For this post on the recently concluded CONQuest 2019, I’d like to share my experience on this event which is probably the biggest pop or redefined as geek culture and e-sports gaming event held in Iloilo City with the venue at the Iloilo Convention Center in Megaworld. The community is glad to be given the opportunity to be part of and to showcase our love for playing Magic: the Gathering to the Iloilo peeps, both old and young.

It was months before the organizers have contacted me regarding this event and since we were also participants of the past two CONQuest, I think if we were already part of the regulars in terms of hobby communities. My preparation isn’t that much as my priority is to held learn-to-play sessions and Rei already have the welcome decks that were sent for the previous Magic Open house events. I also planned to give out flyers to those interested to learn more of the hobby to drop by the two local game stores. I then planned to create a team that will conduct the learn-to-play session throughout the whole two days of the convention. I asked for volunteers in the group and good thing there are four the signed up. I then made sure that they get enough compensation for their work, comparing my personal experience during the Asia Pop Comicon 2016.

The weekly tournament is second in the list as I do not expect all the Standard players to be attending because of them complaining about the entry fee to the venue. I reasoned out that it is a convention so in what you are is that you are going there not only to play but also to see and experience the other stuff and exhibitors offered. It was at their disposal if they were to attend or not. Rei did some help in explaining to them the importance of this type of event.

Come days before the events, we were asked of the number of players and I had given them the maximum capacity of 30 people. Again, I was expecting the attendee’s number to be below that and so we will have enough extra tables for the learn-to-play team to occupy. Confirming the location and table allotment on a Friday, we were ready to face Day 1 of the main event.

Day 1 – Saturday

Rei and I agreed to go to the Iloilo Convention Center an hour before its opening to have ample time to set up our stuff. There were already long lines of people when we arrived and we went at the drop off bay at the back to enter the building. There were already a lot of people inside, other hobby groups and exhibitors setting up and others just checking and roaming around. It was a busy sight.

I was excited about how many people we can accommodate to teach while also worrying if we have enough welcome decks for giveaways. I then oriented the team of the basic things to do to encourage congoers to try learning the game. It was 11am when the gates were opened but still, there were a lot of people lining up to buy tickets. We sat in our designated seats while those players who were early in the event playtested for the Standard tournament scheduled that afternoon. Some curious congoers stopped by to check on their match. That was our cue to ask them if they wanted to learn to play Magic and will be given a free deck right after. Moments later, all of the team members were already preoccupied with doing demo learning to the newcomers. I took a few pics which I will share at the end of this blog post.

The afternoon Standard tournament also had a high attendance despite the issue on the entrance fee. About twenty-two participants were there with the prizes of WAR booster packs and some extra items from sponsors. Five rounds later, it was Speedy and Nonoy Sia that gained the Top 2 slot and the playmat prize with the booster packs. We wrapped up Day 1 of CONQuest after this tournament, all the welcome decks have already given along with some of my premade 30-card decks.

Arriving at the bhaus, I decided to build more 30-card demo decks out from the spare cards from the previous sets and the commons from War of the Spark. I was able to produce 15 more decks before I called it a night.

Day 2 – Sunday

We agreed to go together to ICC at 10:30 in the morning and we brought our laptops and the display monitor again for the Magic: the Gathering videos. There was still a long line of people but it was lesser than the first day. Some of the learn-to-play team members arrived at a later time so I had to accommodate for the meantime the tutorials.

We scheduled Sunday to be of the Modern format and there were a few players already around checking on other exhibitors and on the event on the stage. The finals of the major video games were being featured on stage with some commentators discussing the details of the battle. It was quite noisy as there was one major speaker situated near our play area. I do understand that they need to be that excited as commentators but I could not stand the shouting since they were already on their microphones and it was tuned at high volume already. It was irritating and gave us difficulty to explain the rules during the tutorials as we also needed to raise our voice. Good thing it was just short-term as the next set of commentators for the League of Legends finals were more professional and soft spoken.

I played in the Modern tournament that afternoon piloting the Burn deck. There were fourteen participants and I finished in third place with a 3-1 record. Less and fewer people were passing by our booth as they are mostly on the other side for the shops and the main stage watching the LOL finals. That had us rested for a while and I chanced to check on the shops of my artist friends. I bought some stuff and artworks which I will discuss on a separate blog post.

To wrap up the two-day CONQuest 2019 event, I would personally describe it in two words: Conquest Successful. Checking on their official Facebook page, a total of record-breaking 7500 people attended the event. It proved to be the biggest and grandest event and has given the Ilonggos the chance to experience it. I thank and congratulate the organizers especially Sir Justin Banusing for a great job, and I do hope that this will be a regular yearly event here in Iloilo city.

Last but not the least, here are the pics I took during the course of the event.