By now, you've surely heard of HASCON. I mean, if you look to the right on this very page and scroll down just a bit, you'll likely see an ad for the first-year convention.

You might even know a bit about it. It is, for example, the first place you'll get to see and play with Iconic Masters cards. That in and of itself is a pretty good reason to go.

But the event is so, so much more than Iconic Masters Prerelease events and Magic cards based on Nerf, Transformers, and Dungeons & Dragons. There are panels aplenty, sneak peeks, play events, unique prizes, and the first public demo of a brand new Magic digital experience called Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Piqued your interest? Read on. Or if you're impatient, you can just go buy tickets here, then come back to read the details. But for the discerning con-goer, here's a taste of what you'll be getting if you attend HASCON September 8–10, 2017 in Providence, Rhode Island.

Magic and Dungeons & Dragons Panels

Magic kicks off its weekend and its year-long 25th Anniversary celebration with a panel of Magic all-stars, exciting reveals, previews for Ixalan, and inside information on Friday at 11:30 a.m. with the 25th Anniversary Show. A host of Magic celebrities will be on hand to kick-off our birthday, so make sure you make this one if you only attend one panel.

But if you've got panel fever, the only cure is—more panels! Mark Rosewater will (of course) continue his popular Blogatog Live! panel from 2:30–3:15 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, we'll also be hosting a Sunday dual panel with Dungeons & Dragons creators at 1 p.m. called Building the Best Worlds in Fantasy Gaming that pits D&D creators in a death match against the Magic creative team. Or they discuss the how and why of creating fantasy worlds. We're still working out the details on the death match, so that might not happen.

Speaking of D&D, their crew is going to talk D&D Monster Building on Saturday from 2:00–2:45 p.m., and nobody does monsters better than D&D.

Other panels are still being added to the schedule, so we'll keep you updated and post a full schedule as its available.

Events

The marquee event for the weekend is, of course, the very early, very cool, very iconic Prerelease of Iconic Masters nearly two months before the product releases! It's a cool throwback to the days when no one knew what cards were in a set prior to Prereleases, and you can only experience it at HASCON. I guarantee this is a set you'll be excited to rip open.

But for those with a more digital mindset, we will also be publicly demoing the newest digital experience for Magic with Magic: The Gathering Arena. I will literally be figuratively thrown out of a window if I tell you any more about the game, but stay tuned to twitch.tv/magic on September 7 (time TBD) for more information—or just show up at HASCON and experience it for yourself.

We'll also hold special Sealed events all weekend, as well as spellslinging against a number of Magic celebrities. So if you've ever wanted to destroy Mark Rosewater in a game of Magic, this is your chance.

There will also be special anniversary Booster Drafts and learn-to-play events all weekend long. The full schedule will be posted on www.pastimes.net.

Furthermore, players playing in events over the course of the weekend will receive complimentary deck boxes featuring new art from Iconic Masters every time you register for and play in an on-site event.

PRIZE WALL

But what would all that play be without prizes on a prize wall?

Well, it would still be really fun, but, hey, prizes. Bonus.

In addition to regular Magic prizes like booster packs and boxes, players will be able to redeem play prize tickets for.

• The Magic: The Gathering San Diego Comic-Con 2017 planeswalker cards
• Nicol Bolas screenprint on Magic cardstock signed by artist Brandon Holt
• Uncut foil sheets
• Oversized cards from the upcoming Ixalan Magic set
• Playmat featuring that same new Iconic Masters art seen on the deck boxes

INTERACT!

And that's just the Magic side of things for HASCON! While you're there, you might as well also try out some of the hands-on, interactive experiences from other Hasbro brands and partner brands, including:

• Super-sized Pie Face game
• Custom-built Nerf battle arena
• My Little Pony "ponification" makeovers
• Beyblade battles
• Props from Hasbro's biggest movies

Any self-respecting Nerf fan had to have their eyes bug out a little big at "custom-built Nerf battle arena." It's everything my childhood wanted and more.

That's some of what you can expect during three of the best days of Hasbro-ing at HASCON September 8–10. Magic is kicking off its 25th Anniversary in style—and we hope you'll be there to celebrate with us.