In-Store play is back in North America, Asia Pacific, and Africa!
Wizards of the Coast has shared its monthly in-store update for Magic: The Gathering today, announcing that in-store play suspension has been reinstated in Japan. The good news is that in-store suspension has already been lifted in Asia Pacific and Africa, and starting May 28, it will be lifted in the United States, so that means stores in the Wizards Play Network program will be able to run sanctioned MTG events soon. Local guidelines will remain a priority as tabletop gameplay returns to the U.S.
In-store play was suspended last year due to COVID-19 pandemic, but thanks to the vaccines given out in various Magic-playing countries across the globe, we should expect to see the return of tabletop play in most WPN local game stores this year.
To celebrate the return of sanctioned tabletop events in stores, WotC is offering promotional copies of Fabled Passage, which was first revealed during last week’s Weekly MTG stream. Players who spend $50 or more at any WPN associated store from June 11 will be able to receive this promo card as a reward.
While MTG players in Japan and other regions will have to wait a bit longer before they can participate in sanctioned events, players in the North America, Asia Pacific, and Africa should be excited that they will be able to use their playmats, sleeve-up their paper Magic decks, and meet their opponents face-to-face to enjoy the game that they love in person.
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Wizards has yet to announce if MagicFest events will return this year, but I’m sure many fans are excited to play in these major MTG tabletop events.
Remote play events remain available for all regions in Wizards EventLink. The next MTG in-store monthly update will be on June 9.
