Taitan Game Shop at a Glance

History

Owners John Tan & Chris Ciencin founded Taitan Game Shop in 2014. Prior to opening up shop a decade ago, John wanted to start his own venture and fortunately had a massive collection of cards as seeding money toward the business. The two owners met as service members of the military and moved out east after 5 months of basic training.

They wanted to be the ones to revive the concept of a "pure Magic shop" in Pittsburgh, carrying MTG singles and hosting multiple events during the week. The current location is in a newly renovated space easily seating up to 64 players and is dog-friendly. Ranger, their resident dog and employee of the month, accepts pets from customers all day.

Visit on 6/15/2024

Taitan Game Shop generously put an Unlimited Mox Jet up for grabs in their celebratory 10th Anniversary Legacy Event for a Mox. The entire weekend was dedicated to the big anniversary and they held several other events including a MH1 / MH2 / MH3 draft, two Legacy for a Dual events, and a Team Event on Sunday.

Guest star invitees such as Todd Anderson, Ross Merriam, Brian Coval, and Ryan Hayes showed up to battle. Each of them did fairly well, winning the coveted prizes from the events. Ross & Ryan even won the random raffle drawings for the free Foil Bug hats... I swear it wasn't rigged!

Formats

The featured weekly formats played at Taitan Game Shop include Legacy for a dual on Fridays, Modern on Wednesdays, Commander on Sundays all day & Thursday nights, Premodern on Thursdays, Pauper on Tuesdays, Draft on Mondays & Fridays for $8/draft, and Pioneer or Standard (depending on the RCQ) on Saturdays.

Inventory

Taitan Game Shop has their inventory connected to their online store. They have a wide range of singles as well as high quality custom merch readily available for purchase, along with gaming supplies from all brands. Most interestingly, there is a corner dedicated to Magic singles, all on display and for sale, so customers may enter the area after checking in and shop as their leisure. While Magic is the primary focus, they do have some Pokemon singles and product, but no events.

Food Options

Inside of Taitan Game Shop, there is a full snack bar full of drinks, candies, a ramen bar featuring a machine to help make your instant noodles. Outside of the store, you can grab fresh coffee & pastries at Queen Beans Cafe. Immediately next door is a McDonald’s and Snappy’s Tap House on the other side serving brewed ciders and a full menu. Close by is also Cobblehaus Brewing Company, a Belgian brewery.

Transportation

Having a car is necessary to make it as easy as possible to get to and from the store, but it's still relatively close to Pittsburgh Airport (~15 minutes) and downtown Pittsburgh (~25 minutes).