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Route 4: Preparing For Your First League Challenge & League Cup

You learned how to play, have built your custom deck, and now you’re looking for the next challenge in your Pokémon journey. After you’ve found your local Pokémon League and played at locals, what’s next? How can you test your skills? The next step is to enter your first Pokémon League Challenge or Pokémon League Cup. Here is what to expect and everything you need to know about them.

Picture of Alex Kivitz

Alex Kivitz

Picture of Alex Kivitz

Alex Kivitz

What is a Pokémon League Challenge?

To recap our previous article, Route 3,  Pokémon League Challenges are events held regularly at local game stores worldwide. These entry-level events are open for anyone to join and provide Championship Points to top-place finishes. These Championship Points (CP) are accumulated for each event and added to your trainer profile. If you have enough CP you can qualify for the Pokémon World Championship.

League Challenges are not an infinite supply of CP, however. The Pokémon competitive system uses what is called the Best Finish Limit (BFL). For each category of event, Trainers receive CP equal to their best placements. For example, at the time of writing this article, the BFL for Pokémon League Challenges is 4. This means that only an individual’s Top 4 placements garner League Points. Looking at the graphic below, if an individual places first place at three events and then second place at a fourth event, they would receive a total of 57 CP. Should that player then place first place at another event afterwards, their updated total CP gained from League Challenges would be 60 CP.

League Challenges are larger tournaments that are held in Swiss rounds and may include a top cut depending on tournament size. Throughout the tournament, you will be paired with players who had a similar performance as you did. For example, if you enter round 4 with 3 wins and 0 losses, you will likely face someone who is also at 3 wins and 0 losses. The same is true for having 0 wins and 3 losses. Occasionally, players will be paired with someone with a slightly better or worse score if there is an uneven number of people. Winning a League Challenge grants you 15 Championship Points.

What is a Pokémon League Cup

Pokémon League Cups are similar to Pokémon League Challenges except these are held less frequently. Additionally, unlike the League Challenges, they will have a top cut after the Swiss portion of the tournament. Like the Challenges, League Cups have a Best Finish Limit of 4. However, placing 1st in League Cups grants you a total of 50 points. Because League Cups offer more CP than League Challenges, they will often have a higher player turnouts. Having a larger prize pool and higher CP gain entices more Trainers to travel from farther away to join these events. Due to the larger number of competitors, League Cups are seen as a level directly above League Challenges, however, are still open for anyone to enter.

Good to know: League Cups are counted separately from League Challenges. You can therefore compete for more CP in League Cups should you have reached the League Challenge BFL. 

How Can I Join League Cups/Challenges

To play in Pokémon League Cups and Challenges, each participant must have a Pokémon Player ID. If you don’t have one, you can easily make one online, or even have it done at the venue. Ideally, should you want help making an account at the venue, you should arrive early to avoid holding up the tournament. 

The next step is simply finding a League Cup or Challenge. This is as simple as going onto the event locator on the Pokémon website and entering your address or zip code. Then you can view events that are happening around you or events in the near future. Once you find an event you would like to join, the sign up process may vary depending on each host. For the most part, it’s done by emailing or registering online via the store website, or just by showing up and asking to join.

What Do I Need To Bring?

First things first, you need your deck. Make sure that you have a deck box that holds your deck and the proper dice, VSTAR marker, and status coins. If you have other cards or decks with you, it is best to pack them separately and keep them in your bag during games, so that all there is on the table is your deck and tokens. Feel free to bring your trade binders and other cards to bridge the time between games and after the event.

Next up, you’ll need to have submitted your decklist – this may have to be done online or in paper. Please check with the local store hosting the event how to submit your decklist for the event. A decklist is a form detailing which cards are in the deck that you will be playing. Once you submit your decklist, you cannot change your deck for the rest of the day. The decklist you submitted is final – double check that you’ve included your best cards as you must play with the exact deck you submitted!

 

This next step depends on the venue and if they allow food and drinks to be brought in. I do strongly recommend bringing a water bottle and healthy snacks. Fruit, nuts, and maybe even a protein bar can go a long way in keeping you energised and focused for the tournament. Some tournaments may have 4-5 rounds in a best-of-one format and can be done quickly. Others can be 6-7 rounds of Swiss followed by a cut to the top 8 for single elimination. Then you’re there for much longer.

Most importantly, just bring yourself. These tournaments may seem daunting if you’ve never participated in one before but in all honesty, they are just another way of getting together with friends and playing some games. At the end of the day, it’s just sitting down and playing with new faces in a more structured format, and sometimes you may even leave with some new and shiny cards. The league events are the best way to get started on your journey to becoming the best Pokémon Trainer you can be.

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