62 Players Compete for Black Lotus Qualifier Berth at Game Haven Maryland

Sixty-two players filled Game Haven of Maryland on March 14 for a Commander Invitational Qualifier run by Land, Go Events, competing under Competitive Rules Enforcement Level in a tournament where the stakes extend well beyond a single Saturday afternoon. The event was one stop in the Black Lotus Commander Invitational Qualifier Series, a circuit whose promotional copy makes the endgame plain: "This event, with others will lead to a Final Tournament with the Winning Player Getting an Unlimited Black Lotus!"

The field fell two short of the event's 64-player cap, running up to five rounds of Swiss at 80 minutes per round. Wins scored five points and draws earned one, with a cut to top players following Swiss based on points accumulated. Once time was called in a round, the game ended after the active player finished their turn, a rule that dissolved once the top cut began. Pairings and turn order ran through Command Tower software, and players needed a TopDeck account to access pairings and submit decklists on the day.

At $50 a seat, the entry fee split into two streams: $40 per player feeding the local prize pool and $10 per player building toward the invitational prize pool. With 62 players registered, those splits imply a local pool of roughly $2,480 and an invitational contribution of approximately $620, though final accounting should be confirmed with the organizer. Store credit entered the prize equation once registration cleared 32 players, a threshold this event cleared comfortably.

The prizes at the top of the bracket leaned hard into vintage cardboard. First place took home an MP Lion's Eye Diamond, while players finishing second through fourth each received a Mirrodin Chrome Mox paired with an Alliances Force of Will. Additional store-level prizing was set at Game Haven's discretion and posted to the store's Facebook event page.

The event required decklists submitted through Moxfield and enforced the MTR/IPG Addendum at Comp REL standards. One notable concession to accessibility: up to 15 playtest cards were permitted, a policy the event listing emphasized in all-capital letters. At least one deck from the event was archived publicly, a Rowan, Scion of War list built by Elaine Kay that went 0-5 on the day.

Complete standings and the commander and archetype breakdown from the metagame were listed on the TopDeck event page but were not available at press time. The tournament winner's name was not confirmed in the available results data. Full results can be tracked through the TopDeck event listing for the Commander Invitational Qualifier at Game Haven of Maryland.