Pokémon VGC Tournament - Manchester, United Kingdom, Saturday, July 21st

[Havak]

After many successful tournaments over the past three years, gamerbase are once again providing Pokémon fans with the opportunity to take part in an exciting event. This will be gamerbase Manchester's fourth Pokémon video game tournament and the stakes have never been higher. For the first time, the single elimination process will be removed in favour of a swiss-style bracket. This means that players can afford to lose a battle and still progress to the finals, making it much fairer in the long-run and most importantly, allowing every player to compete in more than one battle! Can you join previous tournament winners Havak, akiratron, gec, Tortipouss, Mastadi, and IceArceus12 and become a champion? Along with winning some fabulous prizes, of course! The tournament will be held in Manchester's gamerbase store, inside hmv on the lower floor, on Market Street. The tournament will take place on Saturday, July 21st, 2012. Where possible, battles will be broadcast on 47" television screens, so spectators are more than welcome to come along.

• 1st Place
  • Champion Trophy
  • Champion Medal
  • Nintendo 3DS Console
  • hmv Voucher

• 2nd Place
  • Runner-Up Trophy
  • Runner-Up Medal
  • Nintendo 3DS Console
  • hmv Voucher

• 3rd Place
  • Third Place Medal
  • Copy of Pokémon Black/White version
  • hmv Voucher

• 4th Place
  • Copy of Pokémon Black/White version
  • hmv Voucher

• Random Prize Draw
  • Several copies of PokéPark 2: Wonders Beyond

More prizes to be announced in the near future.

Please register for the tournament by clicking the link below, you will be directed to our tournament sign up page. If you do not already have a gamerbase account (either in-store or online), you can register for an account here.

Players who sign up and reserve a place above will be given priority over players who haven't. If more than 64 players sign up for the tournament online, places will be given on a first come first served basis on the day from whoever turns up. Reserved places will be lost if you haven't registered in gamerbase on the day before 11:00am - at which point any attendee who didn't sign up online may be able to take one of said places.

• Registration for the tournament will begin at 10:00am and end at roughly 11:15am.
• The tournament is expected to start at roughly 11:30am and finish before 18:00pm.
• A £5 entry fee will be required for all competitors to cover venue and prize costs.
• Players are required to bring their own Nintendo DS, Nintendo DS Lite, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo DSi XL, or Nintendo 3DS console for use in the Tournament. (Make sure to fully charge it the night before!)
• Players are required to bring their own copy of Pokémon Black version or Pokémon White version for use in the Tournament. (With a Pokémon team that meets the rules!)
• R4 and M3 Cartridges (or anything of the like) are banned from use.
• Pokémon traded from Pokémon Black 2 version and Pokémon White 2 version game cards with moves, abilities, and/or items not available in Pokémon Black version or Pokémon White version are prohibited from use. This also includes the use of a Pokémon Black 2 version or White 2 version game card to conduct battles in the tournament.
  
  
  
  
  
• Each player must enter 4-6 different Pokémon on his or her Team Information Sheet. See the Ineligible Pokémon list below for more information on which Pokémon are eligible for the tournament.
• Each player must enter 0-6 different held items on his or her Team Information Sheet.
• Players may only use Pokémon and held items listed on their Team Information Sheet during the tournament.
• The Pokémon and held items listed on a player's Team Information Sheet may not be changed once the player has registered for the event.
  
  
  
  
  Ineligible Pokémon
  
  Your team may contain any Pokémon in the National Pokédex from number #001 - #649 with the exception of the following:
  
  #150 - Mewtwo
  #151 - Mew
  #249 - Lugia
  #250 - Ho-Oh
  #251 - Celebi
  #382 - Kyogre
  #383 - Groudon
  #384 - Rayquaza
  #385 - Jirachi
  #386 - Deoxys [All Formes]
  #483 - Dialga
  #484 - Palkia
  #487 - Giratina [All Formes]
  #489 – Phione
  #490 – Manaphy
  #491 – Darkrai
  #492 – Shaymin [All Formes]
  #493 – Arceus [All Types]
  #494 - Victini
  #643 - Reshiram
  #644 - Zekrom
  #646 - Kyurem
  #647 - Keldeo
  #648 - Meloetta
  #649 - Genesect
  
  These Pokémon are banned from use in the tournament.
  
  Tournament Operation
  
  
• Players must have their C-Gear turned off during the tournanment to limit any potential Wi-Fi interference.
• Players should only enter the Union Room during the tournament when it is time for them to battle. This is to limit any potential confusion with finding opponents.
• Players are welcome to utilise the C-Gear and Union Room game functions at will before and after the tournament, along with during any intermissions.
• Players will be instructed to go to one of eight battle stations when it is their turn to battle.
• Each player will play a minimum of five battles during the tournament, provided there are no disqualifications or retirements.
• The eight players with the best overall battle record after five rounds will advance to the final round. The final round will be a seeded, single elimination tournament to determine the overall winner.
• We will be using the Flat Battle function in the Union Room with the Wonder Launcher turned off.
• Battles will be contested under Double Battle Rules, meaning each player will send out two (2) Pokémon to battle at a time.
• Both players will select four (4) Pokémon to use in each battle.
• Player's teams will be displayed to each other before the battle in Team Preview (moves and held items are not revealed).
• Pokémon level 51 or higher will be automatically set to level 50 for the battle.
• Pokémon level 49 or lower will remain at their actual level for the battle.
• Each Pokémon retains all of the moves that it knew before being auto-levelled.
• Pokémon that evolve after level 50 do not devolve when auto-levelled.
• The Pokémon’s stats are adjusted to what its level 50 stats would be if the Pokémon is above level 50.
• A player’s team may not contain two or more Pokémon with the same National Pokédex number.
• Each Pokémon on a player’s team may use held items, though no two Pokémon may hold the same item during battle. Allowed items include held items from Pokémon Black version and Pokémon White version as well as held items from the Pokémon Dream World and special events distributed by Nintendo.
• If a player uses the moves Explosion, SelfDestruct, or Final Gambit to force a tie, the user of that move will be declared as the loser.
• If a player's final Pokémon uses the moves Perish Song or Destiny Bond, the user of the move will be declared as the loser.
• If both player's Pokémon faint on the final turn through an attack and subsequent recoil damage, the user of the attacking move will be declared the winner (as long as the opponent's HP reached 0 first).
• Players may not enter two or more Pokémon with the same nickname.
• Players may not enter a Pokémon nicknamed with the name of another Pokémon character (for example, a Lucario nicknamed "Spiritomb").
  
  Move Restrictions
  
  Pokémon may only use moves (including those learned in an earlier video game) that have been learned through one of the following methods:
  
• By levelling up.
• By TM or HM.
• As an Egg move, through breeding.
• From a Move Tutor.
• Already learned by a Pokémon that was received at an official Pokémon event, promotion, or the Pokémon Dream World.
• Already learned by a Pokémon that was received from another Pokémon game (such as the Heatran that knows Eruption from Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs).
• By Smeargle's "Sketch" move (limited to the above moves learned by Pokémon from 001 to 646).
• The moves Dark Void and Sky Drop are banned from use in this tournament.
• Any moves only learn-able through use of Pokémon Black 2 version and Pokémon White 2 version are prohibited.
  
  Time Restrictions
  
  There are no in-game enforced time resistrictions in this tournament. However. players are expected to maintain a steady pace of play throughout the tournament. Battles are expected to take a maximum of 15 minutes, though in some circumstances a longer amount of time may be granted. Judges hold the right to call time on a battle if they believe it is taking exceedingly long and declare the winner on number of Pokémon remaining, or remaining HP if there is a tie. Players found to be intentionally stalling for time will be declared the loser of that battle and may be disqualified from the tournament entirely. By all means, think about your moves carefully. But make sure to respect everyone involved and try to allow the event to run as smoothly as possible.
  
  By entering, you agree to refrain from using any external devices to alter your Pokémon's statistics to gain an unfair advantage. Any Pokémon found to be obtained through illegal means may be disqualified and not given a refund. R4 & M3 Cartridges (and the like) are forbidden from use. Any entrant found guilty of improper conduct, bad sportsmanship, or violence towards other people at the event will be removed from the venue and not given a refund.
  
  There are no age divisions or restrictions for the event. We apologise in advance to any parents that bring children along whom get paired with someone much older in the tournament. There will be a somewhat strict timeline we need to stick to and the number of competitors may not be suited to a tournament with age brackets.

[Baz Anderson]

I'm looking forward to it!

[Pokérob]

First time presenting at Manchester. Should be a good one! :)

[Havak]

Online registration is now open.

Click the register image on the first post.

[Sol64]

Ah right, so pretty much the same rules as an international VGC setting. I'll most likely do my best to arrive.

[Pokérob]

Remember everyone this is Swiss format! More matches, more fun, more drama, more draco meteor misses!

[FireMage]

This'll be my first tournament outside of VGC, looking forward to it!

+By Swiss setting, is it scored based on wins, or number of remaining pokémon?

[Pokérob]

Originally Posted by Fat FireMage

This'll be my first tournament outside of VGC, looking forward to it!

+By Swiss setting, is it scored based on wins, or number of remaining pokémon?

Wins.

Glad to hear, see you there!! :)

[TheMudkip]

I pretty much would do ANYTHING to got to this tournament!

[Havak]

I've updated the prize list, but there may still be more to come yet.

[NidoRich]

Looking forward to winning a 3DS :D

I joke really. Should be a great day filled with fun

[WeGotTheJazz]

Don't do competitive battling outside Pokemon Online but I'd love to come and see everyone battle for the hell of it. ;p

[keelhauled]

the quality of players entering really is intimidating, the winner is going to have to be incredibly skilled!!!

[mikeayeee]

I was just wondering how do you get Pokemon like Cresselia for this competition if you can't use any external devices e.g. PokeSav, AR cart? Any help would be great, thanks, guys! :')

[Havak]

To the left of Black City/White Forest in your Black/White version, there is a building called the PokéTransfer or something along those lines. Here, you can send over Pokémon from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver as long as they don't know a HM Move. You also can't transfer items in this way.

You need two DSes to do this.

[Fantom0]

Why in Manchester? Why not London? :'(
Ah well, I shall eagerly await the finals on Youtube!

[Havak]

There will be a tournament later in the year in London, I'll be sure to help spread the word on sites like this when more information is available (which I doubt will be available until August).

[Pokérob]

9 Days to Go! If you haven't registered yet then please do! Can't wait to see you all there! :D

[Fantom0]

Originally Posted by Fat Havak

There will be a tournament later in the year in London, I'll be sure to help spread the word on sites like this when more information is available (which I doubt will be available until August).

Sounds good. If I get a huge amount of luck, I may attend Manchester, but I don't think I will.

[Firestorm]

Good luck everyone and have fun! There should be live updates throughout the event on Twitter for those interested unless there's technical difficulties.