New sets in the Magic: The Gathering trading card game are released periodically throughout the year. Each quarter, large sets are released for the Standard format. New Standard sets are introduced in-person to players through prerelease events. A typical prerelease event occurs the weekend before a set's official release date. These weekends are exciting to players as it is the first opportunity to acquire brand new trading cards. Players participate in the Sealed and Two-Headed Giant formats during a prerelease weekend.  

What Players Receive at a Prerelease Event
When a player registers for a prerelease event, they pay money to receive a sealed kit for the newest MTG set. This kit contains six booster packs, one promotional card, one spindown life counter, and an insert. Other special items could be included in the sealed kit depending on the featured set. 

Players are given around 50 minutes to open the contents of a kit and build a 40 (or more) card deck. A built deck can only contain the promo card and other cards opened in booster packs found inside the kit. The only exception is that decks can contain any quantity of basic lands. Stores provide basic lands for players to borrow during a prerelease. There is a bit of luck and variance involved as some cards in the set are more powerful than others. 

The Basics for Building a Deck
Building a deck can be challenging for new players or those unfamiliar with a set's mechanics. Other players and staff at the event will typically help newer players who ask for assistance. In general, a sealed deck contains 17 lands, 15 creatures, and 8 spells. These numbers can fluctuate depending on how a deck is built. For example, the pictured deck below contains 17 lands, 16 creatures, and 7 spells. There are multiple strategies involved in building a deck from a limited pool of cards.

One basic strategy is building around the most powerful cards opened. The most powerful cards are usually found at mythic and rare. Uncommon and common cards compliment many of the mythic and rare cards centered around particular mechanics. Multicolored cards at uncommon often act as guideposts for a set's themes and mechanics. In addition, non-basic lands that produce two colors of mana are used in preferred color combinations.

​It is important to have creatures and spells at different mana costs. A good rule of thumb is to have seven to nine creatures with mana costs between one and three. This allows the deck to potentially cast a creature on each turn. Creatures and spells with mana costs between five and seven should be limited in quantity. Having one or two cards between six and seven mana is typically enough in an average deck.
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Once a player has determined which cards to use in a deck, they need to decide the quantity for basic lands in each color. Sealed decks typically contain two colors. A common method to calculate a land ratio is to count the mana symbols on each card. Compare the results and use those numbers to determine basic land counts. For example, the deck below contains 11 black mana and 13 blue mana symbols. Since a dual color land was available in the pool, the remaining basic land slots were split evenly. Otherwise, the deck would likely contain 8 swamps and 9 islands. If a deck contains multiple cards with two of the same color mana in the casting cost, consider running more of that color's basic land. When splashing a third color in a sealed deck, ensure there are at least three sources of mana generation to cast one mana symbol of that color. Beyond basic lands, a source can be a creature that produces other colored mana or a spell that finds a basic land in the deck. It is recommended not to add a card containing two splash color symbols in its casting cost.   

Playing Against Opponents
A prerelease event usually consists of three rounds against different opponents. When deck building is complete, players are randomly assigned an opponent for the first round. A player wins a round by defeating their opponent in two out of three games. A draw can occur if time is called and each player has won zero or one game. In Two-Headed Giant, players only play one game per round. Pairings for the next two rounds are assigned based on a win-loss record. Booster packs are awarded as prizes when the event ends. Players receive a quantity of prize packs based on their overall win-loss record. 

Prereleases are a fun way to experience a new MTG set. They offer a casual environment for new and veteran players to compete in a Limited format. Many players believe prerelease events are the most exciting MTG event offered throughout the year. Prerelease events are something a MTG player at any skill level can participate in and enjoy. 

One of the social aspects of playing Magic: The Gathering is trading collectible cards with others. When building decks, players often have to purchase or trade for individual cards. Trading cards has the benefit of exchanging something of value you are not using for something you can use. One issue with trading is that both parties have to find cards to trade that are of similar value. Another issue is that players have to carry around extra cards for trading in person. Using a website like Deckbox helps alleviate some of the in-person trading problems. 
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Deckbox is a website dedicated to organizing, trading, and selling collectible trading cards. The website supports Magic: The Gathering, World of Warcraft, and Warhammer: Invasion. Individuals can create a free account to trade, organize, and inventory cards. In addition, premium features for collection management and deckbuilding are available for $3.99 to $4.99 per month. Selling cards on Deckbox requires individuals to enroll in a seller account. This guide focuses on new users interested in trading cards for free through Deckbox.   

​Starting Out
The first thing anyone must do is create a free account. This requires entering information like a user name, shipping address, and bio description. I strongly encourage adding a bio that states your trading interests, tracking value minimums, and expectations. The best way to write a bio is to look at bios of users with high feedback. You can get an idea of what verbiage others say and tailor it to your preferences.      

The second step is adding cards you have available for trade. This requires entering cards individually to a tradelist or general inventory. One benefit of adding cards to inventory first is that Deckbox allows users to upload a CSV file. You will still have to mark cards in the inventory for trading purposes. It is important to specify the set and condition of the card. For more information on conditions, refer to this page. Filtering options are available to quickly sort the inventory and tradelist. If a tool or function is unfamiliar to you, just hover over the name to see a description. 

The third step is to create a wishlist. A wishlist is used to show other users what cards you are interested in acquiring. Adding cards to a wishlist is easy. Simply add the name of a card, specify the edition, and pick any ancillary details. Deckbox will show general market prices of cards added to your wishlist, inventory, and tradelist. 

The final step is to read through the trade rules on Deckbox. I recommend reading it a few times to ensure you understand the guidelines.  

Initiating a Trade
Options for trading are found under Trade & Market in the top left corner of the website. Trading shows current trades in progress and feedback from previous ones. Trading opportunities display users who have cards you want and cards they want from you. The tool calculates total values that you can give and receive from different users. Marketplace lists users selling cards that are on your wishlist. If you are looking for a specific card to acquire, try searching for it at the top of the page. You can find a link for users trading a particular card on the right-hand side of the results page that appears.

For new users, I recommend using the trading opportunities function to see who has a similar value of cards available for trade. Your wishlist will feed into trading opportunities. Click another user's name to compare wishlists. Read through the bio of a user before initiating a trade. Some users have a minimum dollar amount or other requests for trading. Also, many users prefer to use TCGPlayer's market price for comparing values. 
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Initiating a new trade is easy when viewing another user's profile. Click the new trade with X (user's name) option in the top-left of the user's profile. After clicking the new trade button, a few options appear. You can name the trade, choose if it is mail or local, and agree to the trading terms. The new trade will now appear under the trading section.

Trading Process
You will need to add cards under each user's side on the trading page. Start by adding cards that balance the value of Deckbox's average market price. You may want to reference other websites for double checking card values. Sometimes the values on Deckbox do not reflect current market conditions. I also recommend writing a comment at the bottom of the page once all cards are added. This comment will explain the trade and notify the other user you have initiated a trade. Finally, you will click the propose this trade button to complete the trade request. The other user will have an opportunity to edit the trade and write additional comments. They may swap out cards and re-propose an offer. Once each party agrees to a trade, you will submit your shipping address. I recommend pulling all cards and checking their conditions prior to submitting your shipping address. If there is an issue finding a card, you can still edit the trade. It is frowned upon to submit your shipping address and then make changes to a trade.

After each person has submitted their shipping addresses, you can send the cards. Deckbox users typically mail cards at the same time. However, you may be expected to send first if you have low feedback. Use recommended packing methods when shipping cards through the mail. Allow at least two weeks for cards to arrive; especially, when sending without tracking. When the cards arrive, go back to the trade and mark them as received. Once each user marks a trade received, a feedback box appears. Giving and receiving positive feedback earns one point per trade. Feedback is very important on Deckbox. It is expected to leave positive feedback when trades go smoothly. When issues arise, a trading dispute can be opened. I recommend giving someone the opportunity to resolve an issue before filing a dispute.    ​

Tips for a Positive Experience
I have completed over 100 trades on Deckbox during the last two years. Almost all of my trades have gone well. Only a handful of trades had an issue. I never had to file a trading dispute to resolve a situation. Here are ten tips that will help ensure you have a positive experience.

1. Remember that another human is on the other side of a trade. Treat others how you want to be treated. When in doubt, do the right thing. 
2. Users that have a positive experience trading with you will likely trade again. I have found it easier to trade with someone I have a good rapport with.  
3. Give people the opportunity to resolve an issue. While rare, shipping issues and mistakes  do happen.
4. There is an unspoken courtesy to give someone a value premium (10% to 20%) when trading lower valued cards for a higher valued one (often called trading up). 
5. You may have to take the initiative and offer trades for cards you want. 
6. Read each user's bio before initiating a trade. Some users have restrictions on value and trade options.
7. Be patient with others when responding to trade requests. People have jobs and other obligations outside of trading. 
8. Paypal offers a discounted USPS rate for mailing from home. It will save you time and money instead of going to the post office. 
9. Many users add tracking for trades valued $25 and higher. Confirm with the other person which method of shipping works best. It is often expected that each user sends cards the same way.
10. Card condition is very important. Be honest with your card condition descriptions. A discount is typically offered for cards not in near mint condition.

The provided information and tips should be enough to get started on Deckbox. While it does take time and energy trading with others, you can likely get a higher value for your cards over buylisting. I hope you find trading on Deckbox as helpful as I have for building decks and a card collection.     

Karaage is a Japanese dish where meat or vegetables are coated in potato starch and deep fried. Chicken is commonly used as the main protein. Making Karaage, or Japanese fried chicken, at home is not too difficult. You can make Karaage in your own kitchen by following the below recipe.

Karaage Ingredients for Serving 2 People

•  2 large chicken breasts
•  2 tbsp sake
•  2 tsp mirin
•  4 tbsp soy sauce
•  2 cloves minced garlic or 1 tsp of pre-minced garlic
•  2 tsp grated or ground ginger 
•  1.5 cups potato starch 

Ready in Approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes
Preparation: 20 minutes
Marinating: 1 hour
Cooking: 25 minutes

Cooking Steps
1. Remove the plastic bag from the refrigerator.
2. Heat oil in a pot or deep fryer over medium heat. 
3. While oil is heating, spread out the potato starch on a flat kitchen dish.
4. Coat each piece of chicken in the potato starch. 

5. Fry the coated chicken for about 4 minutes until it is golden brown and cooked thoroughly. Flip the chicken pieces halfway through to ensure they cook evenly.
6. Put the cooked pieces on a plate or serving dish with a paper towel to soak up any extra oil. 
7. Serve with rice, cooked vegetables, or by itself. ​