Heavy Play ETB Playmat

^{review by Luca}

The Heavy Play ETB Playmat is specifically designed to interact with the Heavy Play system of trading card game accessories, which includes the RFG Deck Boxes and RNG Dice Boxes. Together, the magnetized surface of the ETB Playmat and the magnetized boxes allow you to create a seamless experience for quickly moving your gear around a Limited event. The boxes attach to the playmat securely, reducing the number of objects that you need to lug from table to table. For the avid fan of Limited formats of TCGs like Magic: The Gathering, an accessory system like this could be the solution you are looking for.

However, as a casual MTG player, my experience has shown me that this playmat might be excessively luxuriant. Most players simply need an average, roll-up playmat to serve the basic functions of a playmat, namely, providing a safe, smooth surface that protects your cards and makes it easier to play your game. As a playmat, the ETB Playmat certainly meets that standard, but at a whopping $50, it is more than twice as expensive as some of our other options. If you were already invested in the Heavy Play system, it might be worth adding this playmat along with the deck boxes, but otherwise, take that into consideration when deciding on a playmat. As a stand-alone playmat, it does, however, offer a few unique features that set it apart from other playmats. With its rigid surface, it is significantly less prone to curling, wrinkling, and fraying at the edges, which will prolong its usable lifetime. Furthermore, since the mat is rigid, it can safely hang a bit over the edge of a table, extending the surface on which you are playing. Living in San Francisco, where space is a bit of a premium, that extra area can make a game a bit easier to play. Pro tip: if you’re using the mat over an edge, make sure to appropriately counterweight the top of the mat!

Heavy Play ETB Playmats are available now from our webstore.

P.S. I love the way Heavy Play has named this entire line of products after common MTG acronyms- Enter The Battlefield is a common trigger for abilities when card become played (onto a playmat for example); Remove From Game is the older terminology for exiling a card, which often ends up in a player’s empty deck box; and dice are often used as manual Random Number Generators. These descriptors for their products provide a funny and descriptive name that dedicated fans will notice.