What it’s like to play your first competitive Magic: The Gathering tournament

I decided to try competitive Magic after Wizards of the Coast announced the Magic Limited Championship for 2027. Limited, which includes Draft and Sealed, is my favorite format: you open a set number of packs and build a deck from the cards you pull, so every event feels different and you don't have to spend to build a meta deck beforehand.

Together with some friends from my local Limited community, I aimed to qualify through the dedicated Limited Championship Qualifier events; our first stop was the Regional Championship in Turin on March 8, part of the Ultimate Guard European Magic Series. The Limited Qualifier on Sunday drew close to 300 players competing for four spots over seven rounds of Lorwyn Eclipsed Sealed, followed by four Draft pods for the top 32, and it was the biggest tournament I'd attended.

Lorwyn Eclipsed felt familiar and frustrating: games often grind out around big bombs, card-draw and removal are scarce, and typal synergies complicate deckbuilding.

magic, limited, draft, sealed, limited championship, regional championship, lorwyn eclipsed, turin, ultimate guard, wizards