"It's About Joyful Belonging"

We're one month out from the inaugural Shoebox!

What is Shoebox?

It's an event, and one that promises to bring together a community of Magic: The Gathering fans for a weekend to celebrate that mutual love of the game. Badges are on sale now for Shoebox, taking place in St. Paul, Minnesota on March 13-15.

In their own words, Shoebox is a convention that focuses on what you love most about Magic: creative expression, social play, and friendly competition. EDHREC is proud to support the endeavor, and over the last year or so, Shoebox's founders and organizers have been hard at work ensuring the first-time event becomes the first of many.

We sat down with one of Shoebox's founders, Haiyue Yu, to talk about where the idea for the event formed, what's gone into making it a reality, and what attendees can expect from Shoebox.

Haiyue, one of Shoebox's founders (photos provided)

EDHREC: First off, tell me about yourself - what's your background outside of Magic, and with Magic?

Haiyue: I was actually an IP lawyer in a previous life back in the UK! I moved to Canada in 2018 and became an entrepreneur. In Magic, I built the VML project, which was a league for people of marginalised genders. We ran for 4 years, 13 seasons of play, and helped thousands of players experience and develop their talents in competitive play. We radically changed what competitive Magic looks like, with players from our program regularly making PT Top 8s.

I care a lot about breaking down barriers and creating joyful communities in Magic. I also do some tournament casting - I cover the Arena Championships for Wizards and have also worked on MTGO Champions Showcase and the Set Championships as well as smaller events.

VML appearing on MTG Arena

Tell me about the Shoebox team - anyone you'd like to call out, what their roles are?

The four main founders are myself, Alex, Greg, and Gwen. Alex is my fiance - we've worked on a few projects together (and we're getting married in May!). Greg is a stalwart of the Cube community, who runs the Vertex series on the East Coast. Gwen has the tech chops - he's the founder of Cubecobra, which is the software most Cube designers use, and Hedron Network, which is a tournament software for Cube. We actually all met at Cubecon back in 2024.

The wider team are people we know and trust from our time in the community - judges like Rob and Jenn, Mike Linneman who works with the artists, Misha from Birds of Paradise, Andy (co-host of Lucky Paper Radio, the biggest Cube podcast) with the design work, etc.

Of the founders, I would say that Alex is the finance guy, but he's also very passionate about making sure attendees have a great experience. Greg does a lot of the event planning and logistics. Gwen is our tech wizard. And I'm the one doing comms and a lot of general project management. We very conveniently all have complementary skill sets.

From the beginning, how did the idea for Shoebox formulate?

It was actually a bit of synchronicity. Back in 2020 I came up with the idea for a Safe Playspace at MagicCon, which we ran with Birds of Paradise. From that, Misha and I had worked on a pitch to Wizards for some bigger community projects at MagicCon.

I really believed in those ideas and I was throwing around the idea of a community-focused convention with Alex, but it didn't get much further than some napkin maths. And then literally a week later, I met Greg and Gwen through some mutual friends at this Moroccan breakfast joint. We got chatting and it transpired that they had been thinking that the Cube community should have more than one big event every year. We realised quickly that our ideas were very compatible with each other, and it all grew from there.

VML and Birds of Paradise teaming up to create a gaming space at a MagicCon.

What have been some challenges getting the event from an idea to where it is now?

Well, it turns out that it's pretty hard to make a convention!

I'm being a bit flippant, but I think taking any new project on has the same challenges: you're essentially trying to learn how to do ten different jobs at once. I think those are all kind of just part of the process, though. The absolute toughest challenge has been something we never expected we'd have to deal with: the actions of ICE and the subsequent unrest in Minnesota.

It's been really tough as we've had to make changes to our plans due to staff not feeling safe travelling to the area. However, we strongly believe that a joyful community is necessary, not just a nice thing to have, for people in difficult times, which is why we've decided to keep the event on and support the local economy. We're also donating 10% of our profits this year to Minnesotan organisations that help those affected.

What has surprised you about this undertaking? Anything fall into place easier than expected?

Definitely! I think I've been surprised at just how much passion people already have for this event, and how much people are willing to step in and help to make it a reality.

Of course, when you start a project you always hope that others will share your vision, but it's still very humbling when people are so inspired that they will call in favours and take time out of their own schedule to lend a hand. Mike with the artists is a great example of this. We have some artists coming like Tom Wänerstrand and Chase Stone who very rarely go to events, which I'm super excited about.

What has been the community reaction to Shoebox so far?

Incredibly, overwhelmingly positive. Whenever I talk to anyone about it, I get the feeling that we've tapped into something on a deeper level. You can almost see the enthusiasm bubbling up as the message resonates.

If you had to distill the ethos of Shoebox, what would that be? Like, what's the overarching vibe?

To me, it's about joyful belonging. We sat down very early and asked ourselves: what is it that keeps people playing this game, not just in terms of quick dopamine hits, but for decades? And we came up with these three ideas: creative expression, social interaction, and friendly competition.

We want Shoebox to feel like all the best parts of Magic. So it could be sick plays, or shiny cards, or beautiful pieces of art, but it's also the silliness, the crazy stories, and the unique experiences that you tell your playgroup about for years after the event.

How has your experience in Magic aided you in planning Shoebox?

When I was doing the VML project we did a lot of community work and convention work, which helped. We're all people who have been to countless events and between us we've seen all the aspects of it, and the driving force behind what we're doing is that we are making the event that we've always wanted to go to. I think the other important part is that we're people who aren't bound by how things are normally done; we're willing to give new concepts a go and think about conventions from the ground up, focusing on player experience.

What's your elevator pitch to a potential attendee?

Come and be part of a Magic event that is about playing in fun, creative ways! You'll meet cool people and try new formats you've never heard of. It doesn't matter if you can't afford the most expensive cards or decks, just bring whatever's in your shoebox at home and get ready for a good time. Also, we have neat pins you can collect 🙂

Of all the events, guests, tournaments, and attractions planned, what are you most looking forward to?

For me it has to be the Carnival.

It's something that's completely new we're trying out; a whole area of free minigames, indie formats, and community artists. We have some awesome cosplayers who will be hosting and making it a vibrant and exciting place to be. I'm also extremely excited about Shivam's chaos sealed draft brawl event, because that's a lot of different words all put together and it promises to be a blast.

A Vibrant and Inclusive Grassroots Convention

A big thank-you to Haiyue for giving us the rundown on Shoebox!

Shoebox will be taking over the Saint Paul River Centre in St. Paul, MN on March 13-15. Badges for the event are currently on sale, with a variety of tiers and perks to choose from. To keep up-to-date on Shoebox, check out the event's Bluesky page or join the event Discord.

Will you be making the trek to St. Paul next month to jump into the Shoebox? Let us know your thoughts below, and if we'll see you there!

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