I'm out

 Well that's a wrap for my time in Korea, I'm catching a flight back to Australia tommorow (fingers crossed) and if this blog ever gets another update it will most likely be a link to a better resource that I found.

Ikoria hits Korea

There is surely a great bid of word play possible with Ikoria and Korea but after 7 weeks of social distancing my brain is only willing to pick the lowest of low fruit.

Korea was one of the few places to actually have a physical pre release for Ikoria but I didn't attend.

I have played the set a lot though thanks to MTG Arena and Coronavirus.
Thanks to a now fixed bug that meant pairings were always done on record with no regard to rank I spent a lot of time beating up on less experienced players. 

I made it to Mythic before Wizards pushed out an update that fixed the matchmaking. The nature of ranked is that once you find your level you should be winning around 50% of your games. If you are free to play like me that's not sustainable unless you can make up for it in constructed (shudders). So I have now witched to the best of three traditional queue where I seem to always go 2-1.

Master List 2020

Time to update the master list. It's significantly shorter as I didn't use as many sources but I'm pretty sure most of these actually exist. 

Seoul/Gyeonggido

Kindle - Seongsu

Dalmuti - Gyeodae 

Hobby Game Mall - Bucheon

Commander Zone - Mapo

Laughing Goblin - Mapo

Isu Duel Park Cafe - Sadang

Dice Latte - Dongdaemun

Michaels - Gangbyeon 

Red Dice - Hyehwa

About TCG - Guro Digital Complex

Cafe de BonBon - Bucheon

Battle City - Yatap

Board Game Cafe Tycoon - Namgu

Hobby Game Mall - Bucheon

K MTG - Goyang

Tek Magic - Mapo

Rolling Dice - Hongkik University

Jay's Computer and Hobby Mart - Anjungri

The Rest of Korea

There has to be more than these right?

Play Lab - Cheonan

This update brought to you by unexpected free time thanks to Coronovirus.

Places to Play Jay's Computer and Hobby Mart - Anjungri

Jay's Computer and Hobby Mart - Anjungri

This is a store located near but outside the Camp Humphreys military base. The store is accessible to everyone but I didn't see space for tournaments and it appears they run prereleases inside the base. In which case you have to be a member of the US military or know someone who can sign you in. 

http://www.jaycomputer.com/

Play Lab - Cheonan

PlayLab / 플레이랩Address: 충청남도 천안시 서북구 부성1길 28-12 28-12 Buseong 1-gil Seobuk-gu Cheon'an-si, 44 31100 Korea, Republic of
Phone 010-7751-1951

https://playlab.modoo.at/

Commander Zone

Address: G24, Keunumul-ro 76 Mapo-gu Seoul, 11 04167

Phone Number: 82-10-3125-1862

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/

New Dalmuti location, a closer look

Last weekend was the first chance to play at the new Dalmuti's location in Suwon.
It's smaller and the security guard on the bottom floor seemed to enjoy sending people away and telling them the store was located in another building. After getting out of the elevator on the fourth floor it requires traversing a dimly lit maze until you find the front door.

It doesn't take many Magic players until the place feels pretty comfortable with a nice vibe, especially since the store is now 100% Magic. The store is now only running on the weekends except for special events.

Last weekend we had a full pod of 8 but there was a lack of English boosters (something which will be remedied by this Sunday) for Khans of Tarkir. They did have Conspiracy though and we jumped into playing that. Before the draft started I probably would have preferred Korean Khans of Tarkir as I love the format and know the cards fairly well. About 3 picks into Conspiracy I remembered that I loved it (enough to build a cube around it) and had assembled a combo of World Knit and Cogwork Grinder. I had perfect mana and an 18/18 six drop in my deck. 

Sealed Conspiracy is a lot cheaper than regular sets but has quite decent value inside. I think a decent amount of players enjoy it but others want nothing to do with it. So while semi popular I think play groups and stores have a hard time finding the critical mass of players to draft it. We are lucky in Suwon to have a lot of regular drafters who like to have fun rather than dream of winning the pro tour.
There was a lot of value opened, including Eunjae getting a Dack Fayden.
Being an old man,  I get a thrill from opening sealed packs with Brainstorm and Swords to Plowshares in them but my favourite take away from the draft was a foil Squirrel Nest.

That draft was followed up by drafting Dan Leonard's cube and the store provided free prizes. It was a lot of fun and I got to play Stoneforge Mystic fetching Batterskull on turn 2 as well as flickering my creature with the Planeswalker Venser before casting Wrath of God. Good times, even when losing to a brutal five colour control deck in round two.

To try and top those shenanigans the cube will be back for a 6:00 pm draft this week, but the main event will be backdraft. That is where you try and draft the worst deck you can and then it is given to someone else. You then get passed a pool that someone else has drafted and try but usually fail to build something resembling a deck. You score points based on your wins and when whoever got the pool you drafted loses. As well as the usual boosters and pride on the line the store is also giving away Garruk's Nerf Axe and some wall sized posters.
         

Dalmuti's Suwon

Dalmuti's in Suwon has changed location.
The new store is now fully focussed on Magic and the location looks more convenient, especially for those who enjoy Belgian fries.

There is an English draft of the latest set every Sunday at 1:00 pm.

For information on additional events you can check out the MTG in Suwon facebook page (www.facebook.com/groups/303915966473798/).

Korean address: 경기도 수원시 팔달구 매산로1가 골든프라자 401호

Thanks to local legends Annalise and Dan we have these excellent instructions on how to find the new store.

Soju Alley

You keep going through the heavily populated part of Soju Alley. You have to press on past this intersection.

The building. Golden Palace. 

Kindle the Flames

The heading might be in bad taste but I cant resist a pun and a segue no matter how dark the subject matter.

On Sunday I played in the last draft at the old Suwon Dalmuti's. Thankfully next week they will be open in a new location but the details we have are still pretty sparse. It seems to be very close to Sam Ryan's pub. While the location is convenient being so close to Sam Ryan's and with the Belgium fries place "on the way" I could be gaining a few kilos.

The new location will apparently kick things of with a special Modern tournament starting at 3:00 pm this Saturday (20th December). Hopefully I find out how to get there before then. Given what is happening at Kindle Shop, I am very thankful to Robbie (the owner of Dalmuti's) for keeping it going.

Today the owner of Kindle Shop 박민영 announced that his store will close at the end of this month. This really came out of the blue and Kindle is a very big part of the Korean Magic community.
Just one week ago the Korean team made the top 4 of the World Magic cup and qualified the entire team for the next Pro Tour. A fantastic achievement and a huge boon for the community. The captain Nam Sung-Wook got to ask on camera for Wizards to host a GP in Korea.
A week later and Seoul just lost one of it's premier play locations.

The FNM promotional foil for December is Stoke the Flames and I was lucky enough to get one yesterday. I think I still prefer the original art because I have a lot of fond memories of it from M15 draft but the foil is very pretty and I was stoked to get one.

TPZ Shop

TPZ Shop is located in Incheon. It is near the Station (예술회관역) also known as the Arts Center. The shop itself is very close to Domino's Pizza.

They seem to have their own blog with much better pictures and directions.

http://cafe.naver.com/tpzshop/41

Places to Play - Red Dice

Dive Dice Hyehwa closed to apparently focus on their online business. Not many tears were shed and in it's place (literally) are new owners with a new name.

Red Dice is located near Hyehwa station on the light blue line (line 4) in Northern Seoul. Sometimes this area is also referred to as Daehak Ro (대학로).

Get out at Exit 4 and then follow that road until you get to the main street and then turn right. 

Contact Details

Phone number: 070-7581-3501
Hours: 2:00 pm to 11:00 pm 

Email address: qseop@koreaboardgames.com

Korean Street address: 서울특별시 종로구 명륜동 2가 211번지 유니지오 빌딩 3층 303호
Web site: www.reddice.co.kr

Places to Play - M & A

M & A in Korean is written as 엠엔에이.

It's located near the Korean University of Foreign Studies. On the subway it's Line 1 (dark blue) and is called 외대앞 (named after the university).

I haven't been there but quoting one of the guys from Casual MTG Seoul (Facebook group)

"To get there, take the one line up to hankuk university of foreign studies station and go out exit 6. Get on the right side of the street and walk past a make up spot. Then, you'll see an alley next to a phone store. Go in the alleyway and in the door on your left. Go up four stories and there it is."


That's all I have for now. I haven't been there but I will try and get the goss from those who have as the store seems quite popular recently as a place to play casual games of Magic.

Places to play - Papa Board

PAPA Board is located in Changwon in the South of South Korea.
It looks like they take the cafe side of the board game cafe part very seriously and it seems a nice place to play.
As you can see they have a LOT of plastic hammers and are clearly worth a visit if you are in the area.

I have never been there though and can't offer much advice on how to even find the place. According to their directions they are very close to the South East corner big intersection/rotary in the middle of this map. 
If you are near Changwon I would seek out t a little more information before trying to find this place. Hopefully they show up on Wizards store locator soon. 

Korean Singles

Listening to the latest episode of the EH Team Jeremey Schofield lamented how hard it was to find Korean singles of the magical card variety. The other varieties are rather easier to find.

The Korean Ashiok was printed to incorrectly give plus 1 instead of plus 2 for the first ability. This has caused there to be extra demand for the Korean version even when it's not in foil. I remember the Portuguese Meloku made 2/2 tokens instead of 1/1's and to me that sounds like a much cooler misprint. 

To buy anything online in Korea you usually need a Korean ID number while only using Internet Explorer and downloading a bunch of weird extensions. I don't think you will get much joy from using the shopping cart tools on their sites and would suggest trying an email instead. Most of the store owners I have met speak fairly good English but may be a little intimidated on the phone and I wouldn't trust them to get all the details right regarding address and payment. 
Koreans tend to be much better at reading and writing English than speaking and listening, and an email gives them something they can examine multiple times.

There are 5 major online Korean shops that I know of:

http://cardcastle.co.kr/

http://www.divedice.com/
I have ordered from them before and got great service but that was domestic shipping using a Korean ID.

http://www.mtgkorea.com/
This is the online shop for Dalmuti's in Kyodae. Very good singles selection but I can't see any option to ship overseas. Does not require a Korean ID to register which is a big plus.

http://abouttcg.com/

http://k-mtg.com/
K-MTG formerly known as Playfirst sell singles worldwide. This is the most foreign friendly website out there and a lot of people recommend them. I am a little hesitant as the only time I ordered from them they stuffed up my address thanks to lazy handwriting. I was lucky to get it thanks to a diligent courier.

http://redmtg.com/xe/
This is the online store for Red Dice in Seoul.

Korean singles are not cheap and Korean players know the worth of their cards. They are not oblivious to the fact certain Korean cards (foils of legacy/modern staples) will attract a premium. Japan also has quite expensive prices for singles but is also well known for being a great place to sell cards. Korea,  not so much since most of the demand is for standard cards (Innistrad represents the first rotation out of modern Korean cards). Standard cards that aren't the top tier are hard to move and that is not just in Korea. Look at the buylists for Starcity and you will see the prices they offer is quite smaller for type 2 stuff than what you would expect.
It's possible that there might be decent prices available for those cards that have rotated out of standard because there isn't a lot of Modern and virtually no Legacy. This is something I will try and check out because I am only interested in Modern as a constructed format but I found it incredibly hard to get Liliana's of the Veil just a few weeks ago and ended up getting them from America.

I have been contacted a few times from people online asking me to get them certain Korean cards or sealed product. I'm sorry but I am not interested in doing that despite promises of payment.
I have various reasons for saying no, the main one being that I am very selfish. The others are because it's actually hassle that people from outside Korea probably can't appreciate. 
I live an hour away from the nearest store and I work during the hours the post office is open. It's also not easy asking for anything out of the ordinary to Koreans where they can't anticipate most of what you are going to say which makes dealing with the postal staff very tricky. 
It's all stress I don't really need in my life just for a couple of bucks and the joy of making a stranger happy (after I stress about their package arriving).
Sorry.