I've been looking at EIC match results online from all over during the last two years and see some really stellar scores.

Just out of curiosity, what kind of scores in regular matches does a guy have to average before he should even dream of getting any leg points at the EIC's?

470 used to be borderline 1st leather anywhere there's wind.

High 470s are generally safe, but it's really difficult to say.  With the decline in popularity of High Power, plus the ability to now shoot in six EICs a year, most local matches will only have 1 or 2 legs with a cut anywhere from 495 to 475.  All it takes is one or two hot shit competitors to show up and throw things off.

My recommendation to new shooters, if you really want to keep your costs down while improving your chances to leg, is to not shoot in local matches.  Instead, go to matches that typically have 5+ legs.  Having 50-60 shooters won't give you the wildly fluctuating scores that 10-25 shooters will.  Examples of these matches are the Navy East / West Fleet, CMP matches at Talladega, CMP Travel Games, and the National Matches at Camp Perry.

For example, the cuts at these matches in 2019 are:
Navy East Fleet:  471 - 8x
Talladega 600:  474  - 7x
New England CMP Cup:  476 - 6X
National Matches:  478 - 15x

Thanks gentlemen,

Would CMP Eastern Games in NC be one of these as well?

Yes.  The number of legs and the cut at the last two Eastern Cups was:

2019:  7 legs, 481-15x cut
2018:  9 legs, 478-14x cut

You can find all past results for all EICs at https://ct.thecmp.org.  Take some time to look at past performance and attendance of different matches in your area.

Thanks for the information!