Interview with Travis of Kingslayer Games




 Games, apps, galore spoke with Travis the owner of Kingslayer Games about what he is up to at his shop and what he is doing to take care of Kingslayer's community of tabletop gamers.


 


1)Tell me a little bit about Kingslayer and how you got started.

Kingslayer Games is first and foremost a community for tabletop gamers. It took quite a few iterations for us to figure that out. It isn’t a very elegant story but I can share how Kingslayer Games got to this point.
 In the summer of 2014 I was essentially bored with my day job (regional sales). I had an interest in collectible comics and used video games, so I looked in to ways of acquiring and selling on the third party market (eBay, Amazon etc.). I did that for a few months, going to swap meets and buying on Craigslist to acquire inventory. That was successful but also took way too much time. There was no efficient way to ramp purchasing used collectibles out of my apartment. I then decided to build a vendor network and started purchasing new toys and comics from a dozen vendors. I was doing this out of my 2 bedroom apartment. I’m married and at that time there was four of us; my wife, Yesenia and our two boys Logan and Ryan. By December of 2014, I was receiving pallets of inventory at my upstairs apartment. It’s fair to say the UPS driver didn’t love my delivery location. The boys bedroom had essentially turned into pseudo-warehouse and the living room was covered in cardboard.
And to be clear, I wasn’t making great money. If anything I was only making 5-10% net off of this start. But I had a system for acquiring inventory and I felt that I could scale it. So right before the first of the year, I took out a loan and found a commercial real estate location right next to our apartment. That is basically how it got started. We didn’t go retail for another year and there is more to the story but that is the genesis of it.


2) How did you come up with the name Kingslayer?  
I am an avid Anaheim Ducks fan. I had a job with the Ducks in college in Marketing as well. Anyone that knows SoCal hockey is aware of the Ducks rivalry with the cross town Los Angeles Kings. I absolutely hate the kings, so Kingslayer seemed fitting. It works as a double reference with Game of Thrones too.








3) You offer a wide array of board games, comics, and card games, but your specialty is Magic the Gathering. What do you think Kingslayer's presence has had on the local MTG community? 

 Since we really focus on the players first I feel our presence has been positive. Other stores do it differently. They may focus on preorders or making sure they have every card in stock all the time. We just focus on hosting consistent events and actually caring about our players. They take time out of their day each week to play here and that means more than spending money because they are investing in the store just by playing here.

4) Kingslayer offers a lot of opportunities for players to meet up and play together. (Almost every day) What type of games/events do you offer? 

We offer daily
Magic: The Gathering in a variety of formats. In addition to that, we do Pokemon every Wednesday and we have play groups for board games and Role-Playing games.




5) You were at the last MTG grand prix in San Jose, what was that like? 

 It was very eye opening. Most Magic players know that there are some 30 million worldwide that play the game. To see a convention center with 3,000+ players all there for one game is really exciting.


6) Will you be attending more tournaments/conventions in the future? 

 Absolutely. I will likely go to a Grand Prix at least 4 times a year.


7) Lastly, what is your favorite way to play Magic? (Aggro, control, etc) Why?

 Aggro is great. I play Elves in Modern and it’s just great when you can play so many creatures on turn 2 and flood the board.

Check out what Kingslayer Games has to offer at their site Kingslayer Games. Or visit them in house at their shop in Fountain Valley, CA. Travis and the staff are super cool and willing to teach you or tell you about their latest board games and what is happening in the Magic scene.
 
Follow the author of this post around on the internet. Mike can be found on these sites. He can also be found teaching young children and getting beat down mercilessly by a Chillwind Yeti.

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