I don't know about you, but I can never play enough Magic.

The only person I've ever known who plays enough is, perhaps, the owner of my local game store back in 2008; it was a small shop and he was the primary worker, so he was there all the time and got to play as much as he wanted.

Everyone else I've known always wants to play more.

CoolStuffCon is the place to do just that. A full weekend of competitive and casual play, with new friends and famous faces. The only real shame is that it only happens twice a year.

If you've been asking how to get a little more Magic in your life lately... tune in.

CoolStuffCon is the Answer

CoolStuffCon is an annual convention held by CoolStuffInc.com where you can play Magic, meet iconic artists and content creators, win sick prizes, and so much more.

I had the pleasure of attending most of CoolStuffCon Dallas back in May.

I'd love to share my experience with you - what it was like, what I'd do differently next time so you can learn from my mistakes, and why you really have to go if you're a Magic player.

So Much to Do

I drove up from Austin Friday morning, the first day of the con. That's about three hours but it wasn't so bad - I stopped for lunch, talked to some friends, and listened to an audio book on the way. I met several others from Austin who carpooled - my first recommendation.

Tip #1: If you're heading to Orlando from out of town, bring friends and you'll have a lot more fun on the road. You can share a hotel room to keep costs down, too!

Upon arrival, the first thing I did was collect my pass and check out the large, printed event schedule! This made it easy to know when everything was going on.

Tip #2: Take a picture of the schedule so you can look back on it throughout the weekend and don't miss anything!

How Passes Work

The passes for CoolStuffCon Orlando, above, are slightly different than the ones we had in Dallas. Orlando's event will not have a Command Zone. Instead, each pass will include additional goodies, play opportunities, and meet-and-greets.

At CoolStuffCon Dallas, Traveler was a free pass that gave you access to the vendors and the open play area. You can sign up for events outside of the Command Zone and meet featured Creators during their Meet and Greets.

Next level up was the Warrior Pass, which got you into the Command Zone and provided you with some passes for games, a promo (I got a nifty Arcane Signet), and a playmat. This was the level I attended.

Tip #3: A really fun idea I picked up at the event was to bring a Sharpie and have everyone you meet sign the playmat from the event. What a cool memento!

Finally, the Challenger Pass was for the cEDH $5k players. It got you into the Command Zone, the promo and mat, but mostly it meant you'd be playing in the showcase cEDH event of the weekend.

Content Creators Galore

The event featured several notable people from the Magic: The Gathering community. There's always a full list of attendees available, but you'll have the chance to meet artists, purchase prints, and get autographs, as well as meet and play with content creators and cosplayers.

Meeting some artists was a highlight for me. This is a neat way to engage with the art of the game and see how it's made. I own a few prints of Magic art and I've never regretted supporting the artists or hanging the pieces in my home - it can be some really beautiful stuff.

At CoolStuffCon Dallas, ZBexx and ZMainCharacter both appeared in multiple costumes throughout the weekend. There was a cosplay contest on Saturday afternoon.

And of course, a number of podcasters, YouTubers, and writers were there, including the awesome MTGNerdGirl, who was running a charity auction and helping out with the Creator Clash area. She was super cool and friendly.

Tip #4: If you'd like a chance to meet MTGNerdGirl, CarloMTG, The Trinket Mage, MTG Baron, Alayna Danner, Zabracus, and tons of other cool people, make sure you get tickets to CoolStuffCon Orlando!

Everyone I met in this area was incredibly kind and friendly. Funny, too! They were super open to talking about the game, content creation, other games they were into, and a little about themselves - it was really fun.

If you've ever wanted to get to know some of the people you've read or seen online, this is an excellent opportunity to engage with them (and a game we all love!) in a very real, human way.

Playing Magic at the Con

I'm terrible about keeping game records, but I got to play three games of Commander over the course of the weekend. I likely could have squeezed in a fourth before I got on the road, but I decided to be responsible and get home since I work on Sunday mornings.

I also could have played more if I'd prioritized jamming as many games as possible, but I wanted to experience the con fully, not just play.

Planechase

My first event was Friday evening. It was a premium event, which meant it came with a $10 fee, but the experience was 100% worth it. I got a limited-edition coin you could only get by playing in a premium event.

CSI also provided a Planechase deck for each pod so we could add the chaos of Planechase to our game.

I was in a pod of four. We had a brief Bracket discussion and settled on high powered Bracket 3. I took the opportunity to play a deck my regular playgroup doesn't let me play: Narset, Enlightened One.

Two of us (myself included) stumbled a bit on mana, but that worked out to my advantage because the other two developed early board states and were threatening decently serious attacks by turn five and six.

My goal with Narset is always to ramp to her as quickly as possible and attack. Once I can get an attack through where she doesn't die, I'm normally able to start chaining extra attack steps and extra turns and kill the table. I did unintentionally misbracket the deck. She should sit in Bracket 4 because of the chained extra turns. Even surrounded by strangers, everyone accepted it as the honest mistake it was. It was awesome to meet such down-to-Earth people.

Eventually, I stuck an All Will Be One and everyone left me alone around the table, so the following turn I was able to play Narset and attach Swiftfoot Boots plus Steel of the Godhead, making Narset Unblockable.

A single attack brought an extra combat and extra turn; the next turn provided Strionic Resonator, two more turns, and three more Combat steps, at which point the table laughed and conceded the game.

(One of the guys got away before I could grab a photo, but it was a great time.)

The best part about attending CoolStuffCon is that we started getting prizes and cool bonus items before cards even started hitting the table! Everyone got some "prize tickets" and our collectible coin; after that we were playing for bragging rights and fun.

Creator Clash

Saturday morning I got up and made my way to the Creator Clash area where I immediately turned in my voucher. After a short wait, I was paired with another Austin local and the two hosts from GirlPod, Sarah and Sandwich.

I'd never met them before, but by the end of the game Sarah and I were besties (hi, Bestie!).

We started by talking Bracket 2, but when Sandwich asked what she was feeling, the response was "Murder..." so we brought it. Sarah had gotten an early release of the Jaws Secret Lair, so she was on mono- Jaws, and I decided to play my Xenagos, God of Revels deck (one I built quite a while ago and have continued to play and develop).

Xenagos is a fun deck to play - it mostly ignores the rest of the table and spends its first few turns ramping. Once it plays Xenagos, most often on turn four, it goes around and sticks its first fatty, then starts attacking for crazy damage. If the board gets wiped, it plays another fatty and keeps going. The deck leans into extra Combats (this makes it sound like that's my thing - I promise these are my only two decks that do that!) and Double Strike to take advantage of Xenegos' ability.

The Austin player attacked me and forced me to mill half my deck, which is rough in a deck that doesn't interact with the Graveyard at all. In response, I played Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, triggered Xenagos, and attacked him for 14, plus I was able to kill all his Creatures except for a pile of 15 Tokens he had on his board.

We went around once more, this time each of us having to mill half our decks (I was down to 17 cards on turn seven), and I got the turn once again. I drew Full Throttle, looked at life totals, smiled and turned to my bestie. I promised her I was attacking her first precisely because we were best friends. I attacked Sarah for 14 and wiped Sandwich's board.

Then, Full Throttle. I attacked Sandwich next, doubling Drakuseth again and hitting her for 28, her exact life total. I hit the Austin player last for 56 which killed him, and Sarah gave me the GG since she was left without a board as well.

Personally, I'm excited to see the Jaws deck, and it was a fun game all around. We also never stopped laughing; jokes about murder, lines that sound different depending on context, and a number of other inside jokes were constant. So much fun!

Commander Pod

One cool thing about this event is how you sign up to play just regular old Commander. You turn in your voucher and they put you in line for a pod. Once they have four, they call you all over, set you up with your prize tickets and table, and you're off.

I finally got my Bracket 2 game, and played my Korlessa, Scale Singer deck - it's / Dragons and is hilariously fun but also ridiculously slow. It's like the classic Battlecruiser deck.

Our table had the Sauron precon but modified - some of the more utility stuff came out to include all the Nasgul. We also had Urtet, Remnant of Memnarch and, to all our delight, Goose Mother.

Urtet and Goose Mother both got out to decently strong starts, while Sauron struggled for mana and I slowly ramped and worked my way up to a Dragon or two. The laughter flowed even as we realized the Urtet player was representing infinite mana on turn five so it probably wasn't a Bracket 2 deck.

Tip #5: I do recommend bringing a slate of decks if you have them and spread across as many Brackets as you can. Bring options and open your mind to lots of different types of games.

The Goose Mother took care of him, which gave Sauron a chance to catch up and be in the game. Sauron and I considered the possibility of teaming up to take out the Goose Mother player - we had a shot, I think - but it turns out this player prints his own stickers he gives to people who lose to the deck. (He only plays it with new players.)

Amazing. We sort of decided we'd rather have the sticker than the win. No regrets. Goose Mother took out Sauron. I could have hung in for a few more turns but eventually the Mother was going to overwhelm me, so I stuck out my hand and grabbed a picture.

I can't stress it enough, everyone was great, and each game was packed with everything you love about Magic.

Everything Else You Should Know

The whole weekend was a blast. We were right next to the Historic West End of Dallas, which is home to lots of great restaurants, bars, shops, and clubs. I had a great dinner and cocktail after walking about five minutes.

I also encountered this, which is the first structure ever built in Dallas and founded the city, which is the largest city in the world not on a major waterway. Very cool!

For CoolStuffCon Orlando, you'll be a stone's throw from beautiful beaches, walking distance to tasty (cheap or fancy!) food, and not to mention, just ten minutes away from Wonderworks, which is a trippy, upside-down building.

Inside the convention hall, there were so many different vendors. Of course you can buy, sell, and trade cards. CoolStuffInc can even accept bulk at the convention!

But it was like a fantasy flea market: I saw cool metal tokens, playmats, sleeves, tons of accessories... It would be easy to churn through an entire paycheck and feel no regrets. That brings me to another recommendation.

Tip #6: Have priorities and set a budget. Say to yourself, "I want to make sure I get a playmat, and I have $50 to spend on whatever else I find," or something like that. Know what you're looking for and what you want to spend, so you don't get overwhelmed or overspend.

You'll be able to get a lot of great prizes and bonus items just for participating in events, so you don't even need to feel pressure to win.

You got prize tickets for playing in sanctioned events and sometimes for winning them. You can spend those prize tickets at the "Prize Wall," like what you'd find at an arcade. In Dallas, this wall was decorated with everything from Booster Packs and Precons to special mats and even boxes of Collector Boosters.

One Final Thought

I had a wonderful time, played some great games, met some new people and got to spend a few days immersed in a place surrounded by my favorite game. That's pretty cool, but it wasn't the best thing. The best thing?

The vibes.

Everyone - from staff to vendors to artists to cosplayers and creators to random players just there for the event - was cool. They were nice, understanding, considerate, thoughtful, funny, smart, kind, and inclusive. No one got laughed at or made fun of anywhere I was, ever. No one brushed you off. The staff were so welcoming and helpful - even when you kept coming back to ask more questions (yeah, I'm that guy).

You walk into that room and if you like games and have a decent attitude - you've walked into a room full of friends. Win or lose, everyone had a great time exploring the different ways we engage with this game.

Thanks to CoolStuffCon Dallas 2026 for being so awesome and giving me a great weekend!

Thanks to everyone there for being so cool. I hope to see you at one of these things in the future - if you ever see me at a con, please don't hesitate to stop me and say hi. I'd love to talk and sling some cards!