Port City Brawl

PREPARE FOR BATTLE!

Port City Brawl is a premium single day event presented by Wilmington Premodern and hosted by Trade Binder. The event consists of a Main Event Premodern Tournament with a 128 player cap and two Premodern Draft events.

The main tournament will be conducted with Swiss style rounds with a cut to top 8. Top 8 will be live streamed and recorded as well as various matches throughout the day. Participants must sign a waiver of release for this event.

Port City Brawl is a gold border friendly event, however there are no proxies allowed.

TREL with two official judges who will be on hand through the entire event.

Premodern is a community-created constructed format consisting of the sets from Fourth Edition to Scourge. The card pool thus roughly spans the period in between the formats 93/94 and Modern. For more detail on Rules, Legal Sets, and the Ban List, please visit Premodern Magic.

Sign up now and become a part of the first Port City Brawl!

In addition to the Main Event, there will be two Premodern Draft Events with prize support. Each of the Draft Events have 8 seats and will be conducted in three rounds with winner take all.

We will be raffling sealed premodern products, playmats, and other prizes throughout the day. Each main event and draft entry will receive a stamped Premodern basic land. Draft Event pricing is TBA.

In the tournament space, there will be areas for free play, trading, and just general socializing as well as a restaurant and bar. Come join us for a day filled with glory, good company, and plenty of Premodern Magic: The Gathering! Whether you’re here to compete, have fun, or just sling some nostalgic spells, we hope to see you there.

Sign Up Here Book a Stay on Site with Discounted Rate

LOCATION

Aloft at Coastline Center (Marriott)
501 Nutt St
Wilmington, NC 28401

TIME

April 4th, 2026, Tournament begins at 10:00 AM, doors open at 9:00 AM

PRIZES FOR MAIN EVENT

1st Place - Gaea’s Cradle
2nd Place - Mox Diamond
3rd Place - Survival of the Fittest
4th Place - Intuition
5th through 8th place will receive a Fetch Land

EVENT SCHEDULE

Friday - April 3rd, 2026

5:00 PM - Meet and Greet at Aloft Hotel

Saturday - Main Event - April 4th, 2026

9:00 AM - Doors Open
10:00 AM - Main Event Begins
2:00 PM - Premodern Draft (Sets to be announced)
6:30 PM - Premodern Draft (Sets to be announced)
9:30 PM - Premodern Draft (Sets to be announced)

Vendors and drink bar will be available all day.

Tom Fleming will be there throughout the day for signings and will have some amazing original pieces and prints available.

EVENT DETAILS

Three Premodern Draft Side Events
We have enough sealed product to run three eight-man drafts with prize support for those events. These events will begin around 2:00PM, 6:30PM and 9:30PM (respectively) for those who may drop from the Main Event and will be conducted in three rounds.

Draft Details & Prize Support:

$100 per Player
Each player will receive one pack from Invasion, Apocalypse, and Torment
Each player receives a stamped BRAWL Draft Card
Pack wins are 3, 2, 2, 1
Draft event signups are first come first served basis the day of the event.

Your significant other said its ok...
No really, they will love it here! There is so much to do in Wilmington and better yet, so much to do within a stone's throw of downtown Wilmington.
We will have a happy hour wine and cheese for those of you who are bringing their partner or family with them. We promise there is something for everyone. Bring walking shoes or even a bathing suit.! We are 15 mins from the most gorgeous beaches on the East Coast!

Special Guest Artist: Tom Fleming!
Come meet the spectacular Magic the Gathering artist! Tom is a rare appearance at Magic related events, so we suggest you do not miss out on this!
Tom will be on hand to sign cards, doodles, and will have original art and prints available. Tom will cards with his art if you don't, but I am sure you do...
https://www.flemart.com/

Charity Raffle: Premodern Products and Rush Art!
We will be raffling off Premodern products including packs, sealed decks, singles, playmats, artist proofs and signed cards. Sierra Rush was kind enough to donate some signed cards and artist proofs from famous Magic the Gathering artist Christopher Rush!

Every participant in the Main Event will receive 1 raffle ticket.
Additional tickets will be $10 per ticket.

All proceeds for the purchased raffle tickets will be donated evenly to the local food banks here in Wilmington, NC

Nourish NC https://nourishnc.org/
Food Bank CENC https://foodbankcenc.org/locations/wilmington

Hotel & Travel Information
There are discounted hotel rates available at Aloft Hotel (the venue), which is in beautiful downtown Wilmington, NC right on the river.
There are plenty of other hotels not far from the event as well. There is plenty of parking available at the event and in parking garages in less than a block walk.

If you plan to fly, we have a small international airport that has direct flights from all over.
https://flyilm.com/

Food and Drinks
Enjoy the amazing food of downtown Wilmington or the spectacular onsight restaurant at Aloft with a view of the Cape Fear River!
Did we mention we have a bar at the event? No need to leave the room as long as your are of age, you can enjoy a nice cold one while you play.

Rain or Shine, the event will play on!
No matter the player count, the price and prize support will remain the same. This is our commitment to everyone who plans to attend the event. We know booking hotels and flights is a thing. We can assure you this event will happen with one player or 128 players.

Events and Featured Guests

Friday Night Meet and Greet - Aloft Hotel

Meet and mingle with fellow Magic the Gathering players the day before the tournament. Enjoy the on-site restaurants The Atlantic Restaurant & Wine Loft for fine dining or the rooftop bistro aView. Prepare to trade, play, or just hangout and relax.