Securing an Invitation

Top Trading Card Game players from different rating zones will receive invitations based on their Championship Points at the end of the season. Invitations will be divided into two tiers: players who reach a certain Championship Points total will receive an invitation to play in Day One on Friday, and the best players in each zone automatically qualify for Day Two and will also receive a Travel Award. Invitations will be distributed as follows:

	Masters Division	Senior Division	Junior Division
US and Canada	300 CP	250 CP	200 CP
Europe	300 CP	250 CP	200 CP
Latin America	200 CP	150 CP	100 CP
Asia Pacific	200 CP	150 CP	100 CP
South Africa	200 CP	150 CP	100 CP

Some players will earn an invitation that allows them to advance directly to Day Two without playing in Friday’s rounds. These invitations will also include Travel Awards. Day Two invitations are divided by rating zone as follows:

• The Top 16 players from the US and Canada rating zone

• The Top 22 players from the Europe rating zone

• The Top 8 players from the Latin America rating zone

• The Top 8 players from the Asia Pacific rating zone

Players in Japan and South Korea will be awarded both Friday invitations and Day Two invitations as determined by each country’s organized play system.

Players with invitations from the 2014 World Championships will play on Friday unless they qualify for Day Two based on Championship Points.

Qualified Players

As of July 13, there were 594 Masters Division, 352 Senior Division, and 294 Junior Division players qualified to participate in the World Championships. These numbers do not include Japan or South Korea. Of all players who are qualified for Worlds, 54 players from each age division will qualify for Day Two, with the remaining players coming from Japan and South Korea to reach 64 total Day Two players in each age division.

Tournament Structure

The tournament is run in three phases over three days. The number of Swiss rounds will depend on total attendance at the event. Swiss rounds will use the best-of-three game format. All three phases will use the Standard format for card legality.

There will not be a Last Chance Qualifier at the 2015 Pokémon World Championships. The tournament will begin on Friday, and all competitors must qualify via Championship Points. There is no path to Worlds that does not involve a certain level of performance at events throughout the year. We know that some fans are disappointed in this, but we feel strongly that Worlds competitors should be proven seasonal performers.

The goal for Day Two of the World Championships is to have half of the Day Two players advancing from Day One. This means that, compared with previous years, the number of players who advance to Day Two will be much higher than the number of players who qualified for Worlds via the LCQ. Preliminary rounds will be played on Day One, and the special invitation that allows top players to skip the preliminaries and advance directly to Day Two provides a huge advantage for the players who have earned it.

The minimum number of Swiss rounds will be based on the starting attendance at the beginning of Friday’s event. Closer to the tournament, we will be better able to determine the final number of Swiss rounds needed to advance about 64 players from each age division to Day Two. The final number could be slightly more or less than 64—we feel that having some flexibility based on match points is better for players. Also, each age division will likely have different starting attendance, and therefore might end up with a different number of total rounds and players advancing to Day Two. For example, if the Junior Division attendance for Day One is fewer than 128 players, about 32 of those will advance to Day Two.

Friday: All players with Friday invitations will play Swiss rounds. Players with the required number of match points based upon the number of Swiss rounds will advance to Day Two on Saturday.

Rounds	Match Points
4	6
5	9
6	12
7	15
8	18
9	21

Saturday: Swiss rounds for players who earned a Day Two invitation and players who advanced from Friday. This will be a new tournament: match records from Friday will not carry forward, and players are not required to use the same deck they played on Friday.

Late Saturday: A top cut of 8 players will compete in single-elimination rounds.

Sunday: Finals.

Other Information

• Players must have an active Play! Pokémon account that is updated with accurate information. If there’s an issue with your account, it must be reported to customer service before June 1, 2015.

• If there’s a problem with your Championship Point totals, it must be reported to customer service within a week after the results are uploaded from the last National Championships in your rating zone. (The deadline is expected to be July 10 for the US and Canada, and July 3 for all other zones.)

• Players who wish to compete in a Pokémon Trading Card Game event, including the World Championships, must adhere to the Tournament Rules.

• Invitation and Travel Award winners will receive a packet of important information. Please make sure you read this packet thoroughly and return the requested documents to Pokémon Organized Play by the deadlines given. If you do not, you may lose your seat in the event. The packet will be sent to the email address listed on the player’s account.

• Should a player’s eligibility to participate in an age division be questioned, proof of age may be requested. Failure to provide proof of age may result in the player being denied participation in the tournament, at the organizer’s discretion.

• There is no entry fee for the Pokémon World Championships. Some side events may charge entry fees.

• Winners of select National Championships will be guaranteed Travel Awards even if they don’t qualify for a Day Two invitation in their rating zone. Should these National winners qualify for a Day Two invitation, these travel awards will not be passed down.