Streets of New Capenna Prerelease Information

Streets of New Capenna Prerelease Information

This April, Magic heads to a world of glitz, crime, and glamour. Welcome to Capenna, a world where five criminal families vie for control of the plane. Which family will you join when you find yourself on the mean Streets of New Capenna? Join us this April 22-24 for your first chance at seeing these new cards in person with a Streets of New Capenna Prerelease Event!

Streets of New Capenna Prerelease Overview

Ready to hit the streets? Well let's take a peak at what event offerings we've got this time around for Streets of New Capenna. This time around, we're offering 6 in-person prerelease events with an expanded capacity of up to 50 players per event! The event listings are as follows:

In Person Events

Once you pick a flight you'd like to attend, it's time to pick a family to represent! Your chosen family will help you out with one seeded booster inside your prerelease kit that's entirely devoted to that faction. So, for example, if you pick the Obscura family, you'll get 5 regular draft boosters of Streets of New Capenna, plus an Obscura family seeded pack, plus the promo card and other prerelease kit goodies.

Please Note: Each flight will have 10 of each family available. If you don't see the family you'd like to play available for that flight, it is probably sold out. 

Once you've picked a family and preregistered for a prerelease, take a look at the guide below to make sure you're ready to play and ready to safely have a good time at our events.

Preparing for a Prerelease at Phoenix

Once you've preregistered for your event(s) of choice, there's a small checklist of things to do before prerelease weekend rolls along. If you're planning to play at one of the in-person events, here's what you'll need to be aware of:

  • Review our current guidelines regarding in-store play.
  • Get fully vaccinated! If this is your first time playing in an event with us post-pandemic, we will need to see your vaccination card showing that you are one fully vaccinated planeswalker (that's 2 shots + 2 weeks for most regimens, or one-shot + 2 weeks for the J&J).
  • Wear a comfortable and well-fitted mask to the event, and be prepared to keep it on while indoors. (Please note: non-alcoholic drinks are permitted inside, but food is not, so please be prepared to eat outside if you need a snack)
  • Optional, but highly recommended: Download the Magic Companion app to your phone or tablet.
  • Optional, but highly recommended: Make sure you have a login setup with the MTG Companion App (if you play Arena, these login credentials are the same for both game and app).

A note on our mask / vaccination policy: After careful consideration and consultation with our team, we have decided to still require in-store masking and checking of vaccination cards at this time. Our in-store play guidelines have been updated accordingly. We believe this is the best option that will also allow us to still have the large pre-pandemic sized events that we know folks have enjoyed with us in the past. 

What to do during Prerelease Weekend

If you're playing in one of our in-person events, just make sure you arrive at the store before the event's start time. We recommend aiming for about 30-45 minutes prior to the event to make sure you can get checked in, find a seat, and get comfortable in the space. You can do some trading, or pick up some sleeves or what have you, and it's way easier if you do that ahead of start time rather than during deck construction.

The Prerelease "How to"

All of our Streets of New Capenna prerelease events will be a sealed (or limited) format events. That means you'll be given 5 draft boosters of Streets of New Capenna, a seeded booster pack for your chosen family, and a foil prerelease promo inside of your prerelease kit. You'll be given about 45 minutes to open those packs, sort them, and build deck out of the contents inside. Here are all the deck building requirements: 

  • Minimum Deck Size is 40 cards
  • You may use whatever is in one single prerelease kit (plus the promo) to build your deck.
  • Aside from basic land, you may only use whatever is in your prerelease kit to build with. (No trading with other players or combining multiple pools, please).
  • There's no cap on the number of cards of the same name you can have in the deck (ex: if you open 5 of the same card, you can use all 5 if you want).
  • You may adjust your deck between games or matches. If you're just not doing well with what you built, maybe try a different combination of colors!

Once you've got your deck built, set the rest of your card pool aside until the end of the event. Don't trade anything away yet, cause those leftover cards will be your sideboard. 

Prerelease Prize Support

All of our prerelease events are run with an eye towards having the best possible time, learning, and trying out new ideas and strategies that come from every new set. So with that in mind, we stick to a simple pack-per-win prize structure that looks a little like this:

  • 4 Wins - 4 Packs
  • 3 Wins - 3 Packs
  • 2 Wins - 2 Packs
  • 1 Win - 1 Pack

    With the exception of the Friday at 3 PM event, each event will have a maximum of 4 rounds. All prizes will be awarded to players in the form of Streets of New Capenna Set boosters once they've finished with the event. Only play 2 rounds and need to drop? No problem! Just let us know you're leaving and we'll give you whatever prizes are owed at that point.

    Because the 3 PM Friday event will be constrained to 3 rounds in order to make sure that the 7:30 PM event can start on time, it will have a similar prize structure to the one listed above, but adjusted slightly. In order to accommodate the missing round, the final round of the event will count for 2 boosters (so you can still win as many as four packs if you 3-0 the Friday event).

    Streets of New Capenna Preorders + Buy-A-Box Promo Information

    During the prerelease for Streets of New Capenna, we'll be offering Set and Draft boxes for sale once again! We'll have a smaller number of them available alongside an allocation of Collectors Booster Boxes, so if you're wanting to spend prerelease weekend drafting with your friends, go preorder a box today!

    Buying boxes gets you something else too - an extended border buy-a-box promo card! You'll receive one buy-a-box promo for every purchase of the following items:

    • Draft Booster Display
    • Collector's Booster Display
    • 6 Streets of New Capenna Prerelease Kits (any combination of families)
    • Set Booster Display

    You'll get 1 promo per qualifying item(s) purchased. So if you preorder 6 prerelease kits and a set booster display, you'll get 2 of these lovely promo cards.

    Streets of New Capenna Prerelease FAQ

    Here's a few commonly asked questions about prerelease events and in-store play events. If your question isn't on this list, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at the store! We're happy to answer any questions you might have.

    Q: How well do I have to know Magic to play at a prerelease?

    A: Not that well really! We ask that you have a working knowledge of the game (i.e., you know how to play, and no one's going to need to explain turn order or any of the basics), but beyond that we'll do our best to accommodate any and all skill levels. Prerelease events are a fun and casual environment, and if you're having a tough time with something we'll have a judge or tournament organizer available to help you through it.

    Q: What should I bring with me to the event?

    A: Here's a short checklist of items that are either required or good to have:

    • Required: Your vaccination card (or a photo of it)
    • Required: A well fitted mask to wear while in the shop
    • A water bottle and energy bar or dry-snack (you'll need to step outside to eat it, but it's a good idea to have something if you're hungry and a round goes long).
    • Sleeves and a deck box (you also can buy these at the shop if you forget them)

    Q: Should I preregister for the event?

    A:  If you're able to, yes absolutely! Preregistration locks in your spot at the event. The last thing you need or want is to show up on the day of and find out we sold out the night before (which is a thing that has happened in the past).

    Q: If I preregister and can't make the event, what happens?

    A: That depends on you! In the event you aren't able to make it to the event, you can either contact us to request a refund, or stop by as you're able to and pick up the prerelease kit we would have handed you if you had gone to the event. If we don't hear from you, we'll assume you want the prerelease kit and hold it til the next time we see you.

    Q: I've never built a deck for limited before. Any pointers?

    A: We've got a few! Here's a short list of handy tips when building a limited / sealed deck:

    • Stick to 40 cards! That's roughly 23 spells and creatures + 17 land. Those numbers will shift a little bit depending on what you open, but broadly that's where you should aim to be.
    • Try to stick to one family's worth of colors. Streets of New Capenna features tri-color factions, so don't be surprised if you wind up playing 3 colors. If you're tempted to play four or five colors, only splash them if you have multiple ways (3-4) to get those extra colors.
    • Play the colors that let you play your best cards. 
    • Don't be afraid to experiment! You can switch your deck around between rounds and between games. Every card you're not actively using in your deck is part of your sideboard, so if one color combo just isn't working for you, maybe wait until the match is over and try swapping it around.
    • It's okay to ask for help from other players. This is a prerelease; we're here to have fun and enjoy the new set. You'll often find that we've got several players at each prerelease that enjoy helping and mentoring newer players through the deck building process.

    Q: Any other advice on getting ready for a prerelease?

    A: Yup! If you can, try to familiarize yourself with the set ahead of time. Keep an eye out for spoilers! By the time you're reading this, spoiler season will already have started and you can bet that there's a few really cool looking cards and mechanics out there that need reading up on. 

    Q: I registered for the wrong family, can I switch?

    A: As long as there's a slot in the family you'd like to switch to, yes! To make the switch, please email us (or contact us through the contact page of the website) and ask ASAP! We'll make the change in our system and note it on your preregistration. 

    Q: What if I need to swap from one event to the other, can I do that?

    A: Sure! Again, as long as there's still a spot at the event you want to swap to, yes definitely. Just email us (or contact us through the contact page of our website) and we'll get right on it. 

    Please Note: If the family you chose for the first event is sold out of the new event, we may have to ask you to pick a new family for the flight you're transferring into.