We are opening up applications to run events during the 2026 Organized Play season! This includes District Championships, Megacity Championships and the three in-person Continental Championships.
After receiving feedback on last year’s application process we’re making the following changes:
- You do not need to have a venue confirmed before applying. We will ask that you list a venue you expect to be able to book, plus a backup venue in the case of Continental Championships. We’re making this change to avoid chicken-and-egg problems where tournament organisers struggle to book venues without having confirmation that their event will go ahead. After applications have been processed and successful applicants notified, we will check in with TOs of Megacity and Continental Championships in February to ensure they have booked a venue by that time.
- We are aiming to process applications and respond to everyone by December 5th, to ensure TOs have adequate time to plan their events.
- We are limiting District and Megacity Championships prizing that goes beyond the NSG kit. We loved the variety of excellent arts that TOs commissioned this year, but we don’t want to force every TO to feel like they have to put in that level of extra work to draw players to their events. Enabling TOs to run these events without spending more time, money, and effort is important for us to help grow the pool of TOs. Therefore, for 2026 we are asking District and Megacity Championship TOs to limit themselves to a maximum of one exclusive participation prize per event. An event may also have a unique prize for the top placing player, and one ‘regional’ prize that can be obtained from other events.
All applications are due on November 14th. You will be able to revise your application up to that date. It is better to send us an incomplete application than a late application, though we will be assessing applications in part on completeness. If you miss the 14th deadline, the form will still be open, but applications completed before the 14th will take precedence when considering bids. Full assessment criteria can be found in the application forms:
Ban List Updates and NSG Online Event Timings
To help TOs plan their events around changes to Standard, we can provide provisional timings for the Standard Ban List updates scheduled in 2026. While the exact times may vary slightly, the current plan is to have banlists released in the following weeks next year , becoming legal for the next tier of event. Note that these updates may contain no actual changes at the time of publication.
- Week of April 13th (Megacities Banlist)
- Week of July 13th (Continentals Banlist)
- Week of September 14th (Worlds Banlist)
All set releases that take place during 2026 will also come with associated ban list updates as usual.
Last year NSG ran online events for all tiers directly. This year, we are accepting applications from TOs who would like to run those events themselves in our stead. Any online events that we do run directly will generally be concentrated in the last three weekends of the period dedicated to the relevant tournament type. For Continentals, we will work more directly with the TOs who are awarded the in-person events to ensure scheduling that works for everyone.
District Championships
Districts are the first step on the competitive ladder of the Organized Play season. Typically run as one-day events that are easy to travel to, they are a proving ground for new players and a good test of skill for more experienced participants.
We’re making a small change to the District Championships season for 2026: it will start in February instead of January like it did in 2025. 2026 District Championships must be run between 1st February and 30th April.
The District Championship kit will cost $65 USD and include similar prizing as previous years. These prices include free worldwide shipping.
Megacity Championships
Megacities are a step up from Districts, bringing together separate communities across a greater geographical area to fight it out for the title of Megacity Champion.
These events will be more restricted based on geographical location, attempting to link together communities within 3-4 hours of travel time. The window for running Megacity Championships in 2026 will be the same as last year: between 1st May and 31st July.
The Megacity Championship kit will cost $120 USD and include similar prizing as previous years. These prices include free worldwide shipping.
Continental Championships
Each Continental Championship is the culmination of an entire region’s competitive season.
With the success of last year’s in-person continentals we are continuing the program and taking applications for in-person Continental Championships in the following three regions:
- Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
- The Americas
- Asia-Pacific (APAC)
The NSG Organized Play team is committed to sponsoring all the Continental Championships under the following terms:
- Each event will be provided with a Prize kit similar to previous Continental Championship Kits.
- Each event needs to take place during August or the first half of September (see the exact dates below)
- We will provide each selected TO with $1500 USD to help cover the costs of the event.
- Listings on AlwaysBeRunning.net must be posted with a suffix of “Sponsored by Null Signal Games” and mention the sponsorship in the description for the listing.
- All provided marketing materials should be displayed in prominent locations.
- The event will be streamed on the official Null Signal Games channels.
- We will work with TOs to provide useful materials, such as streaming assets.
- Null Signal Games branding should be affixed to all digital media, social media and streaming related to the event.
In 2026, Continental Championships must be run between 1st August and 13th September.
Event Restrictions
ALL events mentioned here must be run in the Standard format and with the current banlist for the date of the event.
The 2026 District, Megacity, and Continental Championships are Competitive tier events for the purposes of the Organized Play Policies. This means you are expected to follow the given prize structure and tournament structure for Competitive tier events outlined in the policies. You are also expected to advertise your event on AlwaysBeRunning.net.
All Competitive tier events must follow the Null Signal Games code of conduct.
Purchase of these kits comes with an obligation to run a suitable event. Buying a kit to either keep for yourself or to resell undermines the spirit of these competitions and the legitimacy of the prizes which other players had to enter and place in a tournament to win. Excepting extenuating circumstances, not using your kit to run a tournament may lead to you being barred from purchasing non-GNK kits in the future.
