Interview: Mundo Magic Fantasy & Ateneo Comics
Mundo Magic Fantasy & Ateneo Comics, located in Alicante, Spain hosted a 3-day event in October, which had a turnout of more than 90 people among active players.
Players were excited to have a chance to participate at the learn to play tables and expressed great interest in Mundo Magic Fantasy hosting another big event.
We reached out to Raphael, the owner of Mundo Magic Fantasy, with a few questions about the impressive passion of his storefront, and the growth of his community.
How long has Mundo Magic Fantasy been carrying UniVersus and running UniVersus events?
-We have been supporting MHA since the second booster set. After the third release, we started doing events regularly.
How did you find out about the game?
-We learned about the game through a tcg association with which we collaborate with: ASOCIACION RECREATIVA WARNING TEAM
Do you know how many players your community began the game with? What was the growth like?
-To grow the game in our community, we did a base learning event with decks that we set up in the store with the pool of commons and uncommons. We had 21 players at that event and the growth has kept increasing. Today, we have a group on WhatsApp with 36 people and we collaborate with the warning team association that brings us an average of 15 to 20 regular players each week. We also took the risk of running this large event and we had the satisfaction of having more than 60 players playing on the weekend and trying this game.
What was the biggest driving force for your community's growth? Any specific leaders you'd like to shout out for their community efforts?
-The truth is that the force that moves our community is this association that is dedicated to moving the game without profit and keeps the community always up to date with any news from UVS. They also collaborate with Ateneo Comics, another store in the area and thanks to that we have two weekly events in the same city and that helps a lot to keep the community active. The truth is that highlighting someone would be unfair, since we are all helping each other so that the community of this game that we love and that gives us such good times continues to grow.
What advice would you give to stores wanting to grow their community and how to start hosting big events?
-The advice I would give them is to look at their community of players before their economic interest. In the end you win and the benefits both economically and in quality and quantity of players go hand in hand. We did several free events in which we gave away common and uncommon decks created by us so that people could try them and enjoy the experience. In the first events we always performed raffles for extra prizes, and took care to focus on making a lot of jokes and trying to make the atmosphere fun. I have been a magic judge for many years and I have tried to instill in my community the experience I have in casual events.
How satisfied is your store's community with Jet Burn? Overall thoughts on the new card layout?
-Well, the truth is that my community is delighted with the new collection. At first, they were a little surprised by the new design. But after playing the cards, the only thing that really stands out to me is the issue of the keywords of the cards. Some cards are not as clear as their keywords are in the lower area of the card, but otherwise the design in our opinion is a success.
Is your community excited for the expansion of UniVersus into other IPs through-out 2024
-Well the truth is that yes because there is a lot of interest in the Attack on Titan announcement hahaha.
We also spoke with Raphael about many of the logistics of running a big event like this, and how rewarding it is to see it perform so well.
-Well, we organize them in the rooms of the youth hotel in the city that has a room for events. I move it together with the people from the association and communicate with the other store in the area to avoid conflicting. We always have the help of the people from the association for any event.
-We organize a weekly event and a monthly event, apart from presentations etc..., since taking into account that Ateneo Comics holds events on Wednesdays, we decided to do them on Thursdays and we rotate the weekends, so we try not to coincide with other games for spacing reasons.
-An event in the store, apart from promoting the sale of TCG game material, helps the sale of many other items. It also helps us gain publicity and gives us a name within the community. The benefits are both economic and personal satisfaction at seeing so many people enjoying the game.
Thank you to Raphael and the passionate community of Mundo Magic Fantasy & Ateneo Comics for being amazing members of the UniVersus family, as well as for sharing their amazing event and answers with us!
If you (or your local game store) have any questions on how to run an UniVersus event, please reach out to us at LGS@UVSGames.com.