Attending MagicCon Amsterdam: A Dream Come True

By John, Co-Founder of Quiver Time

I have been thinking for more than a week how to name this post.
In the end I could not find anything more honest than this: a dream come true.

This July, Romeo and I finally attended our first MagicCon. Not with a booth, not with a sales plan. Just two co-founders with badges, a backpack, and a Quiver case on our backs. We were both excited and terrified. We were just about to meet the community we have been part of for more than a decade.

I returned, physically drained, but I am still thinking about it every single day. Here is why.

Getting there

We packed light. Well, light for us: the Legendary Backpack, the Double Quiver, and an Ivory Quiver with a mission (more on that in a minute).
Walking through the airport with my own products on my back, on the way to my first MagicCon, was one of my proudest moments as a founder.

The first evening we arrived late and did not go out at all.
We just hung out, the two of us, talking about everything and nothing.
After years of building this project together, that quiet evening was like drifting slowly on a barge in the ocean, just before heading into the storm that the next 3 days would turn out to be.

The Gathering, literally

Nothing really prepares you for the scale of it. Somewhere around 24,000 people in one building, and the queues to prove it.

And somehow, with all those thousands moving through the building, everything just worked. Lines kept moving, schedules held, and you could feel a well-run machine behind it all. What I appreciated just as much: the organizing team stayed genuinely open to feedback of any kind, from anyone.
Running something this big, this smoothly, is a massive achievement. Hats off to the ReedPop team.

And here is the thing that impressed me the most, more than any booth or panel.
With that many people in one place, over three full days, I did not expect to see that much harmony and generosity.
Like an ancient agora, people from every craft were exchanging ideas, goods and laughs. Everyone accepting and caring of everyone else, no matter where they came from, what they believed, or who they loved. It was a safe place for every single participant.

That does not happen by accident. It takes a community that practices acceptance, and organizers who work very hard behind the scenes. I am deeply grateful we chose to serve this community all those years ago.

Old friends we had never met

The strangest and most beautiful part of the con: shaking hands with people we had only ever known through screens. Some of them we had been talking with for years, some for over a decade. Seeing them in person for the first time was pure bliss.

Our Brand Ambassadors, who could join us in Amsterdam, made us the honor of accepting our dinner invitation. And if you don’t believe it, I have no proof to show for it. We had such a good time that we completely forgot to take photos. Not one. We were too busy actually talking to each other. I am half sorry, half proud.

We also finally got to spend time in person with our partners from Wizards of the Coast and ReedPop.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for making room for us in an extremely busy event schedule. They were generous enough to give us a peek inside this clockwork machine that makes everything tick. After more than two years of working together over email and calls, meeting them in person meant a lot.

And yes, we played the game. Of course we played the game.

Dust in my eye

The first time somebody walked past us with a Quiver on their back, they said “hey, nice!” and just moved on. I will be honest with you, I had some dust in my eye.
It kept repeating over the whole weekend: Quivers, Bolts, Deck Blocks, Orion playmat tubes, dozens of our products living their life on players’ backs and tables, not just on our website or Amazon storefront.

A group behind us started yelling: “Oh my God, a Double Quiver, I didn’t even know they launched it”. Romeo turned around with his face grinning like half of a bicycle wheel and said: “They don’t. Not yet, at least.” Then winked and added: “But soon, they will.”
A few sharp-eyed players even spotted the Legendary Backpack we were carrying and came to ask about it. For a product that is not even released yet, that curiosity warmed my heart.

When you spend years obsessing over zippers and stitching, this is the payday no spreadsheet can show.

The two everyone kept asking about

Yes, they are real. Yes, they are coming. And yes, you can get in line for both.

The Legendary Backpack

Throw away the repurposed toolbox, the generic backpack, the extra bags. The complete, safe, resilient, lifetime carrying solution made for YOU. Your decks, your way.
From now on, you only need ONE thing.

Join the waiting list

The Double Quiver

Like a Quiver, but double in size. And a few other details added. Decks, deck boxes, dice, and your graded cards, in one case built for a full convention weekend. You saw it at MagicCon before release. Now you can be first in line.

Join the waiting list

Art everywhere

So much art in one place: artists we have known and admired for years, and just as many we discovered on the spot.
Romeo, who is an art lover, was absolutely thrilled, and I get it. In fact, while we often split during the day, I knew I could never lose him, even in that big crowd. All I needed to do was go over to the Artist’s corner and I would inevitably find him at one of the queues.

We also held hand-painted Quiver pieces in our hands (a warm shoutout to Beyond the Machina and Michelle Rap), browsed the MagicCon and Pro Tour licensed products, and spent more time in the artist area than I would like to admit.

Hand-painted by Michelle Rap

See more of Michelle’s designs here.

Hand-painted by Beyond the Machina

See more of Beyond the Machina’s work here.

The content creators were there too, with meet and greet queues that tell you everything about how much this community loves them. I wanted to meet the Professor, but every time I passed by, the queue was enormous. It was not meant to be, this time. What struck me talking to creators is how few of them can actually make a living just from Magic content. If you enjoy someone’s work, support them. It matters more than you think.

The story of the signed Ivory Quiver

We brought an Ivory Quiver over, with a personal plan: collecting autographs on it, for my own collection. A keepsake of this milestone, for the project and for me personally.

Then we met Natalie, one of our Brand Ambassadors. And somewhere in that conversation the plan changed completely in my mind: let’s do something better than a shelf trophy. Let’s turn this into an opportunity to give back to the community.

So the Ivory Quiver went around the con, gathering signatures from content creators, artists, cosplayers, even event staff. The very first signature on it belongs to Ashley. Thank you for getting it started, Ashley! It will not end up on my shelf. The autographed Ivory Quiver is going to make a splash very soon, and I think you are going to like it. Stay tuned.

(And to everyone who signed it, hopefully not twice because I lost track and I even asked again: thank you, and I forgive myself for the chaos. I hope you do too.)

One more thing, while we are at it. If you play at a MagicCon and open cards you do not need, never, ever, throw them away. MagiKids accepts card donations at every event.
Those cards go to children who are just learning the game, and for them, every card is valuable. Your draft leftovers can be someone’s very first deck.

Respect to the other side of the aisle

One more thing surprised me, in a good way: our competitors. Some of their booths had more people working in them than our entire staff has. Some literally built houses inside the venue. The budgets, the coordination, the setup quality: genuinely impressive.

Seeing this did not discourage us at all. It inspired us. It showed us what this industry can carry, and how much room there still is to grow into it. We took notes. A lot of notes.

The crazy last day

On the last day Romeo had to leave earlier, so the logistics fell on me. If you saw a guy with a truly questionable haircut carrying a Double Quiver, a Legendary Backpack, and very little sleep through the RAI and then through the airport, that was me. I averaged about four hours of sleep a night the whole trip.

Tiring? Extremely. Worth it? I am still thinking about that weekend at least twice a day, a week later. You do the math.

Until next time

This industry has the power to make the world a little better. A world that is in dire need of the healing and inspiring power of our community. I believed that before Amsterdam, and I believe it even more now.

There is one more thought I keep coming back to. Games like Magic are not easy. They ask for a lot of reading, patience, math, thinking, sometimes a few turns ahead. It is a hobby that quietly trains the mind, and not everyone in this world gets the same chance to grow into something like it. I do not take that for granted, and I like to believe it is part of what I felt in that hall: a community that has learned to think before it acts, and treats people accordingly.

With a community this size, and this kind, comes real responsibility, and from what I saw at the RAI, we are carrying it well. I came home mostly just thankful.

MagicCon Amsterdam was, for me at least, a milestone of a lifetime. We cannot wait for the next one, and hopefully one day we will make it to a MagicCon in the US as well.

MagicCon Amsterdam, in 12 more pictures

Because no story this good fits in words alone. Tap any photo to open it full size.

A thank-you, from us to you

We came home from Amsterdam with full hearts, and we want to share some of that with everyone, whether you were at the RAI or cheering from home.

So here it is: 20% off everything, everywhere, until August 16. Every Amazon marketplace we sell on, and our own store. Use code MAGICCON20 at checkout.

Were you at MagicCon Amsterdam? What moment stuck with you? Tell us in the comments or come find us on Bluesky, we genuinely read everything.

Happy Quiver Time!

John is a co-founder of Quiver Time. He still checks twice a day whether it is July 17 again.