Cardtropolis TCG — Local services in Silverdale

This place is a great venue for anyone looking to get into magic. Whether you're here because you want to make new friends or because you want to practice competitive play, this is absolutely one of the best places to do it in the area. I give it 4 stars instead of 5 because magic and competitive magic play is a growing scene in the area, and this venue is pretty small.

They seat 6 to 8 tables in their storefront, seating 4 people at each table, and reserving one to two tables for competitive play. The rest of the tables are for casual play (both high and low power). For the amount of people attending, it seems a little cramped at times, but it's enough space that no one has to be sent away. Yet. They also offer snacks and beverages for sale in the form of bags of chips and bottles of water or cans of soda. So their food and drink options has room to improve.

That said, this place does things slightly differently than my favorite game store so far. To play, you must pay an entry fee of $5 per round you would like to participate in, up to 2 rounds. For those $5 entry fees, you get one booster pack of your choice from off the shelf, and the chance to win up to two more booster packs of your choice per round played. First and second place in each round earns a free booster pack of choice, and immediately before each round, the host randomly selects one person from each table to receive a free pack of choice.

Before each round, you meet the host to pull a face down card from their hand. The card that you pull decides which table you are seated at.

There is enough time given at each round, that you could end up playing with the same group twice, but you only earn rewards based off of the first match played with each group.

If you wish to play at a competitive table, you must notify the host upon signup. If there are 3 other people who wish to do so as well, then a table is set aside for competitive play. In this way, competitive play is less random than casual, as there are usually far fewer competitive players.

This store offers a way to test out your deck building skills and game knowledge, while also giving you a little bang for your buck. The $5 entry fee earning you 2 packs minimum is very rewarding and cheaper than buying them at my favorite local shop. With the chance to win up to 2 additional packs per round, the entry fee ends up being a great deal.

I intend to become a regular.

A warning to anyone who is interested in playing competitively (CDEH): the rules of competitive vary from those of casual. Competitive players attempt to win the game within 3 turns. If you cannot do so, you will likely not have fun participating in...

The people are nice and the shop is clean and modern.

I do have a recommendation. MSRP for your top loaders is $2.99.

Wholesale pricing through a distributor should be lower than that. Based on what I have been told twice in two days, it seems like your distributor may be gouging you.

When the price point is already 90% over MSRP--meaning that you can buy them directly from ultra pro when they are in stock and resell them at a 90% mark up, there is no reason why a distributor price change should increase the item's mark up to 120% over MSRP. I would call them and negotiate a new price, they may have something set up wrong for your account.

If the reason for the price increase was not related to your wholesale distributor raising prices unreasonably and I was told that twice in two days anyways then I would be concerned. Either way, I will continue looking for a local brick and...

When I first tried Cardtropolis, at the time I couldn't recommend them over the other LGS'. They were new, stock was touchy, operation times were oddly disappointing.

This is no longer the case, the stock has been built up, the open/close times are consistent, and they are warm and friendly.

As an MTG player, they started displaying/selling old booster boxes. I can't get enough. I have only gone specifically to this LGS to get my pack crack fix. Because of this, I own two cards that only have 3-5 near mint listings on TCGplayer.

The prices are high, but compared to other local LGS' in the area, and considering the stock, it's 100% worth it. If you want cheap, and can wait, TCGplayer exists; But if you want to pick up a few packs on the way home?...