General reminder: I don’t “work for” or represent any of the Regional TOs or other organizations in the Pokemon OP sphere.
I just like asking questions informed by what I experience in my event roles & things like that. No real affiliations.
Simple fact: nobody is entitled to points from a PTCG Local. Doesn’t matter if someone is playing for fun, playing with 1000 points, or playing with 345 points. If you want CP, win—simple.
Don’t tolerate entitlement in your communities this spring—and don’t be problematic!
I got to marry my best friend yesterday ❤️.
I have many things to say to many people, but I only have 5 minutes before this flight takes off, so, for now:
1.
@CarlosPero
got one of the best photos that will ever exist in my life.
2. I’m unreasonably proud of our favors.
"You can hear it in the silence / You can feel it on the way home / You can see it with the lights out / You are in love / True love"
So excited to get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend! (and to co-own a lot of wedding spreadsheets❤️)
A few thoughts on LAIC discourse —
tl;dr: I think LAIC is great but acknowledge sometimes real problems have happened. People should stop proposing its cancelation or trying to make it into OCIC. And, if they really want to, they should reflect on their reasons for that take.
As wild and definitely-not-what-I-planned as it was, I got to be the voice of TCG for all of North America's Premier Events this season. It was an honor & pleasure to talk players through nearly 200 rounds this season.
I revived my blog for thoughts about the journey 🔽
I am aware this won’t be popular but my Worlds 2024 take is that TPCi should exercise that “we might make masks mandatory at any time” clause.
We are 2/2 on Worlds as superspreader events. Not great.
So, so proud of my mom, who has supported Alex and I in everything ever. One of her goals come true here.
only a *little* sad I’m not playing this year :)
I’ve played Pokémon for 13 years on 6 continents and I am excited to say I earned my first worlds invite today! This year has been amazing and I’ve met some truly wonderful people along the way. I appreciate all of the support from my family and friends. I will see you in Japan!
I do think the prizing situation is problematic—playing Day 2 for nothing is rough. At minimum, more packs at people seems like a reasonable idea.
I do also continue to believe a “Day 2” (or T128)-stamped Colress’ Experiments would be a great add. Yea/nea?
TPCi has dropped its universal mask requirement for Premier Events.
They still reserve the right to implement a mask requirement for any event, “and on short notice.”
My foremost concern at
#PlayPokemon
events is that they are a space welcoming and inclusive of all identities. It's a necessary condition for a fun and fair event.
I'm really sad this hasn't been the recent experience of a number of the marginalized members of the community.
I’ve been relatively quiet — there’s a good reason for that!
- We’ve been busy
- Carin is the best
- I’m very lucky (see above)
- …we’ve been very, very busy
Excited to see many of you in Hawaii next week!
Look...
It doesn't really matter to me how you choose to abuse English, but to TPCi (and, therefore, judges who value not getting told off by Pikachu), "cheating" has a very specific meaning that is tied to intent.
Alright, the thing I understand the least about TCG Live is how the devs missed the whole “you must show your opponent what you take out of the Discard Pile” thing.
I realized most of you won't ever see, so I wanted to share here: these were my last words to 6P readers today.
(And, immense thanks for the support today.)
When Alex made Top 8, I started mentally composing a joke about how my EUIC Ultra Ball was cooler.
My Ultra Ball is definitely not cooler.
Congrats on it all paying off,
@aschemanske
.
We’ll see what rumors check out in the end but a whole lot of y’all telling on yourselves with your idea of a “bad” Regional city.
You should be some level of aware and paying attention in any large city around the world. Some better, some worse, but some of these takes…
A good deal of
#PlayPokemon
NAIC23 info has dropped!
Registration in 3 waves, beginning 6a PDT on May 17.
All ages begin play on Friday, June 30. Decklists due at 7:30am. No scheduled lunch break for Masters.
My heart hurts for a few people tonight who did a lot of great stuff this season and weren't invited to NAIC—the downside of the growth of the last bit is that it seems like someone is always in the cold.
You still did great stuff this year and I & many others are so grateful.
So proud of my mom for realizing a dream in Yokohama. I guess Alex is also okay.
Sounds like "first" is a miss (props to
@luizawback
in 2019) — I hope there are more to come, too!
Diane Schemanske and her son Alex Schemanske are the first ever Poké-Mom and Son duo to compete together in the Pokémon TCG World Championship!
#PokemonWorlds
Our story, from
@JoshuaYehl
:
Are you excited for
#PlayPokemon
to return in a few weeks?
I am. I have some thoughts, though, and wanted to share them with you. Rotten tomatoes can be directed to aisle C.
It was truly an honor to lead the awesome
#PlayPokemon
TCG Masters team in Indianapolis this weekend. I'm proud of their work and immense effort. It may not have been publicly obvious, but a lot of folks stepped up.
They made my job easy, and I'm immensely grateful.
With the Open announced: delighted, a bit surprised, and so honored to be an Asst. HJ for the Masters Main Event at Worlds 2022.
Genuinely, even more excited to shift over to the London Open as a Masters HJ. We're gonna have a fantastic start to 2023.
See you in London!
Before I judge a Pokémon event again and people would side eye it…
If you’re going to double sleeve your cards—say, with protective inner sleeves on the super shiny ones—you need to do all 60 or 0. Do not introduce inconsistencies in your deck. Major, major marked card 🚨.
With over 1700 total TCG registrants (and counting), Orlando Regionals’ TCG Masters division has a nonzero chance of being the largest PTCG tournament…ever. (NAIC18 was 1534.)
Obviously, Jr/Sr are some of that, and there’ll be no-shows, but, uh…it do be large.
Today is a dark, dark day. I am hurting for my friends that are being hurting, for my family, and for something I’ve put so much passion and energy into.
Stay strong, friends.
It’s been a blessing of a time in South Africa. My mom & I came hoping to finish her invite (now 337/350 — almost!), and I succeeded in my goals of (a) having a lot of fun (b) earning no CP 🙂.
The PTCG community here is truly amazing. Unlike anywhere I’ve ever been.
Registration for the
#PlayPokemon
San Diego Regionals by
@teamnwevents
will open on
@rk9labs
this Thursday, November 10, at 8p ET/5p PT.
The first three-game Regional of the season!
Full details on Registration & the event:
I didn't want to compress this to 240, but after some feedback I received this weekend, I wanted to put this explainer out on how the judging structure (*often*—key, not always) works at large NA events.
tldr: never assume that the HJ has spoken until they tell you so.
Worlds 2023 was a beautiful culmination of so much for so many.
It had ups, downs, twists, and turns, but I’m grateful to have gotten to be a part of it with
@rk9labs
and the hundreds of other awesome people that made it happen.
Toronto runs a very good chance of being the largest
#PlayPokemon
TCG Regional Championship ever, and the largest TCG tournament this year—beating NAIC.
It will probably hold that record for all of two weeks before Arlington takes it.
Ready?
The 2025 Pokémon Championship Series season is just around the corner! Learn more about the upcoming changes and check out the first wave of event locations to best prepare for your competitive journey ⬇
📝
Did get one recruiter today skeptical of my resume's last-line mention of Pokemon.
Generally, I just explain what I did w/6P, have done so far w/RK9, etc. — fun stuff.
Today, I got to do "something I wrote is on the front page of ."
The best feeling.
Am not loving “we’re waiting for Juniors and Seniors (1h+) to Prize out Masters” as a strategy.
Speaking of prizing, one thing clear to me this weekend: the fact that 40 people played 6 rounds today for...nothing. Bad thing at Regionals. Really bad at Internationals.
Things Gardy does (as a deck):
-attaches extra energy
-stacks your deck
-draws extra cards
-shuffles your discard into your deck
Basically, everything every cheater ever wants to do...except it's legal.
This is agonizing — this should be unacceptable in every group culture. I implore everyone to be a part of making sure it isn’t part of theirs. It isn’t cool, and it isn’t acceptable.
Everyone deserves to see what was said about me, and to see who you truly are.
This is for your betterment as a human being
@MimosoTcg
Do better, and be better.
Home from LAIC, which was great! I landed 47th in Masters for the nice $500.
The only decisions of mine that should be replicated are aesthetic. The deck is positioned…poorly.
List is functionally
@aschemanske
’s.
Thanks to awesome opponents that made for a fun 15 rounds!
The
#PlayPokemon
Regional Championships in Secaucus (NJ) by
@TopCutEvents
has announced that registration will open April 20. Combined capacity across all games and age groups is 960.
Decent pack to start a morning!
I am learning some of the Gen 9ers as I open my first packs of the set. I have a few questions, but there’s some cool stuff afoot!
PSA: the gold, character rare, etc. reprints in Lost Origin are not legal for Baltimore, Bilbao, and Porto Alegre.
I don’t know why, but that is the law of the land at the moment.
This team moved mountains to get one of the largest-ever Regional Championships (1500 players!) across the finish line. Immensely proud of what everyone put in.
Even I did not resist hugs this evening. That should say something.
Orlando’s over!
Cannot say enough good things about the staff that made the weekend possible in such awesome fashion. None of what happened was possible without the teamwork of this group. They absolutely rocked every bit of this.
🫡 East Coast 2024
A support ticket I just sent. I'll update if I get an answer, but in my mind, these are the big questions remaining after this morning's
#PlayPokemon
announcement. A lot more clarity has been achieved, though.
This team was excellent. Though still imperfect, I’m very happy with what TCG executed in terms of ruling philosophy and consistency.
I don’t know what the future holds. But, today, I’m happy to have had this.
What an amazing weekend full of intense battles and incredible memories here at
#PokemonNAIC
!
Thank you so much to everyone who had a hand in making it happen. Next stop, Yokohama! 📍
Personally, no
#PlayPokemon
League Cups or Challenges seems like an opportunity to try out Top X invites from major events. Top 8 Regional? Day 1 invite. Win NAIC? Day 2 invite.
Give new players a path, try a new idea, make every event matter to (almost) everyone.
My heart is with the many I know that are hurting today.
I interacted with Jimmy in almost every Pokémon-enabled way, from opponent, to 6P, to judge—and in all, he will be missed.
There’s nobody I’d rather see in this role than Will. NAIC, and its players, are going to be extremely well-served by this excellent decision.
Very happy to be passing the NAIC Masters torch off to someone as great as him 🙂
Truly honored to share that I will be serving as your TCG Masters Head Judge in Columbus, OH for NAIC this year.
I'm looking forward to a great tournament, can't wait to see you there!
While I'm not quoting to avoid amplifying harm, Rahul's comments were entirely unacceptable & can't happen.
An important reminder of the importance of being part of creating better spaces: be cognizant of what others say around you & call out harmful speech when it arises.
Calm before the Charlotte storm:
- The first time VG Masters has 15 rounds at a Regional — 830+ players
- The first time TCG Masters breaks 2000 competitors in the west — 2100 and counting!
- The first time TCG Seniors breaks 227 at a Regional — Day 2 Swiss ✅
Baltimore: $65 entry, 6% sales tax = $68.90
Toronto: $65 entry, 13% sales tax = $73.45
The increase from Baltimore to Toronto is not an actual price increase.
Continue to debate $65, fine, but this is not an actual price increase.
Very grateful to the awesome folks on the Masters TCG teams at NAIC 2022 this weekend.
Honored and grateful to have been Head Judge of Masters Blue (& Masters overall after the flight merge). I hope the players enjoyed it as much as we did.
Thoughts after a first few days in Live:
- I do like the crafting/currency system, and the ladder is well-stocked. A+
- Too slow in-game: need to crisp up some animations.
- I get why they did it, but opponent conceding shouldn’t reduce my rewards—how is it my fault?
Don’t be like this.
And, perhaps equally importantly, don’t let your friends be like this either. Ambivalence is akin to acceptance when it comes to toxic behavior.
Made Day 2 at LAIC 2023! Excited to be back in the thick of things for an event. Not the most optimistic about tomorrow, but my Basic Energy are happy to be there.
EUIC's TCG Masters leadership—3 ex-Worlds players—emphasized holistic evaluation of game situations: less strict letter of the rule; more spirit of the rule.
It wasn't perfect. There were problems and room to grow.
But, "cheap" penalties decided fewer games—that makes me happy.
Every time I look at this photo, I find a new face to go "wait—they were there, too?" at.
That was true of people I walked by all weekend, too: so many familiar faces! (and so little time to catch up...)
Magical✨
In particular, Milwaukee had an unprecedented level of consistency on Day 1. There are some stats I can't fully get into, but this was truly a magical orchestra.
Every gear worked in sync—this takes the work of so many people to happen. It was beautiful. 11/10 day.
I 100% agree with Pablo on the practicalities: card translation is not a meaningful obstacle to tournament play. I support widely legalizing card languages.
The right place to direct this concern is TPCi, though.
If you are from NA or Oceania and want to play Regionals in other regions, you don't need to go out of your way to get extra cards.
If you are from EU or LATAM, and can only access non-English cards, and want to travel to play Regionals in other regions, you NEED to go out of...
“Worlds is the only carrot & we need other milestones” is a really old talking point in PTCG.
If you’re in charge of the P!P structure tomorrow, what are you doing to solve it?