March Madness ’26: Chaos (Commander) League
February 26, 2026
7:08 pm
This March, madness fully takes hold at The Gathering Place as we launch the weirdest, wackiest, wildest Commander League yet: Chaos League!
We’ve talked about League(s) plenty here at TGP, you can click that link if you need clarification, but obviously the usual structure applies. Each player starts with a preconstructed deck, that deck stays at TGP for the duration of League, the only cards eligible to be added are those opened from League-legal booster packs or obtained through TGP-approved events / channels.
The Chaos in this particular league is simple: it’s $80, all-in, to join League. That will get you a random preconstructed MTG Commander Deck from the TGP Vault, sleeves to protect your deck, and three starter pulls from the Chaos League Magic Hole Box to get your League pulls started off strong!
Click here to sign up for Chaos League
Here’s a sample of some of the decks players have the potential to get when they start their Chaos League journey:
From there, League play continues as always: Commander meetups on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays at TGP, played and participated in at your leisure and pleasure. Be advised, though, the League only lasts as long as March Madness does. Here’s the dates:
- Tuesday, 3/3 — League begins! Meetups at TGP every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during regular Commander pod play.
- Sunday, 3/22 — League Party and pre-tournament, for seeding in the finale
- Saturday, 3/28 — League Finale Tournament
The only MTG booster packs legal for League play are the ones in the Chaos League Magic Hole Box. It’s a full suite of packs taken from the darkest depths of the distro dungeon, a selection of the wide variety of sealed MTG The Gathering Place has to offer. There’s Horizons sets, boosters from across over a decade of Magic — and more, in some cases! Reach in far enough, get lucky enough, and you may find something even older! Or, perhaps, shinier! The only way to know what it’s in the Chaos League Magic Hole Box is to dip in there with your own human hands, and Chaos League players can do so at a low, low price of $8 a pack / pull. Packs aren’t going to run out, pack slots are not restricted this League, do as thou wilt.
If you have any questions about Chaos Commander League, send us an email or pop over in the TGP Discord! Good luck and good hunting to all Chaos League players — you’re going to need it.
Click here to sign up for Chaos League
MTG RCQ Season at The Gathering Place
February 19, 2026
5:15 pm
RCQ Season opens up for 2026 at The Gathering Place with the first three tournaments we’re hosting for one-slot RCQ play. Two are Lorwyn Sealed, one is Standard Constructed, and here’s the details for each. All of them are run through Companion / Event Link, players will be expected to abide by all tournament protocol and procedure and play will be conducted at CompREL level. Here’s the details for these first three tournaments:
MTG RCQ (Lorwyn Sealed)
Date / Time: 2/22 @ 11:30 a.m.
Details: $55 entry for each player, One-Slot MTG Sealed RCQ. Decklist required, rounds based on attendance. This is competitive Magic, and the potential first step on a path to the Pro Tour. Players will be expected to conduct themselves accordingly. Expect a cut to Top 8 in terms of scheduling / time.
MTG RCQ Lorwyn Sealed
Date / Time: Sunday, March 8 @ 11:30 a.m.
Details: $55 entry for each player, One-Slot MTG Sealed RCQ. Decklist required, rounds based on attendance. This is competitive Magic, and the potential first step on a path to the Pro Tour. Players will be expected to conduct themselves accordingly. Expect a cut to Top 8 in terms of scheduling / time.
MTG RCQ Standard Constructed
Date / Time: Saturday, March 14 @ 11:30 a.m.
Details: $30 entry per player, one-slot RCQ, prize pool and rounds depend on attendance. Competitive Rules Enforcement Level (CompREL), judge on-site. Come battle in your first steps to the Pro Tour and see what Standard looks like in the wake of all the Wizards releases this year!
This Weekend at TGP (1/31 + 2/1)
The die is cast, and we’ve decided to call it. Predictions for North Carolina’s weekend weather are looking to be well below freezing temperatures, significant precipitation, and potentially several inches of snow. With that in mind, our plans are changing.
Tomorrow, Friday, 1/30, The Gathering Place will be closed in solidarity with individuals and organizations across the United States seeking a fairer, better, brighter future. We invite everyone in our community to spend the day engaged in whatever activities bring them joy and build connection.
For any Lorwyn League players, we’ll be giving you a free pack of ECL the next time we see you. FAB and Legacy players, we’ll see you next week.
But, while it’s a win / win we’re closing on Friday since the weather forecast is looking dire – we’re not exactly trying to leave folks out in the cold literally or figuratively.
The big man himself, Josh Goodsell, will be on-site Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. saucing, slinging and selling whole pies for $10 off and Lorwyn: Eclipsed Draft Night kits straight out the Alpha Pie window! We’re marking them down from the prerelease weekend price point of $140 to a clean $110, with the specific plan in mind being a discount on pizza, a cheaper Draft Night kit, that’s a way to take FNM and TGP and Alpha Pie home with you. Last week’s $5 off a whole pizza Snow Day Special was so successful, we’re running it back and then some.
For folks who might want a take-home draft experience, but don’t necessarily want to play Lorwyn: Eclipsed, we’re going to assemble some homegrown TGP Chaos Draft boxes that are the same deal. We’re assembling them in the Dungeon right now, they’ll have 12 randomly-selected boosters, 90 basics, and a random Collector Booster! We don’t know how many of these we’ll make, so come through early if you really want one.
Since the lion’s share of snow is slated to come down Friday night and Saturday, we’ll be entirely closed 1/31. On behalf of the entire team at The Gathering Place, we’re sorry things are working out this way, but we can’t really control the weather and we want everybody to be safe.
We’re going to reschedule the Premodern Cash Tournament originally slated for this Saturday for Saturday, February 21.
The Gundam TCG GD03 Prerelease originally scheduled for Saturday has been moved to Sunday, February 8.
As always, you can see the full calendar of events for The Gathering Place on the “Events” tab on our website.
Obviously, the Premodern Cash Tournament getting rescheduled isn’t ideal. Since North Carolina’s weather patterns are famously unpredictable and there’s a nonzero chance the NCDOT is really on top of things road-wise and we’re looking at (hopefully) mostly snow instead of ice, we want to put out there: if TGP is open on Sunday, it’s gonna be a Premodern Party. If that ends up being completely confirmed, be on the lookout for details and formal announcements on our site / socials.
Until next time, be safe. We’ll see you around.
Josh’s TGP Slab Game Returns for 2026!
It’s back, and if you don’t have / check / care about Facebook, here’s your chance to get in on it! Josh’s Slab Game is going wide for 2026, and it’s bigger than ever!
193 spots total, all shipped + tracked, already 1/3 full, roughly a 25% chance to hit BIG across $36k+ of value, $210 a spot on the Slab Game list. Entries are being handled on Facebook by Josh personally, but popping in the TGP Discord can get a random spot too if that’s more your speed — just DM @themohawkman_theboss or TGP staff, we’ll get you sorted. Here’s the link to Josh’s post on FB, where you can reserve your spot:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/182ehPjsEk/
Last time this happened, it was 57 spots and sold out in a couple days — which is why this one is going BIG! We’re talking an Alpha Mox Sapphire HP, an Unlimited Time Walk, an Alpha Mana Vault, Duals, Dragons, six hits over $1k! A quick breakdown on the layout:
- Under $100: 84 Slabs
- $100-200: 62 Slabs
- $200+: 47 Slabs
- Alpha Slabs: 52 Slabs
Here’s a link to the entire list!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OIa1ZGQYpvqJdyRcQPDEeikknwqNTQXEctPmzB0hIPc/edit?usp=drivesdk
2026: The Gathering Place, (Commander) League(s), and You
January 22, 2026
11:11 am
Though it doesn’t always feel like it, The Gathering Place has been opening its doors for beers, board games and good ol’ fashioned TCG action since 2022. In that time, TGP has become known for a couple things — and one of those things is, without a doubt, Commander League. For anyone reading this who might be unfamiliar with Commander League, it goes a little something like this:
Each player starts with a precon Commander deck of their choosing. Throughout League’s entire season, that deck does not leave TGP. Each week, each player is permitted to open three booster packs of their choice, adding to the collective League card pool.
The only cards permitted for League play are the ones pulled in League. Trading is actively encouraged, League is a social experience first and foremost!
(for the full TGP Commander League Rules, click here)
Over the weeks, players fine tune and improve their decks, culminating in the League tournaments, and the Finale where the League Champion is crowned.
League entry is $30 + the price of your chosen preconstructed MTG deck. The Gathering Place has a whole lot of precons in stock, so there’s a wide variety of potential options to choose from.
That additional $30 gets you Chaos Packs to start, a pack of sleeves, a deck box, and entry into all subsequent prized tournaments + League events.
What started as a low-key, in-house Fun Times™ event became something far bigger than we could have ever anticipated. Last year’s Commander League X, the tenth full “season” of Commander League, saw upwards of eighty signups and some of the biggest tournament turnouts we’ve seen. But, like anything else, League grew. It evolved, developed into one of the higher-power MTG events at TGP. With a relatively low barrier to initial entry but an extraordinarily high ceiling for deck power and player skill across the three crucial components of deck building, game play and trading cards to play this Trading Card Game we love so much — it was time to make some changes to how League events run at The Gathering Place.
Welcome to 2026, where TGP will feature four distinct, different and damn cool Leagues across a full year. We’ll do a breakdown of each as they get closer, but here’s the quick hits and elevator pitches:
Beginner Friendly Commander League
A smaller, curated and more personal experience meant for newer folks in the space and scene. Players will choose their own preconstructed deck to start with, like usual. The main difference is size, personal attention and the week-over-week pack slot mechanics. BFL will feature a fixed $20/week structure, which comes with curated packs for each player and personal knowledge from staff. To keep things manageable and provide the experience we want, the Beginner Friendly League is capped at 36 players, or, nine full pods of four. Since this is the closest League to today, here’s a short form details breakdown:
- League Entry: $30 + cost of a precon (or TGP’s “uncorking” fee if you wish to bring your own deck)
- $20/week for three packs personally curated for you and your deck, and talked with you about by TGP staff
- 36 player cap
- Tuesday, 2/1 — League begins! Meetups at TGP every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during regular Commander pod play.
- Saturday, 2/21 — League Party and pre-tournament, for seeding in the finale
- Saturday, 2/28 — League Finale Tournament
March Madness Chaos Commander League
Each player in the March Madness Chaos Commander League will pay a set price for their preconstructed starter deck, with that prize set as the average of all possible decks in the pool. Deck assignment will be random. Each player starts with three Chaos Packs pulled from the deepest depths of the TGP Card Dungeon, and week-over-week packs will be pulled at random from a big ol’ box full of booster packs we’ll be personally stocking for the League and making available to League Players only at a fixed price per pack. High value, low friction, zero predictability, all gas, no brakes.
- Tuesday, 3/3 — League begins! Meetups at TGP every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during regular Commander pod play.
- Saturday, 3/21 — League Party and pre-tournament, for seeding in the finale
- Saturday, 3/28 — League Finale Tournament
Expert Level Commander League
Each player in the Expert-Level Commander League will receive a starter kit from TGP. Command Tower, Arcane Signet, Sad Robot, Commander Sphere. Sol Ring is banned because it’s funnier that way. Each player will begin the League with those four cards from TGP, a Commander of their choice, and one single other card that is not on the EDH/Commander banlist or considered a Game Changer. From there, you’re opening packs and trading into whatever you can. You’ll have access to one additional pack slot per week compared to the League usual, and the League Bulk will become your best friend.
- Tuesday, 6/30 — League begins! Meetups at TGP every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during regular Commander pod play.
- Saturday, 7/25 — Mid-League Tournament
- Saturday, 8/22 — League Finale Tournament
TGP Commander League: Season XI
The flagship League. The intention here is, after a Beginner-Friendly variant, a weird and wacky Chaos League, and the hot rods built out of trash we’ll see in the Expert League, we’re really taking the doors off for Commander League XI. Back to the exact structure you know and love, minimal restrictions and safeguards, go wild. Here’s the primer, if you need it. Obviously, we’ll talk more about Season XI later in the year!
- Tuesday, 9/22 — League begins! Meetups at TGP every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday during regular Commander pod play.
- Saturday, 9/26 — Commander League XI Kickoff Party
- Saturday, 10/17 — First Tournament
- Saturday, 11/21 — Second Tournament
- Saturday, 12/19 — Third Tournament, The XI Finale
Changes and Updates for 2026 at The Gathering Place and Alpha Pie
Hello and welcome back, all. The Gathering Place is back for 2026, and there’s a great deal of cool things already planned throughout the year. A lot of things are staying exactly the same, but some things are changing. We’ve talked a little bit about the changes we have in mind already in previous weekly dispatches / announcements, but since it’s the first full week of the year let’s break down the big three:
- TGP’s Outside Food and Drink Policy is Changing
- TGP Discord Server is Changing
- The TGP Parking Lot Rules Aren’t Changing, But They Are Getting Enforced More Seriously
First, the outside food and drink policy.
In order to be better stewards of our space and the community we wish to foster, provide and maintain, The Gathering Place will no longer allow outside food and drink from anywhere other than local business and restaurants. We’ve had ongoing issues with trash and messes left behind from outside food and drinks, and this is officially the compromise. We want to encourage supporting local businesses, and you want to bring lunch by the shop. So, to that end, buy local!
We’d rather see spots like Med Deli, TRU, Cosmic Cantina, Momo’s Master or Buns succeed in our neighborhood than Raising Cane’s or McDonald’s – and, genuinely, we think you want that too. If you have any questions about what is, and is not, allowed, just ask. I promise, this is a friendlier policy than it might sound to some folks who might think we’re drawing up a spreadsheet of what is and is not allowed on TGP’s hallowed grounds. Just be mindful and cool about it and – for all of us – please, clean up after yourself.
Second, changes to the TGP Discord server.
The Gathering Place has a Discord server? Did you know that? Have we talked about it enough? I hope so, because the TGP Discord has consistently proven, for me at least, to be one of the most effective tools around in terms of finding games, cards and cool folks to hang with.
For the past year or so, TGP has been introducing more and more announcements and interactions on the Discord, and it’s been working. The #announcements channel, the #ask-staff channel, Discord has proven to be a great way to have direct communication where it’s needed most. Unfortunately, some of that valuable communication can get lost in the overall noise of a crowded room of people talking to each other. Folks mute the Discord, don’t check on it often, get annoyed at pings and notifications and delete it entirely.
Could a great deal of these issues be solved by better user-side interaction and customization? Probably! Are there things TGP can do to make it better, as well? Absolutely!
We want to refocus the Discord to be more about the shop, the space, and the games / events happening here daily, weekly, monthly, and beyond. We’re going to bump up and prioritize “looking for game” channels, reorganize the layout of channels and, unfortunately for those who love chatting on Discord servers, remove most of the generalized chat channels. Everything about card games, from #cedh to #deckbuilding-advice is staying! All the individual D&D channels, the #board-games, all that’s staying!
We’re just going to reprioritize, reorganize, and probably start one big channel that’s a big chaotic general chat people that don’t want to get a million pings a day can easily mute. We don’t know what we’re calling it yet, current votes are #the-wasteland, #house-party and #yell-zone. You’ll know it when you see it.
Third, parking at TGP.
In 2026, TGP will be taking towing in our parking lot far more seriously. No parking on the side wall next to the building, no blocking people in, no parking your car in the lot and walking away. The tow company is currently an on-demand service, something we call when we have an issue. That will never change, we’re not going to allow any towing company to run roughshod in our parking lot. But, with that in mind, we’re going to be a lot more likely to get vehicles out of the lot in the year to come.
We’ve seen our parking lot posted elsewhere online as a place to park for free on game days, a lot to leave your car over the weekend, and one of Chapel Hill’s “best places to park downtown without paying for it.” Our lot is for patrons and staff of The Gathering Place and Alpha Pie, and it’s free for the purpose of coming to TGP/AP.
You can find all the parking details at the newly-minted TGP parking guide.
If you have any questions or want to talk, please directly contact Victor via email (victor@thegatheringplacegames.com) or reach out to ludovician_vega (which is also Victor) in the TGP discord via DM.
Big News: Community Dinners and The Rosemary Street Pantry
November 13, 2025
1:47 pm
Starting Sunday, November 16, Alpha Pie – located at 157 E Rosemary Street in Chapel Hill, companion business to The Gathering Place, which can be found on the second floor of the same building – will be hosting and providing a series of Community Sunday Dinners to anyone and everyone, absolutely free.
The dinner on Sunday, 11/16, is taking place from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Volunteers are needed, with arrival window to prepare for service between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.
For the Community Sunday Dinner series, Alpha Pie’s kitchen will be serving multi-course, chef-driven meals and offering take-away. For as long as there’s food in the kitchen, there will be food on the plates of our neighbors. These dinners are an intentional effort to strengthen community ties and provide a sense of comfort, dignity and safety in the simple act of sharing a meal.
No restrictions, no limitations and no strings. Menus in the works include bánh mì sandwiches, daal and flatbread, smoked brisket and more nutritious, filling, genuinely great food prepared by volunteers in our kitchen.
By leveraging existing relationships with local suppliers and farmers, Alpha Pie is in a unique position to minimize food waste and maximize local impact by purchasing overstock from local agricultural efforts and putting previously unused food directly to the plates of the people who need it most.
Local free dinner programs, such as the one by IFC, cover most of the week, but Sunday evening is a gap currently unfilled. More than that, Sunday dinner is a well-worn tradition for families across the world.
Tight on budget this week? Come get a meal.
Can’t qualify for food assistance because you make too much money, but not enough to not be broke? Come get a meal.
Lost your job and want to save money to get through the rut? Come get a meal.
Experiencing homelessness? Come get a meal.
College kid working two jobs and going to school? Come get a meal.
The food quality doesn’t change. The service doesn’t change. All comers, every community dinner, served just as you would be served going out to eat at a restaurant. At our restaurant. Welcome home.
Anyone interested in contributing, or volunteering, can reach out directly to:
Joshua Goodsell (owner of Alpha Pie and The Gathering Place)
Victor Lewis (TGP communications director)
Another initiative, beginning concurrently with the Community Sunday Dinner series at Alpha Pie is a neighborhood food pantry. Similar to the Community Dinner, the goal is to provide no-barrier access to shelf-stable groceries and fresh produce – as often as possible, to as many people as possible.
Many food pantries and community resources aiming to assist with food insecurity do so with restrictions, limitations and conditions that prevent people from getting the help they need. The Rosemary Street Pantry will provide access to bags of groceries to anyone who asks. No paperwork, no ID, just fresh food provided as much as we can, to as many as we can.
Hours at the Rosemary Street Pantry will also extend later than most, providing access to food beyond business hours and opening up service and assistance to working people. Collections and organization for the Rosemary Street Pantry and currently happening, and the current hope is to formally open for people to pick up bags of groceries starting on December 1, any time The Gathering Place or Alpha Pie are open.
Alpha Pie, and The Gathering Place, are both for-profit businesses. Without the restrictions, limitations and liabilities of an organization formally structured to provide services like this, we are comparatively free to do more, directly. We’re free to give food away to anyone, at any time, without any limitation by donor funds or tax classification as to the who, the how or the why.
This flexibility means we’re distinctly not comfortable with accepting monetary donations at this time, because there is not a way to separate the finances of these efforts from our day-to-day business. To that end, we ask anyone interested in helping us feed our friends, neighbors and everyone in our community directly support this initiative with food donations or by volunteering to help us both inside and outside the kitchen.
It’s tough out there for a lot of folks, but we are hoping by taking on this project we can bring a little extra warmth to our neighborhood as the weather gets colder. We’re going to do as much as we can, for as long as we can – because everyone deserves to eat, and eat well.
