CommandFest Birmingham 2025

This Birmingham event felt busier than the London event I attended last year. The morning queue was much longer, and my only criticism of the event is that it felt rather chaotic to book space in the morning events. Though later in the day it was much faster to book a space. The venue was alright otherwise, spread between two floors with enough space to walk around, shop, and play games without feeling crowded.

Just like last year, there was a good selection of events to attend. In the morning I played Peasant Commander, and Pauper in the evening, with regular Commander games in between. Not sure I would be able to fit a third event into the day, but two felt enough for me. I had plenty of time to do some shopping too.

I exchanged my price tickets for two Commander precons, and a Collector booster of Aftermath, so I feel like I got my value out of the price of event tickets.

I was mostly interested to attend to meet with my friend Alberto, and meet the attending Magic artists. Though this year I didn’t bring as many cards to get signed.

Véronique Meignaud

Wooded Foothills - Zendikar Expeditions

Angel sketch by Véronique Meignaud

Signed and sketched Zendikar Expedition Wooded Foothills. Ever since I saw Véronique’s Expeditions artist proofs last year they were on my mind. They are some of my favourite prints, and I really wanted one in my collection of proofs. I’ve asked her to sketch an angel like last time as I really enjoy her unique interpretation of angels.

Dave Kendall

Signed Diregraf Ghoul artist proof. Dave has some amazing horror themed art which have stood out to me ever since my first Magic product, the Divine vs Demonic duel decks. I bought the Diregraf Ghoul proof because it will be a fantastic piece for my upcoming Innistrad themed Cube, and it has the symbol of Avacyn in the art.

Paul Scott Canavan

Signed Aurelia, the Warleader. Paul’s art is my favourite interpretation of Aurelia, it looks especially great in the foil print, and she is a fantastic card in my Avacyn Commander deck. I would have liked to purchase an artist proof with a sketch, but Paul said this was his first event and he didn’t bring any proofs except Force of Negation. Next time perhaps!

Vendors

Another great thing about the CommandFest are the vendors. I’ve bought some fantastic tokens from Alberto, and a pack of Token Alphabet from The Tag Mill. These are whimsical and simplistic take on tokens and I think they will be fun to play with.

All Decked Out was offering a fun product of Mystery Commander decks, a fully built deck for a low price (less than a precon). I bought one and it turned out to be Florian, Voldaren Scion, which I am looking forward to trying out, and potentially improving the deck with cards from my collection. It is not a commander I would build myself but I really like this product idea.