Preparing for Magic Summit 2023
I’ve never attended a large event for Magic: The Gathering. While there are certainly plenty to choose from, it’s been difficult to find time to travel to events because of life circumstances and schedule conflicts. I decided at the beginning of 2023 that one of my goals for the year would be to try to make it to at least one event, so I was ecstatic when I received the opportunity to attend this year’s iteration of the Magic Summit in Salt Lake City as a featured guest!
By most accounts, last year’s Magic Summit was a big success. The event featured a lot of awesome content creators and community members and it looked like an all-around great time based on everything that I heard about it online. It really stood out to me because it was one of the first events of its scale that is entirely community-funded. The event is run by Carlos Diamond and Andrew Willis and is a true passion project in every sense.
If you love Magic as much as I do, it’s impossible to watch this video from last year’s Magic Summit and not be incredibly moved. Everyone just looks like they’re having an amazing time. Seeing so many people who are just happy to be sharing a space with other people who share their hobby fills me with joy. I’m already looking forward to being there and meeting and playing with Magic fans from all over…
…but there is one thing to think about: I need to make sure that I’m prepared!
If I’m going to a Magic event, I want to make sure that I’m ready to play Magic! I decided that I would bring one playmat, plenty of dice and tokens, and three Commander decks.
These are the decks that I decided to bring:
Adeline, Resplendent Cathar — A casual go-wide deck that floods the board with creatures and tries to win the game with combat. This is my main Low Power deck for playing on PlayEDH.
Avacyn, Angel of Hope — A stronger casual deck with some very powerful hatebears and the possible threat of land destruction. This is my main Mid Power deck for playing on PlayEDH.
Heliod, Sun-Crowned — A cEDH stax deck built around Rule of Law effects and an efficient combo using the commander and Walking Ballista. This is my main Maximum Power deck for playing on PlayEDH.
I didn’t want to bring more decks than I could reasonably find time to play, so I just chose my three most played decks. I generally only build and play mono-white, but I figured that I might also be able to borrow decks from other players to try new things during the event!
I booked my flight and a hotel near the Salt Palace Convention Center where Magic Summit 2023 is taking place and made a plan to travel light. I didn’t want to have too much trouble getting through security, so I’m mostly bringing Magic stuff and the essentials.
My plan was to meet up with a fellow member of PlayEDH staff, Josh Wheeler, since he will also be in Salt Lake City, but I also wanted to make sure to reach out to other friends of mine who are going to be there. I’m very excited that I’ll be able to meet my friends from AMMP and Beth, also known as Queen of Cardboard, in person for the first time. I’m certain that I’ll also meet a lot of other great people who are there as featured guests or attending the event.
I decided that one of the best ways to get ready for the event was to chat with Carlos Diamond, a member of Kingdoms TV and one of the organizers and owners of Magic Summit.
Chief: Howdy. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today. I’m really excited to be going to Magic Summit 2023. Can you tell me what your goals are for Magic Summit and how it came about?
Carlos: Our main goal with Magic Summit is to bring back the old Grand Prix style events and try to see if events created, sponsored, and run by fans can succeed in the current marketplace without any kind of backing from corporate entities. Magic Summit aims to be focused more on play and substance rather than spectacle, which is a concept that we came up with when MagicCons started to become the big thing. There’s nothing wrong with MagicCons, but we wanted to do something different.
With ChannelFireball being acquired by TCGPlayer and then TCGPlayer being acquired by eBay, it left Star City Games as the only major player in this space, but SCG primarily focuses on markets that attract people in the Eastern United States. We wanted to have an event that our family and friends could attend without having to travel too far. Things really came together when I met my business partner, Andrew Willis, and we came up with the initial concept to host a local event featuring Brandon Sanderson’s incredible cube.
Chief: I’m familiar with Brandon Sanderson and I remember the episode of Game Knights where they drafted his Commander cube. How do you know him?
Carlos: Brandon is local to Salt Lake City, so we’re very familiar with him in the Magic scene there. He’s a big fan of professional players like LSV, Reid Duke, and John Finkel and he talked about wanting them to draft his cube because he loves watching their content. We decided to try to make this happen, and it eventually snowballed into the first Magic Summit event in 2022.
Chief: That’s cool. Have you run other Magic events before? If so, how did they compare to the first Magic Summit?
Carlos: We have hosted events before in the local Magic scene. The biggest one had about 400 people, but Summit had ticket holders in the thousands and there were also thousands more who came through the convention center to shop at all of the incredible vendors. It was a huge success when it came to attendance and patronage.
Chief: I hope so too. After all, I might be able to come back again in the future if you keep hosting these. Can you tell me more about the different event offerings that will be available during Magic Summit?
Carlos: Absolutely. The big one is the Mox Mystery Main Event on Saturday. This is a Wilds of Eldraine Sealed RCQ event where the winner qualifies for a Regional Championship invite. They’ll also win a Magic Summit trophy and their choice from among the five Unlimited Moxen! The remaining Moxen will be distributed as prizes to the other players among the top four, with the fifth and final one being part of an exclusive giveaway for VIP passholders. There will also be events called Battles that can earn you byes for this event event. VIP passholders will be able to enter Battles on Thursday and everyone will be able to enter them on Friday.
Chief: That sounds pretty awesome. I’m really looking forward to seeing how excited people are to get their hands on those Moxen. What other events are you looking forward to?
Carlos: We also have another RCQ event on Saturday that includes OG dual lands as prize support. The winner will get their choice of any two of these cards and a Regional Championship invite, as will the runner-up, with the remaining six cards being distributed among the rest of the top 8. There’s also a Modern RCQ on Sunday that includes a Guild VIP pass for Magic Summit in 2024 for the winner.
We also have on-demand play events called that fire as soon as they fill up and a cEDH Mox Diamond tournament on Saturday that will be hosted by Josh Wheeler from your team. This event is capped at 160 players and the winner will receive a From the Vault Mox Diamond. The remaining players in the top 3 will each receive a Stronghold Mox Diamond.
There’s also a special Faction event for the VIP passholders where you choose your color from the different mana colors in Magic and that one will be a ton of fun, but there’s a limited amount of space if people want to secure their favorite color.
Chief: That all sounds awesome. I’m really looking forward to watching the cEDH tournament live. Will there be a place for people to watch coverage if they can’t make it to the event?
Carlos: Of course. People will be able to watch it on our Twitch channel. We don’t want anyone to be left out just because they couldn’t make it to Salt Lake City.
Chief: That’s great news. It looks like there’s a lot to cover. Do you have any recommendations for people who want to play in multiple different events?
Carlos: I definitely think that the VIP pass gives you the best deal if you want to do as many things as possible. Not only do you get an entire extra day on Thursday, you get access to all of the events that I mentioned as well as special giveaways and events that are only for VIPs. This includes things like drafting with Reid Duke, Brian Kibler, and John Finkel.
The VIP pass will also include access to box breaks with Cassius Marsh and Brandon Sanderson. It really is worth the extra money. You can find all of the information about different passes and events on our website. There will also be the special Faction event and more surprises and giveaways happening live in the event hall.
Chief: Carlos, thank you for your time. I’m excited to be there later this month!
It looks like Magic Summit 2023 is going to be another fantastic event. Carlos and Andrew are clearly dedicated to offering a fantastic experience for players of all times. I’ll be there in person to document the event and meet Magic players from all over. If you’re also planning to attend, let’s make sure to chat and grab some games of Commander. I can’t wait to meet you.
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