I have returned to the store where I bought my first comics and played my first games of Magic more than 20 years ago

I remember the walls full of comics, the endearing face of the salesman, the spectacular models in front of which Warhammer was played on the central table, the stools where you sat and watched them play games. Magic: The Gathering those who did know how …

I also visualize an additional little room, where the grown-ups played, which I never stepped on for fear that the smell of sweat that took over your nose every time you entered that room. neighborhood store, was there stronger than my nose could bear.

An eternal illusion

I remember that nice little man actively and passively replying that soap existed, but the lack of ventilation and being the only meeting place for that bunch of geeks with boiling hormones it was an explosive combination.

I remember the bad – as if my nose were there now – and also the good – the money that I will have left on that counter – but above all I remember the feeling of peace that knowing that there were many people with my same concerns. Others with more interest in superheroes and dragons than in soccer players and injection engines.

Not only young people or kids my age, eye, also people who came to buy or stood behind that counter to enjoy their biggest hobbies without age or the concerns of adult life being an impediment.

I remember with a special vividness the image of Ángel leaning on the counter, waiting for which cards you had been touched. And with it also the tranquility of thinking that one day I would be like him. Not a shop owner, of course, but someone who, despite the passing of the years, would continue to vibrate with every new video game, comic or board game let it come into your hands.

Magic in the San Antonio Market (Barcelona – 1994)

Memories and more memories that, unfortunately, will remain at that. The dream of that child remained – here I keep talking about video games and letters from Magic more than 20 years later-, but the road to that neighborhood store, like so many others, has already ended.

Typical Magic Newbie Questions

The idea behind this week’s text was to go to Ángel and his store in search of answers to all those questions that have arisen in recent weeks. Things probably stupid in the eyes of an expert that, however, seemed the perfect excuse to go back through that door.

Rookie Questions What:

1. What should I buy when going to a store as a beginner?
2. How do I know what collections are available?
3. What does each type of format and game mode mean?
4. Can I buy old packs for pure collecting?
5. Is it cheaper to buy packs of old collections?
6. What does it cost to participate in a tournament?
7. What the heck is visual spoiler?

Yes, a glance online is more than enough to choose between dozens of answers to those same questions and end up with a more or less clear idea of ​​where to go. It’s the good thing about living in a time when Magic is something else, as we mentioned a couple of weeks ago with catfish fishing.

In a matter of minutes you know that:

1. In the stores they hold events in the they give away initiation decks to learn how to play and start a collection that will later be completed with new Planeswalker decks, construction kits or boxes of envelopes that help you continue to improve your favorite decks.
2. Although you can play your ball with any collection, there are news every three months that are setting the pace of what can be played in standard format -the one that focuses on the new collections-.
3. There is game modes and formats to rage, from those that focus on classic (Legacy) or recent (Standard) collections to those that involve playing between several players as if it were a board game (Commander) or invite you to create a deck based on what you get in envelopes (Draft).
4. Yes, but sometimes finding the packs you want can be complicated due to lack of stock and you have to wait for a reprint, collections that come to life in a renewed way for the enjoyment of the community.
5. There is some offer, especially in official stores with a lot of stock or large physical and digital surfaces, but generally going backwards implies fewer units available and more demand than supply.
6. Quite cheaper than I expected. Entries in local tournaments move between 5 and 25 dollars and they have juicy prizes.
7. The letters that are revealed little by little before the collection hits the stores. The next collections will be those of werewolves, Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
   , and vampires, Innistrad: Scarlet Engagement. The first one will land in MTG Arena on September 16 and in physical on September 24. They both look nice.

But I was especially excited to go to that store and to that old expert -who most likely would not have recognized me-, to answer those same questions from you to you. And I will not get it by the hair, which is what angers me the most, because what was a second home for years closed its doors definitively on November 18, 2020.

Long live the neighborhood hobby store

But there is no harm that for good does not come, and that this serves as an excuse and exercise for everyone who, arrived here, fondly remembers that store and shopkeeper that marked a before and after in his life as a fan of manga, to the letters of Magic or to the role of Dragons and Dungeons.

Serve this as an excuse for your next order to be in the store in your neighborhood, so that you come to say hello, to buy the latest novelty you were waiting for or to play a game with your decks. Or with those who leave you there to play, if there is something in those places, it is camaraderie and the desire to add friends, so Make yourself at home.

And if you have never done it and you are looking for a store where learn to play Magic and meet people, the possibilities are enormous, and this map of stores and events It will be of great help to you to enter this world in the company of good people.

For my part, the mission continues, and the return to that environment, even in another store, will materialize sooner or later. Until then I can only give the Thank you to Ángel for all that he unintentionally taught us to a whole generation.

Long live the neighborhood hobby store.

Long live the Cuarto Milenio store in Cornellà de Llobregat.

Images | Role of the 90s