Wizards of the Coast has announced that it plans to restart sanctioned, in-store play in the United States on May 28, 2021.
Don’t miss our coverage of today’s previews from Modern Horizons 2 and Adventure in the Forgotten Realm.
“[E]xactly when and how will vary store by store per their local guidelines,” Wizards said, but “it means a return to visiting your local game store for that Tuesday night draft, battling at Friday Night Magic, and discovering new cards and combos at an in-store Prerelease event.”
Wizards originally suspended in-store play in the US last March as the COVID-19 pandemic raged in Asia and swept through Europe and the United States. They tried reinstating the program at the beginning of the summer for the release of Core Set 2021, but quickly shut it down again after the pandemic continued to worsen.
Since then, Wizards has purchased SpellTable and begun running virtual prerelease and Friday Night Magic events on the service. “In addition to in-store play, remote Prerelease events through SpellTable beta will continue to be available for everyone to play at home as well,” Wizards said.
This time, Wizards is hopeful that in-store play is here to stay. As part of this restart, starting June 18, they are offering a foil Fabled Passage promo when players purchase at least $50 of sealed product from a WPN game store.
This promo is especially unique because it uses Magic’s original frame, which recently returned to the game with Time Spiral Remastered and Modern Horizons 2.