I Went To - Grand Prix London 2016 (Magic: The Gathering)

Last weekend (7th-9th October) the ExCeL Centre in London Docklands hosted Grand Prix London, one of the largest Magic: The Gathering (Magic) tournaments in the country (main event capacity peaked at 2800 people).

Alongside the three day main event (sealed format using the new set, Kaladesh) were numerous side events covering all sorts of formats, from the typical Standard, Modern and Legacy, to more crazy formats like 'One Box' sealed (in which players use 36 booster packs to build a single deck).

Despite the best efforts of London Transport to prevent me, I spent Saturday afternoon at the GP.

"What format did you play Owen?" I hear you ask. Well my answer to that? I didn't.

"But Owen, you can't go a game tournament and not play any games!" I hear you cry.

Allow me to explain.

I like to play competitive Magic, I don't like to play competitive Magic. That is to say I enjoy playing games of Magic against competent opponents who provide a tactical, thoughtful, exciting game, ideally where both of us are playing with comparable levels of skill. I however do not enjoy playing Magic in a competitive setting. Small scale tournaments with a handful of people is fine; playing in a packed out tournament hall with 2000 plus people is a different matter. Playing a series of games against random opponents over a number of hours is not how I find fulfilment from the game; it is essentially divorced from the aspects of the game I find fun.

I admit this dislike of large scale tournaments likely stems from my very introverted personality: being surrounded by hundreds of people, being forced to interact with said people and experiencing audio-visual overload results in me getting fatigued, tired and grumpy pretty quickly. Enduring extended, repeated interaction with other humans is certainly a skill I'm lacking in.

So what did I do while I was there? I made the trip up to London on Saturday with Rich and met up with Aaron, Elliot and Saf who we're playing in the Modern side event that day. I managed to get a picture of Aaron looking the most intense I've ever seen him:

Playing Merfolk is serious business you know. He later went on to win this game with a double Gut Shot to the face. This pleased him no end.

Rich and I had a wander around the trade stands - the densest concentration of expensive bits of cardboard I've ever seen. It was nice to get a good look at the Kaladesh Masterpiece series in person; It's unlikely I'll ever own one of these Magic 'Ferraris'.

The prize wall had some uncut foil sheets on display - only a few of these are ever made available for public ownership. The gentleman on the stand gave us some interesting factoids regarding the cutting and randomisation process these sheets undergo following their printing.

The art of Magic: The Gathering is in my opinion one of the best aspects of the game, so I would be remiss not to visit the Artist stands. Mark Tedin, one of my favourite Magic artists, was in attendance; We had a little chat with him and I picked up a print of 'Primal Beyond'. One realises how much the cards crop the artwork when compared with the original.

All in all I had a fun afternoon, despite not actually playing any games. The company of good friends and the immersion in some Magic: The Gathering culture is more than enough for me.