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Magic Community & Wizards of the Coast Helped The Library Kids Get a Full Prerelease Experience


Wizards of the Coast

Remember those "library kids" that missed the Guilds of Ravnica prerelease last month because Wizards of the Coast revoked their organizer's WPN status "due to not having a dedicated play space available for 12 players, and not having the space to create one"? Wizards of the Coast and the Magic: The Gathering community finally stepped it up and did the right thing to help give the kids the full prerelease experience they deserve.

In an article published on CoolStuffInc, event organizer Bruce Richard says that Wizards of the Coast sent out 40 Guilds of Ravnica prerelease packs to ensure that the kids will have a blast having a prerelease experience at their local Community Library for free.

26 kids went to the "Freerelease" and Bruce shared photos of the fun event on Twitter. Check them out below:

Since only 26 kids only showed up, the rest of the prerelease packs were given as prizes and Bruce said that even the 0-4 player won a pack.

Since the tournament was free, Bruce suggested that they would make donations to the Community Library that lets them play for free during weekends, and they were able to raise $150 for the library.

After learning that the library kids missed the prerelease three weeks ago, the Magic community helped out the group of young players in a big way. "A local storeowner offered the spare prerelease packs his store had to run a tournament for the kids," Bruce said. "Online friends and strangers offered to send cash to buy booster boxes for the kids. More than one storeowner from outside the state reached out to help. Friend and former Coolstuffinc writer, Jon Medina, started to put together cards and various prizes from people across the Magic community. Magic artists offered to send special prizes. Coolstuffinc and another big online retailer (that prefers to remain nameless) offered whatever I needed to make it happen for the kids. So many people reached out to help a group of kids they don't know, who were getting a raw deal, that it was heartwarming to know so many good people are part of this community."

I'm happy to see the library kids get a free prerelease experience thanks to Wizards of the Coast, who stepped it up in a big way after being criticized for revoking Bruce Richards' WPN status. On top of all the recent controversies in the Magic community, this is one of the best things Wizards has done in recent memory, and hopefully, these kids will continue to enjoy playing Magic in the safe and fun environment of their local Community Library because after all, what's Magic without "The Gathering"?

Related:UNC Student Finds $18,000 Worth of Magic: The Gathering Cards (Including The Black Lotus) in Her Childhood Home

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