Standard Tour of San Antonio: Cards and Crafts,

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week tour of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one and sharing the results with you.

This week I went to Cards & Crafts, located at 8104 Tezel Road, right by the Little Caesar's. In a breach of tradition, I'm covering the Friday Night Magic before giving an overview of the store.

Cards & Crafts is geared to play Magic: the Gathering. They have much of their floors space dedicated to a play area. An accessory wall and boosters for recent sets are on display, as well as an almost holy grail of an organized collection of cards from older sets. That last one is almost a holy grail because Cards an Crafts has what I can only describe as Mecca in a Holy Grail, surrounded by a Wailing Wall: individual tokens for sale. While they were (predictably) out of Goats, it's a really big deal.

It's not just Magic though. They've got a room dedicated to their baseball cards and sports memorabilia collection. I can't honestly judge it's quality, but if you're into that kind of thing, you should certainly check it out. The store also carries other CCGs; Legend of the Five Rings, Naruto, the Universal Fighting System, and Spellfire (&#$*ing Spellfire). It has a breadth of collectible cards like Buffy, Smallville--I didn't even know there were Smallville cards. Despite not selling any tabletop minis (that I noticed, anyway), they have a good selection of mini-mats and terrain for mini play.

It's also one of--if not the--most intimate location I've been to. The staff are laid back, knowledgeable, and eager to answer questions. The FNM I attended there was professionally handled (in fact, this is the only store that used "Match Record Cards, which was awesome!), even if the players were a bit young. Most importantly, I had a pretty good time while playing.

Standard Tour of San-Antonio: Friday Night Magic at Cards & Crafts

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week tour of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one and sharing the results with you.

This week I went to Cards & Crafts, located at 8104 Tezel Road, right by the Little Caesar's. In a breach of tradition, I'm covering the Friday Night Magic before giving an overview of the store. 

As with my last FNM, I'm playing white and blue deck based around staying alive. I earlier mischaracterized it as a deck designed for trolling, but that's not accurate. "Strategema" is designed to let my opponent's deck play out. This gives me a better feel for the player, see the local metagame, and hone my skills as a player. It can be frustrating to play against, but that's not always the case.

Round 1 put me up against another blue and white deck, played by Tim. We chatted politely through several quiet, early turns before he tried to kill me with a host of angels and all manner of double-striking guys. 

Specifically, these manners.

It's the Magic: Standard Tour of San Antonio: Gamelot Friday Night Magic

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week tour of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one and sharing the results with you.

Last week I went to Gamelot, located at 7007 Bandera Road, on the corner where Bandera meets Huebner.  As is tradition, last week I covered the store in general, saving the results of the Friday Night Magic for today.

The actual event was better than expected. It was a standard constructed affair and I brought a White/Blue Venser/Karn deck that was--well, to be honest, it was designed to troll competitive decks by not dying via Venser and Stonehorn dignitary, then restarting the game via Karn.

For your opponent, it starts like "Cause and Effect," but ends like "Remember Me."

It's the Magic: Standard Tour of San Antonio: Gamelot

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week survey of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one as a way of familiarizing myself with it.

This week I went to Gamelot, located at 7007 Bandera Road, on the corner where Bandera meets Huebner.

Gamelot says it's San Antonio's gaming megastore. That's very true. While I could quibble square footage with Heroes & Fantasies, one is a comics and collectibles store with an impressive gaming apparatus while the other is a massive store pulsating with games. Even packed with the traffic from the Friday night of a new set release for Magic, the play environment for the whole event was comfortable.

Of course, like all of the other places I've visited, Gamelot does more than just Magic. Magic was actually in a separate play area while a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament occupied the main floor, between the miniatures games and LAN center. All of those areas were buzzing with players. I'll confess to some ignorance of the LAN facilities, but I've seen League of Legends, World of Warcraft, DC Universe Online, and Star Wars: The Old Republic being played there.

 

It's the Magic: Standard Tour of San Antonio - Dragon's Lair FNM

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week survey of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one as a way of familiarizing myself with it.

Last week, I started talking about Dragon's Lair, its intimate atmosphere, and its dazzling array of comics and games. I ran out of time, but this week I'm finishing up with a description of its Friday Night Magic.

I was running late, but there was still time to sign up for the event. It took the last $5 of cash I had on-hand and I forgot my DCI number, but the staff offered to look up my number and answered all of my questions about the timing, the seats, and how things were generally organized.

Round 1
I was placed opposite a guy named Josh, because it's always a Josh. He had a ramp deck that put lands into play faster than I could, so he dropped massive titans onto the board before I could  respond to them. I managed to push him back with a Rolling Tremblor after landing my first mountain on turn six or so. But it only lasted for a turn, and after that turn he attacked hard enough to kill me. I stabilized once in the second game, bringing enough vampires out to threaten him, but I was met with a Black Sun's Zenith, a nice bit of removal that swept my little dudes from the skies.

For the toughest stains.

Josh was nice and polite. Our two games ended before the time limit for the round was up so we got to talk a bit. He was proud of all the money that he and his friends put into their decks. He said that he was sorry that he was my first opponent for a FNM, as he considered himself one of the better of the regular players. 

It's the Magic: Standard Tour of San Antonio - Dragon's Lair

Just moved up to San Antonio from Louisiana a few weeks ago. The place I lived didn't have any game stores, so having not just one, but three game stores within driving distance of my house is a whole new experience.

While the internet is full of ways to find game stores in your area, it does very little to tell you about the real character of those stores: their atmosphere, their product, their staff, or anything else a curious gamer might want to know. To help others out, I've started a week-by-week survey of the stores in my area, playing a Friday Night Magic at each one as a way of familiarizing myself with it.

At 7959 Fredericksburg Road, you can find the Dragon's Lair. It's a great place for both comics and gaming. Better yet, it's in the same shopping center as an Einstein Bros Bagels. 

I know; it sounds perfect.