Instant Speed MTG: Wizards' World of Marketing Opportunities

We live in an age of spoilers, but Wizards has taken the offensive against the pervasive and hungry spoiler culture that has gripped us all. Unofficial spoilers have often garnered as much attention as any official marketing push. In response, Wizards has stepped up their marketing tactics by utilizing the worldwide online sphere of influence to maximum affect.

This past weekend Magic players worldwide gathered to compete in Detroit, Bologne, and Melbourne. In a promotional push truly spanning the globe, and in conjunction with Magic's online platform, we were treated to official spoilers in a manner and shape that truly incited a frenzy.

It began, as great things do, with the story. Three scenes from within Innistrad were elucidated, namely:

Sorin Markov's ancestral manor, now a ruin of antiquity,pulled into fractal pieces by the strange forces affecting Innistrad;

The lab of the Stitcher Geralf, a gory boudoir where a helping hand is never too hard to find;

The Thraben Cathedral, central for the Avacynian church, and perhaps a roost for the fearsome, snarling angels of Innistrad.

Each of these fictional locations was made real in one of the convention cities, where players would be able to experience a portion of the lore made real, complete with puzzles to solve and cosplayers spoiling new cards for the first time.

Meanwhile, the twitterverse kept in the conversation, earning it's own spoilers --

If you solved the social media puzzle for the Cathedral you'll get a card! When enough solutions are in we'll reveal ANOTHER card!
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) March 5, 2016

You did it! The Cathedral puzzle was solved enough times for us to reveal THE LAST CARD FOR THE CATHEDRAL! #MTGSOI pic.twitter.com/30A5jJNi4Z
— Magic: The Gathering (@wizards_magic) March 5, 2016

The star of the weekend?

Oh, only the craziest, mythic-rariest, angriest, angeliest card to enter Standard, ever.

(Don't worry, we know it's hard to read anything after reading Archangel Avacyn/Avacyn, The Purifier, and that you're probably reading the card over and over, whispering to yourself, shaking your head. We are still doing this, as well.)

The "kickoff weekend" was a successful, engaging, nuanced event that ended in reveals that lit the community on fire. No amount of internet spoiling could have achieved the hype this promotion did while also providing an interesting hook for coverage and follower-ship. We hope future promotional events are equally immersive, nuanced, and widely accessible.

Questions we are left with:

Will we have a new Jace card?