Easy Gaming Group National Commander League 2025
Yes! the Easy Gaming Group National Commander League returns in June this year! We learned a bit from last year’s experience and we’re hoping to bring you an much improved edition of South Africa’s premiere EDH tournament!
What's staying the same?
The Day’s Play
On each event day at the host store there will be two streams of Elder Dragon Highlander for you, the player, to choose from: EDH or cEDH. You will then take part in 5 rounds (depending on the turnout for the event) of play for the day accruing as many points as you are able to for that day. Pods will be randomly determined so that you should never play the same three opponents twice (again dependent on attendance at the event). Your points will then allocate you your place on the league table for either EDH or cEDH.
Points
Points will be allocated as follows:
Win = 3 points
Second Place = 2 points
Third Place = 1 point
Fourth = 0 points
Should one player eliminate the remaining players at the same time then those remaining players will share whatever number of points are left after the winner has claimed their 3 points. For example if three players were eliminated simultaneously there would be 3 points left over, so they each receive one point. Also, each individual store a player visits will earn them 1 extra bonus point.
Conceding
You may not concede a match to benefit from the remaining points. Any player who concedes from a match will receive no points. Only if the whole pod agrees that you no longer are able to contribute in any meaningful way to the outcome of the match will they allow you to concede. Should you do so you receive no points from the match.
Proxies
Easy Gaming Group’s stance on proxies at our events is as follows: should a player be able to produce the original of the proxied card (no kind of facsimile, photograph or proof other than the actual card) if asked to do so, then that player may use the proxied card at our event. Simple. This ruling extends to gold border cards. These cards are considered as proxies and therefore will not be allowed to be played at the National Commander League events.
What's not changing...
Tickets
Tickets for all of this year’s events will be available exclusively on the EGG website. There are a number of reasons for this but mostly it’s to ensure smoother registration at events on the day. Stores will receive a prepopulated list of players who have bought tickets and simply add in which stream (EDH or cEDH) they are playing in and who their commander is. Another reason is due to the VIP membership available in the store on the EGG website. The VIP membership comes with certain discounts that can only be claimed when purchases are made through the online EGG store. We will provide a quick link via QR code for the stores on the day should there be any walk-ins who would like to purchase tickets on the day. You will simply have to scan the QR code, fill in your details and make your payment. Easy.
There can be only one
In the EDH stream, you’re bringing a WOTC Bracket 3 or below deck. So plan to have fun and by all means have a Rule 0 conversation at the beginning of each pod just so you know what nonssense you’re up against. One deck for the day. For cEDH players, nothing has changed; one deck for the day, exactly as last year.
What’s my name?
It is also essential that when registering for these events players use their full and correct names and surnames. We cannot be expected to run around asking 14 stores across the country which “Chris” played on which date at which store. It also totally messes with the league table. If you are recorded at the event as simply George, or Steve, or Judy, we will not add you to the league table and it will be on you to let us know who you are and where and when you played so we can tally your points and add you to the table correctly.
Some things we picked up from last year...
Last year we tried something a little different for the EDH stream and suffice it to say, it didn’t go the way we had hoped.
This year we are going to be using the WOTC bracket system and our own curated lists to determine deck building rules and tournament mechanics.
So, take a read through the following list to better understand how this year’s event is going to work for EDH specifically, for cEDH players nothing changes except pricing:
- There will only be one round of qualifiers this year as we ran into to logistic issues last year with event clashes. However, we do realise that there may be more stores in a particular region as opposed to others, therefore once host stores have told us whether they will be participating or not we will allocate the required extra qualifiers to the regions that require them.
- Each qualifier event will cost R250 (of which R100 will go to the host store for prize support on the day). Tickets bought on the day for any of the NCL events will carry an extra R50 admin fee.
- Regionals will cost R300 (of which R120 will go to the host store for additional prize support on the day) and tickets for the Final will cost R350 (of which R150 will go to the host store for additional prize support on the day). There will be special discounts for players in the Top 8 of their Region when entering the Regionals Phase, and also for the League Top 8 entering the Finals.
- Players who wish to play in the Regionals will have to have played in a minimum of 4 Qualifiers. Players who wish to play in the Final will have to have played in 4 qualifiers and one Regional event.
- EDH will be played using the WOTC Bracket system and we will be limiting the field to Bracket 3 and below. This is to encourage players to get as creative as possible and play the decks they love without the restrictions we have had before.
- Besides the official Commander ban list and bracket system restrictions EGG has a curated ban list of cards we feel do not fit with the ethos of our events, this list is being continuously updated. This list is subject to change without notification and must therefore be checked often. It’s the players’ responsibility to make sure they are aware of the tournament rules.
- The EGG curated ban list will be supplied to all host stores (or can be easily accessed via the internet) and anyone found to be playing a card from the list at the event will either have to replace the offending card/s before play begins or will not be allowed to participate in the event. If it is discovered that the player has used restricted card/s in play at the event already that player will be removed from the remainder of the event and their points will be nulled. This information has been publicly available for some time now, so there are no excuses for not being aware of the list. No refunds on ticket entries will be supplied in these cases.
- Certain commanders have been placed on a curated cEDH only list, these commanders may be in the 99 of an EDH deck but may not be the commander of a deck considered EDH. This list is subject to change without notification and must therefore be checked often.
- Host stores that post the best attendance numbers in their respective qualifiers will host the Regional in their area and the Regional host that gets the most bums on seats will host the Final.
What is changing...
The new price structure will be as follows (R40 discount with VIP membership):
- Qualifier ticket: R250
- Regional ticket: R300 (players wishing to buy a ticket for a regional event have to have played in at least four qualifiers)
- Final ticket: R350 (players wishing to buy a ticket for the final event have to have played in at least four qualifiers and a regional event)
- Players wishing to purchase a ticket on the day for any event will be asked pay an additional R50 admin fee.
What this means for all players
1. At a National Commander League tournament, all players must be able to produce a deck list for any deck they are going to use.
2. All players will be expected to abide by the rules of the tournament host and/or event organiser (the host store and Easy Gaming Group).
3. All players are sincerely and unequivocally asked not to be a D*ck. You all know your decks and how they play, so put them where they belong and make sure everyone has an enjoyable time.
4. Bad sportsmanship can affect the enjoyment of the game. Remember to target board state and not players.
