7 MagicCon tips to know before attending your first Magic: The Gathering convention

There’s something that feels, dare I say, special about MagicCon compared to other nerdy conventions out there. It probably has something to do with the fact that the three-day annual event is so focused on a singular game. At Comic-Con or even PAX conventions, there’s a shared nerdiness across all the attendees, but despite some overlap in the things we like, everybody’s into their own thing. But at MagicCon: Las Vegas 2026 — my first time attending Wizards of the Coast’s convention dedicated to Magic: The Gathering — I quickly realized that just about every stranger felt more like a friend I hadn’t met yet. I didn’t expect anybody to have heard of my obscure, 27-year-old Commander from Urza’s Legacy, yet multiple people eagerly nodded and asked to see my deck.

If you’re going to spend the money and travel out of your way to visit this kind of convention, you love Magic. Meeting new people and bonding over that shared interest feels easier at MagicCon than it is virtually anywhere else.

Suffice it to say, my first MagicCon was an illuminating experience, and there’s a lot I would have done differently. Rather than just bring four Commander decks to play (when I was only able to get a single game in), I would have brought fewer — and a lot more of other stuff.

Don’t show up on time, unless you are looking for a timed drop

Some retailers might offer special limited products on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re on the hunt for something like that, then you need to try and be the first person on the show floor. But otherwise, showing up an hour after the convention opens is better. Leading up to and through the first half hour or so of the show opening, attendees are funneled into long lines and forced to wait. It’s annoying and necessary, but if you show up an hour after it opens, you can usually just waltz right in.

Bring a trade book and bulk cards to trade in

Many of the longest lines on the MagicCon show floor were full of people looking to trade in their cards for cash or store credit. We all get valuable cards we don’t need or want, or even a bunch of cheaper ones that can add up to a substantial amount. MagicCon is a great place to bring a ton of cards you want to get rid of and get a fair price all at once, which beats trading them in one by one at a local game store or selling them online. A lot of people do exactly this then spend their proceeds buying singles or sealed product on the show floor. Plenty of people also came with a trade binder of their rarest cards to barter directly to other players. Just be sure to leave some empty space in there for whatever new cards you get from events and packs you open onsite.

Vendors have any product you could possibly want

Big-box retailers like Target or Walmart only ever have the newest sets in stock, and even my local game store has a limited selection of various products. While you can find obscure and expensive cards, packs, and decks online, you always have to deal with shipping costs. But at MagicCon, you can literally find sealed products from throughout the history of Magic. You’ll be paying around market rate, of course, but the ease of access is hard to beat.

Come with a list of cards you want to buy

Image: Wizards of the Coast

Like most people, I wind up buying single cards online when building a deck, but buying them in-person offers a few distinct advantages. You can inspect it personally, rather than rely on condition details listed on online retailers. You can also often find the same card for different prices at multiple vendors, so you can shop around for the best price. Don’t wait too long, however, or you might lose it to another customer.

Get some cards signed by artists

More than 60 Magic artists came to the convention, and they each had booths set up where you could scan a QR code and upload a decklist to see if any of them illustrated your cards. But the full artist directory was available online before the show. Most artists had prints for sale, but the main draw seems to be getting specific cards signed by artists. I wish I’d paid more attention to this! I have the Prismari Artistry preconstructed Commander deck, and Andrew Mar illustrated the alt Commander Muddle, the Ever-Changing. I’d left that card at home, however.

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Every single day as I’d approach the Las Vegas Convention Center, I’d see groups of players huddled alongside the windows, oftentimes playing Commander while sitting cross-legged on the floor. And this would continue throughout every day, as larger tables in the main areas filled up with people eating and/or playing. But tucked away from the main convention floor down some of the side hallways, there were rooms for freeplay that fairly often sat empty or close to it.

Ticket exchange is open late every day

Participating in ticketed events earns you a certain amount of “prize tix” based on how many games you win, with potential earnings varying across events. But even just participating earns you this currency. These tix can be exchanged at a Prize Wall reminiscent of an arcade exchange, except rather than toys, it’s a bunch of Magic products. These tickets are event-exclusive and you can’t save them for future conventions, so it’s quite literally a use it or lose it situation. Since ticketed events often run much later, sometimes hours after the show floor closes, the Prize Wall also remains open — until midnight on Friday and Saturday and 6 p.m. on Sunday. Most play boosters cost only 500 prize tix. Your best bet is to hoard your tix until the end and save up to buy better items. You might be able to score event-exclusive playmats or even Commander decks if you have enough.