Magic: The Gathering is a collectible trading card game that is adored by players of all ages, and has been for 30 years. We offer several ways to enjoy Magic at Omar’s World of Comics. We expect players to adhere to all of our store policies when attending any events, but due to the competitive nature of Magic and our diverse range of players, specific additional rules and suggestions are in place at these events.

Learn more about Magic at Omar’s in our Discord Server, where we discuss upcoming events and products with the community. You can also get your deck rated for Commander events!

  • Each in-store Magic event will begin promptly at the listed start time, starting with a brief rules overview. Anyone who arrives after the draft portion of the event is started will not be able to take part in draft events, with no refund. If you have pre-paid online, you will have until the event starts to arrive.

  • Respect the store and each other: Keep your play area neat, and listen to announcements closely to keep the event running smoothly. This includes not talking over judges, and being careful around products and other players’ property with food and drink.

    • Don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t steal; this much goes for any social situation. With trading card games in particular, don’t demean other participants for using or not using specific cards or strategies.

    • Don’t make trades in bad faith, (especially with players younger or less experienced than yourself in the game), and don’t allow other players to be taken advantage of in this type of situation.

    • Always be willing to help explain a rule or strategy, or call a Judge to clarify a rule.

  • The announced Judge for a specific event, (or in lieu of a Judge, the event organizer), has the final say on rules questions. This is critical for keeping events running smoothly and keeping the game fun and fair for all. Specific policies about rules infractions or penalties are available through Wizards of the Coast’s website, and Judges are versed in these. Omar’s will always err in favor of fun and expediency in case of an unclear rules case or player interaction; be friendly and keep playing.

COST, PRIZING, AND FORMATS AT MAGIC EVENTS

Omar’s primarily offers the following event formats for Magic: The Gathering, with specific prizes offered for top players per the listed rules. Some events will differ, or use unique prizing: read the Event Calendar entries for such events to know ahead of time.

Booster Draft - $24

Our Friday Night Magic format of choice, Booster Draft is a great way to build your collection, see new cards from the latest sets, and win great prizes!

  • Players are randomly broken up into 6 to 11-player draft pods, (ideally 8), and will build 40-card decks from 3 Play Booster Packs per player. These booster packs are drafted according to Wizards of the Coast’s draft rules for the set (see below for more information on the drafting phase) and used to build 40-card decks, including lands. Players keep all of the cards they draft after the event! Players will not play opponents from other pods.

    • Loaner Basic Land cards will be provided for players who do not bring their own. Borrowed lands must be returned at the end of the event—we only have so many!

  • In case of an odd number of players in a pod, “Byes” will be awarded each round by the Wizards Eventlink software.

  • Matches are a best-of-3-game, in-pod format, with 50 MINUTES for each match. If players do not finish their match in that time, they will have 5 more turns (starting with the current player as "Turn Zero") to finish the current game. If no winner is decided by the end of turn 5, that game is a draw. We ask that players play with purpose so that we can finish events before the shop closes each night.

  • Prizing: Players will receive additional draft or promo booster packs at the end of the night based on their Match Points:

    • 9+ points: 2 Play Booster, 1 foil promo pack

    • 5-8 points: 1 Play Booster, 1 promo pack

    • 0-4 points: 1 Play Booster

Commander - Free

This event consists of casual multiplayer matches with Commander-legal, constructed decks. Be sure to check your decks for any cards that may be banned in the format by Wizards of the Coast before arriving at the event, and remove any proxy or playtest cards. Register online, or register at the counter when you arrive with your Wizards Account email.

  • Players will self-sort into 4-player pods based on their deck power level and personal preference. Once you’ve played a game, look around for more players to keep playing!

    • Players are asked to rate their deck’s power level to ensure fair and fun pod placement when they arrive, for a good challenge for all players. Find out more here

  • “Proxies” or “Playtest Cards” (fake cards, or replicas of rarer cards that you don’t want damaged) are ALWAYS BANNED by Wizards of the Coast at our Commander Nights, and their use can result in exclusion from future events. This also applies if you have the real card with you but don’t want to use it in the deck, and replaced it with a fake version: you must use real Magic cards in your deck in Magic events, even if you have the real card alongside your deck.

Prereleases, Specialty Events, and Throwback Drafts are run using special rules for deck-building and prizing: watch our calendar or Discord for more info on those!

WARNINGS, PENALTIES, AND EXPECTED CONDUCT

Harassment, bullying, or bad-mouthing of players, other store customers, or employees of Omar's World of Comics & Hobbies of any sort is expressly forbidden. If necessary, warnings or game-loss penalties will be given for such behavior, and further issues may result in ejection from the event.

We do not tolerate cheating of any sort at Omar's, but also acknowledge that our staff can't have eyes everywhere at all times. We will always make the choice to push on through the issue in the interest of greater fun, if able, but in the case of egregious rules violations, we will issue penalties as appropriate. Any such incidents should be brought to the head judge or event organizer to address (not to other players, no matter how knowledgeable they may be on Magic rules).

Holding up the tournament with rules or etiquette arguments, artificially delaying the event by not passing a draft pack in a timely manner, or ignoring judge or organizer announcements can result in warnings. In case of rules infractions, the event organizer holds final say on resolving issues.

Drafting Rules and Etiquette

  1. We practice zone drafting, meaning that if you have a pack beside you that you have passed, but that hasn't been picked up, do not pass the next pack you’re holding. We don't want to cause problems with people not getting the correct number of cards per pack!

  2. There will be only 50 MINUTES for the 3 packs to be drafted and to build decks.

  3. Due to the limited time to draft, we will ask that players not talk about what they're pulling, looking for, or wanting to trade during the draft or deck-building period. It's generally better to surprise your opponents rather than talking up what you've pulled, and also is more courteous to other players. Trades should only be conducted after the event.

    Other Tips:

    • If you are not sure of how to build a deck, talk with players about land ratios and good cards to look for earlier in the night. If you have questions about a mechanic, we’re happy to help! Just call JUDGE!

    • In general, you'll want between 16-18 lands, with the ratio of colors split by mana symbols of each color in the card’s cost (so if you have 15 Red mana symbols printed on the drafted cards you’re playing in your deck, and 10 Blue mana symbols, you'll likely want to split your 18 lands as follows: 11 Mountains to 7 Islands).

    • We will offer basic lands for use during the draft event; PLEASE return them at the end of the night if you use ours! Donations of fresh basic lands are always accepted.