And you thought US Nationals was your last chance for Championship Points...

[LOLZ]

there are going to be plenty of side events for those with their 400 points to play in, along with everyone else...why does there need to be a special event?

you've worked nats before: you don't think finals, sides and the single-elim last chance tourney are going to be enough to keep the judge staff busy?

There really doesn't "need" to be side events, the professor cup or this special side event to begin with in the first place, but P!P is has them available for the players (and professors) to play in. It was just an idea I wanted to throw out there in case P!P wanted to do something else to make Nationals better. Don't get me wrong Nationals is great already, I just wanted to suggest another side event.

I don't know anything about the numbers of and allocation of staff/volunteers for each event at Nationals, if it is not possible because of amount of staff, it is not possible. If it is possible and having another special side event is something that can be a positive effect for the players and the brand I hope it would be considered. I am not expecting it to happen, but if it does regardless of the prizes are the line, great. Like I said, it was only an idea.

 

[Shino Bug Master]

There does not *need* to be such a thing. You would like there to be. We'll discuss this in the office, but it's highly unlikely we'll place such a restriction on this event.

*Your* purpose for the tournament may be for more people to get to Worlds, our purpose is to provide the *opportunity* to get the points necessary to qualify for Worlds, and to provide additional value on Sunday for Nationals.

Our intent is to let anyone who wishes to preregister go ahead and do so, and if they make the T8, they'll be asked to drop from prereg (or, we'll simply do it for them) as they will have the points necessary at that time to qualify.

Thank you,
Prof Dav

Hey Dav, always appreciate your quick responses on these important matter, and really appreciate the sound of the last paragraph. A question on the first two though.

If the purpose of the event isn't actually to get people who can go to worlds to worlds, that is fine. However, a player with less than 200 CP and more than 400 CP have the same amount to gain from the tournament. There is no opportunity for someone with less than 200 points to get the points they need from the tournament, unless they are playing in Nats (and if they get less than 200 when they finish, you could treat it the same way you do the players who make top 8), just like there is no opportunity for someone who already has the points they need. Why would you impose one restriction without the other?

 

[Sapphire Birch]

edit: Nvm didnt fully read OP

 

[NoPoke]

Hey Dav, always appreciate your quick responses on these important matter, and really appreciate the sound of the last paragraph. A question on the first two though.

If the purpose of the event isn't actually to get people who can go to worlds to worlds, that is fine. However, a player with less than 200 CP and more than 400 CP have the same amount to gain from the tournament. There is no opportunity for someone with less than 200 points to get the points they need from the tournament, unless they are playing in Nats (and if they get less than 200 when they finish, you could treat it the same way you do the players who make top 8), just like there is no opportunity for someone who already has the points they need. Why would you impose one restriction without the other?

don't forget this part to Prof Dave's post.

..and to provide additional value on Sunday for Nationals.

 

[Lucario EX]

This is a pretty cool idea, IMO. Thanks, Dave (and Pokemon in general).

Completely unbiased with my whopping 0 championship points and no intention to play, btw.

 

[FirestormXVI]

I was disappointed I wouldn't be able to play in the main TCG tournament but I'm excited at the chance to play in another high level TCG event this year after only being able to make one regional and provincial Thanks for the opportunity!

 

[sdrawkcab]

This event also gives the Canadian VGC players who came down for a nationals a competitive tcg event to participate in

 

[losjackal]

However, a player with less than 200 CP and more than 400 CP have the same amount to gain from the tournament.....Why would you impose one restriction without the other?

Let me offer a possible answer: because the players who are elite enough (45 of them as of right now) to have secured a Worlds invitation could likely dominate any tournament they enter, so the players that do need points wouldn't want them "grinching" them away at yet another opportunity. Also, TPCi executives may hope that these elite players will be watching the Finals instead of playing in yet another tournament.

The tournament will have space for 256 Masters. There are only 122 players between 200 and 400 CPs. Maybe not all of those will even be attending Nationals. For simplicity, lets say that ALL of them are. If they do win enough to get the invitation, how many don't have the intention and the means to suddenly go to Vancouver? Arguably those people don't stand to gain anything with +50 to +200 CPs either. Why should they get to play?


As a representative example, I have zero Championship Points, but my son has his invitation, so we are going to Vancouver. 50-200 CP's doesn't help me either, so I don't know if I'd try to play in this tournament or not. What I find more interesting about this tournament is:

1. It's going to require a lot of luck and skill to make it through four rounds undefeated.
2. I wonder how this will affect players a year from now, who still needed points and grinded through Battle Roads. Will they play less, knowing this Last Chance tournament may happen again? Which might be offset by people working harder to get up to 200 CP at least so they have a chance of getting 200 more here?

 

[HotGustofWind]

There are only 122 players between 200 and 400 CPs.

Actually, 290 Masters in the US are still alive. The low end should be 120 CP since you can get 80 CP for top 16 at Nats and then get another 200 for top 4 in this tournament. Assuming all the Battle Roads CP are posted, #335 has 120 CP.

 

[losjackal]

Right, 290-122 = 168. But by the end of everything Saturday night, only 8 more players finishing Top 16 at Nats will get those 80 CP, leaving 160 still out in the cold and not able to benefit anything from Sunday Last Chance. That why I didn't factor those in. Plus by the end of Saturday night, a number of players within striking distance of 400 will be out of the 122 pool by gaining 10-80 points a decent finish. So it's just easier to predict based on the 122, plus or minus.

 

[jrwaxman]

I want to say thanks to the guys in Seattle for giving us "more Pokemon" at Nats weekend. This is something that goes way beyond anything I would have imagined. Giving the top cuts an extra 15 minutes was already a big step that players were crying for. That alone would have been big news but to add another event whether it added PP or not should be applauded. The staff works long hours as it is and this will create more work for them but we are all there anyway for a three day weekend and in the past most were done by Saturday and left to spectate only...players and staff. In some eyes it might not be perfect but come on........everyone should make a point of showing the guys some love when they see them in Indy.

---------- Post added 06/18/2013 at 09:43 AM ----------

And one more thing..... All of us head up to Nats with friends. It should not be hard to convince those that are not looking for points that it is probably better for them to play for packs than points. Side events have good payout so why would they want to play in single elimination tourney anyway??

 

[losjackal]

That's a very salient point, jrwaxman. By keeping it open to 0-200, I believe TPCi is doing their best to fill 256 chairs, so that the people playing have some competition. With people making that personal decision for themselves....whether to register to play or not...maybe not even 256 will enter.

Whereas, if they allowed 400+ to enter, I've already seen sentiments from two Worlds-qualified players that they would enter to either grinch points or get more testing experience.

 

[JohnnyBlaze]

I want to say thanks to the guys in Seattle for giving us "more Pokemon" at Nats weekend. This is something that goes way beyond anything I would have imagined. Giving the top cuts an extra 15 minutes was already a big step that players were crying for. That alone would have been big news but to add another event whether it added PP or not should be applauded. The staff works long hours as it is and this will create more work for them but we are all there anyway for a three day weekend and in the past most were done by Saturday and left to spectate only...players and staff. In some eyes it might not be perfect but come on........everyone should make a point of showing the guys some love when they see them in Indy.

I totally agree with Jim on this. Thank you Dave and all the staff at Pokemon that came u with this wonderful idea. With all the money I spend on flying out my whole entire family this gives us 1 more quality event that we can play in on Sunday. Please do not put anymore limitations on this such as "You need at least 200 CP points to play in this" The limitation of those that have 400 already is sufficient. :thumb:

 

[Otaku]

Count me in as another person this doesn't affect but who welcomes it; I haven't been able to play competitively at all the last several seasons frown but this sounds like a good deal and I hope it works out well for all parties involved. :clap:

As for the international player base, I am glad those fortunate enough to afford the trip can enter. Any annoyed that this opportunity does not exist in their own country might want to remember that this is the first time it has happened in the U.S. Unless I've messed up, Japan has a different tournament structure anyway, so that means this is being "tested" here. If it succeeds in the U.S. it might not make it to other Nationals... but if it fails here, it almost certainly won't be tried elsewhere.

 

[Garch]

I didn't see this brought up, so I thought I'd ask.

Hypothetically, if someone who only needs 50 points makes it to the top 16, could they drop and still get the points, before knowing who else they'd play, to let someone else into the top 8? Or would they not receive any Championship Points for dropping?

 

[Biggie]

Hey Dav, always appreciate your quick responses on these important matter, and really appreciate the sound of the last paragraph. A question on the first two though.

If the purpose of the event isn't actually to get people who can go to worlds to worlds, that is fine. However, a player with less than 200 CP and more than 400 CP have the same amount to gain from the tournament. There is no opportunity for someone with less than 200 points to get the points they need from the tournament, unless they are playing in Nats (and if they get less than 200 when they finish, you could treat it the same way you do the players who make top 8), just like there is no opportunity for someone who already has the points they need. Why would you impose one restriction without the other?

As Ian noted, Dave did point out that part of this is about adding value to Nationals on Sunday.

It's also worth noting that the key difference is that one group has an invite, and the other does not. We believe that limiting this to only those within striking distance makes reaching the points less challenging, and discourages those outside striking distance from giving it a go, and playing among good competition. If we were to decide to limit it to 200-399, we would reduce the overall attendance cap to 128 or lower, and we would have only awarded points to the T2 or T4 players.

Lastly unlike the actual National Championship itself, this event is not restricted to residents of the US only and there are countries out there where a player can earn an invite at 200 points as well. Who knows, maybe we will get some long distance challengers? :thumb:

 

[LOLZ]

Lastly unlike the actual National Championship itself, this event is not restricted to residents of the US only and there are countries out there where a player can earn an invite at 200 points as well. Who knows, maybe we will get some long distance challengers? :thumb:

Does this event have a Play! Point Requirement?

 

[Envoyofduels]

Does this event have a Play! Point Requirement?

Also does it give play points?

 

[Pikajew1213]

This gives me just enough points to get to worlds if I t4
THANK YOU!

 

[Articjedi]

What bothers me is the latest explosion off pokegym of people attending the tournament to troll the players who have over 200 cp. I guess if you create something nice, there will always be someone there to try to ruin it.