Blake is the content manager for DailyMTG.com, making him the one you should email if you have thoughts on the website, good or less good (or not good). He's a longtime coverage reporter and hasn't turned down a game of Magic in any format ever.

Welcome to the kick-off of Core Set 2019 previews!

Kind of.

Here's the deal. Today, I'm going to show you a lot of cards. Like, a lot a lot. Then we're not going to show you any more cards until this weekend at Grand Prix Las Vegas, where we will show you also a lot of cards (though not as many as today). Then previews, as you know them—with content creators all over the world getting to show off cards—will start up in earnest June 18.

Deal? Not that you can respond to me in real time, but I'm guessing you're cool with it. We're close like that.

Also, since I'm going to be saying this with basically everything, let's get the disclaimer out of the way right now:

Supplies are limited—check with your local store for details. Some promotions are only available at participating stores that are members of the Wizards Play Network, so make sure you ask your local store!

With no further ado, let's get to the cards. The many, many cards.

Buy-a-Box

As you might have read, we're continuing both the prerelease pickup and unique Buy-a-Box promo card promotions. We're not here to discuss the community response to the promo this time (check out Weekly MTG on twitch.tv/magic on Thursday at 2 p.m. PT for some of that discussion). Today, we're just here to show you the card, Nexus of Fate.

Event Promos

Every season, we run a number of events, and many of those events come with unique promos. Let's look at those one by one. (And yes, all of these cards have non-promo versions in Core Set 2019).

Open House (June 30–July 1) kicks things off. At Core Set 2019 Open House, you'll be able to play with Planeswalker Decks, so this is truly the first time you can play with Core Set 2019 cards out in the wild. And just for participating, you can get this gnarly looking Guttersnipe.

Draft Weekend (July 14–15) is the weekend Core Set 2019 releases to the public, and a weekend of many drafts! Participate and get this promo to drive your opponents a bit batty.

Magic League (July 16) is a fun way to grab a few packs and play smaller, quick Sealed games with friends at your local store or at home. Just for participating, you can get this version of Reliquary Tower!

Store Championships on June 18–24 are technically the Dominaria Store Championships, but participating can earn you a Core Set 2019 promo card! Win the whole thing, and you'll also get a playmat. Note the "25" symbol on this one to commemorate Magic's 25th anniversary!

Friday Night Magic events running during the Core Set 2019 season will have access to three different promos stores can distribute as they see fit.

Finally, Standard Showdown (July 21) is rotating the lands you can pick up in Standard Showdown boosters. Alayna Danner (friend of the show) created five beautiful basic lands you can only pick up in Standard Showdown boosters. Gaze upon their majesty:

Welcome Decks

Part of the reason you're getting this bonanza of card previews this early is because we ship kits to stores to help them teach new players both about Magic and about the latest set. With Core Set 2019, we updated our Welcome Decks, the decks we give to stores to help introduce players to Magic, and they contain, well, a lot of Core 2019 cards. As such, here are cards you'll be seeing in Welcome Decks and in the Core Set 2019 main set or Planeswalker Decks. Everything shown here numbered 284 or higher comes in the Planeswalker Decks. Everything else is from the main set.

A Few Random Cards

Now, as part of those kits we're sending to stores to help new players, we're sending some materials like tabletop standees, how-to cards, and more. Since those things would be kind of lame if they were all words, we put some pictures on there too. Some of those pictures are of cards. True story! Some of those cards are, well, these cards:

Packaging

Finally (at least for today), we've got some boosters to show off. Some of these characters might look familiar.