PokeBeach’s May TCG Cup, Sponsored by TCGplayer.com!

TCGplayer And PokeBeachWelcome to PokeBeach’s May TCG Cup!

Up to 64 players will duke it out to determine who is currently the best TCG player on PokeBeach!

Best of all, up to four booster boxes will be awarded to this tournament’s top players thanks to TCGplayer.com, your #1 online platform for purchasing Pokemon cards! If you ever need to buy Pokemon cards, you’ll never find better prices than on TCGplayer, so be sure to check them out ASAP!

This month, any player that earns booster packs may choose among Ancient Origins, BREAKthrough, BREAKpoint and Fates Collide!

For all of our tournaments, if you’re a PokeBeach premium member, you’ll win double the amount of booster packs and prizes than normal! A premium membership means you’ll get weekly articles from the game’s top players, one-on-one expert advice, priority registration in our tournaments, product and booster pack giveaways, and increased prize support. If you’re ready, we’d love to have you!

Tournament Info

  • MahoneRegistration is open until Thursday, May 5th.
  • We will be accepting up to 64 players on a first-come, first-serve basis. Premium members have priority registration over regular members.
  • All matches must be conducted on Pokémon Trading Card Game Online (PTCGO). You can download the software from Pokemon.com.
  • The tournament format is as follows:
    • All decks must be Standard format (XY to Generations).
    • This tournament will last six rounds.
    • You will have five days to complete each round.
    • Each round is best-of-three games, meaning whoever wins two out of the three games wins the round. Budget 30 minutes to an hour to complete each round. See the round schedule below to make sure you are available to play on those days.
    • This is a Swiss tournament. Everyone plays every round and you are paired against players with a similar record.
    • During a match, the loser of the previous game may choose whether they want to go first or second. Communicate with your opponent and let them known which you choose before the coin flip occurs.
    • Intentional draws are allowed. You and your opponent may agree that you want to tie for the round instead of playing it out.
    • You must use the exact same deck list for all rounds, just like in a real tournament.
  • You can only participate in this tournament if you’re in a North American time zone or can commit to its schedule. If you’re in a completely incompatible time zone than most other players, you shouldn’t register, as it’s unlikely you will find time to meet.
  • Note that you must be a premium member from the start of this tournament to the end of this tournament to receive double the amount of prizes. Otherwise, you will receive the regular amount of prizes.
  • Note that you cannot request the 30-day PokeBeach premium membership refund if you play in this tournament, even if you drop out during the first round. As with all of the conditions in this post, you agree to this by signing up below.
  • Note that PokeBeach reserves the right to deny registration to any player at any time for any reason, and that PokeBeach reserves the right to drop a player from this tournament at any time and for any reason.
  • If you have any questions, first check out the Frequently Asked Questions page before contacting the tournament staff.
  • Your tournament organizer for this event is Ntanel. If you have any questions or issues pertaining to dropping, pairings or reporting results, feel free to send them a PM (Private Message).
  • Your head judge for this event is Ntanel. If you have any questions or issues pertaining to rulings or penalties, feel free to send them a PM.

Registering in the Tournament

  • By registering, you agree that you have read and accepted all the conditions in this post and all of PokeBeach’s rules and regulations. To register, copy and paste these questions into your post and answer them:
    • What is your PTCGO screen name?
    • What timezone do you live in? If you do not know your time zone, check out the World Clock. For example, California’s time zone is “Pacific (GMT/UTC-8).”
    • Did you participate in last month’s tournament? If so, were you dropped from it?
    • Did you make at least two discussion posts on the forums during last month? (Such as replying to a news story, commenting on a forum discussion thread or etc…)
    • Do you promise to make at least two discussion posts on the forums during this month?
    • Is the e-mail address on your PokeBeach account up-to-date?
    • Are you a PokeBeach premium member?
  • Prior to the end of the first round of the tournament, you must submit your deck list to the tournament organizer via the submission form. Your deck lists will be kept strictly confidential until the tournament is over.

Tournament Timetable

  • trophyRegistration: Sunday 5/1/2016 to Thursday 5/5/2016
  • Round 1: Friday 5/6/2016 to Tuesday 5/10/2016
  • Round 2: Wednesday 5/11/2016 to Sunday 5/15/2016
  • Round 3: Monday 5/16/2016 to Friday 5/20/2016
  • Round 4: Saturday 5/21/2016 to Wednesday 5/25/2016
  • Round 5: Thursday 5/26/2016 to Monday 5/30/2016
  • Round 6: Tuesday 5/31/2016 to Saturday 6/4/2016

Note: Each month’s tournament will begin on the first day of the month and overlap slightly with the previous month’s tournament.

Match pairings will be posted on the first day of each round between midnight and 6:00 AM ET.

Each round ends exactly at 11:59 PM (ET). Your match results must be posted by that time, as explained in this next section.

Round Setup & Contacting Opponent

  • PairingPairings Thread: All pairings will be posted to the forum thread below this news post and in the PokeBeach’s Monthly TCG Cup forum. Remember to bookmark and subscribe to that thread so you receive e-mail notifications when a new post is made. Failure to receive an e-mail alert, however, will not be taken as an excuse for not manually checking the thread at the start of each round.
  • Contacting Your Opponent via PM: After the pairings have been posted, it is your immediate duty to contact your opponent via PM. Tell your opponent exactly when you can set aside time to play. Your opponent must either respond with “Yes” or “No” to each time you propose.
  • Trouble Contacting Opponent:
    • If your opponent has not sent you a single PM by the end of the second day of the round, it is mandatory that you send a PM to Ntanel by the end of the round’s third day (in other words, you have a full day to report it). Your opponent will then be dropped from the tournament, even if they responded to you on the third day, and even if they have a really good excuse. This is not optional.
    • If after two days you and your opponent can’t agree on a time to play, send a PM to Ntanel so we can determine who should be dropped for signing up for a tournament they did not have time to play. This is not optional.
    • Those who take more than 24 hours to respond to their opponent’s PMs may be dropped for inactivity.
    • If you have to report a scheduling or no-show conflict, add Ntanel to the PM conversation. (Do NOT add Water Pokemon Master or contact him.)

Battling & Reporting Matches

  • final battleBattling: Make sure you record the time and date you played each game of your match. You will need this information when posting your match results.
  • Trouble Completing Matches:
    • If your opponent does not show up to your scheduled match or is over 30 minutes late, send a PM to Ntanel so they can be dropped from the tournament. This is not optional.
    • If your opponent is disconnected during one of your match’s three games, they will lose that specific game. You must then wait 15 minutes. If the disconnected player manages to re-establish their connection to you within 15 minutes of being disconnected, the overall match will continue with the game loss, but the other games must still be played. If the match still has games to be played and the disconnected player cannot re-establish their connection after 15 minutes, you may choose to reschedule the remaining games or you can choose to give your opponent a round loss. There are no exceptions.
    • If your matches somehow do not get completed, and you did not alert us along the way that your opponent did not communicate with you, you will both be dropped from the tournament.
  • Reporting Matches: The winner must post in the thread below with 1) who won and 2) the time and date each of the two-to-three games was played. The winner must report the match results by the end of each round (11:59 PM ET).

Penalties

  • KaibaNo-Show Penalties: Players who are dropped from a tournament due to inactivity or tardiness will be banned from participating in all PokeBeach tournament for three months. (Premium members excluded.)
  • Dropping: If you would like to drop from a tournament between rounds, simply PM the tournament organizer. If you drop from a tournament this way, you will not suffer any tournament bans. However, if you continually sign up for tournaments only to drop them, we will not allow you to register for future tournaments, as many people would love to be playing in your place.
  • Colluding: Any malicious or unsportsmanlike actions will result in an immediate and permanent ban from all PokeBeach tournaments, as determined by the tournament organizer. If you notice another member cheating, breaking rules, stalling, or doing anything to disrupt this tournament, report it to Ntanel immediately. We want to maintain a fair and enjoyable experience for all of our members.
  • Recording & Streaming: The recording or streaming of a match is allowed only if permission is granted by both players. Those who violate this rule may be penalized via disqualification and/or ban.

Tournament Prizes

Players who earn a top spot in the tournament will receive real booster packs and other prizes! These prizes are provided by TCGplayer in partnership with PokeBeach. Up to four booster boxes will be given out in addition to various promotional products:

Any player that earns booster packs may choose among Ancient Origins, BREAKthrough, BREAKpoint and Fates Collide!

  • TCGplayer And PokeBeach1st Place: 18x Packs (If a premium member: Booster Box [36x Packs]) + short interview on the front page
  • 2nd Place: 14x Packs (Premium: 28x Packs)
  • 3rd Place: 9x Packs (Premium: 18x Packs)
  • 4th Place: 9x Packs (Premium: 18x Packs)
  • 5th Place: 4x Packs (Premium: 8x Packs)
  • 6th Place: 4x Packs (Premium: 8x Packs)
  • 7th Place: 4x Packs (Premium: 8x Packs)
  • 8th Place: 4x Packs (Premium: 8x Packs)
  • Skill-Based Win: 5x Packs (Premium Members Only)
  • Skill-Based Win: 5x Packs (Premium Members Only)
  • Skill-Based Win: 5x Packs (Premium Members Only)
  • Skill-Based Merchandise Win (A promo product) (Premium Members Only)
  • Skill-Based Merchandise Win (A promo product) (Premium Members Only)

(For certain international winners, TCGplayer reserves the right to substitute prizes for equally-valued prizes or gift cards based on the player’s location.)

This tournament’s “Skill-Based Wins” will be awarded to the top five premium member players who progress the furthest with a deck that is not considered a typical metagame deck. The winners will be chosen by PokeBeach’s premium writers.

The top 32 players will also win Prize Wall points, which you can save or exchange for additional products on TCGplayer!

  • PrizeWall_Logo1st Place: 12 Prize Wall points (If a premium member: 24 points)
  • 2nd Place: 6 points (Premium: 12 points)
  • 3rd Place: 3 points (Premium: 6 points)
  • 4th Place: 3 points (Premium: 6 points)
  • 5th – 8th Place: 2 points (Premium: 4 points)
  • 9th – 32nd Place: 1 point each

Top-placing finishers will also earn trophies or medals next to their usernames that are visible on all parts of the website. These denote your accomplishments to other members and visitors:

  • 4th Place: Silver Medal
  • 3rd Place: Gold Medal
  • 2nd Place: Silver Trophy
  • Champion: Gold Trophy

If you battle your way to the top and win a prize, you will be contacted via PM within 24 hours of the tournament’s end so we can arrange to send them to you. You will have 48 hours to provide all the necessary contact information or we will not be able to send them to you. The first place winner will also be asked for a short interview, which will be posted on the front page. First through 32nd place will receive Prize Wall points from TCGplayer, which will be e-mailed to you by TCGplayer.

And don’t forget to check out TCGplayer.com for the best prices on Pokemon cards and all other trading card games!

(Note: The Pokémon Company International is not a sponsor or endorser of PokeBeach’s tournaments, contests, or prizes, nor does the company or its affiliates have any formal association with PokeBeach. Our activities are by fans, for fans, and are not sanctioned or approved by TPCi.)