Shopping updates

Red Dice is a store that I have never been to but is popular with the Seoul EDH crew.

It was brought to my attention that they now have an online store http://redmtg.com/
It doesn't look like it has anything the other online stores in Korea don't have but it's nice to have options and gives a good example of what to expect when you visit there.

Playfirst have rebranded their website and look much more foreigner friendly. They ship overseas and the English components on their website actually work so this will probably become the website I recommend by default to people overseas.
http://k-mtg.com/

The coolest thing I found on their site was a Korean Black Bordered Shivan Dragon from 4th edition for $37.

Busan is Back!

The old Busan MTG Facebook group looked dead so I was wondering what was happening down south.

Well looks like they are doing ok and have a new Facebook group with a more regional name.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GyeongnamMTG/

If you live in the south east of the country then you should definitely join. 

Welcome

When I first arrived in Korea I found information about where to play in Korea really hard to find. Hence the creation of this blog, pretty much.

Since then things have got a lot better. If you are new to Korea there are a bunch of resources you can check out.

The first one is the Wizards Locator located on Wizards own site (magic.wizards.com). When I first arrived this just returned a garbled mess of inaccurate results. These days it works and if you have location services turned on, it can be very helpful.

If you are in Seoul, Suwon or Daegu there are healthy Facebook groups to join. This might have been the case back in 2011 but I was not a huge Facebook user at the time. Unfortunately the Busan facebook group looks pretty small and possibly dead.

Magic the Gathering Seoul: https://www.facebook.com/groups/266936726677232/

Casual MTG Seoul: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CasualMTGSeoul/

MTG in Suwon: https://www.facebook.com/groups/303915966473798/

Magic the Gathering Daegu: https://www.facebook.com/groups/629348830410832/

Magic the Gathering Gyeongnam: https://www.facebook.com/groups/GyeongnamMTG

If you speak Korean then the go to site to visit is the Daum cafe site (http://cafe.daum.net/magin). That's where I got a lot of the information for this blog.

The official site is (http://www.mtg-kr.com/) which is cleaner but has much less information than the Daum Cafe in my experience.

On this blog I have tried to compile a list of shops in Korea that sell Magic the Gathering but most of them I haven't visited and was relying on online information only. 

List of places to play: (http://theangryhermit.blogspot.com/2013/10/places-to-play-master-list.html)

I have also tried to compile a list of online retailers in Korea but again I haven't personally used most of them so can't vouch for their service.

List of places to shop: (http://theangryhermit.blogspot.kr/2013/10/korean-singles.html)

My experience: 

Once you have found a place to play or shop I thought I would share my experience of what you can expect. Most of the Korean players are quite solid with a very tight technical routine. Before drawing their starting hand it is very common to fan out the 7 cards on the table so the opponent can see they only have 7.

When it comes to trading, Card Kingdom prices (www.cardkingdom.com) seems to be what everyone uses for standard legal values. If something is harder to find or out of stock then Starcity or TCG player may be used. If it's a legacy playable Korean foil then people just tend to guess, and it often goes to committee (bunch of guys standing in the shop sipping on soda suggest a value). 

Casual play doesn't seem to be very popular in my experience and it seems mainly draft and standard are the formats played. There is some Modern in Seoul, not a huge amount but it seems to be doing ok. There is near zero Legacy.
I have heard that there is more casual places in some of the major centres outside of Seoul such as Daegu and Daejeon.
The big exception to all the above are the US Military bases. Due to a lot of personnel movement the experience is likely to change but there is usually a decent amount of Magic going on.
Osan air base has it's own facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/240677409285730/) as does Yongson in Seoul (https://www.facebook.com/MagictheGatheringYongsanKorea). 

Fun Board Game in Changwon/Masan

I could not find an English name for this store so the translation to "Fun" board game is pretty loose and random.

They are located in Masan which is a little west of Changwon which is a little west of Busan.

They are a board game cafe which is serious enough about Magic to host PPTQ's. They are closed on Mondays apparently.

Their contact phone numbers are
Land line: 055-223-1980
Mobile: 010-6551-1110

Apparently while they don't speak any English but are better at writing/texting. 

Places to Play - Master list

This is my attempt at a master list of Magic Shops in Korea. Those that aren't hyper linked are unconfirmed so I (or you) will have to check out if they actually host magic tournaments.

Seoul/Gyeonggido
Battle City - Yatap
M&A - Imun Dong
Total TCG - Gwangmyeong
Saboten - Sadang
Dalmuti - Suwon
Kindle - Seongsu
The Rak - Naksungdae
Michaels - Gangbyeon 
Rolling Dice - Hongkik University
Red Dice - Hyehwa
About TCG - Sinpung
Duel Shop - Maebong
Duel Zone - Nowon
Battle City - Mokdong
Playfirst - Goyang City
Dalmuti - Gyeodae 
Duel Zone - Gangdong
Michaels - Sincheon
Duel Stage- Ilsan
HalliGalli - Ilsan
Isu Duel Park Cafe - Sadang
Cafe de BonBon - Bucheon
Battle City - Geumjeong
Board Game Cafe Pann - Bundang
Cafe Able - Jeongwang

RIP- OZ - Gangnam
RIP- Tic Toc
RIP- Dive Dice - Hyehwa
RIP- Kindle - Konguk

Incheon
Dual Land - Nam Gu
Taken Board Game Cafe - Nam Gu
Witches Brew - Gyeongin
TPZ Shop

Cheongju
Monopoly - Cheongju

Jeonju
Jeonju Board Game Box

Ulsan
Dual Champ

RIP- Elder Dragon

Gwangju
Alice

Daegu
Michaels

Busan
The Rak
The DARAC
Dual Zone
TCG Korea
Fortune Factory

Daejeon

Duel Mall

Board Game Cafe Meca

Changwon/Gyeongnam
Card Castle
PAPA Board 
Fun Board Game



Places to Shop
Nonno21 - Nambu / Seoul
Hobby First - Nambu / Seoul

If you are looking for an English Language draft then Dalmuti - Suwon hosts one every Sunday at 1:00 pm.

The New Kindle in Seongsu

Website: http://www.mtgkindleshop.com/