From midnight on Friday 22 September 2017, the first Pre-release Packs for Magic: The Gathering’s Ixalan series of cards will be given out.

You can only nab a Pre-release Pack in-store at an official event. But these very cool packs allow you to make up a tournament deck for play at that event, and provide a special-edition dated card you can’t get anywhere else.

The box is pretty cool too, and lets your opponents know you were there at the beginning of Ixalan. Full contents are:

• Six Ixalan booster packs
• Randomised date-stamped premium promo card
• Spindown life counter, for keeping track of damage
• An insert with deck-building advice.

The Ixalan series features double-faced cards, which transform into an iconic land when the player accomplishes the goal on the front. There’s also plenty of pirates, treasure and dinosaurs!

Those who miss out on the pre-release fun still have plenty of goodies to look forward to. As usual, the Ixalan release includes a number of ways to get involved and build your card collection:

• Booster packs (15 cards in each pack, including one land, three uncommons and one rare or – if you’re very lucky – mythic rare).
• Planeswalker Decks (a ready-built deck to fire with straight out of the box, including an incredibly powerful Planeswalker character)
• Deck Builder’s Toolkit (a dream purchase for those who like to customise, including 125 semi-randomised cards, four 15-card booster packs from recent Magic: The Gathering sets, 100 basic lands, a deck builder’s guide and that lush reusable card storage box)
• Bundle (10 Ixalan booster packs, 80 basic land cards, a magic learn-to-play guide, one spindown life counter and the Ixalan card box to store it all in).

You can find your friendly local hobby store using this handy locator tool. If you’re looking for information specifically on Pre-release events, then this tool is even more laser-guided.