Friday Night Magic: how to prep for your FNM at the store

The weekly Magic ritual

Friday Night Magic, or FNM, is the neighborhood tournament Wizards of the Coast runs in sanctioned stores every Friday night. It's the most accessible Magic event on the calendar: a small entry fee, a relaxed atmosphere, a handful of Swiss rounds, and a few dated foil promos as prizes. For most players, it's the weekly chance to play in person, test a new brew, and talk meta over a drink.

But as casual as the event is, a poorly prepped FNM turns into a chore. An un-sleeved deck, no tokens on hand, a deckbox popping open in your bag: those small misses pile up and ruin a night that should be fun.

Know your format before you leave

Not every LGS runs the same FNM. Check in advance, because your prep changes completely depending on the format on the board.

Standard is still the classic Friday night option: a 60-card constructed deck, legal on the most recent sets. Modern and Pioneer draw players who want deeper decks and a richer meta. Commander now holds the top spot in most stores, with dedicated four-player pods. Some shops run Draft instead: you pay the entry, you crack three boosters from the latest set, and you build a 40-card deck on the spot.

Each format has its own gear demands. A Commander player won't pack the same kit as a Standard player, and a drafter walks in almost empty-handed — sleeving happens at the table.

The ideal FNM kit

Here's what a properly equipped player drops in their bag before heading out.

Spare sleeves first: at least twenty, in the same finish as your main deck. A sleeve splitting mid-tournament is grounds for a marked-card call. For Draft nights, swap that for 100 fresh sleeves: you'll sleeve your deck right after the picking phase.

Your dice or a charged digital life counter. Your tokens if your deck makes them. A notebook for tracking interesting lines and side plans between rounds. And some cash or a card, because FNM promos sometimes go on sale and not every shop takes contactless payment.

Finally, a deckbox that stands upright on the table, stays shut in your bag, and holds your main deck plus a 15-card sideboard without gymnastics.

A deckbox that earns a look across the table

FNM is a social arena as much as a competitive one. Your deckbox sits at the edge of the table for three hours, in plain view of your opponent and the players at the next pod over. A generic white plastic case says nothing about you. A hand-painted, 3D-printed deckbox does.

Our Classique and Proteus models hold up to 125 double-sleeved cards, which comfortably covers a 60-card Standard or Modern deck with sideboard, a 100-card Commander deck, or your Draft pool at the end of the night. The interlocking closure stays shut inside a packed backpack, and the rigid print protects your cards from elbow hits on the train home.

On the Forge, you pick the front and back artwork, the colors and the patterns. A dark Cthulhu finish for your mono-black deck, a Pirate vibe for a Rakdos brew, an Abyssal Wrath fury for a tribal Commander build — hand-painting makes every box a one-off, recognizable from ten meters away.

After the last round

A FNM usually leaves a trace: the dated foil promo, sometimes a prize pack, occasionally a singles purchase from your LGS. These are the pieces you'll want to keep long-term, and they don't deserve to end up curled at the bottom of a top-loader by Monday morning.

Drop them straight into your deckbox at the end of the night, behind your main deck. The rigid build and lack of trapped humidity keep your foils flat over time, and you find each promo filed Friday after Friday when you slip back into your FNM routine the following week.

Build your FNM setup

Friday Night Magic is the event that keeps your local store alive and shapes your week as a player. Give it the gear it deserves. Configure your FNM deckbox on the DeckSmith Forge, calibrated for double sleeving and hand-painted by our artisans.