You probably thought this site was dead – and honestly, it was for the past year or so. Since my last post, I’ve been to two Lobster Cons, Sullivan’s special X-Files event, Chalice, and I’ve had to bail on Yeti Con twice (sorry, Jared). And right now, I’m getting my mono-green deck ready for Chalice in four weeks. So, why did I stop writing? I enjoy it, but life got busy. With all the traveling, my career, family, and taking over as Tournament Organizer for Sin City’s Fallen Angels, I just didn’t have time to write.

You don’t really understand what goes into an event until you’ve become a Tournament Organizer and successfully put on an in-person event. It’s easy to enjoy them and appreciate the effort, but seeing all the behind-the-scenes work is something else. For the Sin City Open alone, I have about 11 different files on my Google Drive – registration forms, waitlists, artist applications, expense reports, checklists, surveys, and more. My office looks like a swag explosion for most of the year. I’m not looking for sympathy; I actually love being a Tournament Organizer. But this year, I took on a bit too much and ended up working right up until the night before the event. That’s why this is my first post since July 2024.

Let’s rewind and see how this post came to be.

For the first five years, our founder, Brian Vegso, planned and hosted all our club’s events. He built a strong foundation for what I get to work with now. Running a successful Old School club event is about more than just hosting and collecting entry fees. You have to network, which means traveling to other events and supporting the community.

And that’s exactly what we did – we traveled a lot! In one year, I attended 8 different events. There was The RISK (which, by the way, is a group of lobsters – thanks for the knowledge, Peppin), Sullivan’s one-time specials (I’m still a little bummed you all talked me out of Mortal Kombat this year, but it was probably for the best since my wife’s due date is right around then and I don’t want to become a…. FATALITY!!!), Yeti Con (sorry again, Jared, for missing it the last two years), Glory Con (it’s a classic), War of the Roses (always a blast, and Joe Fairbanks makes the best calzones if you’re lucky enough to stay with him), and Chalice (It’s a great time up in [REDACTED]). The point is, the best way to get your club noticed is to meet other clubs, and along the way, you make some of the best friends you’ll ever have – even in the middle of your life. Studies say most adults don’t make new long-lasting friendships after their mid-30s, but we proved that wrong.

We got our name out there, and just like they say, if you build it, they will come. I wasn’t part of the first Sin City Open since I was just getting into the format, but the second event at the Leatherneck Club during COVID was our real test. That time was a turning point for many Old School clubs. Honestly, the COVID-era events were some of my favorites. Since most of them weren’t technically “allowed”, traveling to play felt a bit spicey – empty roads between states and flying on nearly empty planes. I think those events kept our community alive. Some might disagree, but the friendships formed during those strange times were real and some of the best friendships I still have today.

And so, we move forward: Once interest started to peek into the Sin City Open, we knew we’d need a bigger venue, and we started the hunt. But one thing Brian and I agreed on was that we wanted to grow our event slowly. Only upping the cap by about 20 a year, not to overreach and fall flat on our faces with a venue too big and barely enough seats to fill it. We settled on Bob’s Place. Bob’s was an interesting bar/restaurant. On one hand, it was a kind of biker bar, but it also felt like a retirement home community restaurant. It was like the bar where old bikers go to die, and where magic nerds rent out the back room. It was great for what we needed: a great selection of alcohol, decent space, good parking, and the chicken parm was top-notch. See, that’s what I mean, a biker bar that has chicken parm? Old bikers are definitely getting taken behind the bar and put out, Ole Yeller style, after that plate. But it worked! People attended, we had a good time, Anson Maddocks showed up, Damyan was our vendor, all in all, it was where we gained momentum for a couple of good years of events.

After Sin City Open 6, Brian and I talked about him stepping back from running events and me taking over as Tournament Organizer. That way, he could just relax and enjoy the events, and I wanted to push the throttle of what I thought the Sin City Open could become. That’s when this page went silent.

I’ve been part of the craft brewery scene for a while. If you look back at my Instagram, it was all about beer in the early days! So, when I became Tournament Organizer, I wanted to take things up a notch. My long-time friend Chris Jacobs had just opened Beer Zombies Brewing Co.’s main brewery, and we were already meeting there each month. I pitched the idea of using the main brew area for an Old School event – and I came prepared.

I brought my tablet and a full presentation, packed with photos from events I’d attended over the years. I included shots from Satanic Panic, the Desert Twisters’ Showdown, Chalice, Yeti Con (the two I made it to), War of the Roses at McMillians, the Risk, and our own Sin City Open. I focused on photos that showed big crowds and captured the energy in the room. My favorite was of Mari from the Knights of Thorn at Satanic Panic, dressed as a priest. I also had a blueprint of the brewery with a floor plan I designed, including a separate artist room and using the upper tavern to give the space its own vibe. Chris loved the idea and gave me the green light.

The first event at BZBC I went the same old blueprint idea, Vegso, and I had talked about. With capacity, I upped it 20, bringing us to 64 players. I brought in some good artists, too, but it took a little work to get them to Vegas. I developed an artist event portfolio to send to each artist, like a pitch deck to sell them on the idea of coming out. The artists were Mark Tedin, Anson Maddocks, Justin Hampton, Ken Meyer Jr, and Drew Tucker. Drew had a family emergency and had to cancel (His mom is doing well now) *.

If you know me, you know I love making swag for my friends. I’m already working in CAD on Chalice giveaways for my opponents, so of course I wanted to do something special for my own events. I designed a poker deck featuring all the club’s mascots who attended, plus a Louis Vuitton MTG-themed fanny pack. Creating this swag takes a lot of time, which is why I haven’t had much time to write. Photoshop and CAD eat up hours of my time, especially when I build everything from scratch instead of using templates. I enjoy figuring out how to make things better. I usually order samples from different companies, compare them, and pick the best features – weight, texture, look, size, and even the sound different materials make. I know it sounds obsessive, but the details matter. Hell, I sent Noah from my club a video of me shuffling and stacking different types of poker chips to pick the best sound for Sin City Open 7. If community members are willing to travel, it’s my job to give them the best experience I can. So, something they can take home and think, “shit, this is cool” every time they look at it is my goal. In the end, I wanted to blend the two culture scenes I’ve been a part of for a loooooong time, Breweries and Magic

Overall, Sin City Open 6 was a good event, despite a few hiccups. On the first night, we had to move to the front of the brewery because a Netflix stand-up special was being filmed in the back room. On day two, a second food truck didn’t show up, and the chairs weren’t the best on either day. I learned about these issues from the survey I sent out, and I used that feedback to make improvements for my second year as TO. After the event, I updated all my files to make the next one more efficient. I took a four-month break after SCO2025, then got back to work in May. I already had a venue, so I let Chris know the dates and told him I was increasing the cap to 86 players for 2026. I reset my event checklist and started reaching out to artists for the portfolio, including TOM WANERSTAND, and most of them agreed to join. The portfolio made it much easier to convince artists, especially those who had been there before. Based on the survey, I knew what needed to change: no food truck, everything included, better chairs, more tables, and even better swag (though I’m not sure I can top this year for 2027). Of course, all this means higher registration costs, which no TO likes, but if you show attendees, it’s worth it, most people are fine with it.

Registration day feels like a war room for every Tournament Organizer. Even if you set a specific opening time, people still message you before it goes live. For SCO2026, I launched 3 minutes late, my phone blew up; you would’ve thought it was the apocalypse. It reminded me of when Chalices’ system crashed for 15 minutes in 2025; people lost their minds! Sin City Open 2025 sold out 64 seats in 12 hours, which was a big deal for us. Breaking that 24-hour mark is huge for any Old School club. As a TO, it’s a real accomplishment. So, when Sin City Open 2026 sold out 86 seats in just four hours, I was amazed! We added 22 seats and sold out 66% faster than the year before. I kept running downstairs to update my wife as the spots filled. After how successful the SCO2026 was, I’m a little worried and excited for launch day this year for the 2027 event.

It felt like Christmas morning, except the gifts were seeing friends willing to travel from all over to hang out. I’m excited for the 2027 launch and have already set up my Google Drive to track what worked and what didn’t for 2026. Some changes are coming – not major ones, but tweaks to make registration smoother. For example, the Top 5 Artists Lottery will now take place on registration day, and I’m reducing the number of pre-slotted spots from 10 to 5 to give early birds at the event a better chance, too. trying to reward both sides. I’m looking forward to continuing as Tournament Organizer and writing more now that I have a system in place. I hope this article helps future TOs, even if you’re lucky enough to inherit something already running like I did. END TRANSMISSION.

NEXT ARTICLE: Sin City Open 2026.