I take it that most of you have attended Sneak Previews before. For those of you who haven’t, let me tell you, they are spectacular. As a player who has played in and written about every type of event from the Pro Circuit on down, I can tell you unequivocally that Sneak Previews are pretty much as good as it gets. There are a bunch of reasons for this. First of all, it’s your very first in-depth look at the set. Besides being a ton of fun, this also serves to be a great equalizer. Even if you haven’t picked up the game in a while, you’re on the same footing as a professional who plays every day. That brings me to the second reason why Sneak Previews are so much fun: they bring different types of players together. Cutthroat competitors, comic book fans, and casual players alike can have a great time checking out the new cards and picking up some swag. That’s the third thing that makes Sneak Previews great, by the way—free stuff. There’s a lot of it. Take these exclusive Extended Art foil cards, for example:

So you walk into your local Sneak Preview and pick up five packs of Infinite Crisis so you can build a Sealed deck. You’re getting ready to sit down and then—bam! Superman. That’s right, folks. You get this hot little Extended Art card just for signing up to play.

But that’s not all. Let’s say you play a few rounds, and you do pretty well. Guess what? The top players in each event will also walk away with one of these:

No, I won’t tell you what a Fate Artifact is. I will tell you that you should trade for a set of them in between rounds. That reminds me . . . I forgot to mention trading. Sneak Previews are an excellent time to trade for good cards from the new set, allowing you to get a jump on owning decks that other people don’t even know exist yet. There’s nothing quite like figuring out that a brand-new card is going to be good and then trading for four before the expansion’s even released.

But, I digress. Let’s get back to you, after you’ve done well at the Sneak Preview. You also get to walk away with a deckbox.

. . . and hey, why not? If Upper Deck wants to shower us with swag, I’m certainly not going to be the one to question it. Oh, one other thing—even if you don’t finish near the top of your Sneak Preview, there’s still a chance that you’ll walk away with a deck box, shirt, or playmat. These door prizes will only be given out to players in the first tournament of the day at each event, so make sure you show up on time! For more details on prize distribution, check out Ben Drago's announcement here.

Oh, and let’s not forget the side events. There will be side events with prizes of their own. In fact, there’s so much stuff going on at each Sneak Preview, it’s tough to keep track. The bottom line is this: show up. Whether you’re new to the game, a pro, or a wannabe big-shot, or even if you haven’t picked up a card in a while, the Infinite Crisis Sneak Preview is the only place you want to be this weekend. See you there!