Major Changes to 2017 Play! Pokemon Events

...What...
Okay, what? They got rid of all this stuff?! What even IS this madness?! As a competitive player, this makes things really confusing right now.
 
Getting rid of Nationals is really bugging me. European Championships sounds like a great addition but the loss of Nationals basically means only the hardcore competitive players will travel (to probably UK) to play. At least here in Finland Nationals was the tournament that brought in the large crowd: competitive players and casual random players who only played in that one tournament a year.
 
I'm confused about this: "Also, Pokémon League Challenges will return as entry-level events, giving Pokémon TCG players a great place to get started and even more opportunities to compete in local events."

League Challenges are not new, so they are not "returning." There was no barrier to entering an LC that I've been to aside from maybe a $5 entry fee (that usually went to the store for use of venue), so in my mind it has always been fairly entry-level. How is this a change from before? Anyone have thoughts/perspective?
 
North American Nationals is still nats, just under a different name and now everyone in the world can compete. I'm not sure how this is a better system, though.
 
Apterous said:
I'm confused about this: "Also, Pokémon League Challenges will return as entry-level events, giving Pokémon TCG players a great place to get started and even more opportunities to compete in local events."

League Challenges are not new, so they are not "returning." There was no barrier to entering an LC that I've been to aside from maybe a $5 entry fee (that usually went to the store for use of venue), so in my mind it has always been fairly entry-level. How is this a change from before? Anyone have thoughts/perspective?
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I think that league challenges will be for players who have no points or a low amount, that way they all have the same chances of winning top points, while higher ranked players have to travel to bigger events in order to get more points.
Personally i think this is pretty balanced, that way high rank players don't dominate the same league every time
 
I'm wondering how this is going to be affecting how the metagame develops. While I'm glad that this appears to be giving us more opportunities to go to larger tournaments (I certainly wasn't able to make it to as many tournaments as I would have loved to last season), it does seem like it's a lot to keep track of. We never really had to keep an eye on both Standard and Expanded at the same time (bar Cities if you were in an area that held both formats) with the way tournaments were 'blocked' last season, but from the sound of it, it looks like everything's going to be happening all at once. I'm going to need to know how exactly CP's going to be handed out as well as how much we're going to be needing to qualify for Worlds to make a real judgement, but I'm looking forward to seeing what exactly these changes will mean.
 
yeah I saw this coming they want to get the stores more involved and paying less to PTOs
 
Pretty huge game changer. Masters is going to be absolutely insane for the US. Regionals on the east coast will probably have a decent amount of European players. While southern/west coast regionals will probably have Latin American and Asian players coming for those.
 
Hmm...it is troubling to hear that there is no more Nats'

Hopefully we can get more premier challenges in my area this season.

It also worries me to hear that people can travel to all the events to make sure they are guaranteed an invite to worlds.

With that said, I do have hope for this format...if the travel allowances are worked out.
 
break said:
Hmm...it is troubling to hear that there is no more Nats'

Hopefully we can get more premier challenges in my area this season.

It also worries me to hear that people can travel to all the events to make sure they are guaranteed an invite to worlds.

With that said, I do have hope for this format...if the travel allowances are worked out.
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You still have to place well. Like placing top 8 in a few regionals and then something like top 64 in one of the big tournaments will get you an invite. Which is no different from what some players do.
 
I don't know why they think higher ranked players won't be doing the League Challenges. They will attend these in hopes of getting "cheap" points to pad their totals. That is what they do now, and I don't see any reason for that to change unless Pokemon puts a rule in place that only allows those with a certain ranking/rating...

With this moving to the local shop hands, I hope they can decide the format these will be played in. I say this because our local PTO has said ALL tournaments in the area of St Louis will be Expanded for next year, regardless of which shop is hosting the tournament. Which to me really stinks. I want a lot more Standard format. I am so tired of Expanded. And with no Karen on the horizon, Night March/Vespiqueen/Trevenant/Seismitoad decks of the past will never go away...
 
How does this affect Canada? The once simple travel route to nationals may become several plane flights, and cities will be more accessible. I am not 100% sure how I feel about this. However, they might make the necessary championship points even higher, and that really doesn't help. This will probably decrease the popularity of Pokemon, considering nationals, an already challenging event, no matter where you are in the world, even harder.
 
I can only say two things about this: I'm glad I got out of the tournament scene when I did and yecch.

One thing that might worry players is the lack of residency restrictions and, for foreign players, the possibility that rules regarding foreign language cards are still in effect.

PMJ said:
North American Nationals is still nats, just under a different name and now everyone in the world can compete. I'm not sure how this is a better system, though.
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break said:
Hmm...it is troubling to hear that there is no more Nats'

Hopefully we can get more premier challenges in my area this season.

It also worries me to hear that people can travel to all the events to make sure they are guaranteed an invite to worlds.

With that said, I do have hope for this format...if the travel allowances are worked out.
Click to expand...

After reading the page some more it says that the Play! Pokemon team MAY allow some independent National Championships, but they'd be approved on a case-by-case basis.

So US Nats might hang around as something else, but only time will tell.
 
League Challenges should allow a separate VGC tournament to be held.

The inability to have Premier Challenges consistently every month severely hinders it. I would prefer Pokemon League actually do something to keep it's VG players like they did with Black 2 & White 2. Not slide VGC to the side.

Also agreed on removing nationals being a bad thing.
We need more VGC events, and Canada hasn't even gotten a nationals for VGC yet. Now you're telling me we won't?
 
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So this is what they meant when they were going to change cities. I feel like I need more information about necessary point totals, and point givouts, before I can make any judgments about this.
 
chacks13 said:
I think that league challenges will be for players who have no points or a low amount, that way they all have the same chances of winning top points, while higher ranked players have to travel to bigger events in order to get more points.
Personally i think this is pretty balanced, that way high rank players don't dominate the same league every time
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i doubt it, Entry level usually means open to everyone.
 
Hamatti said:
Getting rid of Nationals is really bugging me. European Championships sounds like a great addition but the loss of Nationals basically means only the hardcore competitive players will travel (to probably UK) to play. At least here in Finland Nationals was the tournament that brought in the large crowd: competitive players and casual random players who only played in that one tournament a year.
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I think its probably going to be in the same place as ECC was, in the Netherlands.
 
On the upside... Since they're spread out more, maybe we'll get more Regionals streamed than previously.

States existing in the first place kinda bothered me. There was no reason why those and Regionals needed to co-exist. Lack of Nationals is weird, though. And I think even Pokemon knows that, since they said they might approve independent Nationals. Guess we'll see how that turns out. (Also, totally calling that there will be a US Nationals. Shocking thing to predict, I know. ;p)
 
"The Play! Pokémon team may approve independently operated National Championships on a case-by-case basis."

All this does is open up more levels of competitive play.


Because Pokemon has always dictated these bigger level of competition games, they are now allowing for others to open up play independently, if approved. I know for one, in my state, we have been chomping at the bit to get a national. Pokemon, instead of approving the above three minimum competition games for nationals, they could approve 5 to 6 competitions around the nation.

Plus, they are offering more regional's through out the US. Offering more balanced regional sites will allow players to bit a more choosy on where they are going to play, and bring down the number participants for shorter showdowns. I think they are thinking of their judges and trainers by trying to spread the wealth of the game.

Because more competitions will be offered, points need to be adjusted. Also, because Nationals might not find any hosting cities this year (highly unlikely), they will need to take that into consideration on prizes and points.

All this does is open the game up a bit more to families that want to play competitively, but just don't have the cash and time to travel every where. It also helps with the burn out affect of trainers and judges over long weekends. Lastly, like the Olympics, it really gives a option for states to bid for nationals in their state.

I think it is a reasonable idea and will help grow the game.
 
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