Andrea Mengucci: My Experience at MagicCon Las Vegas | Magic: The Gathering
11 ottobre 2023
Andrea Mengucci
Magic: The Gathering
2 Min.
As I’m traveling back home from MagicCon Las Vegas, I’m feeling a lot of emotions after a fantastic 10 days spent in the company of my amazing teammates at Team Worldly Counsel.
Wizards’ biggest events in 2023 and forward are MagicCons, large conventions where you can play in competitive Magic tournaments such as Pro Tours, Grands Prix and PTQs, but also in the Command Zone and find countless artists, vendors and cosplayers.
I took part of MagicCon Minneapolis (where I played the Pro Tour) and Barcelona (where I played in the Limited Open and PTQ as well being a panelist for the Pro Tour Top 4 Watch Party) and I was called again in Las Vegas to hold the same show I did in Barcelona: Worlds Top 4 Watch Party!
In Las Vegas, I wasn’t just a content creator and a panelist, I also competed in the $100,000 Limited Open on Friday. The event was a success with over 1,500 players, making it the biggest event of the year! The players weren’t just competing for money, but also for eight Pro Tour invites, which is what attracts me the most since I want to come back to the Pro Tour tables as soon as possible.
On Friday, while I was playing Gruff Triplets in the Sealed Day 1 of the $100,000 Limited Open, I found some time to check out the Ultimate Guard commentary booth they had set up at the MagicCon entrance. I sat down to watch and chat with Simone and Jacopo who were managing the Italian streaming. It was nice seeing how much engagement there was from viewers that preferred following the commentary by their trusted streamers. Alongside the Italian booth there was also Spanish, German and French, with the French being the ones who stayed up the longest as they hosted Jean-Emanuel Depraz bringing home the trophy live on stream!
My Limited Open was going amazingly. After a great 7-1 start on Day 1, I followed it with a 2-1 in the first draft on Day2. There I was at 9-2 on Saturday afternoon, needing to 3-0 my last draft to Top 8 the event and get that Pro Tour invite!
One match at a time and I was there, shaking Alex Nikolic’s hand and getting that taunting Pro Tour ticket!
Despite losing in the quarterfinals the next day, my MagicCon continued to be amazing as I joined the Watch Party commentary alongside Luis Scott-Vargas and Riley Knight.
It wasn’t just a commentary. We were engaging with our viewers and giving away a ton of free Collector’s Boosters that Wizards gave us. It was a blast running around people who were cheering for my friend Anthony Lee in the Top 4, handing out free boosters.
As Jean-Emanuel Depraz was celebrating his Worlds victory, Luis Scott-Vargas was walking around handing the final boosters to viewers! We were all winners there!
I’m looking forward to MagicCon Chicago, where I’ll be playing again as a competitor in the Pro Tour as well as joining the biggest Magic party there is!
Autor:
Andrea Mengucci
Magic: The Gathering, Member of Team CFBUltimateGuard
Andrea first learned Magic as a kid back in 2004 at probably one of the most peculiar places to find Magic: the beach. In his expansive Magic career, Andrea’s proudest moment in Magic was winning the 2015 Magic World Cup, representing his beloved homeland of Italy and marks, in his words, his first big achievement in Magic. Learn more about Andrea.