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2015 Pokémon US National Championships | July 3rd-5th | Indianapolis, IN | Livestream

F

Firestorm

Member


The Pokémon Championship Series is the official competitive circuit for Pokémon trading card game and video game players culminating in the Pokémon World Championships in August. Run by The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) and their various partners, sanctioned tournaments are run in dozens of countries worldwide on every inhabited continent.

The US Pokémon National Championship will take place this weekend from July 3rd to July 5th, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana and will be the largest Pokémon tournament in the world with over 2000 Pokémon Trading Card Game and Video Game players expected to attend. This year, for the first time, all three days of the competition will be streamed live on Twitch!

There are three age divisions in the tournament circuit. The stream will mostly focus on the Masters age division which is 16+ which is by far the largest and most competitive group. The Senior division is for players 11 to 15 and the Junior division is for players 10 and younger.

You can find the stream at http://twitch.tv/pokemon and embedded on the official National Championships hub which will stay updated with news from the event, brackets, and pictures throughout the event. Currently you can find a preview of the tournament as well as popular decks there.

Stream Schedule
The event will be streaming live on Twitch on all three days this year:

Friday, July 3
09:00 AM | TCG Masters Division | Day 1 Swiss rounds
12:30 PM | VG Masters Division | Day 1 Swiss rounds
05:30 PM | TCG Masters Division | Day 1 Swiss rounds

Saturday, July 4
08:00 AM | VG Masters Division | Day 2 Swiss rounds
02:00 PM | VG Masters Division | Top 8
03:00 PM | VG Masters Division | Top 4
04:00 PM | TCG Masters Division | Top 8
05:30 PM | TCG Masters Division | Top 4

Sunday, July 5
09:00 AM | TCG Junior Division | Top 4
10:30 AM | TCG Junior Division | Finals
12:00 PM | TCG Senior Division | Finals
01:30 PM | TCG Masters Division | Finals
03:00 PM | VG Junior Division | Finals
04:00 PM | VG Senior Division | Finals
05:00 PM | VG Masters Division | Finals

Commentators
The stream will include commentary by the best casters in the game. We'll see the return of the crew you may have seen at past Regional, National, and World Championships as well as a new face:

VG Commentators
TCG Commentators
What's Happening - Video Game
The top 40 players with the most Championship Points in the US & Canada rating zone will earn an invitation to the 2015 Pokémon World Championships in Boston, MA, USA in August. Players have been playing since September to rack up points in tournaments all across the United States and Canada from smaller Premier Challenges to larger Regional Championships. Right now, the standings look like this. However, the National Championships have the largest points payout in the circuit by far and there's only one National Championship on the continent.

Only seven players have locked an invitation to the World Championships this year. The rest of 500 or so players in attendance will need to perform well enough at the National Championships to get their chance to play at Worlds. For a rundown of what placement each player is looking to get, check out [this analysis](http://nuggetbridge.com/articles/championship-point-wrap-well-need-2015-us-nationals/) by 2013 US National Champion Gavin Michaels. If you don't see them on the list, that means they need a Top 8 finish or higher which is going to be quite the feat! That said, even the seven players locked in for an invitation will be giving it their all as the top eight players at the end of the season will receive direct entry into the second stage of the World Championships.

What's Happening - Trading Card Game
Unlike the video game, most players at the top levels already have an invite as anyone with over a reasonably attainable 300 Championship Points is locked in for Worlds. At this event, players will be trying to finish in the top 16 in the US & Canada rating zone for direct entry into the second stage of the World Championships as well as the title of National Champion in a field of what is expected to be over 1000 players.

Ruleset - Video Game
All video game tournaments in the Pokémon Championship Series use the Standard ruleset which is as follows:
  • All matches are played in the Doubles format.
  • Matches are Best of 3 with a 15 minute time limit per game
  • Pokémon above Level 50 will be brought down to 50 for the match while those below 50 will stay as is.
  • Players choose 4 of their 6 registered Pokémon after team preview.
  • Pentagon Rule: All Pokémon must have the blue pentagon on their stats page indicating they were caught, bred, or received as an official gift in Pokémon X, Y, Omega Ruby, or Alpha Sapphire.
  • Species Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can share the same Pokédex number.
  • Item Clause: No two Pokémon on your team can hold the same held item.
  • The following items are banned: Soul Dew
  • The following Pokémon are banned (all forms): Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Ho-oh, Celebi, Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Deoxys, Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Phione, Manaphy, Darkrai, Shaymin, Arceus, Victini, Reshiram, Zekrom, Kyurem, Keldeo, Meloetta, Genesect, Xerneas, Yveltal, Zygarde, Diancie
Ruleset - Trading Card Game
The National Championships will use the Standard ruleset for all stages of the tournament which is as follows:
  • 60 Cards
  • No more than 4 of the same card
  • Only cards from the BW Boundaries Crossed expansion or later may be used
  • Best of 3 with time limit
Prizes
The main thing players are going for is that World Championship invite which they'll earn with Championship Points. In addition to it though, the following prizes will also be a goal:

Video Game
  • 1st: $5000, Wii U Deluxe, Two Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
  • 2nd: $3000, New Nintendo 3DS XL, Two Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
  • 3rd & 4th: $1500, New Nintendo 3DS XL, Two Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
Trading Card Game
  • 1st: $5000, 12 Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
  • 2nd: $3000, 12 Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
  • 3rd & 4th: $1500, 6 Pokémon TCG Booster Boxes
Monetary prizes are awarded as fully transferable scholarships.

Resources - Video Game
Resources - Trading Card Game
  • Play! Pokémon) - The official Pokémon page for tournament info
  • Pokémon Strategy - The official Pokémon page for strategy articles
  • Six Prizes - One of the first sites for trading card game articles
  • 60 Cards - A site that has picked up recently with high quality articles from around the world
  • PokeBeach - Best site for TCG news
  • On the Bubble - For streams of tournaments that aren't officially being streamed by Pokémon
 
F

fek

Member
Didn't know ShadyPenguinn plays VGC. Anyway gonna watch this for sure, last year was pretty fun.
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Say hi if you're at the event! Got in yesterday evening :)
fek said:
Didn't know ShadyPenguinn plays VGC. Anyway gonna watch this for sure, last year was pretty fun.
Click to expand...
He's been practicing a bit with some players. He'll be on the play by play side of things which doesn't require as much knowledge of the game. I saw some videos by him after the announcement and I think he'll do a good job. Has a great radio voice!
 
P

PBalfredo

Member
I'll be watching. Though I hope they've learned to pick up the pace between matches, as they had a serious amount of downtime between matches on the stream last year at Worlds. The pace of matches on streamed FGC tournaments has spoiled me, I guess.
 
J

JoeM86

Member
PBalfredo said:
I'll be watching. Though I hope they've learned to pick up the pace between matches, as they had a serious amount of downtime between matches on the stream last year at Worlds. The pace of matches on streamed FGC tournaments has spoiled me, I guess.
Click to expand...

Well Swiss rounds are best of three now, and the time waiting is unlikely to be as long, especially if they stick to the schedule they have provided.

Just be glad there was no official stream for the UK Nationals...now that had downtime between matches
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Times are in Eastern Daylight Time
PBalfredo said:
I'll be watching. Though I hope they've learned to pick up the pace between matches, as they had a serious amount of downtime between matches on the stream last year at Worlds. The pace of matches on streamed FGC tournaments has spoiled me, I guess.
Click to expand...
Worlds had technical issues I don't see happening this year. Unfortunately due to the nature of Swiss it won't be as fast as a fighting game tournament.
 
B

backlot

Member
Firestorm said:
Times are in Eastern Daylight Time
Worlds had technical issues I don't see happening this year. Unfortunately due to the nature of Swiss it won't be as fast as a fighting game tournament.
Click to expand...

That's the thing about technical issues. You never see them coming. I'm sure everything will be fine though. Good luck in the competition!
 
A

Azuran

Banned
Excited to see what Wolfe Glick brings this time around. His play with that that Mega Gengar team a month or so go was insane.
 
A

Aaronrules380

Member
I'll watch some of the video game stuff. Maybe I'll have ideas for my own team, though it's been a while since I last played Omega Ruby. Though it's not like I've never randomly picked the game back up before
 
B

blakep267

Member
Pssh. Now they don't allow doubles. I'm still salty about losing the 2006 regionals to a guy with 3 electrodes and a Gengar and him repeatedly using self destruct
 
C

ChrisD

Member
Twelve Booster Boxes.

Mother of Arceus


Looking forward to JWittz. His YouTube has slowed down a bit in the past months. A wedding takes priority, so it's no issue, but it'll be nice to see him doing Pokemon commentary again.
 
P

PsionBolt

Member
Very impressive and detailed summary, OP! For someone like me who only watches competitive Pokemon occasionally, it was quite helpful.

I'll almost certainly tune in for the finals on Sunday, if nothing else. Looking forward to seeing if any oddball teams perform well this year.
 
N

nubbe

Member
Has anyone ever been accused of using legit Pokes? XD

Eggs hatched: 0
Evolution's: 0
BP's earned: 0
Link battles: 0
Battle test: 0
 
T

TomShoe

Banned
The most successful I've been at competitive Pokemon was when me and a friend won our school's tag team Pokemon tournament. We went 4-1 but won the tiebreaker. Wolfe wasn't there or else he'd smoke all of us :p
 
A

Azuran

Banned
nubbe said:
Has anyone ever been accused of using legit Pokes? XD

Eggs hatched: 0
Evolution's: 0
BP's earned: 0
Link battles: 0
Battle test: 0
Click to expand...

Those don't mean much since some people breed and play on different cartridges. Also, some just get others to breed for them because no one really likes Biking Simulator 2k15.
 
S

StoneFox

Member
Well I know what I'm doing this weekend. Looking forward to seeing what the best trainers in the nation have to offer :)
 
S

StoneFox

Member
That mirror match first turn between Jake Muller and Blake Hopper was hilarious. Same crits on the same attacks and pokemon. Too bad about the flinch though xD
 
U

unknownstranger

Member
Only caught a little bit of the tournament but had fun watching people stream after it. Laughed so hard watching one guy play with his friend offering advice:

"You should use Earthquake and bring out Heatran."
"Ok."
*animation starts*
"Wait, don't use Earthquake."
"... OH SHIT, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO"
 
F

Firestorm

Member
Carl7 said:
How was he?
Click to expand...
Started out 1-2. Won my next 5 to be 6-2. Lost my last set to end 6-3. Needed 7-2 for my invite and to play today. The loss was to Top 4 finisher from Worlds last year, Collin Heier. I just didn't play super well against him. Didn't know my calcs well for his team and made bad reads.
 
T

trixx

Member
this is great I love watching this. Would love to get into competitive pokemon but its just way too time consuming to get viable pokemon. It's quite a barrier.
 
N

nubbe

Member
trixx said:
this is great I love watching this. Would love to get into competitive pokemon but its just way too time consuming to get viable pokemon. It's quite a barrier.
Click to expand...

yeah, they need a Tournament mode in the game if TPC want to be serious about the eSports thing they are playing around with

Where all Pokes have equal IV, and you can choce nature, items, abilities, moves and EV
 
J

JoeM86

Member
Just heard about a disqualification. They really need to sort out their hack check.

nubbe said:
yeah, they need a Tournament mode in the game if TPC want to be serious about the eSports thing they are playing around with

Where all Pokes have equal IV, and you can choce nature, items, abilities, moves and EV
Click to expand...

They have that. It's called the game.

They will never make it so you just put in numbers. That would be horrific.

Pokémon isn't meant to just be about the battles but about showing you have the knowledge and fortitude to get the Pokémon to that point.

It's also against the ideals they put into the game.
 
C

Carl7

Member
nubbe said:
yeah, they need a Tournament mode in the game if TPC want to be serious about the eSports thing they are playing around with

Where all Pokes have equal IV, and you can choce nature, items, abilities, moves and EV
Click to expand...

I hope they get rid of the IV system as well, it failed to bring diversity to the series and is stopping people to get into competitive play.
 
N

nubbe

Member
JoeM86 said:
They have that. It's called the game.

They will never make it so you just put in numbers. That would be horrific.

Pokémon isn't meant to just be about the battles but about showing you have the knowledge and fortitude to get the Pokémon to that point.

It's also against the ideals they put into the game.
Click to expand...
Changes in Gen6 makes it almost a numbers game

Flamebody speeds up the egg timer
Super traning lets you chose the EV, it's just a big timesink at the moment
Everstone passes down nature
Destiny knot passes down 3 IV's, so the chanse of getting the 5 out for 6 IV's you want is pretty good

Gen7 will probably make it even easier
making it more accessable and competetive is only a good thing
 
J

JoeM86

Member
nubbe said:
Changes in Gen6 makes it almost a numbers game

Flamebody speeds up the egg timer
Super traning lets you chose the EV, it's just a big timesink at the moment
Everstone passes down nature
Destiny knot passes down 3 IV's, so the chanse of getting the 5 out for 6 IV's you want is pretty good

Gen7 will probably make it even easier
making it more accessable and competetive is only a good thing
Click to expand...

Yeah, and I'm not happy that happened. They only did that to try and discourage people from cheating and make it easier for people to keep up, but I don't like that they did it.

However, them making it so you just enter the numbers and that's it? God no. That will never happen and should never happen.

I get that it's easier now, even though I don't like that they did it clearly to placate, but to make it just be a simulator where you put numbers in...I'd lose faith in the franchise if they ever do that.
 
A

Azuran

Banned
nubbe said:
Changes in Gen6 makes it almost a numbers game

Flamebody speeds up the egg timer
Super traning lets you chose the EV, it's just a big timesink at the moment
Everstone passes down nature
Destiny knot passes down 3 IV's, so the chanse of getting the 5 out for 6 IV's you want is pretty good

Gen7 will probably make it even easier
making it more accessable and competetive is only a good thing
Click to expand...

Hordes are actually the best way to EV train. Super Training is just there if just want to suffer a bit like in the old days.
 
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