Neighborhood Game Store: It was about a 10 minute wait for me to get a seat at a table in the game store. We were given a short tutorial on the game rules, mechanics, and type of cards before we actually tried out the game in a head-to-head duel. The tutorial was a fantastic entry point for newcomers to get an idea of how the game works and a great way for seasoned players to get a feel of the new IP. Once the demonstration was completed, we all got another Welcome Deck and a ticket for a promo comic book that I would later claim at the Divine Doughworks activation.
Daily Bugle Newstand: The next activation that I visited was the Daily Bugle Newstand, This was a quick line-up and pick-up of a copy of the Daily Bugle that featured a crossword puzzle, the Magic: The Gathering game play rules, and that even doubled as a fold-out playmat for game play.
Divine Doughworks: After picking up my Daily Bugle, I then visited the Divine Doughworks to claim my promo comic. This was modeled after a New York bagel shop and had real garlic bagels in the back that smelled really good! Unfortunately, fresh bagels were not being given out as I was hungry at the time but the promo comic book was a nice gift for trying out the game.
J. Jonah Jameson’s Desk: After picking up my comic book, I then visited the J. Jonah Jameson desk photo opp to take a couple of selfies. This was a really intricate set-up of the Daily Bugle editor-in-chief’s desk. I really enjoyed the detail put into creating this photo opp.
New York City Graffiti Alley: The New York City Graffiti Alley photo opp was my favorite out of all the photo opp activations, as this is the one where you would pose and receive an event photo sent to your email to commemorate the event.
Spider-Man Stand-in Magic Card: The final photo opp activation for me was the Spider-Man Stand-in Magic Card. This was a cool way to end the event for me, as I took a photo with the card art, and the whole reason why this event was being held.
I really enjoyed this event! The 15-minute time slot was a little deceptive, as we were given as much time as we wanted to explore all the activations. The event space never felt overly crowded and the lines for the activations weren’t long as they managed the crowd flow into the event very well.
I was able to experience the event at my leisure and never felt rushed. I really hope this will be an ongoing event that WOTC and Hasbro do for SDCC for years to come, as there are so many other Marvel IP’s yet to explore!
If WOTC and Hasbro are reading this, I am putting my vote for X-Men to be the next line you demo at next year’s San Diego Comic-Con.
