2014 Pokémon World Championships Schedule, Prizes, & LCQ Registration Info
With less than a month left to go, players are making plans for their Pokémon World Championship weekend in Washington, DC! Not everyone has an invitation to play though so there will be great interest in the Last Chance Qualifier being held on Friday, August 15th, 2014. We what you need to know for that as well as the schedule for the weekend so you know where you need to be and when!
Last Chance Qualifier
Much like US Nationals, registration for the Last Chance Qualifier will be done online. If there are any spots left over — or there are players who don’t show up — players will be able to register at the venue. To register online, you are required to have 1 Play! Point tied to your account on Pokemon.com. If you’ve played in any of the following over the course of this season, you should have the necessary points:
- Video Game National Championship
- Video Game Regional Championship
- Premier Challenge
- International Challenge (May or June)
- Sanctioned Video Game Tournament
- League (must have opted in to receive video game points rather than TCG)
If you’re missing the Play! Point you need due to an error, it may not be too late to submit a support ticket to get it added but no guarantees are made. Remember, you are responsible for keeping your Pokémon account up to date throughout the season.
Registration Schedule
At 9:00 AM Pacific (18:00 CEST) on Wednesday, July 23rd, you will be able to register for the Last Chance Qualifier on the Registration Page. Only the first 512 Masters, 256 Seniors, and 256 Juniors will be accepted.
Check-In Schedule
Though you register online, you must still be present or check-in at the venue to be allowed to play. Check-in starts on Friday, August 15th at 10:00 AM and anyone not in line before 11:00 AM will forfeit their right to play. Your battle box is locked at check-in.
The Players’ Meeting will happen at 1:00 PM. If you are not in your seat for the Players’ Meeting, you will be removed from the event.
Structure & Prizes
The Last Chance Qualifier is a best of three single elimination tournament. The final four players remaining will be awarded invitations to the 2014 Pokémon World Championships happening the next day.
World Championships
Players have a bit of work to do before the actual World Championships start!
Confirmation Schedule
On Thursday, July 24th, at 7:00 AM (16:00 CEST), you will be able to accept your invitation to the World Championship on the same page that your clearly inferior friends registered for the LCQ the day before.
Check-In Schedule
You must check-in at the venue at the correct time to be eligible to play. Check-in begins at 5:00 PM on Friday, August 15th. You must check-in before 7:00 PM. The Players’ Meeting will begin promptly at 7:00 PM and The Pokémon Company International is aiming to have everyone out by 7:30 PM so that competitors can enjoy the Pokémon: Symphonic Evolutions concert premiere at 8:00 PM that night.
Event Schedule
Friday, August 15th, 2014
| TCG LCQ Check-In | 8:00 AM – 8:30 AM |
| TCG LCQ Begins | 9:00 AM |
| Information Desk | 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
| Video Game LCQ Check-In | 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM |
| Video Game LCQ Begins | 1:00 PM |
| World Championships Check-In | 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM |
| World Championships Players’ Meeting | 7:00 PM – 7:30 PM |
| Pokémon Symphonic Evolutions Concert Begins | 8:00 PM |
| Retail for Competitors & Staff | TBA |
Saturday, August 16th, 2014
| Information Desk | 8:00 AM – 7:00 PM |
| Retail | 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Opening Ceremonies | 9:00 AM |
| Round 1 Begins | 9:30 AM |
| Creative Center | 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM |
| Side Tournaments | 11:00 AM – 7:00 PM |
Sunday, August 17th, 2014
| TCG Final Rounds | 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Retail | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Creative Center | 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM |
| Side Tournaments | 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Pre-Release TCG Tournaments | 10:00 AM – 3:00 PM |
| Video Game Finals | 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM |
| Closing Ceremonies | 6:00 PM |
Please note that this schedule is always subject to change as the tournament evolves. The current plan is to have all video game matches from Round 1 of the Swiss rounds to the Semi-Finals match finished on Saturday with only the finals of each age division played on Sunday. There will be no lunch break on any of the days so if you are competing you’ll want to pack something or have a friend do a food run.
A stream schedule has not been released at this time.
Prizes
Prizes for the World Championship this year are very similar to last year though you will notice that there are no Championship Points awarded for the 2015 season to anyone in the Top 8 outside the automatic invites granted to the first and second place finishers.
1st Place
- A Pokémon World Champion Trophy
- An invitation to the 2015 World Championships
- A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players considered minors) to the 2015 World Championships
- A scholarship award worth $3,500
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
2nd Place
- A Pokémon World Championships Second-Place Trophy
- An invitation to the 2015 World Championships
- A Travel Award for the winner (and parent or legal guardian for players considered minors) to the 2015 World Championships
- A scholarship award worth $1,500
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
3rd Place
- A Pokémon World Championships Third-Place Trophy
- An invitation to the 2015 World Championships
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
4th Place
- A Pokémon World Championships Fourth-Place Trophy
- An invitation to the 2015 World Championships
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
5th through 8th Place
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
9th through 16th Place
- Two boxes of Pokémon TCG: XY—Flashfire expansion booster packs
About the Author
Firestorm is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.
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+ Cards for Top16
– no lunch break
– Top8 and Top4 on Saturday
– Check-in on Friday
– Check-in on Friday while one should be at the concert hall
– no CP for Top8
>that your clearly inferior friends registered for the LCQ the day before.
r00d
Did they take away top 4 at worlds invites for next years worlds?
They weren’t supposed to have it last year either afaik. It was a mistake in communication that they followed through on. I think the only thing actually removed from the prize pool was the CP. Hopefully Top 4 still gets their special card.
Also, looks like basically everyone who is x-2 or higher and doesn’t actually win a round of single elimination will get the same prize.
oh and no merch? Looks like I’ll have to play a potential Worlds team in the NBI as 4 Bo3 wins there > ~5-1 Swiss + Bo3 win vs someone who went ~5-1 Swiss at worlds (good job to the NB guys for this once again)
Are we supposed to have received official invites by now? dotNinja and I are still waiting for ours… I’m not sure if the Aussies and other countries have also gotten theirs yet. It’s a bit annoying when you’re trying to book a trip, but you’re uncertain of whether you’re actually meant to be there. US players knew the following week after their Nats.
Just would have been nice to have heard SOMETHING by now. Sorry for the rant
They should have sent an email to the one you put under your play! account, assuming you’ve opted in to receive cp
Think the lack of prize support is pretty bad, but Im a fan of the removal of top 8 cp, just wish there was a bit larger of a difference between top 16 and top 8 in terms of prizes.
North American and European Invites are finalized – if you have not received an email and were expecting one based on the below lists then send an email to the Player Coordinator.
South Africa was finalized today and the two players with invites from each age division should receive an email in the next 24 hours.
External
External
External
Top 4 at the 2014 World Championships should each have an Invitation to the 2015 World Championships (Travel Award only top 2). Should be corrected already.
Europe at least got their invites per Mail.
Back to topic,
While nationals are getting better every year, it feels like the main event (worlds) is getting worse.
There should be enough time for a lunch break, Top8 and Top4 should be playing an sunday, while TCG finals are running.
Playing 6 Bo3 sets in swiss and 2 more Topcut Bo3 sets without having a lunch break is really hard.
While there are different opinions about being rewarded with CP for Worlds Top8, imo we should keep this.
Glad to see top 8 not getting CP. I think it really has to be all or nothing with Worlds either giving a full invite or nothing with the circuit VGC is using with only the top X players getting invitations. I like that the TCG rewards Worlds performance a little more, but there just isn’t the opportunity in VGC right now (as much as I’d just like to see all the 5-1s get invited back).
I think it’s a little worrying we prize top 4 about as well Worlds does though, at least as far as physical items.
Not a big fan of Top 8 CP. I think it’s cool to reward people doing well throughout a season and then at the World Championships, but I also think having CP from Worlds makes for a pretty unfair advantage to players joining the game when only Top 16 / 32 qualify for Worlds the next year. It would make more sense if we had a CP cutoff rather than Top X system.
I think the prizes are atrocious for the game’s largest stage. $3500 / $1500 split for Top 2 with nothing below? 2nd almost definitely won’t make back what they invested over the course of the season and 1st might even just break even. If we’re going to make a big show of it, let’s actually have something to play for. Would also like it distributed deeper. Maybe we need stretch goals
That said, I disagree with people saying we should do Top 8 and Top 4 during TCG. The reason we’ve had it on Saturday for Worlds 2013 and US Nationals 2014 is to stream. People want to see more of the video game streamed, not less. I’d rather stream on Saturday evening than just have it played out on Sunday morning. Like the External, it would be like not broadcasting the semi-final World Cup games. I don’t agree with some parts of that article but definitely agree there. We should be trying to get both Top 4 matches streamed, not none.
Easy to have an opinion about when matches should be played when you aren’t playing 6+ matches in a day without a lunch break. I would rather actually give the players time to rest so the games are better played. Why don’t they have a separate stream on Sunday and stream all 7 of the top cut matches then?
It’d be nice to spend a month on the World Championships like League of Legends does and stream every match too, but in real life tournaments must work with the restrictions they’re given. I am almost shocked people are acting surprised by this schedule. It is what it is and I’m sure it’s exactly what most people were expecting.
Socal Regionals produces the strongest trainers. We can play until 2am with no breaks no problem.
Giving Worlds CP is a bad idea if the qualification method for the next year isn’t a CP Bar. I don’t think there any good way to handle players that move up a division between years. People would probably riot if a Junior/Senior player took a Senior/Masters invitation though the use of CP earned from the lower division.
All tcg prizes? What happened to the trips for 4, customs ds, or maybe even a wiiu. People are spending a lot to get there and will most likely walk away with 2 tcg boxes. Kinda wish atleast the semis were played before the finals, as I don’t like the idea of having an entire night to prepare for your opponent which is a fight for 2k. Besides that no cp is nice because each year should be it’s own entity.
I probably missed this due to my horrible eyesight, but where is the LCQ being held?
GamerMan
In the same convention hall
In America?
Cos I’m Australian, so… 🙁
GamerMan
Yes, it’s held in America. Just like Worlds. Who would’ve thought!
Sigh it was worth a shot…
GamerMan
Echoing happiness at the opening of retail an hour before opening ceremonies. In Hawaii, some friends here held places in line (where we had been waiting for 3-5 hours in the early morning) so the rest of us could go watch the ceremony. Last year I opted out of opening ceremonies in favour of trying to obtain all the merchandise released for my “home” World Finals.
Now I can finally do both! Totally up for line camping this year.
Well. I’m disappointed. But at the same time, of course, this is not totally unexpected. I also don’t like the idea of a top cutting player having to play a potential of 12 GAMES back to back to back with no lunch break, or anything significant. How does that even happen? Don’t we have an entire day for the non-finals? Also we should be streaming more. Just, streaming more. No eSport/shadow of an eSport is going to ever be taken seriously when give or take a dozen games are streamed a year. I’m really sorry to rant; but to close, please allow me to quote from that USGamer article that somebody posted:
“Nintendo and The Pokémon Company clearly want people to care about this stuff. All they need to do now is start treating it like it’s worth caring about. ”
Please, guys.
Please.
Want a better stream, want a lunch break. Realistically, you can only pick one. A lunch break gives you a gigantic gap in matches that makes for a bad stream. Getting lunch beforehand or having food brought to you shouldn’t be that hard. There’s concessions in the convention center even.
@Huy (sorry i don’t know how to use those tags lol)
Maybe we could have done something like have some players get a 25-30 minute break while streaming a game from round 3 let’s say, then have the other people who just played round 3 go on break, then go right ahead and stream another game from round 3 with the people who just got back. Maybe throw in an interesting video to cover for a 5-10 minute break between the new players getting back, etc. Maybe it’s dumb, but I digress.
Besides that issue, my main problem is just that Play! Pokemon could be doing a better job than they are currently doing. Yes, the decision to stream nats was a good idea. That’s a great start. But there is more we could be doing. I’m not going to bring up any other specific issues. I just think that we could be doing this whole VGC thing a little bit better. Just my opinion. Sorry for all the ranting.
Anyways, lets look at the bright side i guess. We players are going to have a great time at the event, and you guys will see me win masters worlds so that’s pretty cool too. HF everyone <3.
How are you going to win worlds if you can’t even figure out where the screens are? I can almost imagine you being in the finals and then forfeiting your match because you don’t know where it’s being taken place. “The employee told me there isn’t a finals
i dont need a screen to win
What’s the chances that all the masters spots will be filled up in 3 hours
Two boxes of trading cards for 5-16th place? Talk about adding insult to injury lol.
Players definitely need a lunch break. Even you can just wolf down a sandwich between games, it won’t help reduce stress when you haven’t got time to take a break and clear your head.