Pokémon Players Cup

Logo

The Pokémon Players Cup events were a series of online-exclusive tournaments held by the Play! Pokémon organized play division of The Pokémon Company International, their presence being correlated with the cancellation of in-person events during the COVID-19 pandemic. It hosted tournaments for Pokémon Sword and Shield, the Pokémon Trading Card Game (through Pokémon TCG Online), and Pokken Tournament DX.

Players were required to register online before the qualification date (except for invitational tournaments) and have accounts on the third-party apps Discord and Battlefy. Aside from qualifiers, the events were mainly set in two stages: a double-elimination bracket, broken down by the rating zones, and the top finisher's bracket. Its tournaments were solely held in the Masters Division due to third-party apps not supporting accounts for younger age divisions.

The Players Cup were prerecorded and broadcasted through the official Pokémon YouTube and Twitch channels, featuring casters from other Play! Pokémon events.

Up to Players Cup III, prizes included a Travel Award for a future International Championships of the player's choosing to the Pokkén Champion and Top 4 players in the TCG and VGC; in Players Cup IV, top players were instead given money based on their standings. Special deck boxes and card sleeves for Pokémon TCG Online based on the events were also awarded to TCG players who made to the Region Qualifiers and, starting in Players Cup III, to players from any competition in the Region Qualifiers as long they have logged into TCGO at least once prior to the event. These cosmetic items were tradeable and later migrated into Pokémon TCG Live.

Events

Event	Dates	Games	Phases
Pokémon Players Cup	May-August 2020	TCG, VGC, Pokkén	2020 International Challenge May (VGC only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) TCGO June 2020 Leaderboard (TCG only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) Pokémon Players Cup Kickoff Invitational (invitational only, to win a spot in the Finals) Pokémon Players Cup Regional Online Qualifier (based on rating zones, to qualify for the Finals) Pokémon Players Cup Finals
Pokémon Players Cup II	September-December 2020	TCG, VGC	Pokémon Players Cup II Qualifier (VGC only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) TCGO October 2020 Leaderboard (TCG only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) Pokémon Players Cup Regional Online Qualifier (based on rating zones, to qualify for the Finals) Pokémon Players Cup Finals
Pokémon Players Cup III	January-April 2021	TCG, VGC, Pokkén	Pokémon Players Cup III Qualifier (VGC only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) TCGO February 2021 Leaderboard (TCG only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) Pokémon Players Cup Regional Online Qualifier (based on rating zones, to qualify for the Finals) Pokémon Players Cup Finals
Pokémon Players Cup IV	April-July 2021	TCG, VGC, Pokkén	Pokémon Players Cup IV Qualifier (VGC only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) TCGO May 2021 Leaderboard (TCG only, to qualify for the Regional Online Qualifier) Pokémon Players Cup Regional Online Qualifier (based on rating zones, to qualify for the Finals) Pokémon Players Cup Finals

Rating zones

• North America: Canada and United States of America (including Puerto Rico)
• Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom
• Latin America (TCG and VGC only): Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay
• Oceania: Australia and New Zealand

As Oceania's rating zone only comprised two countries, fewer slots were available for the regional qualifiers and Finals overall.

Video Game Championship

The core series tournaments used their VCG rules at the time and featured an open qualifier stage, where players competed to maximize their placement during 3 days for the regional qualifier, where then they would participate of double-elimination bracket battles according to their rating zone. The Global Finals were a new double-elimination bracket with 16 players based on region qualifiers and, during the first event, the winner of the invitational tournament. Players could submit a new team list during the Finals.

Champions

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
Player's Cup	(North America) Santino Tarquinio	(North America) Jiseok Lee	(Europe) Nico Davide Cognetta
Player's Cup II	Wolfe Glick	Davide Carrer	Jean Paul Lopez Buiza
Player's Cup III	—	Leonardo Bonanomi	Yoav Reuven
Player's Cup IV	Renzo Navarro	Leonardo Bonanomi	Fevzi Özkan

Trading Card Game Championships

The TCG Championships tournaments used their Standard format rules at the time and featured an open qualifier stage, where players competed to maximize their Standard Format Tournament Rep (earned by the final standing of TCGO tournaments) of a specific month for the regional qualifier, where then they would participate of double-elimination bracket battles according to their rating zone. The Global Finals were a new double-elimination bracket with 16 players based on region qualifiers and, during the first event, the winner of the invitational tournament. Players could submit a new decklist during the Finals.

Starting with Players Cup II, players would be given 50 Tournament Keys (a new currency for Players Cup) prior to the start of the event and, during the qualifier period, Standard format tournaments would only require these Tournament Keys to join their queue.

The First Players Cup was the only event to use different formats during its run, with the 2019-20 Standard format on most of its phases and then the 2020-21 Standard format at the Finals.

Champions

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
Player's Cup	(Oceania) Natalie Millar	(Oceania) Matthew Burris	(Latin America) Victor Freitas
Player's Cup II	Zach Lesage	Brent Tonisson	Hugo Laperriere
Player's Cup III	Azul C. Garcia Griego	David Daritan	Jeremy Lim
Player's Cup IV	Alex Schemanske	Bruno Sermann	João Pedro Medeiros Zambrano

Pokkén Tournament

Pokkén tournaments used best-of-three matches in the Basic Battle 1v1 Format, featuring a regional qualifier stage with double-elimination bracket battles according to their rating zone during three weekends. The Global Finals were a new double-elimination bracket with 8 players based on region qualifiers and, during the first event, the winner of the invitational tournament.

Champions

Event	1st	2nd	3rd
Player's Cup	(North America) Shadowcat	(North America) Jukem	(North America) Deity Light
Player's Cup III	(North America) Jukem	(North America) Shadowcat	(North America) Allsiter
Player's Cup IV	Wise	TEC	Shadowcat

See also

• The Play! Pokémon Podcast

References

This article is part of both Project TCG and Project Games, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon Trading Card Game and Video Game Championship Tournaments.