GST 2026: Qualifier Dates, Rules, and Arena Preview

Era Team

Era Team

— 4 min read
Share
GST 2026: Qualifier Dates, Rules, and Arena Preview

Hey Era! The 2026 Gang Spar Tournament draws near, and with that in mind, here are your awaited key dates and information for all those who intend to participate or watch it broadcast live on our official Twitch channel this year.

Read ahead for the team format, key qualifier dates, this year's arena preview, and important rules and information.

Team Format

This year, more than half of the GST and MPX community voted in favor of reducing the team size to 8 participants, which we'll be honoring. 2026's GST will be fought in an 8 versus 8 format but teams will still be allowed up to 4 substitutes like previous years.

If the 8 versus 8 format doesn't go as gangs anticipate this year, note that there will be chances for the community to vote for their preferred team size again for future GSTs, depending on the community's needs and wishes.

Qualifier Dates

Qualifiers this year will automatically start on Friday August 28th at 11:59 PM ET and run until Friday September 4th at 11:59 PM ET.

Read on to the How to Participate sub-section below to see which ways gangs can qualify.

Arena Preview

This is a browser scrollable 1:1 in-game scale image of this year's GST arena. To get a complete look at it you can download the arena image directly by clicking here.

Arena preview GST 2026

We'll prepare an in-game warp at Multiplex for players to physically check out the arena within the coming days, so be on the lookout for that.

Important Information

What is GST?

GST is a yearly gang spar tournament held on Era that consists of head-to-head battles between 12 gangs. Each gang fields 8 (Down from 12 as voted for) members at a time and is allowed up to 4 substitute members in case of unavailable members.

Each gang progresses through a predefined bracket, and fights against competing gangs. When one gang remains, they are crowned the winners of the GST and receive a variety of prizes (Although there are rewards for lower-placed gangs too!).

How to Participate

To participate in the GST, you need to qualify by playing Base Battle and Gang Spar (Both located within Multiplex), as only the most skilled gangs can compete. The top 2 basing gangs can also qualify, so go rack up basing hours during the qualifiers!

Qualifications this year will consist of the following categories:

  • The top 4 GST gangs from last year automatically qualify.
  • MPX Gang Spar and MPX Base Battle are the two primary ways to qualify, so play these during qualifiers!
  • The gangs with the top three scores in Base Battle and MPX Gang Spar by the end of qualifiers will participate in the GST (Three qualification slots for MPX GS, three qualification slots for MPX Base Battle).
  • The top 2 basing gangs with the most accumulated basing hours during the qualifier period will qualify for GST.

Important Qualifier Note

Gangs can compete in more than one category of qualifiers. If a gang placed in multiple categories, their placement is determined by whichever category they scored highest in. Their score in any other category is then ignored, and gangs below them in those categories are bumped up a rank.

GST Host Date

The host date of the tournament itself is not yet decided but we'll make sure to announce it once we're ready, so look forward to it!

Rewards for GST Gangs

1st: 1st place trophy, custom gas mask, GST Champion MPX gun skin in your gang colors, GST Champion melee weapon in your gang colors, GST Champion gang spar hideout level, 45 EC extra for each member.

2nd: 2nd place trophy, custom gas mask, 35 EC extra for each member.

3rd: 3rd place trophy, custom hat which doesn't protect from gas, 30 EC extra for each member.

Per Round: 5 EC per round participated for all players playing this year and a 2026 GST participation badge for a player's first round.

Tournament Participation Rules

Breaking any of these rules as a player partaking in a GST gang or leading a gang this year will result in the respective team being disqualified from GST:

  • Only accounts with 1000 hours or more may participate. This is a measure against banned players using alts.
  • Banned players cannot participate on any account.
  • VPNs and other prohibited proxy services must be disabled while participating in qualifiers or the GST. Players are responsible for ensuring their connection complies before playing. If you have specific questions about what is or isn't allowed, you can ask PR management.
  • Any form of glitching or hacking that provides a form of competitive advantage, either during qualifiers or the GST itself will result in an instant full-team disqualification.
  • Players cannot participate in the GST for more than one team.
  • Multiple participants under the same IP must be disclosed to PR management before GST starts. Family, shared networks, or public networks should also be disclosed before playing. If you don't inform us of this before GST, we'll treat any undisclosed accounts sharing IPs our system finds during the GST as alts and disqualify those players from this year's host.
  • Gangs cannot qualify more than once (By using alternate tags for example).
  • We'll be enforcing a few undisclosed stat requirements to filter out fresh accounts and keep this GST for experienced players. If you try to participate from a low-stat account and we deem it suspicious or believe it to be an alt you will be removed from the GST at the host's discretion!

That's all for now! Best of luck to all gangs partaking this year. We'll keep you posted in regards to the official GST host date, gangs that qualified, and the in-game arena preview, so make sure to check back on our official Discord from time to time.

Read more