cephille's MagicCon: Amsterdam Travelogue

Note: This article was translated from Chinese by AI and may contain errors. Read the original Chinese version.

Before I Start

I’ve always had a longing for big events like MagicCon, always hoping that one day I could be there in person and see for myself how overseas players shape the MTG community and put on such large events.

In 2023 I also wrote a simple guide for MagicCon: Las Vegas. If you don’t mind it being a bit dated, you can take a look: Article link

Around Lunar New Year this year, I saw that MagicCon: Amsterdam had a New Perspectives Grant application, so I decided to apply and see if I had a chance. Even though there were only 10 spots, I applied without much hope. On March 1 I received a notice that it was still under consideration, but on March 16 I received the thank-you card below anyway.

If you’re interested, you can also look at the content of the 2024 application.

The moment I received the thank-you letter, a voice in my heart suddenly said I should still make this trip. Over the following week I booked my flight to Amsterdam, my lodging, and my MagicCon entry badge. After that, all that was left was to try for a chance at qualifying as a PT player through MIT#5 or #6, but unfortunately I didn’t make it in either.

You can read my MIT#6 preparation and tournament report here: cephille’s MIT#6 Preparation and Tournament Report: Sultai Midrange

20240627 (Thu) Day 0

My flight left Taiwan at 11:55pm on the night of June 26. I could barely sleep during the 13-hour flight, and arrived in Amsterdam at around 8am. After taking the train to Amsterdam Centraal Station, I headed straight to the hotel where I’d be staying that night, found a locker to drop my large luggage, and began sightseeing in the city. Since it was my first time there and I didn’t want to spend €19 renting a bicycle, I walked to the venue, RAI Amsterdam, to pick up my badge.

Weekend badge get!

Amsterdam has a great many canals, and the bikes on the road go pretty fast. As I walked, it got hotter and hotter toward noon, so I bought a few things at a supermarket and had a picnic by the roadside. Then, since I’d walked so much and it was so hot, I was sucked into the Heineken Experience by the road. I came out slightly tipsy after two glasses of draft Heineken, picked up the souvenirs I needed to buy on the way, and finally walked back to Amsterdam Centraal Station. By the time I took the train back to the hotel, washed up, and went to sleep, it was past 8pm, and the sky still wasn’t dark, which felt super weird XD

A view of an Amsterdam canal, with lots of tour boats on it and many people rowing. Apart from the water probably being cleaner, this scenery is actually quite similar to Kaohsiung’s Love River.

This photo was taken at 6:30pm while I was walking to buy dinner. I’d walked too much in Amsterdam today and my back pain got worse. Traveling alone and finding everything expensive made me not feel like eating much. Even an ordinary meal was €18 to €25. After looking around, everything seemed poor value for money, so in the end I decided on Domino’s. On the walk back to the hotel with the pizza, it gradually got cold as night fell, and I suddenly really wanted to go back to Taiwan and get a good sleep.

My impression after the first day in Amsterdam: this is a city I’d recommend visiting with friends. If four of you could come together and stay in a hostel, draft or practice together at night, order a pizza and share it, it would be a lot more fun than coming alone. For someone like me who finds museums and art galleries too expensive to enter and isn’t interested in nightlife, the red-light district, or smoking weed, it was actually pretty boring. All I could do was look forward to tomorrow’s MagicCon making me feel the trip was worth it!

20240628 (Fri) Day 1

I was woken at 4:30am by my roommate’s snoring and couldn’t fall back asleep. When I got up the sky was just getting light. While waiting for the 6:30am breakfast, I saw the news that Taiwanese climber 張元植 had fallen to his death on Mont Blanc in France. Perhaps because we’re the same age and have somewhat similar life experiences, besides feeling wistful, the thought of seizing the day became even stronger in my mind.

Entrance

Today’s goals, besides experiencing the atmosphere of MagicCon firsthand, were to finish my shopping list and to line up for artist signatures for my friends. I arrived at the venue before 9am.

Outside RAI Amsterdam, in the big plaza, people from all directions were all heading to MagicCon today.

Many people were already lining up to pick up badges or getting ready to enter right at 10am. Everyone was chatting enthusiastically with friends, discussing what to do today, which card from the packs they’d just opened might be useful, which tech card they’d added to their Commander deck… etc. While in line I also casually chatted with nearby players. Everyone was full of anticipation for the events ahead, or ready to show off their skills in the side events and freeplay.

After doors opened at 9:50am, I headed straight to the Official Show Store to buy venue-exclusive merchandise. I waited about an hour to buy, and when I looked back the line was super long. There seemed to be quite a few staff at the counter, but two of them served one customer at the same time, and half of them were split off to serve preorder customers, so lining up on site would take a very, very long time. I couldn’t help feeling glad I’d come to this stop first.

A photo taken from inside the MagicCon venue looking out. The weather was great, and the sunlight pouring through the glass dome lifted my mood!

The Commander Zone took up the second-largest area in the center of the venue, second only to the PT playing area and stage. The photo above was taken at around 9:30pm, while the one below was taken during the day, when there were so many people they were overflowing. And this is only the buzz in the central area, not counting the number of players sitting in freeplay areas everywhere. It’s really, really impressive! No wonder Wizards takes Commander players so seriously.

The PT broadcast desk, with the feature match tables on the other side. The other photo shows the main PT playing area, with the players’ lounge on the other side. I saw a bunch of familiar Pros like Reid Duke, JED, and Shota Yasooka walking around right in front of me, but being shy by nature, I didn’t go over to ask for a photo. Besides feeling embarrassed, I figured that if I were resting in there, maybe reviewing my games or thinking about countermeasures for what’s next, and passersby kept coming up to take photos with me, I might find it a bit annoying too.

Trading

Many card shops had set up booths at the venue, and the trading atmosphere was quite lively. Each shop displayed its buylist, and you could also ask the staff directly for an appraisal. In the end I handed the cards I’d brought to the Italian card shop CardGame Corner for appraisal and sold them to them. The clerk who appraised them was very friendly, and it was a very pleasant trading experience. After the appraisal, the clerk gives you a quote sheet or check-like paper like the one in the photo. Once you agree, both sides sign on it, and then you take it to another group of staff to collect your money.

Artist Signatures

More than 40 artists were at the venue, and each artist’s signature costs about €3 to €5. Double and Shadow mean roughly the same thing: basically adding a shadow or signing twice, and naturally the price is higher too. The photo shows Magali Villeneuve’s price list at this event. I passed by several times and there were always tons of people, and over the next two days I also went around to look many times, but gave up each time because of the crowds. On the last day, they even put a sign next to the booth saying you’d have to wait at least 3 hours, to discourage players. Worthy of a famous artist…

The one above is the signing price list of another famous artist, John Avon. What’s special is that John’s signing is limited to a quota of 10 signatures per person per visit, and if you want a Shadow signature it uses up 2 of the quota at once. He himself was a bit troubled, saying he’d written this so clearly, yet many people still didn’t understand what he meant.

And John himself was very nice. He agreed to let me take this photo while he was signing, and others were filming too. In short, very easygoing. But you could feel that this kind of signing event is still quite a burden on him. Besides taking regular breaks, during the signing you could see him often stretching to relax.

If you’re a fan of his, all I can say is: sign while you can, and cherish it.

After signing, he puts your cards on a kraft paper bag, and you carry the bag with your cards off to the side like a customer picking up a meal, waiting for the ink to dry. John has probably seen quite a few tragedies where customers didn’t wait for the ink to dry after signing. Besides the written notice, he personally told every customer to please wait at least five minutes for the signature to dry XD

Trying My Hand: MH3 Swiss Draft

Since I didn’t know what to do back at the hotel anyway, I figured I might as well stay at the venue and play a draft! The entry fee is €35. You first go to the registration counter to buy a €5 voucher, then find a table, and once eight players have gathered, a judge comes over to collect the vouchers and the draft begins.

The draft picks, from top to bottom and left to right, are packs 1 to 3 and picks 1 to 14 in order. I ended up with a not-so-great black-white deck, and didn’t get any of the most important removal.

My final built deck is above.

The draft itself was pretty peaceful. A 13-year-old kid sat two seats down from me, and in my third pack I opened Eladamri, Korvecdal, which I couldn’t use, so I passed it to him.

In R1 my opponent was a Swede playing red-black sacrifice. Under the guard of my countless little fliers and lifelink creatures, he couldn’t get through at all, and he never drew any of his removal, really sorry about that. 2-0.

In R2 my opponent was a German who had drafted a very complete red-green Eldrazi deck. He looked like an experienced player, and he’d also be playing in Day 2’s PTQ. 2-1.

In R3 my opponent was that 13-year-old kid, who is American but lives in Germany, with his dad cheering him on from the side. He had drafted blue-green Ramp, and I had no ability to resist under the tyranny of his Springheart Nantuko copying a pile of big Reach creatures. 0-2.

After playing, you go sign a yellow match slip and get your respective prize tix. With three wins you sign your name in the “Undefeated” column. The kid held the match slip like a certificate and had his dad take a photo, and he even asked the staff, quite innocently, whether three wins got an extra prize. The staff said no at first, but seeing how disappointed he was, they left for a while, and when they came back they gave him a piece of candy XDD

You get 1,200 points of prize tix for each win and 400 for a loss. After playing, my 2-1 record earned me 2,800 points. I gave 200 points to the Swedish player from round one so he could exchange for 3 packs of MH3, and with the remaining 2,600 points I exchanged for 2 packs of MH3 and 1 Lord of the Rings draft pack.

• 1,000 tix: MH3 Play Booster
• 600 tix: LTR Draft Booster

20240629 (Sat) Day 2

At 6am I was again woken by my roommate’s snoring. I got up, ate breakfast as usual, and got ready to go to the venue for the main event of this trip, the Pro Tour Qualifier, an 8-round MH3 Sealed format.

The PTQ started at 11:30am with 570 players. Judges came over to hand out boosters, six MH3 boosters wrapped in a yellow zip-lock bag. Sitting across from me was a girl from the Czech Republic who seemed to be playing her first competitive-level Sealed event, so I told her a bit about how things work. But she opened really well, with Ulamog, the Defiler and Six…

After opening, I thought the pool was awful. The black-white removal was great but the creatures were terrible, yet I had no choice but to main-deck black-white. At least the removal kept up, and I could hold my own a bit against all the Eldrazi.

After sideboarding, depending on tempo or being on the play, in a few games I’d switch to red-green Eldrazi, but I kept getting stuck on three lands, and after getting stuck again in R5, I stopped using it.

The rest are the cards I didn’t use. Two cards didn’t get photographed, namely Genku, Future Shaper and Nadier’s Nightblade.

After finishing this day I reviewed my deckbuilding a bit. In terms of overall power, building Temur Eldrazi might have been better, but the blue mana-fixing in the pool was a big problem. Otherwise I’d have splashed blue in my black-white deck for Genku, Future Shaper.

R1 Sultai Graveyard Recursion 2-1

In game one, the opponent used Emperor of Bones + Chthonian Nightmare to dig back creatures several times. I couldn’t kill them all, so I conceded.

p.s. I exiled the opponent’s Emperor of Bones with my black-white removal Abstruse Appropriation, and when I went to cast it, the opponent’s Subtlety bounced it to the top of his library. I cried so hard.

In game two I was stuck on 3 lands for a super long time. After I finally played Titan’s Vanguard, I hit back to win. The opponent forgot to bring back his blue-black Faerie from the graveyard, and as a result he ended up one hit short of killing me.

In game three the opponent drew badly, and I overwhelmed him with creatures.

R2 Temur Eldrazi 1-1

In game one, the opponent flipped a bunch of cards with Nadu, Winged Wisdom until two cards were left in his library. Then he cast a 7-mana creature to retrigger Ugin’s Binding, returning my whole team to hand, and I couldn’t hold out until his library ran out. GG.

In game two the opponent was blown out by an early Glyph Elemental.

In game three, when time ran out the opponent was at 6 life. I cast Marionette Apprentice, which was returned to hand by Ugin’s Binding, and then he slammed a 7-mana Eldrazi to retrigger the Binding and force a draw.

R3 Red-Green Eldrazi 1-2

Game one went very fast. When the opponent played Ulamog, the Defiler, I had fliers to race and won.
In game two, I kept a hand with too much white that I shouldn’t have kept, got stuck on two lands, and the opponent, on the play, accelerated out an Eldrazi, and that was that.
In game three, my opening hand wasn’t great but the curve was fine, so I kept it. The opponent’s Eldrazi landed and my creatures were terrible, so I died.

R4 Abzan Graveyard Value 1-2

In game one the opponent’s creatures were better, my removal couldn’t keep up, and I lost.
In game two I switched to red-green aggro and won in one wave.
In game three, Evolution Witness picked up Thought-Knot Seer twice and stripped my hand bare, and I was ruthlessly trampled by Colossal Dreadmask.

R5 Jund Sacrifice 0-2

In game one the opponent went wide + his Eladamri, Korvecdal used the top-of-library resources like crazy, with two Marionette Apprentice + Warren Soultrader. I couldn’t deal with it all, so GG.

In game two I switched to red-green and kept getting stuck on lands, and then the opponent played Territory Culler first and I had no chance.

R6 Opponent No Show

After reporting the result I saw there was still more than half an hour left, so I decided to have dinner at the ramen shop across the street from the venue. My takeaway after eating: don’t eat ramen in Europe, but the grilled skewers at the ramen shop were okay.

R7 Mardu Resonance 2-1

After eating ramen I still made it back in time for R7! Yay! Both sides were competing over who could kill more, and the one who did would win, so I won XD Just kidding. Mainly the synergy of the opposing deck wasn’t very good, and once a few main creatures were removed the pressure became small. Although the main reason I could win was that I had more removal and drew it all, the opponent’s deck was built rather loosely, and the late-game threats weren’t big, which let me keep widening my advantage. That was also a major point.

R8 Boros Energy Mixed with Eldrazi 2-1

The opponent had a ton of removal, but in game one he got value from Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd. After I learned my lesson, I held my removal and played slowly and won.

In total, 4 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw. In fact, starting from 1 win, 2 losses, and 1 draw I was already out of the prize range of the top 128, so I was simply there to get more chances to play against overseas players. Overall my performance in this PTQ wasn’t ideal, but that’s just how it goes.

Back at the hotel I found that the Hong Konger sleeping in the lower bunk was also attending this MagicCon. Being able to chat in Chinese abroad was really relaxing, and we unknowingly chatted for two hours. During it I learned he currently works in Hong Kong, and later he even gave me a German-language Emry, Lurker of the Loch, for which I’m very grateful.

20240630 (Sun) Day 3

Day three was much more relaxed. After lining up for the artists I hadn’t gotten to on the first day, I wandered over to the Sunday Watch Party for the Top 8 finals. Originally Simon Nielson was supposed to be the commentator, but because he was playing in the Top 8, Andrea Mengucci filled in.

The atmosphere on site was quite cheerful. Besides the hosts analyzing up on stage, every seat below also had a bingo card, and whenever a player on the broadcast made a play, you could circle the corresponding square. If you got a line, you could shout “Bingo!” It was also very lively, and sometimes the hosts came down to hand out boosters. Mengucci handed out boosters while shouting “Who plays Murktide?” and looking for his Murktide Regent comrades, which was a lot of fun.

Although from the Top 4 on it was all Nadu Combo matches and the games were much less interesting, I still found the on-site atmosphere quite good. For a few plays, only after hearing Mengucci explain did I understand the purpose of that move and its possible impact, which was still quite rewarding. June 30 was also Simon Nielson’s birthday, and during the broadcast everyone occasionally sang Happy Birthday to Simon, but the hosts led by changing the last line to “Happy birthday to Nadu~”, which was super fun XD

After the Top 4, Simon won and came over to the broadcast area, and unsurprisingly kept up his usual flashy spin and a huge lap around the venue for his entrance. If you don’t know what I mean, go watch the PT MH3 video, starting at 00:52:40.

During the break while waiting for the finals, the official broadcast played a segment of side interviews with other veteran Pros, made in light of the announcement of Kai Budde as 2024 Player of the Year, which was quite moving and fun. The earlier part of the video had Raphaël Lévy joking that Kai was unbeatable in his youth and always swept him. One day Kai went to Raphaël’s home to find him, and it was his mom who answered the door. His mom asked Kai, “Are you the German who often beats my son?” After Kai said yes, his mom said “Please stop it!” which was super cute. But the next segment turned to Jon Finkel talking about Kai’s significance in the MTG world, like Michael Jordan in basketball. I don’t know why, but when I watched this part my emotions were truly hard to control^{Note 1}. I sincerely hope Kai can overcome cancer and keep enjoying the game he loves most.

Note 1:Kai Budde and Jon Finkel were rivals in the early days of major MTG tournaments. After Kai won the 1999 World Championship with the Wildfire deck, Jon then also won the 2000 World Championship with the Tinker deck.

Back to the on-site broadcast: during the finals the whole venue cheered one-sidedly for Simon, but Nadu mirrors really aren’t much to watch. Being on the play or draw and your opening hand basically decide whether you can win the game. Afterward Simon Nielson also successfully beat Sam Pardee 3-1 to take the championship of this PT MH3, and with today being his birthday, it was a double celebration! After the post-match interview, I also found Simon in front of the main stage and asked him to sign this card for me, which means a great deal to me!

As I walked out of the venue, every player was talking crazily about whether to ban Nadu, Winged Wisdom or Shuko, LOL XD. But anyway, this was a great victory for Bant Nadu!

Dealing Damage: Trip Expense Subtotal

Since I made this trip, some of you might be curious about roughly how much it cost, so let’s calculate the damage here!

The following doesn’t include money I spent on personal souvenirs, cards, or other gifts, and only counts the expenses of the four days in Amsterdam.
The euro to NT dollar exchange rate is taken as 35:1

Transportation

The main expense of flying to Europe is the airfare. I took a KLM direct flight from Taipei to Amsterdam, bought three months before departure, costing NT$45,416. However, when buying the ticket I chose a specific seat, which added about 1 to 2 thousand, so buying normally could be a bit cheaper.

Local transportation was mainly by metro and on foot. Apart from Day 0, each day I basically bought a combined metro and bus ticket for the round trip between the hotel and the venue, once each way, €3.4 each, so €6.8 a day for 4 days. In addition, there was the €4.9 one-way train from the airport to Amsterdam Central Station, €9.8 for the round trip, totaling NT$1,295.

Another thing worth mentioning is Amsterdam’s bicycles. The hostel I stayed in also offers rentals. Although I didn’t rent one, I can still mention it. The price is €14 for 3 hours, €19 for one day, and €18 per day for two days or more. A one-day rental costs about the same as a normal meal in Amsterdam. If you want to experience the Amsterdam scenery, it’s actually worth considering. When crossing the road, besides watching for cars you also need to watch for bikes. Bikes have dedicated lanes, usually painted brick red, so be especially careful when crossing. The bikes here, much like scooters in Taiwan, mostly don’t yield XDD.

Lodging

For lodging I stayed in a hostel called Meininger Hotel, a four-person room. Three nights, including the 12.5% city tax, came to €240, totaling NT$8,400. I did add the €11.9 daily breakfast, though. A full breakfast means no worries during the tournament. At first glance this price looks expensive, but Amsterdam is just this expensive…

Also, because I’d be away from the hotel for long periods for the tournament, I rented a locker every day, €6 per day, €24 for 4 days, totaling NT$840.

For internet, I signed up for Taiwan Mobile roaming, NT$699 for 7 days.

Here’s a picture of the four-person room. The Wi-Fi was free and fast enough!

Food

Since I ate breakfast at the hotel, I ate relatively cheaply over the day. I also don’t know much about Dutch food, and a random meal at €18 to €25 was something I really couldn’t stomach, so I mostly bought simple things at the local supermarket Albert Heijn and occasionally had Domino’s, with a 9” pepperoni pizza costing around €8. But by the last two days I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I went to the ramen shop across from the venue. The total for meals over the four days was €96, totaling NT$3,360. But I must say I really ate quite cheaply these four days. A normal person coming for four days would probably spend at least 1.5 times my food expense.

Entertainment

MagicCon: Amsterdam

The badge I bought was the three-day Weekend at €95, totaling NT$3,325. It’s a pity that I didn’t manage to buy the €170 Premium Weekend, which costs less than double. Besides the two MagicCon-exclusive Counterspell copies upgraded to foil, it also came with a MagicCon: Amsterdam playmat, 2 MH3 Collector Boosters, and assorted odds and ends. But those were probably snapped up as soon as they were announced. For friends interested in going to MagicCon in the future, keep an eye out early, because getting a Premium Weekend should be much better value!

Also, the PTQ I entered cost €160. The format was Day 1: 8 rounds of MH3 Sealed, with the top 32 advancing to Day 2 for an MH3 draft, and the top four finishers earning qualification for the next PT. But since I had earlier registered for a €45 Standard Cup at the same time, because of the clash you can only cancel the event you registered for first, and the organizer does not refund the registration fee lost in this process. See the Terms and Conditions. So the registration fee for this PTQ was actually €205, totaling NT$7,175, which is outrageously expensive.

Other Entertainment

Amsterdam has lots of museums and galleries, and they’re great, but tickets are very, very expensive, starting from at least €20, and the more popular ones at €40 are just about right. Since I’d already splurged too much on MagicCon, I only went through the motions and went into the Heineken Experience when I passed by. The 1.5-hour guided tour with two glasses of draft Heineken was €27.5, totaling NT$962.5, and I absolutely will not say it’s because I was boiling hot when I walked there and wanted to go in for two drinks XD.

Damage Subtotal (Necessary Expenses Only): about NT$71,500

Q&A with Myself

This last section has nothing to do with MagicCon. During my days at the venue, I kept asking myself two questions over and over:

1. The Financial Burden of MTG in Europe and America vs. Taiwan

At this MagicCon, an artist signature cost €5 to €10, playing one MH3 Swiss draft was €35, and opening one MH3 Play Booster was €11. But a simple pizza at the venue was at least €15, and a can of Coke €5. Although I was in Amsterdam, the most expensive place, and spending inside the venue is correspondingly higher than at a typical European card shop, playing one MH3 draft is about the cost of a somewhat decent meal for the average European or American player, while in Taiwan it’s at least equal to two or three meals. From daily necessities to entertainment, MTG in Taiwan really can’t be called an entertainment expense anyone can afford, and this leads to my next question.

2. The Mindset of Taiwanese Players Playing MTG

Precisely because MTG being expensive in Taiwan is an established fact, it’s understandable for players to want to make their money back. But when behavior stemming from this mindset is reflected in Taiwan’s MTG community environment, it pushes the current gaming environment in Taiwan into a market situation that is inward-turning, struggles to absorb new players, and has seriously imbalanced domestic demand. However, this is just the adjustment Taiwanese players make according to their own circumstances in order to keep experiencing this game, but it really is an increasingly serious negative cycle. And it is the complete opposite of the positive community atmosphere, with Europeans and Americans loving this game, that I experienced at this event.

Conclusion

If you ask me whether paying out of pocket to make a trip to Amsterdam was worth it, I’d tell you I had a rather barren time and the trip wasn’t really worth it for me. But if you ask me whether paying out of pocket to attend this MagicCon: Amsterdam was worth it, I’d say it was super worth it!!!

MagicCon is a highly concentrated MTG festival. Whatever you’re interested in about MTG, you can find your own reason to linger at this event! Of course, if you get the chance, coming in a group with a few friends would surely be even more fun. After playing and taking part in events all day, you can chat and discuss freely with friends, maybe have a beer, and the day’s fatigue or any frustrations from the tournament can always vanish!

Lastly, factors like per capita income, values, and habits can’t be changed overnight, but mindset can instantly change your view of the world and your actions. I hope more players begin to hold a relatively positive attitude toward facing this game environment and influencing the people around you. Only then does change have a chance to happen.