There will be changes to Play! Pokemon Events in the near future. Also, we may have a hint for the Regional format during the 2016-2017 season.
Below are the changes that Pokemon has announced today for the 2016-2017 season. Some of these changes are pretty big.
- There will be no more States and Nationals championships. Instead there will be European Championships, North American Championships, Latin American Championships, and Asia Pacific Championships. These tournaments will be open to all players around the world. These events will have high Championship Points payouts and a prize pool worth up to $250,000. Travel awards and stipends will be available to players based on their Championship Point performance in the specific zone they live in (North America, Europe, Latin America, or Asia Pacific).
- The Play! Pokémon team may approve independently operated National Championships on a case-by-case basis. The Championship Points and prizes available at these events will vary.
- Regionals will be spread out during the season and will be open to all players around the world. There will be less Regionals that will be happening during the same weekend of each other.
- Cities will be replaced with “League Cups”. These events will be hosted by hobby and shop stores and will be held once per quarter. A store owner will be made a TO (Tournament Oraganizer) and provide judges for these events. They will be treated as local events.
- Pokemon League Challenges are still entry-level events.
- Premier Challenge and Midseason Showdown events will return as local events for Pokemon video game players.
It will be curious to see how the continental tournaments (European Championships, North American Championships, Latin American Championships, and Asia Pacific Championships) will be run. This year’s US Nationals had one of the biggest turnouts ever and already we are hearing warnings that Worlds this year could be a full house due to all the competitors. Imagine how big the North American Championships will be with competitors coming from the Canada, Mexico and the United States. Either a higher entry requirement will be needed or a bigger venue will be needed to hold players from all three countries to compete.
We also got a hint for the format for Regionals during the 2016-2017 format. The Regionals for Texas and Florida will be hosted in the Standard format. That means cards from Primal Clash-on can be used in these tournaments. It isn’t certain if all Regionals will be played in this format or will it be on a Premier Tournament Organizer decision.
Good luck in the 2016-2017 season!