The ConQuest 2018 eSports and Gaming Convention is in the books. It was a successful two-day gathering of gaming, cosplay, anime, and pop culture enthusiasts. Magic: the Gathering Iloilo also took part of this event and we decided to have Standard Showdown in a special setting and in terms of prizes. Friday night’s setup was pretty quick as we just brought foldable tables as additional for our play area. They have also provided tables and chairs so the spacing was not an issue. I announced the event details to the group and the MTG Iloilo page one week prior and asked for their suggestions. I have wanted to hold a Duel Commander Tournament that Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon but most of the people in the EDH group were not available to play at those times. I was canceled and I decided to replace it with a Core Set 2019 Booster draft. The listing of participants also followed.

Come Saturday and I arrived early around 8:30am to setup the tables, chairs and the booth for the Learn-to-play tutorial area. I was alone that time but the good thing is that a few peeps of the ConQuest organizers provided man power to setup the tables and chairs. Still, I was damn soaked with perspiration and we didn’t expect the sun to be up as it was already raining for days prior to the event.

The venue opened at 10am and Day 1 of ConQuest 2018 started. Flocks and groups of event goers entered and explored the place. I was still alone at our MTG Iloilo booth and smiled and greeted each person that passed by and looking with interest at our merchandise. I don’t remember which player arrived first but the companions and few of participants for the scheduled booster draft that morning arrived. We agreed to schedule it at 11am and so they were already around seven of them by the time of 10:45am. I conducted the first batch of tutorials to the students of Ateneo de Iloilo while waiting for them to be complete. It was already 11:30am when I gathered the drafters and started the picks.

Here are some of the pics I took during the M19 booster draft.

The Top 2 players after 3 rounds were Ace and Oliver and were given the first two priority picks of the Rares and Mythics that the group got from the draft. There were not much relevant cards opened aside from the Crucible of Worlds that is more viable in older formats.

Saturday Standard Showdown

Saturday afternoon setup was Standard Showdown and there were ten players in attendance. I don’t know the exact reason why there were fewer players in attendance, maybe because of the post-Nationals rest period or maybe because of entrance fee of P99 per person. Anyhow, that still means 4 rounds of Swiss and I had Rei to TO and manage the event.

Here are the results of the Saturday Standard Showdown tournament.

1st, Franco – Mono Red Aggro
2nd, Andrew – Blue White Control
3rd Oliver – Grixis Midrange

Overall, here the pics of Magic: the Gathering Iloilo during the first day of the ConQuest 2018:

So it has been decided: I will be facilitating on our Magic: the Gathering Iloilo booth at ConQuest 2 over flying to Manila for the Asia Pop Comic Con event. This is just a week’s notice but due to Magic’s not being part of the APCC, I had my doubts already of going there. That is even with a plane tickets I have already bought months ago. It is 2k+ down the drain as I cannot cancel nor refund it due to it being a promo ticket. Anyhow, I would not be that disappointed since I would expect to spend more if I ever proceeded because of hotel accommodations, entrance tickets, etc.

Going back to the ConQuest event, we had already discussed with organizers on the location of the MTG Iloilo play area and booth. It will be on the ground floor of Casa Real Iloilo, in one of the corners inside. I have not yet visited the place so I might check it during the ingress tomorrow night. We will still be having those foldable tables that we used last time during the Unicon event. The organizer said that they will be providing us 2 to 4 tables so we would need about two more to use in the booth area. Chairs will also be provided. If our area would be near the walls, I’ll bring the posters that I’ve printed which were supposedly to be used last Unicon. It is at Rei’s place so it is just an easy grab together with the foldable tables.

As for the event schedule, what is fixed so far are the Standard Showdown on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday’s Modern tournament. I am still trying to have the Core Set 2019 booster draft to push through but there is a time constraint issue at the moment with people having other activities during the designated 11:00am. My other option is to have a Commander and Standard Pauper tournament which I will still work with the corresponding persons.

I guess that is about it for now. I will post updates and tournament schedules once we finalize the place tomorrow night or maybe before that ingress time. Just try to check on our Magic: the Gathering Iloilo Community page.

Until the next post.