TGP Dispatch 10/27/26: Happy Halloween!
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
First things first, it’s now officially Halloween Week at TGP, which means we’ve gotta post a link to the big ol’ post about things happening at the shop in celebration. We’ve got cursed carnivals, wheels of misfortune, drink specials, treat bags, a costume contest, spooky-oke, all kinds of nonsense popping off. Check it out, and we’ll see you this weekend!
In addition to all of our Halloween celebrations, it’s also time for the next installment of the MTGPunks tournament series, and October is Premodern month! For folks with a certain fondness for old-school Magic: The Gathering, Premodern present a great environment
MTGPunks Series: October Premodern
Saturday, October 31, 12:00 p.m.
If you pine for the days of yore, when Magic: The Gathering cards had proper borders and all these newfangled characters and doodads weren’t muddyin’ up yer Em Tee Gee, Premodern might just be the place for you!
Premodern is a non-rotating and classic MTG format from Fourth Edition to Scourge, from the late ’90s to the early ’00s, and it’s proven to be a community-created fan-favorite hit in the North Carolina MTG scene and beyond!
Entry for the tournament is $30 per player, that entry goes to the prize pool, and more players participating means a bigger pot for the Premodern People’s Champ!
(Premodern at TGP is a full-proxy-friendly tournament — all proxies must be clearly identifiable and representative of the intended card.)
Registration and More Information
You may have heard about it from elsewhere, but now you’re hearing it live and direct from The Gathering Place: Festifall is almost here, and we’re doing our part to make something special happen downtown to celebrate the changing of the seasons!
The first weekend in November, specifically on Saturday, November 7, TGP and Alpha Pie have the distinct pleasure to be just down the street from Festifall celebrations proper — so, as people park in the two parking decks right by us, we’ll be a perfect staging ground or afterparty zone! Alpha Pie is cooking up a seasonally-inspired slice for the occasion, we’ve called from friends to come by and have a little bit of maker’s market fun in the parking lot, it’s gonna be a great time. We hope to see you there!
Just like the last time we spoke, because enough folks clicked on them to merit bringing them back, here’s some helpful links for navigating the TGP Online presence and finding what you may need.
As always, thanks for hanging out with us at TGP, thank you for reading another week’s announcements, and I hope you have a fantastic, happy and safe Halloween.
-Victor
*any typos in this post are on purpose, actually*
cEDH Black Lotus Qualifier Tournament Weekend
October 21, 2026
10:00 am
Very much worth noting, the big-style cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier is this weekend, an event that isn’t just one tournament, but two! The main event, and a second chance! Judges will be Mike Hebert and Preston!
Here’s some quick guidelines for the tournaments:
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier Weekend 10/24 & 10/25
Very much worth noting, the big-style cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier is this weekend, an event that isn’t just one tournament, but two! The main event, and a second chance! Judges will be Mike Hebert and Preston!
Here’s some quick guidelines for the tournaments:
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier
Saturday, October 24, 12:00 p.m.
The winner of the tournament gets a Mox Diamond, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
- Moxfield Decklist required
- Full proxy friendly
- $50 entry
- 100 player cap
- 80-minute Swiss Rounds
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier (Second Chance Qualifier)
Sunday, October 25, 12:00 p.m.
The winner of the tournament gets a Dual Land, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
- Moxfield Decklist required
- Full proxy friendly
- $50 entry
- 100 player cap
- 80-minute Swiss Rounds
Due to the high attendance expected for these tournaments we are canceling all events (other than the cEDH Tournaments). Sorry casual commander, Karaoke fans, and Sunday drafters – we will have even better events next weekend for you all.
This weekend we will also have a curated case of cEDH singles for purchase and a buy station staffed by the man, the myth, the legend – Preston! Come check out all the fun stuff in the convention-style booth curated for players!
Parking at The Gathering Place lot can be limited, but Chapel Hill has two parking decks close and street parking available. If our paved lot is full, do NOT park in the gravel lot, but find a space either in the Wallace Parking Deck across the street or the Municipal Parking Deck two doors down! Here is our page on parking information:
TGP’s Parking
Week of 10/20 – 10/25
Week of 10/20-10/25
Howdy everyone!
Meredith and Becca here to bring you some news, Victor is compromised and we have bravely stepped up to drive this mech.
Lots happening this week and the next as we get to the end of October.
FNM Late night Magic has been a blast! We have Late Night Commander at 9:00 p.m. and, during October, the Late Night Innistrad Chaos Drafts.
Bonus Friday Night Magic: Late Night Innistrad Chaos Draft
Thanks to those who came out to the first Innistrad Chaos Draft. Two left for the month! Proceeding across three Swiss rounds of standard MTG Draft gameplay, the Innistrad Chaos Draft is $25 entry per player with some special promos and prizing set aside in the form of Halloween trick-or-treat bags for EVERY SINGLE PLAYER!
- Friday, October 23, 9:00 p.m.
- Friday, October 30, 9:00 p.m.
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier
Very much worth noting, the big-style cEDH events coming up are the Black Lotus Invitational qualifier this weekend, an event that isn’t just one tournament, but two! The main event, and a second chance! here’s some quick guidelines:
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier
Saturday, October 24, 12:00 p.m.
The winner of the tournament gets a Mox Diamond, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier (Second Chance Qualifier)
Sunday, October 25, 12:00 p.m.
The winner of the tournament gets a Dual Land, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
Check out this post for details:
Due to the high attendance expected for these tournaments we are canceling all events (other than the cEDH Tournaments). Sorry casual commander, Karaoke fans, and Sunday drafters – we will have even better events next weekend for you all.
Halloween
We have 10 days until the Cursed Carnival, and 11 days until the Halloween Party!!!!!!!!! Get your costumes and your alibis ready!!!!
Also, reminder that Community Dinner is still Sundays at 5:00 p.m.! Come grab a free bite of delicious food 🙂
TGP Dispatch 10/13/26: It’s Dangerous to Go Alone
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
Welcome to another TGP Dispatch, another week at your favorite card shop game store tavern in Chapel Hill, another couple hundred words or so of waxing poetic about what’s going on around here.
Which, speaking of, did you hear? It’s almost Halloween! Which means you might want to know about…
Halloween Happenings at The Gathering Place
Click Here for The Post
Very much worth nothing, in our immediate future, the bigstyle cEDH event coming up, the qualifier weekend for the Black Lotus Invitational, an event that isn’t just one tournament, but two! The main event, and a second chance! here’s some quick guidelines:
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier
Saturday, October 24, 12:00 p.m.
The winner of the tournament gets a Mox Diamond, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
-
- Moxfield Decklist required
- Full proxy friendly
- $50 entry
- 100 player cap
- 4 80-minute Swiss Rounds
Registration and More Information
Also, unrelated, but have you met Henry yet? He rocks, solid dude, glad to have him around.
A couple helpful links, while you’re here, since this is a fairly efficient week Dispatch-wise:
Thanks for reading, thanks for playing, thank you for being a friend. See you around!
-Victor
*any typos in this post are on purpose, actually*
Halloween Happenings at The Gathering Place!
This October, The Gathering Place is celebrating Halloween all month long! Which shouldn’t really be a surprise, given how past October events have gone in our neigh-BOO-hood, where things are a little spooky even when we’re not FEARING up for All Hallow’s Eve. You AXED for Halloween events, and we’re ready to welcome one and all — the MORGUE, the merrier! Plus, if you’ve got any CHOPPING to do, we’re bringing back the classic Wheel of Misfortune for Halloweekend — a purchase gets you a spin, and that spin could go in any number of ways, for good or ill! We’ve got special MTG Draft events, crafts, parties, celebrations — truly, a frightfully packed dance card! Here’s what we’ve got all lined up:
Bonus Friday Night Magic: Late Night Innistrad Chaos Draft
Starting at 9:00 p.m. and proceeding across three Swiss rounds of standard MTG Draft gameplay, the Innistrad Chaos Draft is $25 entry per player with some special promos and prizes set aside in Halloween trick-or-treat bag format for EVERY SINGLE PLAYER!
- Friday, October 16, 9:00 p.m.
- Friday, October 23, 9:00 p.m.
- Friday, October 30, 9:00 p.m.
Craft Nights at the Bar with Becca
No fees, all fun, come hang at the bar and make some cute lil’ crafts with old friends, new friends, and folks who won’t be strangers for long! We’re giving the Craft Nights another go at TGP, and we’re making it a little spooky to stay on-theme for Halloween, so come out and get a little crafty with us!
- Saturday, October 10, 6:00 p.m.
- Saturday, October 17, 6:00 p.m.
- Yarn Loom Ghost / Pumpkin
- Saturday, October 31, 6:00 p.m.
Sunday Spooky Drafts
The Sunday Special Drafts have song similarly spooky, with this month’s MTG Sunday Draft at 3:00 p.m. being MKM and DSK
- Sunday, 10/11 — Murders at Karlov Manor — $25 entry
- Sunday, 10/18 — Duskmourn: House of Horror — $30 entry
cURsEd CaRniVaL
Friday, October 30, starting at 7:00 p.m.
Calliope music and (mildly) scary clowns, the Big Top comes to town and a Cursed Carnival takes the stage on Halloween Eve, Friday, October 30! Drink specials, opportunities to spin the Wheel of Misfortune, and the sort of freewheeling atmosphere you can only find at The Gathering Place in late October. Come one, come all, come on by!
TGP Halloween Party
Saturday, October 31, starting at 7:00 p.m.
The party officially starts at seven, but TGP has drink specials and fun stuff happening all day on Saturday, and well into the night! We’re tricking, we’re treating, the candy bowls are on the bar and the
- MTG Premodern Cash Tournament @ 12:00 p.m.
- MTG Commander / EDH @ 3:00 p.m.
- It’s the usual Saturday Commander, but now it’s spOOoooOOOoookyyyyy
- Crafting at the Bar (Painting Wood Pumpkins) @ 6:00 p.m.
- The first of the proper Halloween events, an opportunity to craft at the bar and make your cute lil’ painted wooden pumpkin!
- TGP Costume Contest!
- Costumes are obviously encouraged, and anyone who’s dressed up and in the bar at 10:00 p.m. is pretty much automatically entered! We’ll choose some of our favorites, you’ll have a chance to strut your stuff as you so please, and the winner will be appropriately rewarded!
- Karaoke w/ DJ Leo @ 10 p.m.
- SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS
- AND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINE
- COME ON DOWN TO LEO’S BOOTH
- AND SING SOME SONGS TONIGHT
- MTG MIDNIGHT HUNT @ 11:00 p.m.
- you know how MTG has a set called “Midnight Hunt”??? what if you could draft Midnight Hunt at… midnight???????
- Okay, look, it starts at 11, but after you Draft and get paired, the games will be STARTING at midnight, so it really is a MIDNIGHT HUNT! and it’ll be happening during all the TGP Halloween Party nonsense, it’s a freewheeling evening of trick or treat Magic
- also it’s gonna be real cheap, we’re talking a $20 MTG Draft here, that rules
- the Draft will be three Swiss rounds, each round will be best of one, the event is capped at 12 players.
TGP Dispatch 10/6/26: cEDH, Casual Hangs and More
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
Hello and formally welcome to October at The Gathering Place, a time of celebration and plenty of tournaments to boot — in fact, here’s a post with everything happening at TGP in October!
We’ll get to some fun later-in-the-month stuff and housekeeping items right after this week’s quick hits, in terms of events at the shop:
- D&D Learn to Play
- Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 p.m.
- The first Wednesday of each month, TGP DM extraordinaire Kelly Trusdell will be your guide as you take your first steps into the Forgotten Realms. 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!
- FNM: Reality Echoes Pick-2 Draft
- Friday, October 9, 7:00 p.m.
- Details on how it works straight from WotC right here, players can expect two packs per win across three Swiss rounds, and entry per player is the same as regular FNM Draft: just $25! Signup is in-person only, there will be a sheet at the bar.
- Reality Fracture 1-Slot Sealed RCQ
- Saturday, October 10, 12:00 p.m.
- $55 entry per player, six packs to crack and build a 40-card Sealed and a cut to Top Eight Draft to finish out the tournament and determine who’s on the path to the Pro Tour and the highest level of competitive Magic: The Gathering!
- Registration and More Information
- MTG Modern Cash Tournament: Miracle Grow
- Saturday, October 10, 12:00 p.m.
- Entry is $30 per player, and that entry goes into the prize pool. More players, more prizing, more rewards for playing 60-card MTG as Garfield & Co. intended! Modern tournaments at TGP are one of our few non-proxy-friendly events, so make sure all your cards are the real deal.
- Registration and More Information
- MTG Planeswalker Party and Tournament
- Sunday, October 11, 12:00 p.m.
- Functionally two events for the price of one, a party, a celebration of all things MTG, of planeswalkers old, new, and otherwise! Come one, come all, for the TGPlaneswalker event of the season!
- Registration and More Information
Now, in terms of some changes you might have already noticed — let’s talk weeklies at TGP! We’ve made the decision to take a couple events off the monthly calendar spreadsheet, but don’t take that to mean those events / meetups don’t have a home at the shop + bar. We just wanted to free up a little space in the Google Sheet, and I want to specifically highlight some text added to the “Regular Events at TGP” page:
Playerbases ebb and flow with seasons, groups may migrate and modulate, and the days / times listed below are a guideline, an anchor. As always, the best place to find out who’s playing what and when at The Gathering Place is by checking in over on our Discord.
Nothing there you don’t already know, but worth saying anyway.
Now, let’s talk about what’s new! We’re making something official that’s been informal for a while: cEDH meetup! Starting this week, every Wednesday, The Gathering Place would like to cordially invite the cEDH curious and seasoned players alike to play some matches, try new decks, learn new lines, whatever’s your pleasure. If things proceed like we expect this to, there might even be some special cEDH Wednesday prizing in the future!
Now, finally, a link to an Instagram post:
Because our official Halloween lineup is here! A full separate post is coming later this week, but Dispatch readers eat first, as always.
Thanks for reading, have an excellent week, and we’ll see you around!
*any typos in this post are on purpose, actually*
TGP Dispatch 9/29/26: Friday Nights and Annual Frights
September 29, 2026
5:07 pm
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
September is on its last legs, and October’s rise means Halloween vibes ascendant at The Gathering Place! We’re getting ready for October’s grand finale, even if we’re not ready to say much more beyond “Friday is a Cursed Carnival and Saturday is our Halloween party!” today — but be looking out for more Halloween details soon.
Speaking of what’s happening at TGP in October, here’s a separate post breaking down all the events and things happening in October 2026. It’s right here. You can click this, if you want.
Here’s some quick hits of the immediate future at TGP, events-wise:
- Girly Pop Magic Commander Night
- Reality Fracture Prerelease 2: Mind Mage Boogaloo
- Friday, October 2, 7:00 p.m.
- We have a little more than 20 prerelease kits left over, which is stunning considering how much we ordered for Reality Fracture! For anyone who braved the crowds this past weekend, we salute you. For anyone who’d like to take another run at a prerelease sealed type experience, this Friday, we’re running it back while supplies last!
- cEDH Monthly Dual Land Tournament
- Saturday, October 3, 12:00 p.m.
- $40 buy in, Dual Land goes to first place, payout prizing to Top 4, and other / additional prizing based on attendance.
- 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.
- https://topdeck.gg/thegatheringplace
- Flesh and Blood ProQuest London
- Sunday, October 4, 12:00 p.m.
- The road to London’s ProQuest 2026 continues, with the best FAB players in our neck of the woods battling it out for a shot at the title and a place on the roster to compete on the highest stage possible for Flesh and Blood!
- $50 entry, and TGP will have all the usual prizes and promos on hand.
- Registration and More Information
- One Piece Extra Grand Battle
- Sunday, October 4, 12:00 p.m.
- $20 entry per player
- Literally every One Piece TCG set is legal, no release-date restrictions or rotation
- Registration and More Information
As far as other cool stuff happening here at the shop goes, it’s worth highlighting the current Friday Night situation. As you may know, Friday Night Trivia at TGP has been retired, and truly, trivia went out in a blaze of glory. In its wake, we’re opening up the floor for some new growth!
Friday Night Magic has long been a staple of the MTG community, and our relatively recent revamp of FNM Draft at TGP has been a great time. Taking the barrier of entry down to $25 and a dream, drafting the most recent and relevant MTG sets, promo packs getting tossed at players left and right, it’s been a great way to play.
To that end, October is going to see more additions of WotC-proposed events, like the “Reality Echoes” pick-two draft, and the “All Leylines Eve” Chaos Draft. This month, we’ll be adding some special, seasonal, spooky MTG Draft opportunities with late-night Innistrad-themed Chaos Drafts! Packs of Innistrad Remastered, Double Feature, Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow getting cracked and assembled into on-theme and vaguely Halloween 40-card decks!
Those late-night Innistrad Drafts will be on October 16, 23 and 30 — with a finale in the form of a Halloween party Draft of Midnight Hunt at literal midnight on Halloween, during our annual TGP festivities. Attendance to each Draft event will be limited, so register early if you want to secure your spot! Entry is $25, and we’ll have some special and thematically appropriate promos for players while supplies last.
Obviously, we’ll have all sorts of other things going on to celebrate one of our favorite holidays, but expect to see a “Halloween at TGP” post soon with all the details. In the meantime, to focus on October events outside All Hallow’s Eve, here’s what’s popping at TGP this month. Thanks for reading!
*any typos in this post are on purpose, actually*
October ’26 at The Gathering Place
Product Release(s) in October: Riftbound Radiance
Sunday Special MTG Drafts for October:
Sunday, 10/4 — RTR Block Special (Return to Ravnica, Gatecrash, Dragon’s Maze) — $25 entry
Sunday, 10/11 — Murders at Karlov Manor — $25 entry
Sunday, 10/18 — Duskmourn: House of Horror — $30 entry
The Gathering Place MTG Commander League XI
September 22 — December 19
Beginning on the Autumnal Equinox and running through the wintry days of December, this year’s flagship iteration of Commander League is a new chapter in TGP’s signature event and a great opportunity to create a deck that’s all your own and battle-tested to be a tried and true winner! If you’re reading this, there’s still time to sign up, so check out the link below and come by the shop to be part of League XI!
All the details on Commander League XI
What else is new for October?
With TGP Friday Night Trivia retired and on hiatus, Friday night at The Gathering Place are taking on a new life! Friday Night Magic has long been a staple of the community, and we’ve been running a new-and-improved FNM for a while now!
Our Friday Night Magic, unless otherwise stated on our Event Calendar, is a $25-per-player Draft of whatever the most recent set is, Standard-friendly and a great way to stay in the loop for what MTG currently looks like, and familiar with the current meta. Just as welcoming to new players as it is rewarding for established ones, FNM Draft is a great way to play MTG! (and every player gets a promo pack!)
For October, we’ll be adding some special, seasonal, spooky MTG Draft opportunities with late-night Innistrad-themed Chaos Drafts! Packs of Innistrad Remastered, Double Feature, Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow getting cracked and assembled into on-theme and vaguely Halloween 40-card decks!
Those late-night Innistrad Drafts will be on October 16, 23 and 30 — with a finale in the form of a Halloween party Draft of Midnight Hunt at literal midnight on Halloween, during our annual TGP festivities. Attendance to each Draft event will be limited, so register early if you want to secure your spot!
Obviously, we’ll have all sorts of other things going on to celebrate one of our favorite holidays, but expect to see a “Halloween at TGP” post soon with all the details. In the meantime, to focus on October events outside All Hallow’s Eve, here’s what’s popping at TGP this month. Thanks for reading!
Girly Pop Magic Commander Night
Thursday, October 1, 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, October 3, 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!
$40 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)
Flesh and Blood ProQuest London
Sunday, October 4, 12:00 p.m.
The road to London’s ProQuest 2026 continues, with the best FAB players in our neck of the woods battling it out for a shot at the title and a place on the roster to compete on the highest stage possible for Flesh and Blood! To play in this qualifier, you’ll be looking at $50 entry, and TGP will have all the usual prizes and promos on hand. We’ll see you there, and good luck to all!
Registration and More Information
One Piece Extra Grand Battle
Sunday, October 4, 12:00 p.m.
$20 entry per player, and a rollicking good time on the high seas as another One Piece TCG Extra Grand Battle! Rotation restrictions fall away as every One Piece TCG set since the very beginning is on the table, and the decks fly fast and furious in Bandai’s best-selling card game!
Registration and More Information
D&D Learn to Play
Wednesday, October 7, 6:00 p.m.
The first Wednesday of each month, TGP DM extraordinaire Kelly Trusdell 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!
Reality Fracture 1-Slot Sealed RCQ
Saturday, October 10, 12:00 p.m.
$55 entry per player, six packs to crack and build a 40-card Sealed and a cut to Top Eight Draft to finish out the tournament and determine who’s on the path to the Pro Tour and the highest level of competitive Magic: The Gathering!
This is MTG at its finest, and your only opportunity at TGP to score an RCQ slot without building out a deck! Come ready to rumble, and good luck!
Registration and More Information, link coming soon!
MTG Modern Cash Tournament: Miracle Grow
Saturday, October 10, 12:00 p.m.
The Gathering Place runs monthly tournaments rotating between Modern, Legacy and Vintage — and this month, it’s all about Modern!
Entry is $30 per player, and that entry goes into the prize pool. More players, more prizing, more rewards for playing 60-card MTG as Garfield & Co. intended!
Registration and More Information
MTG Planeswalker Party and Tournament
Sunday, October 11, 12:00 p.m.
Functionally two events for the price of one, a party, a celebration of all things MTG, of planeswalkers old, new, and otherwise! Come one, come all, for the TGPlaneswalker event of the season!
On Sunday, October 11, starting at noon, the MTG Planeswalker Party (and Tournament!) provides a playground for either of the wolves inside you to hang out and play some Magic: The Gathering. If you’re casually inclined, we’ll have tables and pods for you to try out some weird and wacky decks helmed by any Planeswalker card you’d like. If you’re more into the competitive side of things, we’ll also be holding an official tournament at the same time!
The base rules for each are simple: the Planeswalker Party is full-proxy friendly, follows the typical rules of Commander (and its associated banlist) with a couple notable exceptions to those rules.
- Your deck must have a Planeswalker as its Commander
- this does not include creates that flip or transform into Planeswalkers
- The following cards are banned, in addition to the standard Commander banlist
- Teferi, Time Raveler
- Dihada, Binder of Wills
- Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler
- The Immortal Sun
If you’re playing in the casual zone of the party, that’s it! We’ll have a signup sheet, we’ll have prizing for all pods, and we’ll be doing raffles throughout the day for any and all Planeswalker Party attendees, tournament players and casual enjoyers alike.
If you’d like to play in the tournament, you can expect:
- $20 entry per player
- cEDH level rules enforcement
- still full-proxy friendly
- Store credit from all buy-in to top cut, depending on attendance
Check out details on TopDeck, right here:
Registration and More Information
Riftbound Radiance Prerelease
Sunday, October 18, 12:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 21, 7:00 p.m.
The new set of Riftbound is almost here, and the release of Radiance means a new set of LoL adapted to a TCG environment! $30 entry per player, with prizing powered by promos and packs straight from Riftbound HQ. Expect some amount of scaling with attendance, and if you miss the Sunday prerelease you’ll have a second shot on Wednesday!
Registration and More Information, link coming soon!
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier
Saturday, October 24, 12:00 p.m.
Nuts and bolt out of the way first:
- Moxfield Decklist required
- Full proxy friendly
- $50 entry
- 100 player cap
- 4 80-minute Swiss Rounds
The winner of the tournament gets a Mox Diamond, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
Registration and More Information
cEDH Black Lotus Invitational Qualifier: Second Chance!
Sunday, October 25, 12:00 p.m.
Second verse, same as the first, a second chance for anyone who wants to run it back!
The winner of the tournament gets a Mox Diamond, and a shot at an Unlimited Black Lotus in the final tournament of the series! The Black Lotus Invitational is one of the premier cEDH tournaments in the US, and The Gathering Place is proud to be part of the chase!
- Moxfield Decklist required
- Full proxy friendly
- $50 entry
- 100 player cap
- 4 80-minute Swiss Rounds
Registration and More Information
Halloween Weekend at The Gathering Place!
Friday and Saturday, October 30 + 31
This year, the celebration(s) for Halloweekend at The Gathering Place extend beyond the Innistrad Chaos Drafts and into two days of spooky festivities! We’re gearing up for a Cursed Carnival on Friday and the traditional TGP Halloween Party on Saturday, and we’ll be putting out more details when we’re ready!
MTGPunks Series: October Premodern
Saturday, October 31, 12:00 p.m.
If you pine for the days of yore, when Magic: The Gathering cards had proper borders and all these newfangled characters and doodads weren’t muddyin’ up yer Em Tee Gee, Premodern might just be the place for you!
Premodern is a non-rotating and classic MTG format from Fourth Edition to Scourge, from the late ’90s to the early ’00s, and it’s proven to be a community-created fan-favorite hit in the North Carolina MTG scene and beyond!
Entry for the tournament is $30 per player, that entry goes to the prize pool, and more players participating means a bigger pot for the Premodern People’s Champ!
(Premodern at TGP is a full-proxy-friendly tournament — all proxies must be clearly identifiable and representative of the intended card.)
Registration and More Information
TGP Dispatch 9/22/26: It’s Here, It’s Happening
September 22, 2026
3:13 pm
Monthly Calendar for The Gathering Place in Google Sheets
Hello and good afternoon, friends! A happy Autumnal Equinox to all, may the first day of fall provide you with everything you could ask from it. As for what you can ask from The Gathering Place, two big ol’ chickens are finally coming home to roost this week. It’s time for League, and it’s time for MTG’s new set to bust down the door with some wild additions to the game.
Commander League Season XI has officially begun! From the Chaos of March to the far-flung beaches of Castaway Island, it’s been a banner year for making League bigger and better. The flagship League for this year, Season XI, is the final form. Fewer restrictions, less limitations, just you, a starting precon, and ample opportunities to crack packs and trade cards in pursuit of making a fine-tuned dream machine built for League Tournament glory.
Here’s a link to all the Preconstructed Commander Decks The Gathering Place has in stock, and know that it’s not too late to join League! We’re taking registrations as long as people want to sign up, so we’ll see you out there on the tables and if you have any questions, the TGP Discord is the place to be! There’s the ask-staff channel, and a dedicated League chat for all your CMDR League needs.
You can expect a litany of updates re: October in next week’s Dispatch, but it just wouldn’t do to take the shine off Commander League XI and the imminent (pre)release of Reality Fracture. To that end, I know you’ve seen the song and dance by now, but since it’s literally THIS WEEKED, we’re going to go over the Reality Fracture Prerelease materials one more time, with feeling!
MTG: Reality Fracture Prerelease Weekend
Magic: The Gathering’s next big event set is squarely focused on what’s been going on in-universe: namely, Jace’s ongoing issues with how the world(s) work, and his attempts to crack the firmament wide open and create a new, “better” reality. Colors shifted, alignments and allegiances altered, so much is so different throughout Reality Fracture’s set of cards, and a great deal of Magic won’t be the same once some of these possibilities are brought into colors where they’ve never been before!
Here’s Wizards’ breakdown of the set, and the prerelease event schedule at TGP will be the usual deal:
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
As always, thanks for reading this week’s Dispatch. Next week, there’s gonna be a prize for paying attention. So, y’know, check back then too! See you around and, in case I don’t see ya, good afternoon, good evening and good night.
*any typos in this post are on purpose, actually*
The Gathering Place In-Store Buying Update: Hot Items, Cash Offers and More
September 15, 2026
5:30 pm
The Gathering Place has a limited-time offer and a huge update for anyone potentially looking to sell Magic: The Gathering to the shop! Cash buys are back, and our rates are looking better than ever on select pieces of extra-special cardboard.
Bulk rates and most buying practices remain the same, all relevant information can be found on our “TGP Buys Cards” page, right here, along with a contact form to get in touch with the team directly.
Beginning today, The Gathering Place is buying retro Fetch Lands and Shock Lands at 75% — and that’s a cash offer.
We’re also actively buying Dual Lands, all Dual Lands, and we’re offering premium rates all the way up to a 100% offer in store credit.
Again, just to really drive home that point, The Gathering Place is currently buying any Dual Land from popular card game Magic: The Gathering at a rate of up to one hundred percent (100%) FMV
Lands are what we’re trying to get in the collections and cases right now, but we’ve also got a wishlist of other hot buys we’re looking for. Just in case you’ve got any of these in your box, we’re current buying at the following base values, all in cash:
| Mox Amber |
$62 |
| Esper Sentinel |
$44 |
| Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth |
$41 |
| Gemstone Caverns |
$43 |
| Flash Photography |
$38 |
| Amulet of Vigor |
$35 |
| Quantum Riddler |
$30 |
| Wan Shi Tong |
$26 |
| Trinisphere |
$26 |
| Gleaming Splendor |
$26 |
| Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines |
$19 |
| Undercity Sewers |
$12 |
| Eldrazi Confluence |
$10 |
| Ajani, Nacatl Pariah |
$7 |
| Psychic Frog (retro) |
$8 |
| Blade of the Bloodchief |
$5 |
| Psychic Frog |
$5 |
As always, TGP remains open to trade, credit, negotiations, offers, and buys from all sorts of collections. If you’ve got something you’d like to send our way, we’d be happy to take a look and make an offer!
