The path to greatness starts in your store with the 2025 Road to Nationals! Road to Nationals provides players with a direct qualification to the National Championship with four invitations plus prize cards and playmats up for grabs!
Road to Nationals Dates
What is the event window?
From February 8, 2025 – March 2, 2025.
Events can be sanctioned now.
Is there any flexibility on the event dates?
Events must be run in this window. If stores cannot run the event during this time the event MUST be cancelled and the Prize Kit MUST be returned to your distributor.
How will I know if my store has been selected to host a Road to Nationals?
Selected stores will receive an email inviting them to sanction their event in GEM.
There will be two waves of invitations for Road to Nationals:
- Wave 1 invitations will be sent November 12, with stores having until 5pm, November 19 (Local time) to sanction their events in GEM.
- Wave 2 invitations will be sent shortly after wave 1 sanctioning closes.
If your store is not selected as part of wave 1 and you would like to express interest in hosting an event, you can complete this form. Please note that completing the form does not guarantee you receiving a wave 2 invitation.
What format is Road to Nationals?
Road to Nationals events will use either Classic Constructed format or The Hunted Booster Draft. Stores invited in wave 1 can choose either format for their event. Stores who receive invites in wave 2 may have a specific format allocated to them.
Entry Fee?
Entry fees are at the store's discretion.
What should I do if I am unable to run my Road to Nationals event?
Please contact op@fabtcg.com
Event Structure
Is there a minimum number of players to run this event
Road to Nationals events need a minimum of 8 players to run. If an event runs with less than eight players, it will not provide any invites and the store will lose the right to host an event of this level in the future.
Is there a maximum number of players?
Road to Nationals events are very popular event series and frequently attract a high number of players. Stores may set an attendance cap for their Road to Nationals events in line with their store's capacity and staffing capabilities, however, you may wish to consider an external venue if your store has the capacity for less than 32 players.
If your event does have an attendance cap, then we encourage you to have a clearly communicated pre-registration process to reduce the risk of player disappointment.
Classic Constructed Event Structure
| Players | Swiss Rounds | Top Cut |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 3 | None |
| 9-16 | 4 | Top 8 |
| 17-32 | 5 | Top 8 |
| 33-64 | 6 | Top 8 |
| 65-128 | 7 | Top 8 |
The Hunted Draft Event Structure
| Players | Drafts | Swiss Rounds | Top Cut |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 1 | 3 | None |
| 9 -16 | 1 | 3 | Top 8 Draft |
| 17-32 | 2 | 6 | Top 8 Draft |
| 33 - 64 | 2 | 6 | Top 8 Draft |
| 65 + | 2 | 6 | Top 8 Draft |
How long should I budget for a Classic Constructed Road to Nationals?
For Classic Constructed Road to Nationals events, we recommend 55-minute rounds. This allows players up to 5 minutes to present their decks and at least 50 minutes to play their match.
How much time should I budget for a Booster Draft Road to Nationals Event?
Set-up: For Booster Draft events we recommend you allow 60 minutes to complete each booster draft, comprising:
- 30 minutes for drafting
- 15 minutes for card pool registration
- 15 minutes for deck construction
Rounds: Booster Draft Swiss rounds should be 35 minutes each
How will I get stock for the draft?
Stores hosting Booster Draft Road to Nationals events will need to order The Hunted stock from their distributors for use in their event. As an example, 4 The Hunted booster cases would provide sufficient product for 60 players drafting twice and a top 8 draft.
See our running a draft event guide for more information.
Road to Nationals Prizes and Distribution
How is the prize kit going to be distributed?
The Prize kit will be supplied by your distributor. Distributors will be notified of participating stores once the event sanctioning window has closed.
What are the prizes?
The prizes for this event are as follows:
| Prize | Distribution |
|---|---|
| Top 4 players receive Nationals 2025 Entry Qualification | |
| 1x Random Drop Gold Cold Foil Card (Common or Rare or Majestic) |
Stores can NOT open the Random Drop Gold Cold Foil. 1st place winner to be awarded sealed black envelope at the conclusion of top 8. Winner may choose to open it or keep sealed. The envelope contains a random PCG 9 or better Common, Rare, or Majestic Gold Cold Foil Prize Card. |
| 8x Rainbow Foil Hero Promo Cards | To be given out randomly to the top 8 players at the conclusion of swiss rounds |
| 2x Finalists Playmats | To be awarded to the 1st and 2nd placed players. |
| 16x Rainbow Foil Promo Cards | To be used as participation prizes |
| 16x Rainbow Foil Promo Cards | To be used as participation prizes |
| 1x Judge Pack | Handed out to the head judge once the event has concluded. |
| 1x Judge Playmat | Handed out to the floor judge once the event has concluded. |
Judge Support
The following is provided to reward your Head Judge:
- 1x Judge Pack of the current season.
The following is provided to up to one Floor Judge, if any, otherwise to the Head Judge:
- 1x Judge Playmat
The judge support must be provided to your judge team only. It is not allowed to be used as door or spot prizes for the players or given to non-Judge staff members. Judge Support is not allowed to be used as compensation.
LSS provides this Judge Support to reward judges for their skills and dedication shown towards the game and is not allowed to be used to replace any compensation they would otherwise receive for working a Road to Nationals event.
Rules Enforcement, Judges and Decklists
Are decklists required?
Yes! Decklists are mandatory for these events, you can find the Deck Registration Sheets here.
Booster Draft events will require card pool registration. Please refer to our Booster Draft Guide on Judge Hub for further details.
What level of rules enforcement is Road to Nationals run at?
This event is run at a Competitive rules enforcement level.
Will I need a Judge for this event?
Road to Nationals events MUST have a Level 1 or higher judge as head judge. The judge program has qualified over 1500+ Level 1+ judges up to date.
How do find a judge for my event?
If you are not already in touch with a judge in your community, you have the following options available after signing up on JudgeHub.
You can search for a Judge near you via the search function or via the map function, and a direct message function is available to message them. Additionally, the Judge community is organized into regions.
Each region has a Judge Community Representative who is a contact point for the Judges in each region and can also be contacted by organizers to find local judges for their events.
One more option is to make an event on JudgeHub to have Judges apply, a guide to this and more functions can be found here.
To make scheduling with a judge easier you may reach out to a potential judge before selecting your event date.
Digital Assets and Marketing
Where do I find digital assets for social media?
There is a page of digital assets for social media and printable posters can be found here.
Other Questions
Can I run this event at a location that is not my store?
Road to Nationals events can be run at alternate locations. However, location information needs to be entered in the event description in GEM when you create the event.
Can store staff play in these events?
The TO and judges for the event cannot play. Store staff that are not involved in the administration of the event are allowed.
Additionally, the TO is not allowed to be a judge in the event.
Players from outside my country want to join the event. Do I let them?
Yes, players from outside your country can play in your event. If they win a qualification they can only attend the Nationals of the country they are resident in, this does not take away a Nationals spot from your country.
Get featured on fabtcg.com!
We love showcasing fans having fun at their local game store! If you’d like your store and players featured on our official website, please fill out theRoad to Nationals Coverage Form.
In particular, we are looking for:
- Winning Decklists
- A photo of the winner
- A group photo of the Top 8
- General event photos
- Stories of players, matches, or the day
We do our best to showcase as many stores as possible, but we ask for your understanding that it may not always be possible to feature every event that is submitted.
If you have any questions or would like to submit additional information, please email coverage@fabtcg.com.