Sorting the room is guesswork
Forty players, wildly different decks, and one person at the counter deciding who sits where. Put a precon across from a tuned list and you've quietly ended somebody's first night.
For local game stores
Running Magic nights and tournaments just got easier.
And a lot more fun.
TurnZero handles the part nobody opened a shop to do — sorting the room into tables that actually work, keeping track of who's playing and who's waiting, getting players onto Companion without chasing them. What's left is a night your regulars would feel bad about missing.
$39.99/month · Unlimited nights · Commander, Draft & Standard · Free Commander Cube
If this is your Thursday
Right now, the night runs on you.
Nobody opened a game store to do this part. It's just what's left over once the players are in the room.
Keeping track is all in your head
Who's here, who's mid-game, who's been standing by the wall for forty minutes waiting for a seat. It lives on a clipboard and in your memory, and both fill up.
Companion is a thing you nag about
You need people on the app and checked into the event, so you ask, and re-ask, and end up chasing the last six players around the shop while you're trying to close.
Nothing from tonight survives to next week
The absurd turn, the comeback, who beat who — gone when the cards go back in the box. Next Thursday starts from zero, and so does everyone's reason to show up.
The hard part, handled
Forty players. Ten tables. Nobody's night ruined.
Getting the right four people at a table is the difference between a regular and a one-timer. It's also the job that takes your best staff member out of circulation for twenty minutes.
TurnZero builds pods by deck power level, so the precon someone picked up last week doesn't sit down across from a tuned list. The new player has a real game. The spike gets a real game. Neither of them leaves thinking this shop's night isn't for them.
Within a power bracket, players are shuffled — so your regulars get a different table this week instead of the same four faces every Thursday. That's not a small thing: new tables are how a room full of strangers turns into a room full of people who know each other.
One action seats the entire room. Between rounds you can reshuffle without touching a table that's mid-game, and you can always move somebody by hand — a friend group who came together stays together.
What that gets you
- Power-matched pods, not first-come seating
- New players who survive night one
- Different tables week to week
- The whole room seated in one action
- Manual overrides whenever you want them
- Reshuffles that leave live games alone
Keeping track of everyone
Know the room without walking it.
Players check themselves in by scanning a code at the counter. From there, the event keeps its own register.
Every table at a glance
The floor as it's actually arranged, one card per table, seats shown as pips — so a table that's a player short is obvious from behind the counter instead of on a lap of the shop.
Nobody gets forgotten
Waiting players sit in a list, not against a wall. TurnZero points at the table that should fill next, so games finish four-handed instead of three pods all stalling one short.
No sign-up queue
Returning players arrive with their deck, name and history already attached. Your counter goes back to selling singles instead of taking down names.
Wizards Companion & EventLink
More of your room on Companion, without the nagging.
Getting players onto Companion is a real obligation and a genuinely annoying one, because it always happens at the worst moment — while you're trying to start or close the event.
TurnZero moves it to the moment players are already on their phone. They're scanning to join your event anyway, so getting set up on Companion happens right there, as part of arriving — not as a favour you have to ask for twice at the counter.
Then the host gets a live roster: who's set up on Companion, their handle or DCI number, and who's confirmed they joined the event. Outstanding players sort to the top, so the six people you actually have to go find are always the six you're looking at. Closing the event stops being a lap of the shop.
What this is, precisely
There is no public Companion API, so no software can verify a check-in or submit your event for you — TurnZero included.
What TurnZero does is get more of your players set up in the first place, and build the accurate list you reconcile against EventLink while the room is still full and the gaps can still be closed.
Why they come back
Make the night they'd feel bad about missing.
Nobody drives across town for efficient pairings. They come back because something happened here, to them, with people whose names they now know — and because next week is the rematch.
The moment gets kept
The impossible turn, the table-wide groan, the topdeck nobody believed — saved with a photo and the card that did it, and up on the wall before the game is even packed away.
Rivalries that carry over
Decks, records and history follow players between visits. Last week's beating is on the record, which is exactly why they're back this week to settle it.
Friendships, not just pods
Shuffled tables mean players meet people they'd never have sat with. That's how a room of regulars forms — and regulars are the whole business.
First nights that aren't last nights
A new player gets a table where their deck stands a chance and a phone that explains what's happening. The most fragile customer you have makes it to week two.
The recap before they leave
Standings and a write-up of the night go out while players are still in the shop. The last thing they see is the night they just had, not an empty calendar.
Rules fights end in a minute
The AI judge answers stack and interaction questions with the rules it cited, so a table argument doesn't pull your one experienced staffer off the counter for ten minutes.
TV mode
Put the night on the wall.
No sign-in, no app, no setup. Point any browser-capable TV at the event's join code and leave it there.
Everyone knows the score
Live standings and every table's current game, rotating on their own. Players stop asking your staff where they're sitting, because it's already on the wall.
The room reacts together
An elimination or a huge hit surfaces as it happens. A table across the shop looks up — and that's the moment game night stops being four separate games.
It sells the next one
Tonight's photos and highlights cycle where the browsing customer sees them. Your Thursday advertises your Friday.
And the rest of the calendar
Draft on Friday. Standard on Sunday.
Pod size is set per round, so a four-player Commander pod and a two-player Draft pairing are the same operation with a different number. You don't run three tools to run three nights.
When you want a real tournament, rounds keep their own clock, the whole room is assigned in one action, and standings update as results come in. Draft rounds re-pair by standings after round one, so the top tables meet the top tables instead of the same eight people replaying each other.
In the box
- Any format you put on the calendar
- Timed rounds or open play
- Standings-based re-pairing
- Unlimited simultaneous pods
- Waitlists and late arrivals
- EventLink code on the event
How an event runs
Four steps, doors open to last game.
The same flow whether it's a dozen players on a slow Tuesday or a full room across a half-dozen pods.
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1
Create the event
Date, format, pod size, and your EventLink code if it's sanctioned. You get a join code and a QR to put on the counter.
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2
Players check themselves in
They scan and they're in — deck, name and history already attached for anyone who's been before, and onto Companion while they're there.
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3
Seat the room in one action
Power-matched pods, straight to the tables. Life totals, results and standings keep themselves up to date on the wall while you go back to running the shop.
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4
Close it out
Work down the Companion roster for anyone outstanding, post the standings and the recap, and you're done before the door's locked.
Two screens, no new hardware
A console at the counter. A display on the wall.
The store console is one screen your host leaves open all night — the floor as it's actually arranged, every table, every waiting player, one glance.
The wall display needs no sign-in and no setup: point any browser-capable TV at the event's join code. Players bring the third screen themselves.
Built for real store events
One price, every night you run.
No per-player fees, no per-event fees, and no limit on how many pods run at once. Your regulars keep their decks, history and stats between visits, so the night you run this week builds on the last instead of starting over.
- Power-matched pod assignment
- Player self check-in
- Companion check-in rosters
- Unlimited simultaneous pods
- Wall display / TV mode
- Recaps, moments and history
TurnZero for LGS
$39.99/ month
Unlimited game nights, one store location
Get started
- ✓Create your store profile
- ✓Add your tables and schedule an event
- ✓Share the join code and go
Questions first? Email support@turnzerohq.com
Free demo unit
A Commander Cube for your store.
We'll provide one Commander Cube for your store to showcase. It keeps dice, tokens, counters, and table essentials organized while giving players a hands-on look at the TurnZero ecosystem.
Ask about carrying Commander Cubes in your shop.
Read before your first event
Guides for running your store's events.
Store setup, opening the doors, and running Commander and draft on TurnZero — written for whoever is behind the counter, not for a player at home.
Setting your store up
Account to join code in about ten minutes: your profile, your tables, sections, and staff access.
Getting your event started
Opening the event, putting the code where people can see it, and seating the first table.
Running a Commander event
Pods, walk-ins, power-matched seating, and keeping ten tables moving from one screen.
Running a draft event
Splitting the room into pods, Swiss pairings, the round clock, and standings the room can see.
Store questions, answered.
How does TurnZero decide who sits together?
Pods are built by deck power level, so a precon doesn't end up across from a tuned list. Within a power bracket players are shuffled, so your regulars get a different table each week instead of the same four people every time. You can override any seat by hand.
How does this help get players onto Companion?
Players are already on their phone to join your event, so getting set up on Companion happens there rather than as a favour asked at the counter. The host then sees a live roster of who's set up, who's confirmed, and who's still outstanding — sorted so the people you need to chase are at the top.
Does TurnZero submit our event to EventLink?
No, and no software can — there's no public Companion API to write to. TurnZero builds the accurate attendance list you reconcile against EventLink, and shows you the gaps while the room is still full. Sanctioned Commander is normally Player List Only, so that list is the whole obligation.
We already run a Commander night. Why change?
That's exactly who this is for. TurnZero doesn't bring you players — it takes the organizing off your counter so one staff member can run a full room, and gives players a reason to come back next week rather than try the shop across town.
Does TurnZero only do Commander?
No. Pod size is set per round, so four-player Commander pods and two-player Standard or Draft pairings run on the same system. Draft rounds re-pair by standings after round one.
What does TurnZero for LGS cost?
$39.99 per month, covering unlimited game nights at your store. There's no per-player or per-event fee, and no cap on simultaneous pods.
Do players need to pay or install anything?
No. Players join your event free by QR code or join code, on the web or in the TurnZero app on iOS and Android.
What hardware does a store need?
What a shop already owns: one counter machine with a keyboard for the console, and a TV on the wall for the display. Players use their own phones.
The players are already yours. Keep them.
Set up your store, add your tables, schedule the event, and share the join code. That's the whole setup.