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Published on June 29th, 2014 | by kingofmars

21

Championship Point Wrap Up: How Well Do You Need to Do at US Nationals?

Hi everyone, I’m Gavin Michaels, otherwise known as kingofmars, and I’ve been keeping track of everyone’s Championship Points, or CP, for this entire season in this handy spreadsheet. For those unaware, every official Play! Pokemon event (including Regionals, International Challenges, Premier Challenges, Nationals and even Worlds) gives out Championship Points to the best finishers. Those who are in the Top 16 in CP will receive invitations to the World Championships, along with the Top 4 receiving paid trips to the venue in Washington D.C.

Since I consider myself to be the most familiar with the CP standings and format, I wanted to write a handy guide to let everyone know how well they need to do at Nationals in order to be one of the lucky 16 who get their Worlds invite. While my estimate of what the Worlds CP cutoff will be isn’t guaranteed (as it can be as low as 243 or as high as 428), I can be pretty certain that it isn’t going to land on either of those two extremes. Compared to last year’s CP breakdown for most people entering Nationals, this might seem overly complex; however, this year’s Nationals provide a much larger amount of CP than last year’s Nationals. For example, last year only 23 people could have made Worlds without getting a Top 4 finish at Nationals. This year, the number is at the very least more than doubled.

Group A: The Locked

(Omari Travis (BadIntent) and Enosh Shachar (Human)

No matter how you look at it, BadIntent and Human are almost for certain guaranteed their Worlds invites. Both have earned insane amounts of CP over the season and it would be absolutely shocking to see the CP cutoff higher than Enosh’s current score of 345.

Group B: The Almost There!

Ray Rizzo (Ray), Wesley Morioka (Wesley), Collin Heier (TheBattleRoom)

These three have each gained a significant amount of CP over the course of the season, which comes as no surprise considering that these three have won 4 Regionals by themselves. While they don’t have quite the same amount of CP that Enosh and Omari do, each of them is extremely likely to get a Worlds invite with a Top 64 finish, equivalent to 30 CP, or higher at Nationals. For Ray, there’s a good chance for him to receive his invite without needing the extra 30 CP, though 30 would almost certainly clinch it.

Group C: Likely Contenders

Michael Lanzano (Jivetime), DeVon Ingram (Dingram), Mike Suleski (OmegaDonut), Zach Droegkamp (Zach), Gavin Michaels (kingofmars), Blake Hopper (MrBopper)

These six are in a position that we’ll see replicated several more times as we go down the list; they’re competing directly with each other. For most people, 1 CP here and there won’t make a significant difference, but since each of these people have the potential to get a Worlds invite with only 30 CP, they are not guaranteed to receive an invite. For each of these contenders, their ability to get an invite based on a 30 CP performance is based squarely on how well everyone else does at Nationals, which would have them most likely barely squeak in to the Top 16. A Top 32 finish for 90 CP should guarantee these six an invite in every probably scenario.

Group D: I Love the 90s

Stephen Morioka (Stephen), Greyson Garren (Greysong), Benji Irons (BenjitheGreat), Ashton Cox (linkyoshimario), Trista Medine (ryuzaki), Toler Webb (Dim), Thomas Mifflin (PBB)

This large group makes up the tail end of the current Top 16 and those just outside of it, and it’s extremely unlikely that any of these people will make it in with only a Top 64 finish. It seems reasonable that a Top 32 finish for 90 points will be enough for this group in most scenarios. It’s certainly possible, although rather unlikely, that a Top 32 finish will not be enough for these players in a worst case scenario, in which case they would need a Top 16 finish, equivalent to 150 CP to make it in.

Group E: On the Bubble

Wolfe Glick (Wolfey), Paul Hornak (makiri), Matthew Carter (mattj), Andrew Burley (Andykins), Alex Oglaza (Evan Falco), Tony Cheung (Chinese Dood)

These people have some wiggle room to make it in with a Top 32 finish, with it being more reasonable for those in the front end of the group compared to those in the back end of the group (ie. it’s significantly more likely for Wolfe to make it in with 322 than it is for Tony to make it in with 301). However, they all have a little bit of shakiness and uncertainty in what performance they need, which is not a fun position to be in.

Group F: Sweet 16

Alberto Lara, Matt Souerby (matt), Tiffany Stanley (Shiloh), Randy Kwa (R Inanimate), Tommy Cooleen (TMan), David Mancuso (Mancuso), Matt Coyle (PrettyLittleLiar), Bridger Snow (squirtwo), Aaron Grubbs (LPFan), Chuppa Cross (Chuppa), Erik Holmstrom, Sam Johnson (RastaCharmander), Kamaal Harris (FonicFrog), Nathan Powell (Illuminatimon), Alex Stempe (Stump), John Steffen (Legend)

This group is another one that is in direct competition with each other for being able to make it in with a Top 16 finish. Those at the front end of the group are significantly more likely to be secure with a Top 16 finish than those in the latter half, where it’s possible (but not likely) that it’ll be good enough for a Worlds invite. In order to not leave their spot up to chance, most of the people in this group should shoot for a Top 8 finish, although a Top 16 finish could still be enough for those in this group to get to Worlds.

Group G: Reach for the Stars

Joey McGinley(Joej m) – William Hall(Biosci)

It should be pretty obvious upon looking at the numbers that there really isn’t much separating joej m from Legend; after all, it’s only a measly 2 points, which shouldn’t matter for a Worlds invite under any reasonable system. The truth is that this cutoff is purely arbitrary just to describe the different group’s situations. Those at the front end of this group could make it in with a Top 16 finish if the cutoff for CP falls on the lower side, but it’s hard to justify risking it. For everyone in this group, a Top 8 finish should guarantee a Worlds invite; any less for those at the bottom end of the group will result in not making the cutoff.

Group H: Ambiguity

Samuel Haarsma (Dr.Fidget) – Hajime Uesugi (Aralavent)

The use of the word ambiguity here is mainly over one question: did the rest of the season matter for this group? Depending on the cutoff, a Top 8 finish might be good enough for those that fall into this group. One important distinction to make here is that those that get into the Top 8 will know pretty much immediately whether or not they need to win their next game in order to make it into Worlds.

Group G: Clean Slate

Edward Fan (iss) and below

For this group, similar to Group G, there’s a chance for the top part of this group to be able to make it in with a Top 8 finish if the cutoff is rather low. However, this group should be shooting for Top 4 or bust. While that might seem like an unreasonable goal to make, last year not one – but two – players who needed a Top 4 finish in order to get a Worlds invite got it. The first would be 3rd place finisher Demetri Zeus Camperos, and the other would be me.

With that, I hope this proved to be a helpful article for those of you competing for a Worlds invite. Good luck to everyone and see you all at Nationals!


About the Author

Gavin has been playing VGC since 2011, with notable finishes including Top 8 at Worlds 2012 and 1st at 2013 US Nationals. He also keeps track of everyone's championship points in a format that isn't horrible to navigate. He will be attending the University of Southern California in the fall.



21 Responses to Championship Point Wrap Up: How Well Do You Need to Do at US Nationals?

  1. TwiddleDee says:

    So, basically I need 1st to potentially get an invite. Welp, see ya guys in LCQ.
     
    Edit: I really do appreciate you putting all of this information together, Gavin.

  2. kingofmars says:

    Top 4 is a guaranteed invite for everyone if it wasn’t clear, clean slate means that all the cp gathered up in the rest of the season doesn’t really matter

  3. TwiddleDee says:

    Top 4 is a guaranteed invite for everyone if it wasn’t clear, clean slate means that all the cp gathered up in the rest of the season doesn’t really matter

    My bad, I totally misread that. Thanks for the clarification.

  4. PBB says:

    In case anybody needs it, here’s the link to the CP rewards and what placing you must finish overall in order to receive them:

  5. PBB says:

    In case anybody needs it, here’s the link to the CP rewards and what placing you must finish overall in order to receive them:
    External

  6. Simon says:

    Who wants to be my bubble buddy?

  7. sohaib says:

    Twiddle you better get top four there cause I am winning lcqs ;)

  8. Huy says:

    Twiddle you better get top four there cause I am winning lcqs ;)

     
    How does one win a tournament with no winners?

  9. break says:

    Whew…I really don’t see anyone winning the Master’s National Championship other than BadIntent(Omari Travis) or DoctorKen2K (not listed above)

    Both have put in the time and have had great success in this year’s regionals ^_^”

    My goal this year is to have 2 of the wins on my record as victories against those two.

    Also looking forward to clashing with my other rivals in the side-events.

  10. shinryu says:

    T4 or bust pretty much. Guess flubbing up Utah didn’t help either.

  11. LPFan says:

    A top 8 finish to shoot for, eh? I guess this getting the invite for nationals at this position is going to be a little bit harder than I thought. 
     
    Thanks for the write up Gavin, it was an excellent read. But even though these CP spots are in, it’ll be interesting to see what will happen this weekend, especially with the field grown at this level with the influx of newer players coming in with exciting surprises. 

  12. ultimatedra says:

    Excellent read Gavin! Reading this article has me super pumped to see who is going to take the cake and seeing some players new this year doing so well and making a name for themselves.

    I am rooting for my local players John Steffen and Bridger Snow but I want to see Stephen Morioka, Matt Carter, and Mike Suleski get into the top as well.

  13. brokestupidlonely says:

    I dunno how much this matters, but I’m showing 50 CP and I have 100 (6th at ks, two 1st premier challenges), but I guess that leaves me with a top 8 requirement regardless. I dunno, I guess it can happen.

  14. sohaib says:

    How does one win a tournament with no winners?

    What do you mean ?

  15. Baz Anderson says:

    What do you mean ?

    No one “wins” the LCQ. The top four just qualify for the main tournament.

  16. Ghesthar says:

    what happens if we have cp but ar enot on the spreadsheet? not that ill make it this season anyway

  17. Porengan says:

    Beliebt in Biosci

  18. bgt says:

    I’m pretty much sitting in the Sweet 16 Group. I have 150 CP (140 on the site; 10 points are still missing from a Premier Challenge). So Top 16 would put me at 300 CP.

  19. Abman261 says:

    Ummm, best watch what you say man. Things could end of haunting you.

  20. Abman261 says:

    *up

  21. matt says:

    I actually had no idea what I needed so thanks for this

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