Awesome, another person attending (see
here)!
I only played at one SWM event last year (plan on playing SWM most of the time this year though), but I'll try my best to answer you:
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1) If WotC is sponsoring, will it be DCI sanctioned?
Yes, all of the events are DCI sanctioned.
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2) What should I expect from this, as it draws people from all over?
Last year's schedule was heavy on the sealed events (in fact, I think there was only one constructed event, which I didn't attend), but since Comic-Con gets their schedules out so late, I can't say what things will look like this year.
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3) As I know we have numerous experienced tourney players here, nay, champions, I would love some advice.
Vassal would be my best recommendation. I also don't have any DCI sanctioned or even friendly events in my area, so 80% of the games I play are on Vassal. And in the past 4 months since I've gotten it, I've improved drastically. If you're looking to practice for sealed events but don't want to spend the money, you might try talking your friends into running games based on randomly generated boosters (Bloomilk.com has a good one), assuming they have the majority of the set or can borrow a mini from somebody if necessary.