BIG NEWS: FINAL FANTASY DRAFT IS BACK
Final Fantasy Draft is BACK at The Gathering Place!
For this week’s Friday Night Magic, we’re opening fresh packs of Final Fantasy! Not just FNM, but FFFNM!
Because we want people to be able to actually *play Magic* — the boxes of FF we have are NOT AVAILABLE FOR SALE OUTSIDE OF DRAFT PACKS. Sorry for the all-caps yelling, but it’s worth drawing attention to.
The only way to crack packs is to draft, the only way to draft is to show up, and the only way to show up is to know it’s happening. Now you’ve read this post, so you’re already a third of the way there. See you on Friday! (and next Friday too, most likely!)
(FNM Draft starts at 7:00 p.m., entry is $40/player, we’re playing across Swiss rounds and prize support is one pack per win.)
COMMANDERJAM 2025 EVENT GUIDE
Hello, and welcome to COMMANDERJAM 2025!
To save on paper and time, as well as make for maximum ease of use and flexibility, this page is your complete guide to today’s event at The Gathering Place.
First and foremost, thanks for coming out! We’ll be drawing raffle winners frequently throughout the day, you must be physically present in TGP to claim your prize, and all you’ve got to do is enter your name on this form. No purchase required!
You’ve probably seen it by now, but just in case: here’s a breakdown of the events happening today:
12:00 p.m. – The fabled convention table, the show stock from the dungeon, opens up shop in the corner. We’ll have a prize wheel to spin for any purchases made, and event registration for the days events opens.
Also at 12:00 p.m. – “Deckbuilding, Commander, cEDH: A TGP Talk” A short presentation about some foundational strategies and need-to-know differences, followed by a Q+A for specific questions you might have.
1:00 p.m. – Baldur’s Gate Commander Draft begins ($25 entry, 1 pack per win)
3:00 p.m. – Commander games begin! We’ll be podding players by requested brackets/tiers, alongside limited-registration Specialty Pod games. Commander games will be timed at 80 minutes, all pods will have prizing associated, be cool about it.
For those who pre-registered for Specialty Pods, here are some helpful links:
4:30 p.m. – Card Shark Tank Deck Builders Panel/Workshop
The earlier deckbuilding discussion focused more on general guidelines and best practices, but this is the place for more specific advice! Pitch whatever you’re in the process of brewing, or thinking about building, to a panel of deckbuilders to receive advice, feedback, and potential paths for improvement!
5:00 p.m. – Alpha Pie opens
6:00 p.m. – Commander League: Summer Session mixer begins (want to learn more about the Summer Session of TGP’s Commander League? Click here)
COMMANDERJAM 2025
What is COMMANDERJAM? It’s an all-day block party focused squarely on Commander, EDH, tall stacks of 100 singletons carefully selected for maximum impact, flavor, fun – ultimately, whatever floats your boat. Commander/EDH is a beautiful expression of what Magic can be, an opportunity to create something uniquely yours and – at higher levels – a blistering game of metatextual chess that’s anything but solved.
Commander rules, it’s the biggest format in Magic for a reason, it’s the people’s champ, and The Gathering Place is planning on devoting a whole Saturday to having a blast in the store and on the patio outside Alpha Pie.
We’re going to have in-store raffles all day long with some awesome prizes up for grabs, plenty of opportunities to jump in pods of all skills levels, folks on hand to help with any decks you’ve got brewing if you’d like some deckbuilding advice or suggestions from seasoned MTG veterans, special pods, a Baldur’s Gate Commander Draft Tournament, the fabled show stock TGP convention table will be out with some of our spiciest and most sought-after cards fresh from the dungeon, you can spin the dang prize wheel to win *even more prizes* – truly, it’s gonna be an event for the books.
Here’s a quick rundown of the day’s events:
11:00 a.m. – TGP doors open
12:00 p.m. – The fabled convention table, the show stock from the dungeon, opens up shop in the corner. We’ll have a prize wheel to spin for any purchases made, and event registration for the days events opens.
Also at 12:00 p.m. – “Deckbuilding, Commander, cEDH: A TGP Talk” A short presentation about some foundational strategies and need-to-know differences, followed by a Q+A for specific questions you might have.
1:00 p.m. – Baldur’s Gate Commander Draft begins (we posted about it on Instagram, too!)
3:00 p.m. – Commander games begin! We’ll be podding players by requested brackets/tiers, alongside limited-registration Specialty Pod games. Commander games will be timed at 80 minutes, all pods will have prizing associated, be cool about it.
Specialty Pods:
4:30 p.m. – Card Shark Tank Deck Builders Panel/Workshop
The earlier deckbuilding discussion focused more on general guidelines and best practices, but this is the place for more specific advice! Pitch whatever you’re in the process of brewing, or thinking about building, to a panel of deckbuilders to receive advice, feedback, and potential paths for improvement!
See the form below to submit a link to your deck, and preregister to talk to the Card Sharks! The more information about your idea or goals, the better!
5:00 p.m. – Alpha Pie opens
6:00 p.m. – Commander League: Summer Session mixer begins (want to learn more about the Summer Session of TGP’s Commander League? Click here)
Here’s a link to a Google form where you can preregister for pods + more! All preregistered folks will be entered into some of the juiciest raffles of the day, so don’t sleep on submitting your responses!
https://forms.gle/1wthjAB2Zu2aYd4HA
If you’ve got any questions about the day’s events, Magic, The Gathering Place or anything else – just send an email to victor@thegatheringplacegames.com or head over to the TGP discord server and hop in the ask-staff channel. Thanks for reading, thanks for playing, and we’ll see you at COMMANDERJAM!
