As the world comes to a temporary halt during the current health crisis, Pokémon players across the globe also currently face a scenario never before seen previously – a cancellation of the entire second half of the season which includes multiple Regional Championships, two International Championships and the World Championships initially scheduled to be held in London, the first of its kind to be in Europe.
In this article I will be going over a few things that has been on my mind:
- The season so far and what could’ve been (domestically)
- Implications of the current scenario, an ‘extended’ season, and a larger Worlds
- How I got to within 1CP of a Worlds invite playing exclusively in Malaysia
The season so far…
The 2019-2020 season was shaping up to be an exciting one for Malaysia, following a steady increase of players in the previous seasons. The 2018-2019 Malaysia Regionals saw the number of participants for the first time go beyond the requirement for a 2-day swiss tournament, but a number of issues with logistics meant it was kept as a 9-round tournament.
This was again the case for the 2019-2020 Malaysia Regionals, with all the hype surrounding it as it was held for the first time in central Kuala Lumpur. The organising saw a drastic improvement compared to the previous edition, timeliness of the event improved as well and for the first time a Professor Cup and Seminar was also held on the day before the tournament.
Unfortunately we did not quite see a 2-day swiss tournament again, but the numbers recorded in the Regional Championships held in Malaysia speak for themselves in setting the standard for the ‘premiere Regional’ in the Oceania rating zone in terms of participation. With a highly central location in the region and a well-connected airport, for many years it has been the most ‘international’ Regional in the region, with participants from Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia (before their own circuit existed), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, UAE, UK and USA in participation.
Prior to the worldwide lockdown, personally I was preparing for the Thailand SPE to be held in Bangkok, with travel arrangements made. Unfortunately with the rapid widespread of the coronavirus, events in the region started being cancelled one by one, before I made the executive decision to not go through with the trip to Bangkok. The Malaysian government eventually announced a movement control order which limits travel in and out of the country, which would have prevented this travel anyways. More countries started following suit and the Thailand SPE was eventually cancelled, before the entire remainder of the season was announced to be cancelled.
While the current situation is unfortunate, I do feel that it was inevitable. The risks of exposure and spreading the virus is too high, especially in a region that has been observing steady increases in cases by the day. It is certainly the more responsible move for Pokémon to announce a suspension of the season while the world focuses on combatting and containing the spread of this virus. Unfortunately we don’t know if and when everything and everyone adjusts to ‘the new normal’, but I’m sure players all over the world look forward to the day we are able to once again physically play our favourite card game.
For the current (suspended) season as a whole, it was indeed shaping up to be an exciting one with the first World Championships to be held outside of North America, and numerous events initially coming up in the region – Thailand SPE, Philippines SPE, and Malaysia SPE. These cancellations were bound to happen, but it will be very interesting to see how the ‘extended’ 2019-2021 season qualification methods, events structure, age divisions (in particular for those moving up), and set rotation will be handled. With that we move on to the next topic…
Implications of the current scenario, an ‘extended’ season, and a larger Worlds
There will be many questions that will need to be answered in terms of what this means for players and organisers all over. One of the most popular questions are on how qualification will work, what happens to accumulated championship points, and what of the Day-2 invitation structure especially for players that have put in time, money, and effort into securing these coveted spots so far.
We don’t have the answers for these at the moment, with the only ‘fact’ we know so far is that players that have met the CP requirement for Worlds will have their invitations honoured for the 2021 World Championships. The more burning questions are what will the qualification structure be like with CP accumulated so far being brought forward, but with players essentially having a potential additional full year for qualification. Of course, I will not waste my time thinking of what potential scenarios we will have, as at the end of the day they will all merely be guesses.
What is an interesting and exciting prospect for me however, is that if we do witness a 2021 World Championships it will more than likely be a very large one. This is of course highly dependent on the health climate globally and there will likely be many compromises and adjustments that will have to be made for the world to ever see large-scale gatherings ever again.
With that being said, I do believe that this is a good opportunity for players who have been having hopes of qualifying for Worlds, as now there is essentially an extended period of time for one to attain that coveted invite. Now, we still don’t know what the implications are on invite structures for 2021, but we do know that invitations attained for the 2020 World Championships will be honoured for 2021, and CP will also be brought forward. This does give me a breath of relief as I personally have amassed a total of 249CP, just 1 point shy of qualification.
This next section may be of interest to aspiring Malaysian players as the world is put on pause to give itself time to heal.
How I got to within 1CP of a Worlds invite playing exclusively in Malaysia
While this was a tougher feat previously due to a lack of events (in particular, League Cups) locally, it is now very much possible to qualify without travelling out of Malaysia. This past season in particular (due to my travel limitations and inability from travelling to Australia where the closest International Championship is) I’ve decided to try my best to qualify within the country and occasionally treat the overseas tournaments in Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines as more of a holiday with friends rather than chasing an unattainable Day 2.
First I’ll go over how I accumulated the CP I currently have, and then go into more detail on what I feel are vital towards achieving the 250CP benchmark in Malaysia.
To break it down:
- x1 League Challenge 1st place – 15CP
- x2 League Challenge 2nd place – 24CP
- x2 League Challenge Top4 – 20CP
- x1 League Challenge Top8 – 8CP
- x1 League Cup 1st place – 50CP
- x1 League Cup Top4 – 32CP
- x1 League Cup Top16 – 20CP
- x1 Regional Top16 – 80CP
249 / 250CP
When you break it down, it doesn’t even seem like a lot. You’ll notice that I haven’t even met my Best Finish Limit for any tournament series, so essentially a simple Top8 finish at a League Challenge will allow me to seal an invite. It is important to note that I did manage two standout performances with a League Cup win and a 10th place finish at the Malaysia Regional Championships, which contributes to more than 50% of the required CP for an invite in Oceania (250CP).
In central Peninsular Malaysia (the Klang Valley in particular), it is very much possible to rack up enough CP in the League Challenge series, as during the course of the season, there is a League Challenge almost every weekend in a month, in different venues; Toysbar, Cards & Hobbies, Decards, Impulse Gaming, Cheras, Gaia. Compared to a few years ago where it was limited to two venues, players can rack up points in many locations now and it is a step in right direction for the local scene. In fact, the states of Penang and Johor also now have League Challenges monthly.
The key part of accumulating the points that I did would be my League Cup performances. I cannot stress how important League Cups are in ‘completing’ the amount of points needed for qualification – something I have heavily advocated for in the past two seasons. The number of League Cups that we have now are ‘healthier’ than what we’ve been experiencing for a very long time, which is also another step in the right direction for the local scene.
With only three League Cup finishes, I have managed to be within a point of qualification. In addition, the large number of players attending League Cups in Malaysia mean the CP payout is always rewarding. For this season in particular, every League Cup in Malaysia saw more than 48 players, which meant that points are awarded to the Top16 every time. Even a Top16 finish in a League Cup awards you with 5 more CP than winning a League Challenge – to put things into perspective. A League Cup win is a fifth of the points needed for a Worlds invite. This is why I encourage players to attend as many League Cups held as the CP payout is very much worth it.
As the icing on the cake, you could say that my Top16 finish at the Malaysia Regional Championships managed to put me exactly where I wanted to be in terms of Worlds qualification. As my goal for the season was only qualification, I could lower my expectations a little and aim to be consistent throughout the season. Of course, Top8 or better at a Regionals would have been great, but I wasn’t too disappointed with Top16 as it meant I was able to take a big step towards 250CP.
And there you have it ! Compared to my previous season of qualifying (no, not when I was 6CP away in 2018-2019, we don’t talk about that here) where my points came from the International Championships in Australia, a Regional in Indonesia, and multiple League Cups in Singapore – the furthest of my travelling took me was a five hour drive to Penang at most. This was only made possible due to the sheer number of League Challenges available in the Klang Valley, as well as multiple shops finally being sanctioned to host quarterly League Cups.
So if you’re vying for a World Championships invitation in 2021 (assuming it happens) and are on a tighter budget in terms of travel – go for it !
Attend as many local League Cups and try to fill up your League Challenge finishes to the Best Finish Limit of 8, and with a decent result in a Regional or SPE (even Top32 awards 60CP!), you’ll be well on your way to qualification.
Closing Thoughts
This season and the year 2020 so far has obviously been quite a roller-coaster for many of us. A part of me has been heavily affected by the unfortunate circumstances happening, as I attend these events mainly for the social aspect of it – being able to see and hang out with great people. Being declined visas for two years in a row meant I’ve missed many opportunities to travel with friends before, and with the world now facing a pandemic (and the season cancelled), it will be a long time before we’ll start seeing familiar faces in person again.
That aside, I do look forward to the day we’ll adjust to the ‘new normal’ and be able to enjoy tabletop card games once again. Thanks for reading and stay safe. Here’s to better days ahead!
The Southern Islands 