Magic: the Gathering has put together a pre-release event that might set the platform for many more to come. The upcoming set, Avacyn Restored, is set for release on May 4th, 2012. The story to the third set in the Innistrad block focuses on the card, Helvault, that came out in Dark Ascension. The story is that as Liliana, a planeswalker who masters necromancy, is searching for Griselbrand, a powerful demon, to free herself from the curse she has been dealing with throughout her storyline in multiple sets and comics. She finds out that he is trapped in the Helvault which is guarded by Thalia and her cadre of elite cathars. When they meet Liliana’s army at the Helvault, she used the Chain Veil, the item feeding her curse, to give Thalia an ultimatum Liliana already knows the answer to. Destroy the Helvault or you and all of your cathars will die. Not being able to let her people die, Thalia destroys the Helvault, freeing Avacyn and Griselbrand. The release of Avacyn sets up the theme for this set, that good has returned to fight the evil that has been in the first two sets of this block. If you would like to read more about Innistrad, the stories are all on Wizards’ site: The World of Innistrad, The World of Dark Ascension, and The World of Avacyn Restored, along with the back stories to Liliana and the other planeswalkers.

Focusing again on the Helvault, for the prerelease of Avacyn Restored, there will be Helvault Events held at participating stores. During these events, players will have to clear a number of achievements, depending on the number of players, to break one of the many seals of a real life helvault (see image on right) in the store. There will be twenty seals to break on the physical Helvault participating stores will have, but it does allow one person to break anywhere from one to three of them, depending on the crowd. What are the achievements you might ask? They range from casting a spell for its miracle cost, destroying a demon your opponent controls, putting angel or demon tokens on the battlefield or a few easier tasks like, quoting flavor text, casting a mythic rare card or high-five someone that controls a legendary permanent.

Now everyone is curious, including me, what’s in these Helvaults? Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like anyone, including many departments of Wizards, knows what is in the Helvault. People have guessed anything from a Kevlar cat plushy (Sanctuary Cat the Kevlar is for the 2 toughness) to Friday Night Magic M&Ms. Shops who have already received their Helvaults have been told absolutely not to open them (or face reprimand from Wizards). Point is, until the first Prerelease event goes off, the public probably won’t be told what is in them.

So check with your local game shop or find one close by online, and see what time they are holding their events this weekend (April 28th and 29th), the type of events and if they have registered for the helvault or not. Hope everyone has fun, and may Avacyn or Griselbrand help you in your fight. (Everyone has their preference)

NOTE: For those looking for a Helvault event in Southern California, hit up San Marcos’ Sky High Comics. This great shop will be holding an event on both Saturday and Sunday of this week (Call 760-598-0649 to find out more), with 8 man pod single elimination drafts afterwards. Next week they will even be host to Free Comic Book Day with guests including the cast of The Crimson Blur, assorted comic creators, and models and writers from Speak Geeky To Me. More info on the awesome Free Comic Book Day event later this week.