This holiday season is filled with releases that give you more opportunities to build your community and attract new players to your store. To help streamline your planning, we've gathered all our latest and upcoming New Player-friendly product releases on our New Player Acquisition Hub; it's all the info you need at your fingertips to make spot-on recommendations.

As you prepare for each product's release, be sure to fine-tune your new player acquisition strategies using some of the best practices below.

Get to Know Your Players

Recommendations are most effective if you know a person's interests and what they want out of playing a game with friends. Do they enjoy the quick challenge that two Jumpstart Boosters may give them, or do they prefer a board game-style experience with Game Night: Free-for-All? The more you're able to learn about a player, the more fine-tuned your recommendations can become.

Consider matching the following new-player products to the corresponding player:

• Jumpstart 2022 is a good match for players who want a fast game.


• Game Night: Free-for-All is a good match for customers who enjoy board games with friends.


• Dragons of Stormwreck Isle is a good match for customers interested in trying Dungeons & Dragons.


• 2022 Starter Kits are a good match for two players who want to learn Magic: The Gathering together.


• Starter Commander Decks are ideal for players who are interested in Commander but don't know where to begin.

Strike up a conversation with your players and find out what they like—you may be able to sell them additional Boosters from a current Standard set that sparks their interest.

Run a Quick Demo

Whether your players are brand new to Magic or D&D, you can offer to run bite-sized demos to help them get a taste for each game. For Magic, start each player with 10 life; the downsized starting point shortens the game while still giving players enough time to grasp the basics. For D&D, you can run the Voyage to Stormwreck Isle sample encounter.

Engage with players as they play, allowing them space to ask questions and explore gameplay opportunities at their own pace. If they have a good experience, you can make recommendations for products they can take home to continue exploring the game and invite them back for new player-friendly events.

Pair New Player-Friendly Events with Product Releases

Pair a new player-friendly event with each corresponding product release, such as running a Learn-to-Play Commander event with the release of the Starter Commander Decks. You may be able to draw more customers to your store, allowing additional opportunities to sell each of these products to newer players to take home after the event is over.

When planning events geared toward this audience, keep a flat prize structure to reduce the pressure on players to perform well. It'll help keep everyone at the table focused on the fun!

Focus on the Social Experience

Magic is a social experience for many—in fact, 81% of Magic players learn to play from a friend. Whether they play with friends in person or virtually over SpellTable, it's going to be more enjoyable if they can talk to their friends about what they're drafting or playing.

For example, Commander is a popular Magic format that focuses on engaging with other players in a fun, interactive way. The upcoming Starter Commander Decks are designed to introduce new players to this fan-favorite format with engaging, ready-to-play decks.

You can encourage players to bring their friends by sharing the Bring-a-Friend promos to customers. Plus, more players in your store may provide more opportunities for you to make a sale. Learn about the tastes of everyone in the group and recommend products based on what they like most.

Scale Player Experiences with Growth

Every new player will learn Magic at their own pace. The more they play, the more you'll learn about what they like from the game, helping you tailor your recommendations for what they can purchase.

One new player may enjoy the challenge of Sealed events, so you may encourage them to sign up for Draft and Prerelease events at your store. If you have a player that loves the intricacies of deck-building, you may guide them to Commander Decks and invite them to Commander Launch Party events to try new decks as they release.

There are myriad opportunities to turn new customers into new players from their first steps into your store—continue building strategies for new player acquisition and visit the New Player Acquisition Hub to align your community to the products they're most interested in.