Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

2012-2013 season information!

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

eriknance

Active Member
Check it out here. I'll update with highlights later (or, if someone can provide, feel free to).

The Pokémon Organized Play team has several exciting announcements regarding the upcoming 2013 Play! Pokémon tournament season.

Championship Points

We’ll be making some changes to the way that Championship Points work this season. First off, to add both precision and flexibility to the system, we’ll be increasing the point system by a factor of 10. Therefore, if you earned 1 point for a specific placement last season, you’ll earn 10 points this season.

Next up, the 2013 season won’t be using a “Top X” system for World Championships invitations this season. Because we have a solid baseline of data from a full season of play, the Organized Play team feels comfortable setting the invitation levels for Worlds at a fixed value. This means that you’ll have a clear target number to shoot for, and when you get there, there is no risk that someone else can bump you out. The points necessary will vary by rating zone, and will be listed in the Pokemon TCG Championship Points Award Structure.

Because this season will be using fixed value Championship Points invitations, we will also be eliminating the invitation prizes from National Championships. Instead, National Championships will now award the minimum number of points necessary to earn an invitation to Worlds to a predetermined number of top finishers (Top 8, 4, 2, or 1, depending on rating zone). We feel that Nationals should always be a key path to the World Championships, and it will remain so under this system.

These are the major changes to the Championship Points system for the 2013 season. There will be several other smaller changes to point award levels and best finish limits at some event series. The details will all be covered at Pokemon TCG Championship Points Award Structure.

Be sure to link your Play! Pokémon Player ID with your Pokémon Trainer Club account so you can track your Championship Points online, as well as become eligible to receive cool rewards!

Regional Championships

For the 2013 season, we’re further expanding the Regional Championship event series by splitting the series across three dates. You can now attend an Autumn Regional, Winter Regional, and Spring Regional Championship. Each season we’ll have 5 events running across the U.S. and Canada, giving Video and Trading Card Game players additional opportunities to earn some big prizes!

Dates for these events have been set for the following weekends:

Autumn: October 13 & 14
Winter: January 19 & 20
Spring: April 13 & 14

Details regarding exact times and locations will be posted shortly at Play! Pokémon.

Play! Points

The Play! Points program was a huge success in the 2012 season! More players played in more events, and in more matches, than any other season in the history of Pokémon Organized Play! For the 2013 season, players will still earn Play! Points based on the rates found at the Play! Points FAQ.

Play! Point entry requirements for U.S. Nationals for 2013 will be increased for the Masters division and slightly decreased for the Junior and Senior divisions. For other National event requirements, check with the event organizer.

Want to know if you have enough points to play at Nationals? Just use the event locator while you’re logged in. When you reach the tournament summary page, you’ll see a block that will indicate whether you’ve qualified for the event or not.

Changes to Top Cuts

To make some of the lower tier events less time consuming, we’re making changes to the top cuts at Battle Road events.

Battle Road events will no longer feature a top cut, and these events will be played as straight Swiss. Battle Roads will also feature a deeper Championship Points payout structure as a part of this change, awarding points to more of those participating.

Season Start Date

While this has already been mentioned in the 2012 Modified Format update, we’re providing a bit more detail here to explain why the start date has moved forward and what that means for you.

With the season now starting in early July, all July events will count towards the Championship Point or Play! Point requirements for events in that season. That is, events in July 2012 will award points for the 2013 Nationals or Worlds, respectively.

This means that future events will include some exciting new things, both domestically and internationally. Even this year, several international partners are running Premier Events in July that award Championship Points towards the 2013 World Championships!

Also, the World Championships will take place in the 2014 season, but they will keep the age division dates from the 2013 season. This means that finishers at Worlds will be awarded Championship Points that will apply to qualification for the following year.

The top four finishers at Worlds 2013 will receive points equal to, or in excess of, the points required to qualify for Worlds 2014. Players below the top four will receive an amount less than the amount required to qualify, but they will still have a good jump start towards qualification.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
So the cut off is 400 (40 last season). Definately makes sense. There is also quite a big gap between BRs and Cities, and not that big a difference between 1st-4th at Brs. these things are all good. Brs however will be very competitve, giving up a possible 90 points (nearly a 4th you need to qualify), while Cities will be the most brutal, holding half your invitation points possible at 200. Or you can just be amazing and win 4 States/Regs xD

Still, it all looks pretty good.

Just want to really give a direct thank you on the Battle Roads structure. With the removal of top cut, everyone felt the event was all but ruined, but the increased depth of possible Points really means that no matter how high intensity the event gets, playing for 9-12th or 13th-16th is still viable. No dropping first round like we all feared, no top heavy head to head winner take all. While i still feel Brs could use a top cut, the system atleast makes them enjoyable and playable without one. Infact, i'd say it makes them FAR more enjoyable :D
 
These are all positive changes from what I can tell. That's pretty awesome!

The deeper points payouts from Battle Roads seems interesting. Overall, I like them!
 
If points are increased by a factor of 10, do the people who top 16'ed at worlds and above get 80 points as opposed to the original 8?
 
One thing I especially like is combining States and Regs for the BFL, making reaching it a lot more doable. I also like the gap between BRs and Cities in terms of CP. Just great overall!
 
These are some very neat changes. I just took a quick skim over everything but I'm very pleased about how the system will work out this year! I can't wait to start :D
 
This is a huge step in the right direction for this game's future. Getting a worlds invite is very doable now in theory. A solid run through-out the season (5 BR top 4s, 4 cities top 4s, 2 states top 8s, 1 regionals top 4, 1 regionals top 16) will get you your invite guaranteed. Last year that wouldn't have been enough.

Although it is still kind of embarrassing that it took as long as it did for this information to be released, this system seems incredibly solid.

Good job TPCi, if I could physically touch you, I would give you a pat on the back, which granted is more than I received for getting 48th at this past national championship
 
Winning a CC was 6 CP last year, but only 50 points this year. That's not really a factor of 10. Is that a typo, or is that correct?

Drew
 
TheDarkTwins said:
Winning a CC was 6 CP last year, but only 50 points this year. That's not really a factor of 10. Is that a typo, or is that correct?

Drew
Click to expand...

There are also minor changes. As you can see by the cascade of 10 in the following places, it is more than likely correct. And consider, as it says in my cost, even at 50 they have to potential to be half your invite.
 
What are Kickers?

Championship Point payouts are listed below. Events will receive "Kicker" points if an age division attendance meets a certain threshold. Base points never change but, if the "Kicker" level is reached, points are awarded deeper into the final standings. For example, if the Masters division at a Battle Road tournament reaches 32 players, 5th through 8th place will receive 6 Championship Points.


BEST
THING
EVER
!

E:/ Apparently this isnt even new, I didnt play last season, leave me alone :p
 
One will still need to travel quite a bit to chase these numbers (or be incredibly skilled at the STP/Reg and Nats points) to get an invite. I like the 400 pt base line for NA. If you can win 4 CCs and 6 BRs, that is 290 pts of the 400. Still have to perform at the States and above level to qualify for worlds.

Keith
 
Lawman said:
One will still need to travel quite a bit to chase these numbers (or be incredibly skilled at the STP/Reg and Nats points) to get an invite. I like the 400 pt base line for NA. If you can win 4 CCs and 6 BRs, that is 290 pts of the 400. Still have to perform at the States and above level to qualify for worlds.

Keith
Click to expand...

I do suspect that somebody will manage to sweep BRs/CCs and then get 2nd at Regionals, thus qualifying. And then people will complain about BRs and CCs being too large a factor again.
 
Another thing I noticed is that the CPs are different for 9-12 and 13-16, meaning how you do in Swiss can still affect your CPs even if you lose early.
 
Mystery Thing said:
I do suspect that somebody will manage to sweep BRs/CCs and then get 2nd at Regionals, thus qualifying. And then people will complain about BRs and CCs being too large a factor again.
Click to expand...

If someone pulls that feat then that player certainly deserves it. Some players can easily travel to multiple BRs and CCs but winning a lot of BRs/CCs and placing 2nd in Regionals is a difficult feat to accomplish.
 
Not a fan of how many championships points will be decided by resistance. At a lost of battle roads, one x-1 will be missing out on the points in resistance. Don't like that finishing in the top 16 at larger events like states and regionals have different payouts depending on resistance as well.
 
Albeit late, it is very good news. Obviously not perfect, but a HUGE upgrade, with no major complaints from me (BRs could have a smaller best finish limit but hey). It definitely seems well thought out, and addresses major concerns we had like

1) People dropping from battle roads.
2) Regionals/States not mattering enough
3) How a cutoff would work worldwide.

Thanks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top