The 2016 Pokemon U.S. National Championships took place this past weekend, July 1-3, in Columbus, OH and set a new record for the highest attendance for any Pokemon tournament to date.
The event held competitions for three different games -- the trading card game, the video game (Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire), and the new Pokken Tournament fighter -- but it was the TCG Masters Division that broke the record with a staggering 1110 players, eclipsing last year's estimated 900.
View the slideshow for a tour of Pokemon Nationals sights and merchandise.
So many people showed up to play this year that some players were complaining that tournament organizers turned them away because the attendance cap had been reached. It takes a mere five Play Points to enter (down from 10 last year), which are easily acquired by playing in a few official tournaments, so pretty much anyone can enter regardless of skill level.
This weekend saw a payout of over $50,000 in prize money across all of the tournaments, with $10,000 going to Masters TCG 1st place winner Nick Robinson, along with a trophy, six Fates Collide booster boxes, a Championship playmat, and 500 Championship Points. 300 CP are needed to earn an invitation for August’s World Championship in San Francisco, CA, with the extra points going towards earning free travel accommodations and the ability to skip the early rounds of the tournament.
Robinson won with his Night March deck, which has been dominating the Standard format this season. His opponent, Marcos Garcia, was piloting the control-oriented Seismitoad/Giratina deck, which has many tools to disrupt and shut out Night March, so it’s to Robinson’s credit (and proof that Night March is the best deck in the format) that he was still able to take the win.
The decklists for the Top 8 players in each age division -- Junior (ages 12 and under), Senior (ages 13–15) and Master (ages 16 and over) -- are available on Pokemon’s website.
But not everyone came to Columbus for glory. Many players were there just for fun, like Bryan Aing, 26, who got into Pokemon as a way to connect with his little sister. He brought his sister to two previous National tournaments, but while she didn’t accompany him this year -- "She's hitting her teenage years where she's too cool for Pokemon," he joked -- he still made the seven hour drive from his home in Philadelphia to hang out with the friends he has made from playing the game over the years.
"I needed 150 more points [to earn a Worlds invite], which means I probably had to make Top 8 or Top 4, and the pessimist in me told me that I cannot make it that far, so I mainly just came here for fun, and if I did get what I needed, all the better. It's always a good time,” Aing said. He wound up with a 4 win/4 loss/1 tie record playing a Mega Rayquaza deck. Not a bad choice, given that same deck took 1st place at the recent Canadian National Championship.
For the video game tournament, Chase Lybbert was crowned the Masters Division Champion, overtaking 395 other players to earn $5,000 and other prizes. His team included Salamence, Xerneas, Smeargle, Kangaskhan, Cresselia, and Groudon. Check out the full breakdown on Pokemon’s website.
Inside the main hall, there were dozens of fans sitting in front of the stage watching players compete on the big screen, but outside many were doing their own thing, like a group that carved out an area in the hallway to play multi-battles. One of them was James Dorsey, 26, who talked about his plan to counter the VG metagame with his Perish Song team featuring Gengar and Wobbuffet.
“I really expected to see the 'Big Six,’ which are Smeargle, Talonflame, Groudon, Xerneas, Kangaskhan, and Salamence. Although I didn't see a Smeargle all day,” Dorsey said. “Dual-type team is very popular, Groudon/Kyogre, which is what I saw most the day. I knew that there'd be dual Primals, that's what's been winning a lot of Regionals, so I figured I'd run into that. I thought I had a good counter to that [with my Perish song team], but I did not.”
Dorsey said that he was mostly there to enjoy himself along with his friend Dom, who he met and became friends with after playing 15 games together as practice for a Regional tournament. They drove three hours from West Virginia to compete, which is where Dorsey is studying for his doctorate in law at West Virginia University, squeezing in time to train Pokemon and practice battling when he can manage.
The new kid on the block, Pokken Tournament, held its first-ever National Championship, with Christian "Suicune Master" Patierno taking the top prize with (you guessed it) Suicune, defeating a Sceptile player to earn $3,000 and a free trip to Worlds.
Canadian player Taiyo Hun aka InTheGroove was on-hand watching the Grand Finals after being eliminated by Swillow’s Sceptile in a close match.
“Sceptile is a very clearly strong character who has won Worlds-qualifying tournaments previously and so far nobody has been able to find a bad matchup against Sceptile. Some of the other big characters being used are Suicune, Mewtwo, and Shadow Mewtwo. Those are the main characters that have been winning tournaments lately, although Machamp and Garchomp have also been able to make it and win some tournaments, but none of the Worlds-qualifiers yet,” Hun said.
After just five months, the folks at The Pokemon Company know Pokken is still in its budding stage (just 72 players competed in the Masters Division), so to help it grow, numerous consoles were set up for free open play to anyone wanting to take a crack at punching their friend with a Charizard.
Overall, between competitors and spectators, there were over 4,000 people in attendance. Entire families came together, all decked out in Pokemon gear, with some parents even entering the Masters Division to keep themselves entertained while their kids played in Juniors and Seniors. With a massive gathering of people, a few cosplayers here and there, and an official Pokemon Center store offering exclusive playmats, card sleeves, t-shirts, water bottles, and pins, calling this event the “Pokemon U.S. National Championships” really doesn’t do it justice. It’s more like Comic-Con for Pokemon, a Pokemon National Convention where you can either compete for the trophy or hang out with friends and still have an equally great time.
If this report stirred your interest, then keep an eye out for the 2016 Pokemon World Championships from August 19–21 in San Francisco.
Joshua is IGN’s Comics Editor. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
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