The prize support in this game in general is awful these days, not just the rating system. It's clear that pokemon makes more money than almost any other american card game. How is it that the prize support does not reflect this? Heck, worlds invites cost ABSOLUTELY nothing, yet they still are not given, even though America deserves them for having a higher proportion of players. This isn't about me, nor did Ryanvergal make his statements about him. It's about america. It's about proper representation. There are many skilled, deserving players that do not attend worlds due to one bad tournament while run off the mill players from other countries get in with ease. How does this properly represent the US? As I said before, I am not whining for my own sake, I will be going to worlds with, or without an invite. I am only stating what is clearly best for a fair world competition.
As mentioned earlier, this game also lacks in material prize support as well. Although the worlds invite issue is a far more important issue, I will still bring this one to attention. I will use myself as an example, only because I know my own experiences best, not because I am complaining about myself. This year I have top 8ed a regional and top 64ed nationals. That's a pretty decent showing, not the best, but much better than most, considering the vast amount of players that attend these events. For both of the previous placings I went home with absolutely nothing. Pokemon issues no reward what-so-ever for good tournament placings. If this were to be compared with other card games, the difference is huge. tournaments with only 50 players give away decent prizes for their top 8. That's about 16% of the players that receive prize support. Pokemon, however, only rewards the top four for regionals, with well over 100 players. That is at most 4% of the players receiving prizes, while the tournament itself is twice as difficult to place in. It's not me, it's every high placing player that deserves a pat on the back.
How is it whining when all we ask for is what we deserve?