Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Fall Regional Prizes Anounced

Thanks Aaron, but come on Pokemon. This is a big letdown for me. I just moved into the Masters to learn that they, from what I've seen, divided the second place for the Masters into 2nd, 3rd, and 4th for the Juniors and Seniors. I am not debating kids don't deserve the money, (They do) but realistically adults should get the exact same amount as Seniors and Juniors. If this is not just a mispost by Pokemon, then I will be very disappointed. On a positive note the packs did increase and I think the new CC system is a step in the right direction. Right now PP has me on the fence.
 
What in the world? Because the last thing college students need is help getting to Nationals, right? That'd be a real shame if true.

Although definite props for this change:
* Travel awards and byes are awarded to the winning Canadian or United States player and are awarded to the National Championships corresponding to the player’s nationality. A Canadian player is therefore eligible to win a travel award to the Canadian National Championship from an event hosted in the United States, and vice versa.
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I like that there are more Regionals to go to, but their prizes have been cut over the years. In 2005, they gave a Worlds trip and invite, a Nationals trip and scholarship money to 1st place. Now, we are seeing different prizes for age groups? We have all already lived with this being a kid's game (and still are), but throwing in more prizes to the younger age groups when Masters has consistently been the largest age group during the history of the TCG is a bad move. Some of us have been around long enough to remember when this happened before with Wizards of the Coast. I have to say I am very disappointed if this is true.
 
Let's take a look at what's good about this...

1) Timely notice of prize changes! With more than a month's notice, we all know exactly what's at stake in the first four Regionals of the season.

2) More prizes! Everyone is getting MORE out of this, which is a step in the right direction.

3) Prizes adjusted for inflation! It's been over eight years since the first $300 award, yet inflation and airfare have done harm to the award's value. Now that we have tangible prizes at the $500 range, OP could theoretically avoid editing the prize for a decade, yet still give the players receiving the stipends something of real value.


Now, what's wrong here?

1) The distribution of prizes between age groups. While P!P's taken the stance to treat Masters differently from Seniors and Juniors, you can argue that this is the opposite of what would've been most productive. The end goal of all these prizes and whatnot is marketing/getting more product sold, so how does it encourage participation by giving stipend prizes in Regionals to the age groups least capable of appreciating their worth, yet no new stipend prizes to the age group that would undoubtedly be most affected by it?

I think those are some pretty fair generalizations to make. Of course there will be exceptions, especially in the Seniors division, but not offering up stipends to the Masters seems like a huge snub to the largest age group, whose players would be much more eager to attend three regionals and buy more product if even one person had the additional $500.

2) In the grand scheme of things, the prize pool is still smaller for Masters than what it was in 2010 and 2011, and only slightly larger for Juniors/Seniors.
 
I'm left shaking my head. The difference in formatting suggests this isn't a typo.

This seems like nothing but a slap in the face. It's tough to think that a few thousand dollars is worth the insult to the fan base that this represents for an international company.

No one better say, "but the events are free." If they can give it to the kids, they can give it to the Masters.
 
As a brother of a Junior who plays both the TCG and VGC very competitively, this is very good news for him as it means even more money to win. (We managed to win enough to pay for his ticket to Hawaii this August!)

And even though this probably benefits my family much more, I would still much rather see Masters get the prizes they deserve. For crying out loud, the difficulty of a Regionals in the Masters division is absolutely insane. There are so many amazing players at each one, and with this year's CP distribution, there will only be more. I think I am most amused by the fact a Battle Roads in Cali has 120 Masters this year while there were only 63 Juniors at Philadelphia Regionals last year. Really...
 
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In case people couldn't get anymore upset with this game. This is completely ridiculous and I can almost guarantee that TPCI will just have some terrible excuse to attempt to justify this. I'm generally incredibly silent when it comes to the changes that have been happening, but this has really upset me. It just does not make sense.
 
Mune said:
In case people couldn't get anymore upset with this game. This is completely ridiculous and I can almost guarantee that TPCI will just have some terrible excuse to attempt to justify this. I'm generally incredibly silent when it comes to the changes that have been happening, but this has really upset me. It just does not make sense.
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Agree, Only reason I can see for this is to increase the attendance for Juniors/ Seniors, I mean you already have Seniors quitting the game because they don't want to play in Masters, and now its even more clear when prizes arn't being evenly distributed.

Don't agree with this at all.

P.S. Don't let this thread get out of control :(
 
This is so bad. Being age specific on prizes is insulting and makes me think the game is now going back to they way it was with WoTC.

The only way I could see this being ok if it was to accommodate the parent traveling with the child but if this is the case it should just say everyone under 18 gets a $500 dollar stipend for their prenatal guardian.
 
In all fairness, the prizes for Masters are the exact same from last year other than a better CP payout. I don't get why they couldn't have gone with something like $300 for each division... that saves a total of $300 and Masters get money too...
 
My problems with this:

1) Masters is by far the most attended age division. It isn't even close. Shouldn't the player base be rewarded for their higher level of dedication to the game?

2) Masters is the age division that is most likely to pay out of pocket to attend these events, and thus actually benefits from the reward more than other divisions. A very high majority of Junior and Senior players receive funding to compete from their guardians.

3) Why award an additional $500 for 2nd-4th (a total of $3000), when you could make it an even split across age divisions of $300 each? I doubt anyone would care about the $200 difference, and this would cost a total of $300 less per regional.

I know that TCPi only leaves reasoning for their economic decisions sparingly, but for the sake of a community that has supported this game since its inception, I'm sure we'd all appreciate an answer. I know that the community is prone to "shooting the messenger" whenever they stop by, but even something as small as an anonymous press release would be much appreciated.
 
This is a corporation we are talking about. Giving a few hundred bucks to Juniors and Seniors and not Masters is not because they don't have money to give to Masters. There's just no way. It is a huge slap in the face to the thousands of Masters who play this game. There is just no justification for this move.

Anyone want to talk about growing the game by giving out more prizes to the younger kids? Well, how about what happens when they age up to Masters and have LESS prizes? How about that? Did anyone think about that? Are they just going to quit the game and go play Magic: The Gathering like Wizards of the Coast wanted the 15+ to?
 
I don't have an issue with this. 1st place still gets a paid trip for the Masters.

For 2-4, in most cases the Masters player can make the trip by themselves. For Juniors and Seniors, they will HAVE to make the trip with a guardian of some sort. I see the stipend as a way of them helping out those parents who would need to cough up the dough for a trip for 2, as opposed to a trip for one which in most cases the Masters 2-4 won't have to deal with.

If I'm finishing between 2nd and 4th, I would rather have to pay for a flight for me, than have to pay for two flights, even with the help of a stipend. Granted, airfare in Canada is 23987427839 times worse than in the US, but still.
 
Scizor said:
Are they just going to quit the game and go play Magic: The Gathering like Wizards of the Coast wanted the 15+ to?
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This is what really angers me. WOTC had a reason, although a very poor one, to cut the 15+ division. They owned Magic as well and made an attempt to convert the older players to another one of their games, one that was and still is more expensive and lucrative for them.

This decision on the other hand CANNOT be justified. Like others have said, even giving just $300 to each age division is better than discriminating against the biggest and most dedicated fan base they have
 
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