The online Qualifiers will be played using the Pokémon Trading Card Online client and we recommend using Discord as a place for the community to come together, just as you would in your store! The players will meet in your Discord server (we will help you set one up if needed) and use the Pokémon Trading Card Online client, and you will enter the results into the RK9 platform and use Discord to communicate with fellow TOs, players and so on. 

For regions where in-store events are allowed, stores will have the option to organise their qualifiers in-store with physical cards.

The chance to play the game you love in an official global event, the chance to represent your store in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge, an opportunity to hang out with the Pokémon community online, TCGO codes, potentially playmats, as well as Ultra Pro goodie bags as Top 64 Play-Off prizes!

Stores who are registered on the Play! Pokémon program and have a unique League ID can register for the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge.

Eligible stores will need to sign up to the tournamentcenter web platform where they will find more information on the program and be able to register their Store Qualifier events. Follow the link.: stores.tournamentcenter.biz

Unfortunately, that means your store will not be able to take part in this tournament. However, if your store is interested in learning more about running their own Pokémon League and being able to participate in future events, ask them to contact:

For stores in Europe: retailereurope@pokemon.com

For stores in the US, Canada, LATAM or Australia/New Zealand: playpokemon@pokemon.com

A Qualifier needs a minimum of 4 players to grant the winner a place in the Store team. Players who won a previous Qualifier can no longer attend in future Qualifiers. Each event will be capped at 64 players.

You will be eligible to take part in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge if:

you are a Masters Division player and were born in 2006 or earlier (or those aged 18 and over when playing in Brazil) and

if you are a resident of the country your Play! Pokémon Store is located in. Players who participate and are found to break one or both requirements will be disqualified.

Note: Players are locked in their country of residence. As players can play in up to 3 leagues, all 3 leagues will be in the same country.

If you attend a tournament and there are less than 4 players on the day, the tournament will not run and will have to be rescheduled.

No, once you qualify for your Store’s Team, you will not be able to play in any subsequent Qualifiers.

Yes, a player may play in up to three different leagues. However, once they have won, they will not be able to play in any subsequent qualifiers. Geographical restrictions apply.

Note: Players are locked in their country of residence. As players can play in up to 3 leagues, all 3 leagues will be in the same country or respectively state.

Ideally, contact your store or your TO first (you can also try via the store’s Discord), but if you still have questions, customersupport@tournamentcenter.gg

Online, through the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online, Discord and RK9 Labs.

The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is an online version of the popular Pokémon Trading Card Game enjoyed by millions of players around the world. It is free to download, free to play, playable cross-platform on PC, Mac, iPad, and Android tablets. There are Pokémon TCG Products that contain codes which unlock additional content in the online game.

To take part in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge – Season 4, you will need to download Pokémon TCGO. To do so, please follow this link. Please note, you will not be able to run the app on your mobile phone, only on an iPad, Android Tablet, Mac or PC. For the exact requirements, please follow the link. To avoid any delays, please install the game and complete the tutorial before the day of the first Qualifier. You can purchase any (standard format tournament-legal) Pokémon TCG product to receive QR codes which you can use to unlock related cards in the Online game, so you can strengthen your card pool and thus your decks. Pokémon TCG Products that contain codes which unlock additional content in the online game.

Pokémon TCG Live (TCGL) brings players together from all over the world to battle. It’s launching in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese, so you’ll always find a player ready to take you on! The Pokémon Trading Card Game Live is currently in the Beta stage.

Players may participate in both the Pokémon TCG Live beta and Team Challenge, but they should not choose the option to migrate their Pokémon TCG Online collection to Pokémon TCG Live. Those who choose to do so will no longer be able to log in to the Pokémon TCG Online and will be unable to continue participating in Team Challenge—Season 4.
Please note that all players will get to keep any items, cards, or rewards they earn in Pokémon TCG Live during the beta—when they do eventually migrate their Pokémon TCG Online collection, the migrated items will be added to their existing earnings.

Please see more information from TPCi here

Please see more information from TPCi here

Discord is an online communication platform designed for creating communities ranging from gamers to education and businesses. Discord specialises in text, image, video and audio communication between users in a chat channel. You can download Discord here.

Players registration: SEPT 9

Qualifiers: SEPT 17 – DEC 18

Play-Offs and Grand Final: To be announced later

The Player participation prizes are TCGO booster codes.

The winners of each qualifier will receive an official Pokémon playmat.

Players will receive exclusive digital Team Challenge sleeves and deck-boxes to be used in TCGO (distributed after conclusion of Qualifiers) and additional TCGO booster codes.

Teams that make Top 256 will receive exclusive Team Challenge playmats for the Team.

Teams that make Top 32 will receive exclusive Top 32 Team Challenge playmats for the Team members.

Teams that make Top 8 will receive additional physical English Pokémon TCG product for the Team members and Store.

Prizes for the winning team will be announced shortly.

The prizes will be sent in separate shipments. The timeline is tbc.

We apologise for the inconvenience. We advise you check your spam folder. If there are no emails from us in your spam folder, please check with your store. If that does not yield results, please email us customersupport@tournamentcenter.gg

No. Championship points will not be awarded for playing in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge.

Qualifier tournaments will be played within a single (Masters) division over the appropriate number of swiss rounds, followed by a top cut, as documented in the official tournament rules. The format for these qualifiers will be Standard. The winner of each of the 4 Qualifiers will secure a place in the Store Team.

The team Play-offs will be played after the end of the qualifying season and will be played as single elimination between stores until a worldwide winner is determined.

The Play! Pokémon Team Challenge will be run in Standard format, both during the Qualifiers and the Playoffs. Cards from each new expansion will become legal on the second Friday following that expansion’s US market release date.

Please refer to section 5.4.1.2 Release & Legality Schedule in the Play! Pokémon Tournament Rules Handbook (https://www.pokemon.com/us/play-pokemon/about/tournaments-rules-and-resources/).

You must play the same deck throughout each Qualifier event you take part in, but you can change decks in between events. For example, you will need to play the same deck during the entire first Qualifier but use a different deck in the second one.

For the Playoff, you can change your deck from the Qualifier events, and you can also change your deck between different stages of the Playoff. While your team is battling another team in a particular stage however, your deck is locked in for all the matches of that day, just like it is for Qualifier events.

Yes, you will have to submit your decklist through the RK9 Labs platform, after registering for the event, but before the event starts (link here).

You can ask your Play! Pokémon Store, other stores in your region, check the official Store Locator (which you can find here) or RK9 Labs (link here).

Please find below the list of eligible countries that can participate in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge:

North America: Canada, United States of America (including Puerto Rico)

Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (players must be 18 years or older), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay

Oceania: Australia, New Zealand

Please contact your local store and express interest in taking part in the Play! Pokémon Team Challenge. If none of the stores in your region or country are participating, please email us at customersupport@tournamentcenter.gg

Although we would recommend stores are represented by their own player base, players can choose the store they wish to compete for, especially as your regular store might not be taking part. The only requirement we have is that you are a resident of the same country as the store you choose to play for.
Note: We advise you discuss the plans on getting physical prizes (i.e. playmats for Qualifier winners, etc) from your store beforehand to avoid any inconvenience or miscommunication. Stores have the right to refuse you from playing in their Qualifier event if you are not a local player in good standing.

The Play! Pokémon Team Challenge is designed for stores and their local community. If you are playing for a store that is not local, we advise you discuss this with the store or the TO beforehand, to avoid any inconvenience or miscommunication. Stores have the right to refuse you from playing in their Qualifier event if you are not a local player in good standing.

Qualifiers will run on TCGO or in-store, depending on geographical eligibility and store preference. In-store events can only take place in territories that have been approved by TPCi for in-store sanctioned organised play. If local restrictions are implemented, then those will take precedence. To see which regions have been allowed to resume in-store play, please check here.

North America: Canada, United States of America (including Puerto Rico) 

Europe: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Italy, Jersey, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom 

Latin America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil (players must be 18 years or older), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay

Oceania: Australia, New Zealand

If your country is not listed above, you and your Play! Pokémon Store can unfortunately not participate in this event.

Each team has a reserve player, who is on the bench. The reason is to ensure that a team can always be represented by 3 players (i.e. scheduling conflicts, connectivity issues, etc.) We recommend teams rotate in between events, to ensure all players get to play. The fourth player can also act as an advisor to the others!

If that is the case, please contact your store and/or the store’s TO. They will be able to give you advice. If that fails, please email us at customersupport@tournamentcenter.gg

If you need to drop during an ongoing Playoff stage, you’ll automatically lose any future matches you have in that stage. If you cannot join a particular Playoff stage at all, but your store is able to delegate the other three qualifier players, the team will be able to continue playing.

Not in the Qualifiers as they’re played individually, but other members of the team can help during the Playoffs!

If you are being harassed by another player, please report them to your TO. Your TO will be able to help and address the situation on the spot.

Please check the Tournament Rules for situations in which you can receive a game loss. The Rules are available here.

At this point our plans for live-streaming part of the event are still being finalised. Please check back for further announcements.

We always welcome feedback! Please send any feedback you may have via email: customersupport@tournamentcenter.gg

tournamentcenter is an agency for gaming & esports, with an extensive network, an expert knowledge and a super motivated team of gaming enthusiasts with over 30 years of gaming & live event experience. Specialising in esports, events, sales & promotion and logistics since 2009, tournamentcenter opened an office in London (UK) in 2019, to offer retail support for publishers & stores in the hobby gaming industry and be closer to international gaming companies. For more information, please click here