Gathering Grounds — Local services in Portland

stopped into Gathering Grounds on a whim and ended up staying way longer than planned. If you play Magic: The Gathering, this place is a gem. The MTG selection is deep singles organized and easy to browse, plenty of sealed product on the shelves (including Commander decks), and prices that felt fair across the board. They also keep an events calendar and clearly put effort into building a welcoming play space for drafts and Commander nights, which is exactly what you want from a real LGS.

Special shoutout to Nick, the owner. He didn’t just ring me up; he listened to what I play (mostly Commander), pointed me toward a couple of upgrades I hadn’t considered, and talked through sleeve/deck box options without any upsell pressure. You can tell he cares about the community, he knew regulars by name, and the vibe in the store was friendly and inclusive.

I left with a couple of singles and a sealed product for the weekend, plus a reason to come back: the next event on their schedule sounds like a blast. If you’re a new player looking to learn or a long-time grinder hunting specific cards, Gathering Grounds is absolutely worth your time. Five stars from me. See you at...

Four stars because they are new and still settling in, so there’s always room for improvement, but….

This is a welcomed addition to Portland as all the only other options were all outside the city. Selection of singles is excellent and pricing is comparable to the market (which is high). Trade in values felt lower than the surrounding areas but don’t hold me to that. The space is very intentionally sparse but it’s huge so walking through the store to the counter is sorta hollow. Pricing on sealed products was fair and mostly hovered around MSRP, maybe some more desirable precons a few bucks over. Can’t say I felt the pricing was predatory or scalping in any way, unlike some other shops in the area.

I haven’t made it to any of the game nights yet but plan to. The space is gorgeous and I really hope they can cement themselves here for years to come because it’s a great idea and approach to a card shop.

Seems like the ideas are right and the space has good bones, hoping the community shows up and the business plan is sustainable cause I’d love to see this place stick around for...

Love any LGS but this one is clean, inviting, friendly and cool. It’s a boutique focused on MTG with decent gaming space and great selection. Owner and staff are amazing and friendly. Excited to see this...