TGP Dispatch 6/9/26: New Cards, Pride Parties and The Return of the Jank
TGP Events Page
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
It would be a waste to not put the “June at TGP” post at the top of the second week of the month’s Dispatch, so here it is again — along with a promise that it won’t be taking up space at the top next week.
June at The Gathering Place, a Helpful Post
Another quick hit from previous announcements, MTG Draft nights at TGP are officially different now, and this past week’s LOTR Draft was a nice chance of pace for all of us! That FNM focus and Sunday afternoon speciality draft format continues this week, with more Strixhaven on the docket and a Sunday draft of Conspiracy: Take the Crown. So, we’ll see you there!
The full page / post / announcement for the Marvel Super Heroes Prerelease Weekend at The Gathering Place is up, so head over there for prereg links and all that jazz. If you’ve got any specific questions or concerns, just call the shop or reach out over on the ask-staff channel of the Discord.
Before we get to the bigger announcements and breakdowns and the usual schedule you see, a quick moment to address the HVAC situation at TGP.
Veterans of the shop know, summertime can be a tough time for our long-serving and battle-worn HVAC units on the roof. Last year we got some pretty significant repairs done during a heat wave induced failure, and this past weekend things got a little hot when one of the ol’ girls kicked the bucket.
We’ve got one unit functional, fans in the shop positioned for optimum airflow, and we put a temporary wall unit in to keep things extra-cool. Repairs are expected to be completed tomorrow, and we’ve lined up a contractor solution with a rental HVAC unit for this weekend just in case we get some bad news tomorrow morning.
The bottom line is, we’re on it!
MTG Vintage Cash Tournament (Monthly MTG Series)
Saturday, June 13, 12:00 p.m.
The Gathering Place’s monthly cash tournament series continues in June with another Vintage Cash tourney!
Vintage is powerful, expansive and a popular way to play competitive MTG! Every card, every set, spanning decades of Magic and shaped by the future of the game itself.
At TGP, Vintage tournament decks are full throttle, and full proxy is permitted. All proxies must be clearly identifiable across the table and representative of actual MTG cards.
Entry is $30 per player to clash for cash in Magic’s most expansive and highest power format, and that entry contributes to the prize pool, along with bonus prizes added to the pot by TGP itself. For this month’s Vintage tournament? We’ve got a Demonic Tutor in the pool!
Event Details + Registration
The Gathering Place Pride Party
Saturday, June 13, 7:00 p.m.
Crafts! Door prizes! Karaoke! Drink Specials! This year’s Pride Party at TGP is proof you can indeed have it all! We hope to see you, yes YOU, there! Celebrating one of Chapel Hill’s weirdest places where freak flags of every color fly with pride, this party is the night-before bash preceding our MTG Pride Tournament. But you don’t have to take *my* word for it…
and, of course, we also have the
MTG Five-Color Pride Tournament
Sunday, June 14, 12:00 p.m.
All decks have a mandatory mana base of five colors. All Legendary creatures and Commander-eligible cards have Partner, but your deck MUST include all five colors! $10 entry per player, half of that goes straight to charity. We’ll have raffles and all kinds of fun stuff all day long. All game changers are banned!
Event Details + Registration
It’s also being talked about in the shop, it’s on the Discord in the #jankchat channel, of course we’ve got to take a moment to talk about Jank 6: Colorshifted cEDH!
Ready for a real deckbuilding challenge? Welcome to Jank 6: Colorshift cEDH!
This tournament bridges the gap between top-tier cEDH power and wild creativity. Upon registration, you’ll be randomly assigned a colorshifted cEDH commander (or partners). Your job is to take that legend and build a competitive list capable of taking down the pod.
Please note: these color shifts affect the global card pool for the event. If a commander has changed colors, the “normal” version is no longer legal anywhere in the tournament.
As always with Jank tournaments, we are running a strict I.D. policy. Play for fun, and play to win!
Also as always with Jank, full proxy is permitted!
Everyone gets a limited-edition playmat, there will be prizes galore — including an altered Dual land — Top 8 prizing in the form of TGP store credit, and more!
Entry is $50 per player, register to play in Jank 6 at The Gathering Place starting right now, today, this moment!
the colorshifted Commanders in question
MTG Marvel Super Heroes: Prerelease Weekend at TGP
MTG Universes Beyond: Marvel Superheroes Prerelease Weekend
Friday, June 19 – Sunday, June 21
The next entry in Magic’s expansive Multiverse collides with another setting that’s continually racking up the cosmic scoreboard: Marvel Comics! We’ve seen glimpses of what’s coming in June through Secret Lair releases and Spider-Man’s MTG debut, and the release of Marvel Superheroes in MTG promises to be another set going bigger!
Marvel Superheroes sealed product will be available for purchase during prerelease weekend at The Gathering Place, no preorders for sealed product or singles are being taken at TGP.
Friday
2:30 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
7:00 p.m. FNM Prerelease Sealed
Saturday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
4:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
Sunday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed 2HG
TGP Dispatch 6/2/26: Pride, Draft Nights, cEDH
TGP Events Page
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
We’re kicking off June at The Gathering Place, and we’ve got a full month of events, tournaments, activities and more all lined up! For a full rundown of everything happening at the shop, check out our June at TGP announcement post, or check out the events pages up top of this week’s Dispatch!
June at The Gathering Place, a Helpful Post
It’s been pretty well announced by now, how TGP does our weekly MTG Draft events is changing starting this week. June will the first month of the new style: Friday Night Magic is always standard, with Wizards promo + pack prizing, and Sundays will be TGP Specialty Draft events with booster boxes pulled from the Distro Dungeon and prizing in the form of store credit. You can read the full announcement here.
The Sunday Drafts this month are as follows:
LOTR / Week 1 – $50 , 24 player cap
Conspiracy: Take The Crown / Week 2 – $35, 24 player cap
Ikoria / Week 3 – $35, no cap
Mystery Booster / Week 4 – $55, 16 player cap
This week, as is the usual flow at TGP, the banner item is our big Dual Land cEDH tournament on Saturday. We run one the first Saturday of each month, and cEDH players from far and wide have started making it a habit to come compete for some of the biggest and best prizing around. It’s also great practice runs for Black Lotus Invitational runs, just saying. Most cEDH players are probably already on top of it, but just in case it’s your first rodeo, you can find registration and details over on TopDeck.
What else is happening this week? One Piece! OP-16 is dropping in a big way in the immediate future, and we’ve got a Prerelease Event Sunday, June 7! The Time of Battle is NOW, entry is $30 per player, details and signups are here. We’ve also got D&D beginner-friendly sessions, the combat-focused sessions with Kelly, and more! Check out our calendars and pages! They’re cool and helpful!
Otherwise, here’s a look at other near-future events + tournaments:
MTG Vintage Cash Tournament (Monthly MTG Series)
Saturday, June 13, 12:00 p.m.
The Gathering Place’s monthly cash tournament series continues in June with another Vintage Cash tourney!
Vintage is powerful, expansive and a popular way to play competitive MTG! Every card, every set, spanning decades of Magic and shaped by the future of the game itself.
At TGP, Vintage tournament decks are full throttle, and full proxy is permitted. All proxies must be clearly identifiable across the table and representative of actual MTG cards.
Entry is $30 per player to clash for cash in Magic’s most expansive and highest power format, and that entry contributes to the prize pool, along with bonus prizes added to the pot by TGP itself. For this month’s Vintage tournament? We’ve got a Demonic Tutor in the pool!
Every card, every era, possibilities and combos abound!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Five-Color Pride Tournament
Sunday, June 14, 12:00 p.m.
All decks have a mandatory mana base of five colors. All Legendary creatures and Commander-eligible cards have Partner, but your deck MUST include all five colors! $10 entry per player, half of that goes straight to charity. We’ll have raffles and all kinds of fun stuff all day long. All game changers are banned!
Event Details + Registration
It would most likely be a mistake to kick off the month without talking about the upcoming release of Magic’s new set: Marvel Super Heroes. Marvel Super Heroes sealed product will be available for purchase during prerelease weekend at The Gathering Place, no preorders for sealed product or singles are being taken at TGP. For those interested in preregistering for the prerelease events at TGP, here’s links to each day:
Friday
2:30 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
7:00 p.m. FNM Prerelease Sealed
Saturday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
4:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
Sunday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed 2HG
You’ll hear more about that in the next couple weeks, obviously. Same for the Pride Party and Pride Tournament, and all the other stuff this month. We’re already working on July, we’re excited for summer in town, and we’ll see you around!
June ’26 at The Gathering Place
Product Release(s) in June: MTG UB: Marvel Superheroes, One Piece TCG OP-16
D&D Learn to Play
Wednesday, June 3, 6:00 p.m.
The first Wednesday of each month, TGP’s own Ben Creed (a friendly face known for comedy, trivia, and TCG excellence in both One Piece and MTG) will be your guide as you take your first steps into the Forgotten Realms.
The Learn to Play session starts at 6:00 p.m. and players don’t have to provide anything but themselves. Well, themselves and also a general openness, a will to learn and the expectation that role playing might feel a little goofy at first — but, the knowledge that the more you lean into it the more fun you’ll have. If you’ve always been D&D curious, if you’ve seen it portrayed in popular media, if you’ve been watching actual play shows or listening to podcasts like Dimension 20 or Critical Role, this is your opportunity to start your own story!
Girlypop Magic Commander Night
Thursday, June 4, 6:00 p.m.
We are honored to be hosting local femme-forward all-stars Girlypop Magic the first Thursday of each month at The Gathering Place! Join us for a free and fun night of MTG Commander-focused events for femme, non-binary, and gender expansive folks!
GPM comes by TGP every month, so come back the first Thursday and play some fun games with some truly excellent people!
Check out the Girly Pop Magic page(s) for all the details and some truly wonderful posts
cEDH Monthly Dual Land Tournament
Saturday, June 6, 12:00 p.m.
Each month, The Gathering Place holds a CEDH tournament where the prize is based on attendance, and every entrant has a chance to battle it out for a Dual Land straight out of the TGP display case!
This month’s is on Saturday, June 6, starting at noon.
$30 buy in, Dual Land goes to first place, payout prizing to Top 4, and other / additional prizing based on attendance. Come battle it out for Duals, for glory, for love of the game!
Full proxy is permitted, all proxies must be clearly representative of the intended card and contain all information the official printing does in an easy-to-identify fashion.
Event registration is run through TopDeck. (https://topdeck.gg/thegatheringplace)
One Piece OP-16 Prerelease Event
Sunday, June 7, 1:00 p.m.
The Time of Battle is RIGHT NOW, One Piece TCG players! OP-16 prerelease is the new set, based on the Paramount War, and things are heating up with new Leaders, new treatments, and a boatload more from One Piece’s trading card game component.
Entry is $30 per player, TGP will have promos and Bandai-provided prizing as per usual. This event is capped at 32, so snag those preregistrations sooner rather than later!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Vintage Cash Tournament (Monthly MTG Series)
Saturday, June 13, 12:00 p.m.
The Gathering Place’s monthly cash tournament series continues in June with another Vintage Cash tourney!
Vintage is powerful, expansive and a popular way to play competitive MTG! Every card, every set, spanning decades of Magic and shaped by the future of the game itself.
At TGP, Vintage tournament decks are full throttle, and full proxy is permitted. All proxies must be clearly identifiable across the table and representative of actual MTG cards.
Entry is $30 per player to clash for cash in Magic’s most expansive and highest power format, and that entry contributes to the prize pool, along with bonus prizes added to the pot by TGP itself. For this month’s Vintage tournament? We’ve got a Demonic Tutor in the pool!
Every card, every era, possibilities and combos abound!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Five-Color Pride Tournament
Sunday, June 14, 12:00 p.m.
All decks have a mandatory mana base of five colors. All Legendary creatures and Commander-eligible cards have Partner, but your deck MUST include all five colors! $10 entry per player, half of that goes straight to charity. We’ll have raffles and all kinds of fun stuff all day long. All game changers are banned!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Universes Beyond: Marvel Superheroes Prerelease Weekend
Friday, June 19 – Sunday, June 21
The next entry in Magic’s expansive Multiverse collides with another setting that’s continually racking up the cosmic scoreboard: Marvel Comics! We’ve seen glimpses of what’s coming in June through Secret Lair releases and Spider-Man’s MTG debut, and the release of Marvel Superheroes in MTG promises to be another set going bigger!
Marvel Superheroes sealed product will be available for purchase during prerelease weekend at The Gathering Place, no preorders for sealed product or singles are being taken at TGP.
Friday
2:30 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
7:00 p.m. FNM Prerelease Sealed
Saturday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
4:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed
Sunday
12:00 p.m. Prerelease Sealed 2HG
MTG Pauper Cash Tournament (MTGPunks Series)
Saturday, June 27, 12:00 p.m.
Pauper is the “oops! all commons!” format of MTG where low-rarity cards produce some interesting, fun, shockingly complex gameplay.
While TGP is proxy-friendly in a great many cases, all cards played in Pauper tournaments must be the real deal.
Entry per player is $30, entry goes back to the prize pool, and the MTGPunks tournament series continues with additional bonus prizing straight from the Dungeon for each tournament! For this month’s Pauper tournament, that prize is an especially pretty Dom! art Counterspell, the DCI Legend Membership printing!
Event Details + Registration
Riftbound Summoner’s Skirmish
Sunday, June 28, 1:00 p.m.
Riftbound continues to be a hit at TGP and beyond, and we’ll be closing out May with another Summoner’s Skirmish!
This tournament will be run at a competitive rules enforcement level. 32 player maximum, $20 entry per player, Swiss rounds followed by a cut to top. If you’ve ever wanted to give serious competitive Riftbound play a shot, now’s your chance!
Event Details + Registration
Castaway Commander League: Week One
Tuesday, June 30 – Saturday, August 22
Last year, we laid down a solid foundation – Commander League: Summer Session was a surprise smash hit, and became the inspiration for so much more we’ve been doing at The Gathering Place since.
To that end, for 2026, we are delighted to introduce something entirely new for the Summer League at TGP: Castaway League.
If you’d like to know everything there is to know about Castaway League at TGP, here’s our post with details:
https://gatheringplacegames.com/2024/05/14/castaway-league-26-at-the-gathering-place/
TGP Dispatch 5/26/26: Third Age, Old School and D&D
TGP Events Page
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
This week at The Gathering Place, we’re sending the month of May off with a full weekend! Flesh and Blood is running a prerelease this Friday, there’s an MTG Old School Cash tournament, and Sunday features a Riftbound Summoner’s Skirmish plus another round of combat-focused D&D with Kelly!
Find all the details over on the TGP events page, and here’s the details taken straight for there for folks who don’t like to click links.
Flesh and Blood: Omens of the Third Age Prerelease
Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.
A new FAB release, a new Friday stacked with stuff!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Old School Cash Tournament (MTGPunks Series)
Saturday, May 30, 12:00 p.m.
The MTGPunks tournament series at TGP is a monthly rotating cash tournament series of community-driven and fan-favorite formats for Magic.
May is Old School’s turn in the sun. We’re talking $30 entry! All Buy in going back into the prize pool! Old School at The Gathering Place, played using the Eternal Central guidelines!
Play Magic the way that Richard Garfield intended; with a nostalgic card pool from Alpha to Fallen Empires—where every deck is a time machine! Relive the aesthetics and power of iconic cards and strategic depth from ’93-’94, all while embracing the charm of old-school gameplay.
Event Details + Registration
Riftbound Summoner’s Skirmish
Sunday, May 31, 1:00 p.m.
Riftbound continues to be a hit at TGP and beyond, and we’ll be closing out May with another Summoner’s Skirmish!
This tournament will be run at a competitive rules enforcement level. 32 player maximum, $20 entry per player, Swiss rounds followed by a cut to top. If you’ve ever wanted to give serious competitive Riftbound play a shot, now’s your chance!
Event Details + Registration
As we announced last week, we’re switching up how we’re running MTG Drafts at TGP in June. You can read the full announcement here, if you missed it. TL;DR — FNM Drafts are always going to be new, Standard sets. Sunday Drafts will be special events with sealed product pulled from the Distro Dungeon vaults.
We also introduced the next Commander League concept last week, the Castaway League, which kicks off at the very end of June. Click here for our full post about Castaway Commander League, with all the details about the event. But, that’s a ways away — and you’ll see a full “June at TGP” post later this week with all the breakdowns, events, outlines, and everything else you’re expecting. For now, know we’re excited about Pride weekend in June, with our party on Saturday and a 5-Color Commander MTG x Pride Tournament on Sunday. We’ll have more posts soon, but we had to let the Pride Possum do an intro today.
Until next time, see you around!
MTG Drafts at TGP in 2026
The Gathering Place is changing how we run our weekly Draft events for Magic: The Gathering starting in June of 2026, and we’re excited to outline the roll out of our new Draft plans for any established enjoyers of Limited play and any newer folks who’d like to give cracking packs and playing cards a go.
Friday Night Magic is a long-standing tradition in the MTG community, and here at TGP we want to do our best to continue cultivating a strong Magic community. Part of that is making sure Friday Night Magic (FNM) is a big deal with a firm focus on what’s currently happening in the game.
Starting in June, Friday Night Magic Drafts will be whatever we have in stock that’s the newest Standard set in MTG. Price for entry will reflect that, as will pack prizing and the promos provided by Wizards. We’re going to kick FNM firmly into gear when it comes to running events live and direct with what’s fresh off the presses.
Of course, The Gathering Place doesn’t just run MTG Draft events on Fridays — we’ve been hosting Sunday Draft events for quite a while! Since Fridays are now exclusively for what’s new, hot and happening with MTG we’ve opened up some space for fun stuff on Sundays! To prove the point, here’s what we’re drafting in June on Sundays:
LOTR / Week 1 – $50 , 24 player cap
Conspiracy: Take The Crown / Week 2 – $35, 24 player cap
Ikoria / Week 3 – $35, no cap
Mystery Booster / Week 4 – $55, 16 player cap
Prizing for these TGP Draft events on Sundays will also be handled differently. Instead of packs, prizing will be given in the form of store credit. $10 per win for anyone with a winning record across three Swiss rounds, with a Foil Promo Pack for the top / undefeated player.
You’ll see signups for these Sunday MTG Drafts posted online over on the preregistration section of the TGP Online Shop soon. Thanks for reading, and we look forward to hosting some great Draft tournaments in the immediate future!
TGP Dispatch: 5/19/26
TGP Events Page
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
This week at The Gathering Place, we’ve got Flesh and Blood getting some love on the calendar, a whole lot of One Piece action, and a few events helping us close out May strong before we crash headlong into June 2026!
The FAB Team Trios event on Saturday, paired with a projector-in-the-back-of-TGP watch party for the Prague tournament, and Sunday that cruises straight into the One Piece TCG Extra Grand Battle — which, if you haven’t heard, if One Piece’s way of saying “we’re not going anywhere” by introducing a historic + non-rotating format.
A little further out in the future, we’ve got a new FAB set prerelease, an MTG Old School cash tournament, more Riftbound competitive space, and a great deal more. But, before we get ahead of ourselves, here’s the breakdowns for the rest of the events in the month, straight from the TGP events page.
Flesh and Blood Team Trios Tournament & World Premiere Prague Watch Party
Saturday, May 23, 12:00 p.m.
It’s an all-out FAB brawl at The Gathering Place! Saturday, May 23, starting at noon, we’re running a Team Trios tournament sure to knock the socks clean off all who dare step into the ring.
$20 buy in per player, each member of the team must use a different hero, prizing based on attendance. All three matches will be Classic Constructed, and we’ll have a FAB judge on hand. We’ll also tie this into putting the World Premiere FAB matches on the TVs over the tournament tables, so come hang!
Event Details + Registration
One Piece TCG Extra Grand Battle
Sunday, May 24, 1:00 p.m.
Congratulations to One Piece for having made it into the hallowed halls of TCGs that need to introduce a historic format. As cards rotate out and the current meta shifts, One Piece Extra Grand Battle is a non-rotating all-time bangers way to play. TGP is running a tournament for EGB on Sunday, May 24, at 1:00 p.m. with $20 entry per player, pack and promo prizing, and the tournament will continue until there is a single undefeated player, an Extra Grand Champion!
Event Details + Registration
Flesh and Blood: Omens of the Third Age Prerelease
Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.
A new FAB release, a new Friday stacked with stuff!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Old School Cash Tournament (MTGPunks Series)
Saturday, May 30, 12:00 p.m.
The MTGPunks tournament series at TGP is a monthly rotating cash tournament series of community-driven and fan-favorite formats for Magic.
May is Old School’s turn in the sun. We’re talking $30 entry! All Buy in going back into the prize pool! Old School at The Gathering Place, played using the Eternal Central guidelines!
Play Magic the way that Richard Garfield intended; with a nostalgic card pool from Alpha to Fallen Empires—where every deck is a time machine! Relive the aesthetics and power of iconic cards and strategic depth from ’93-’94, all while embracing the charm of old-school gameplay.
Event Details + Registration
Riftbound Summoner’s Skirmish
Sunday, May 31, 1:00 p.m.
Riftbound continues to be a hit at TGP and beyond, and we’ll be closing out May with another Summoner’s Skirmish!
This tournament will be run at a competitive rules enforcement level. 32 player maximum, $20 entry per player, Swiss rounds followed by a cut to top. If you’ve ever wanted to give serious competitive Riftbound play a shot, now’s your chance!
Event Details + Registration
With that done, let’s start looking into the future — specifically, the month of June! There’s already all the month’s events planned out and listed on the TGP events page, and you can expect to see a monthly roundup as we get closer to the end of May. But there’s two big-picture items well worth covering this early in a Dispatch: first, we’re changing how MTG Draft happens at The Gathering Place and, second, we’re formally setting sail with Castaway Commander League at the end of June!
About Draft
We’re going to change up how MTG Draft events happen at The Gathering Place. It’s a long-standing tradition for Friday Night Magic (FNM) to be a big deal with a firm focus on what’s currently happening in the game, and we’re going to adjust our schedule to reflect that.
Starting in June, Friday Night Magic Drafts will be whatever we have in stock that’s the newest Standard set in MTG. Price for entry will reflect that, as will pack prizing and the promos provided by Wizards. We’re going to kick FNM firmly into gear when it comes to running events live and direct with what’s fresh off the presses.
Of course, The Gathering Place doesn’t just run MTG Draft events on Fridays — we’ve been hosting Sunday Draft events for quite a while! Since Fridays are now exclusively for what’s new, hot and happening with MTG we’ve opened up some space for fun stuff on Sundays! To prove the point, here’s what we’re drafting in June on Sundays:
LOTR Week 1 – $50 , 24 player cap
Conspiracy Week 2 – $35, 24 player cap
Ikoria Week 3 – $35, no cap
Mystery Booster Week 4 – $55, 16 player cap
Prizing for these TGP Draft events on Sundays will also be handled differently. Instead of packs, prizing will be given in the form of store credit. $10 per win for anyone with a winning record across three Swiss rounds, with a Foil Promo Pack for the top / undefeated player.
About Castaway Commander League
Last year’s “Summer Session” of TGP’s signature Commander League was where Commander League X and beyond began to find footing, and this year’s Summer League is going to keep up the trend we’ve seen through 2026 of League experimentation and innovation. To that end, we’re excited and delighted to announce: Castaway League!
Picture this: you’re marooned on an island, with nothing but the few Magic cards you were able to save from the shipwreck. Over the course of Castaway League, you’ll take those humble beginnings and turn them into a tournament powerhouse alongside (and occasionally against) your fellow castaways. Eight weeks, two tournaments, events and challenges à la Survivor reality TV nonsense, it’s gonna be a whole thing. It’s going to be Castaway League. It starts on June 30, and we’ll see you on The Island!
Click here for our full post about Castaway Commander League, with all the details about the event
As always, thanks for reading this week’s Dispatch. As temperatures and humidity levels rise and the weather outside becomes progressively more true to North Carolina’s temperate rainforest classification, we’re continue to be your air-conditioned indoor haven for games galore. See you around!
Castaway League ’26 at The Gathering Place
Last year, we laid down a solid foundation – Commander League: Summer Session was a surprise smash hit, and became the inspiration for so much more we’ve been doing at The Gathering Place since.
To that end, for 2026, we are delighted to introduce something entirely new for the Summer League at TGP:
You signed up for Cruise: The Gathering, a promised couple weeks of fun in the sun and sand with some of the world’s foremost players of Magic aboard the SS. Garfield. Islands both Tropical and Volcanic, lush jungles and white sand, it was all lined up to be the perfect summer.
Unfortunately for you, the summer you expected is not the summer you’ll experience.
A sudden Thousand-Year storm at sea, paired with a series of mechanical malfunctions below decks, has left you and your traveling cohort marooned! After being adrift aimlessly for the better part of three days, The SS Garfield has now run aground on an uncharted island. Listing dangerously and unsafe to inhabit any longer – to say nothing of unpleasant, you know it smells crazy in there – all hands and all passengers have abandoned ship to seek refuge elsewhere.
The rescue party, if it ever arrives, is surely weeks away.
In the meantime, you’ve got to do the best you can to survive. Both on your own, and as part of the burgeoning castaway society operating by the rules of a shonen anime. Power and position, privilege and progress all hinge on one thing: playing MTG. It’s up to you to have the wits, the skill, the heart to prevail on The Island.
You were able to save just 11 cards through this ordeal : your favorite Commander, and 10 others. From there, your only hope of surviving the island hinges on scavenging supplies from the shipwreck of the Garfield, dangerous forays into the depths of the jungle, salvaging resources and playing pitched games of Commander where the winner decides how the spoils are split.
Eight weeks. Two tournaments. Castaway League.
Sure, that’s a fun dramatic scene-setting introduction and all, but here’s the actual structure for this summer’s Castaway League.
Entry is $45 per player, and entry is all-inclusive for beginning materials and both tournaments.
Each player will provide 11 cards on their own: a Commander, and 10 spells and/or lands as a base for their deck. Cards classed as Game Changers, as well as cards present on the Banned and Restricted lists, are not permitted. Players must submit their list of 11 cards for review + approval before they will be allowed to participate in Castaway League via this signup form. The Commander you start with is not required to be the Commander you keep forever, flexibility is paramount in a League environment and The Pivot is always possible.
At the start of Castaway League, each player will receive a pack of 100 Dragon Shield sleeves, six booster packs of randomly-determined MTG sets from TGP stock, and a randomized selection of evenly color-distributed MTG cards assembled into a roughly 50-card Supply Crate. Resources are scarce, so trading within League will be more important than ever while you’re marooned on The Island.
Castaway League players will be eligible to pick up one traditional Commander League pack slot per week, permitting them to specifically choose / purchase an MTG booster pack. From there, all other League pack pulls will be from the Magic Hole (a box of random packs from TGP stock both off the shelves and from the Distro Dungeon). Each pull from the Magic Hole will cost $13, and each player can scavenge for resources from the Magic Hole a maximum of three (3) times per visit to TGP.
Additional “resource gathering” will be accomplished both individually and together through weekly goals, trials, and challenges. Castaway League players can expect to be split into teams, vote on certain outcomes / events, and other reality show adjacent nonsense. You’ll be spinning wheels, completing scavenger hunts, and more.
Commander meetup days will remain on Tuesdays, Thursday and Saturdays. Castaway League will have a separate signup sheet from Commander Meetup, and players choosing to play within Castaway League on any given night will need to sign up / in to receive credit + recognition for their attendance and gameplay performance. League decks, as always, must remain at The Gathering Place for the duration of the event. Speaking of duration:
- Tuesday, June 30 – Castaway League begins
- Saturday, July 25 – Mid-League Tournament
- Saturday, August 22 – Castaway League Finale Tournament
To summarize:
Entry is $45 per player, each player will provide 11 cards of their own choice and begin with sleeves + a starter kit from TGP.
Packs can be purchased weekly through two main methods: pack slots and random pulls, and there will be additional opportunities for pack slots and Castaway League bonuses through participation in League events / challenges / milestones throughout the season.
Meetups are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, players are not required to attend every single meetup to participate in League. The Mid-League tournament is on 7/25 and the Finale Tournament is on 8/22.
If you have any questions or would like any clarifications, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Victor either on the TGP Discord or via email (victor@thegatheringplacegames.com). League is for anybody who wants to participate!
That’s a lot of dry bones, but hopefully you get the gist of what we’re going for here! Castaway League is somehow both lower, and higher, stakes than any League before it. We’re getting goofy with it, and prioritizing fun weird stuff “it could only happen in Commander” type MTG in a big way. You’ll be trading cards week over week, making treasure out of trash, and steadily assembling a deck with the juice to carry you to victory and crown you Castaway Royalty – provided you get off The Island at all.
In terms of prizing, we’re still getting it all together – you can expect to see some fun + on-theme alters, Secret Lair printings, boxes of boosters, and perhaps even something more…. Reserved if things REALLY get popping for Castaway League signups. You can preregister for League starting today, and we’ll see you on the beach!
COMMANDERJAM 2026 (Saturday, May 16)
(this post has been edited from its original version, since Commanderjam is happening NOW. if you’d like to take a look at the TGP Parking Guide, it’s right here.)
The second annual Commanderjam is set to include a Commander Legends draft, special pods for Two-Headed Giant EDH as well as a return of Planechase, a huge convention table setup run by none other than the Mohawk Man himself, artists and friends of the shop, door prizes all day, Alpha Pie pizza slinging slices from the downstairs service window, another round of deckbuilding workshops — it’s all here, it’s all happening, it’s all COMMANDERJAM and it’s on Saturday, May 16!
We’ve got a luxury variant of the Magic Hole, we’ll have discounts and deals all day long in celebration of Magic’s most popular format, there’s a lot happening in-store all day long!
Signup sheets for each event will be posted at the bar, all events are first-come, first served. We’ll be firing pods as we get four players to play, so don’t worry too much about timing!
Folks who filled out the Commanderjam Form prior to the event will already be listed / included on each sheet.
Most events don’t have a cap involved! It’s more about podding players together, and we’ve got a bunch of table space and the entire day reserved for nothing but MTG. We’re trying to make as much space as possible for folks to play Magic’s most popular format, all day!
Here’s a the schedule of events:
11:00 a.m. — TGP opens
12:00 p.m. — Commander Legends Commander Draft event (Commander Draft guidelines according to WotC)
$55 entry, best of 1, single elimination. Event prizing to pods, additional prizing to winners + Top. Registration for the event is on TopDeck, right here!
2:00 p.m. — 2HG and Planechase pods in-person signups open, first door prize drawings of the day!
2:30 p.m. — 2HG and Planechase pods formally fire
3:00 p.m. — Door prize drawings continue for everyone in-store, Commander pods form + fire as table space allows with special Commanderjam prize support. For folks interested in playing unaltered preconstructed decks and exhibition cEDH games, we’ll pair you up accordingly!
Space on Commanderjam Saturday might be a little tougher to come by, and TGP staff are going to prioritize finding seating for groups playing MTG. We’re going to make sure there’s some additional space outside on the Alpha Pie patio for anyone who’d like to hang outdoors and play MTG al fresco, as well!
4:00 p.m. — Deckbuilding Workshop sessions with Preston “Ironworks” Stevenson + friends open on a first-come, first-served basis. Possible guest-star inclusions for cEDH learn-to-play and other topics!
For any Alpha Pie aficionados, a note from the Pizza Lord himself:
tomorrow, during Commanderjam, Alpha Pie will be offering a special slice: ExtraExtraExtra Pep (it’s more pepperoni than you bargained for, I’m trying to tell you) also, a limited edition brand new hot sauce, straight out the kitchen
TGP Dispatch: 5/12/26
TGP Events Page
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
This week at The Gathering Place: with just a little over a month left to go in spring and summer months taking shape for the shop, there’s so much fun and cool stuff on the horizon for your local game store / bar / pizza place / hangout!
Which, speaking of things in close proximity re: time
COMMANDERJAM is this Saturday!
Finally, it’s here! The second annual Commanderjam is this Saturday, 5/16! It’s been talked about, hyped up, ballyhooed, fretted over, and it’s time at last! Here’s a real quick rundown, in case you don’t know what we’re talking about.
This Saturday is Commaderjam, an annual all-day celebration of Magic: The Gathering — and, specifically, the EDH / Commander archetype — at The Gathering Place in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
A Commander Legends draft, special pods for Two-Headed Giant EDH as well as a return of Planechase, a convention table setup run by none other than the Mohawk Man himself, artists and friends of the shop, door prizes all day, Alpha Pie pizza rockin’ out the downstairs service window, another round of deckbuilding workshops — it’s all here, it’s all happening, it’s all COMMANDERJAM and it’s on Saturday, May 16!
If you’re interested in participating in this year’s COMMANDERJAM, check out our form right here! Answer some questions, sign up for specialty events, and get your name on the list early for the biggest and best door prizes of the day!
We’re also working on bringing back some old friends: the Wheel of Fortune, the Magic Hole, we’ll have discounts and deals all day long in celebration of Magic’s most popular format.
Here’s a schedule of events:
11:00 a.m. — TGP opens
12:00 p.m. — Commander Legends Commander Draft event (Commander Draft guidelines according to WotC)
$55 entry, best of 1, single elimination. Event prizing to pods, additional prizing to winners + Top. Registration for the event is on TopDeck, right here!
2:00 p.m. — 2HG and Planechase pods in-person signups open, first door prize drawings of the day!
Sign up for Two-Headed Giant Commander and Planechase Pods via the Commanderjam Form to guarantee your spot!
2:30 p.m. — 2HG and Planechase pods fire
3:00 p.m. — Door prize drawings continue for everyone in-store, Commander pods form + fire as table space allows with special Commanderjam prize support. For folks interested in playing unaltered preconstructed decks and exhibition cEDH games, we’ll pair you up accordingly!
Space on Commanderjam Saturday might be a little tougher to come by, and TGP staff are going to prioritize finding seating for groups playing MTG. We’re going to make sure there’s some additional space outside on the Alpha Pie patio for anyone who’d like to hang outdoors and play MTG al fresco, as well!
4:00 p.m. — Deckbuilding Workshop sessions with Preston “Ironworks” Stevenson + friends open on a first-come, first-served basis. Possible guest-star inclusions for cEDH learn-to-play and other topics!
Want to get your name on the list to get deck building advice, critique, assistance, and whatever else? Sign up here on the Commanderjam Form!
You might have noticed there’s multiple spots attempting to direct you to the Commanderjam Form. It’s a Google Form, hopefully easy to understand + use + fill out. We want to use it as a way to get people in the games they want to day-of, as an estimation and pre-registration tool. To further incentivize folks making use of the form and helping us make Commanderjam as positively rad as possible, there are some FANTASTIC prizes up for grabs, drawings EXCLUSIVE to folks who fill out the form and show up for Commanderjam.
It should go more or less without saying, but you’ve got to be physically present at the event to claim your prize. You like fetchlands? You like bowmasters, of the orcish variety? You like playing Magic at TGP? Well dang, sounds like you better go fill out that form!
That’s a whole lot about Commanderjam, we’ve got to move on to other things for the week. See you Saturday, friends!
Tomorrow, Wednedsay, 5/13, is the monthly D&D Learn to Play session. It starts at 6:00 p.m. and is helmed by your good friend and mine, Ben Creed! Usually these are on the first Wednesday of the month, but as you already know, we had to move it this go ’round since Ben was in Vegas wheelin’ and dealin’ at MagicCon.
Secrets of Strixhaven continues to be a home run for MTG in more than one sense, and folks have been asking after boxes of boosters fairly often. We’ve still got a few boxes we’re holding for players to run Draft, so we’re going to put one last Secrets of Strixhaven Draft up for Friday Night Magic this week and — after that — all bets are off, at least until we get a restock.
Sunday is scheduled for the One Piece TCG Pirate’s Party, a rollicking good time with promos and high-seas shenanigans aplenty, and there’s more where that came from in terms of near-future events at The Gathering Place. To that end, click here to visit out Events Page and stay up-to-date on what’s happening at the shop.
Here’s what’s left in the month so far, since this already a pretty long Dispatch and we’re firmly at “in for a penny, in for a pound” territory:
Flesh and Blood Team Trios Tournament & World Premiere Prague Watch Party
Saturday, May 23, 12:00 p.m.
It’s an all-out FAB brawl at The Gathering Place! Saturday, May 23, starting at noon, we’re running a Team Trios tournament sure to knock the socks clean off all who dare step into the ring.
$20 buy in per player, each member of the team must use a different hero, prizing based on attendance. All three matches will be Classic Constructed, and we’ll have a FAB judge on hand. We’ll also tie this into putting the World Premiere FAB matches on the TVs over the tournament tables, so come hang!
Event Details + Registration
One Piece TCG Extra Grand Battle
Sunday, May 24, 1:00 p.m.
Congratulations to One Piece for having made it into the hallowed halls of TCGs that need to introduce a historic format. As cards rotate out and the current meta shifts, One Piece Extra Grand Battle is a non-rotating all-time bangers way to play. TGP is running a tournament for EGB on Sunday, May 24, at 1:00 p.m. with $20 entry per player, pack and promo prizing, and the tournament will continue until there is a single undefeated player, an Extra Grand Champion!
Event Details + Registration
Flesh and Blood: Omens of the Third Age Prerelease
Friday, May 29, 7:30 p.m.
A new FAB release, a new Friday stacked with stuff!
Event Details + Registration
MTG Old School Cash Tournament (MTGPunks Series)
Saturday, May 30, 12:00 p.m.
The MTGPunks tournament series at TGP is a monthly rotating cash tournament series of community-driven and fan-favorite formats for Magic.
May is Old School’s turn in the sun. We’re talking $30 entry! All Buy in going back into the prize pool! Old School at The Gathering Place, played using the Eternal Central guidelines!
Play Magic the way that Richard Garfield intended; with a nostalgic card pool from Alpha to Fallen Empires—where every deck is a time machine! Relive the aesthetics and power of iconic cards and strategic depth from ’93-’94, all while embracing the charm of old-school gameplay.
Event Details + Registration
Riftbound Summoner’s Skirmish
Sunday, May 31, 1:00 p.m.
Riftbound continues to be a hit at TGP and beyond, and we’ll be closing out May with another Summoner’s Skirmish!
This tournament will be run at a competitive rules enforcement level. 32 player maximum, $20 entry per player, Swiss rounds followed by a cut to top. If you’ve ever wanted to give serious competitive Riftbound play a shot, now’s your chance!
Event Details + Registration
