2021-04-17/24 – Online

Schedule

Saturday April 17 – Swiss Rounds

Virtual player meeting: 3 p.m. UTC
Round 1 begins: 3.30 p.m. UTC
Swiss rounds expected to end by: 9.30 p.m UTC

Saturday April 24 – Top Cut Rounds

Virtual player meeting: 12.30 p.m. UTC
Top 8 begins: 1.00 p.m. UTC
Top Cut rounds expected to end by: 5.30 p.m UTC

Formats

How the Team Format Works

  • Professors register for the tournament as individuals.
  • Following registration close, Professors will be randomly assigned a teammate with whom they must communicate to build their deck or team.
    – Professors will advance through the tournament in their teams right up until the end of Swiss.
    – Teams will be paired together to play rather than individual Professors.
  • At the beginning of each round, the Organizer will flip a coin to determine what player from each team will be starting the match (Heads: Player 1/Tails: Player 2).
    – Each game within a Best of 3 match must alternate players within a team.
    – Example: the Organizer flips Heads on the coin, so Player 1 on each team will play Game 1 in their Best of 3 match. Game 2 will be played by the Player 2 of each team.
    – The player not playing a game within a match may coach their teammate.
  • At the conclusion of Day 1 Swiss, the Top 8 teams from both TCG and VG will move onto Day 2, which will be played the following Saturday.
  • 8 4-player teams will be formed for Day 2, by combining a TCG team with a VG team based on their placement.

VG Format – played on Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

  • Double battle
  • Rental teams are permitted
  • Ranked Battle Series 9 Rules
    – Pokémon do not need to have the Galar symbol, but will need to be “battle-ready”
    – No two Pokémon may have the same Pokédex number, or held item
    – Mythical Pokémon may not be used
    – Cosmog may not be used

Individual Team-Building Restrictions

  • Only unevolved Pokémon that can still evolve are permitted
    – Pokémon that evolve from Baby Pokémon are permitted, as well as Baby Pokémon themselves
    – Example: Both Azurill and Marill are permitted in this format, but Azumarill is not
  • All Pokémon on your team must have originally been discovered in different regions
    – Pokémon with a regional variant count as having been originally discovered in that region

Team Team-Building (lol) Restrictions

  • All discovered regions must be represented across both teammates’ teams
  • Pokémon with the same Pokédex number may not be contained in both teammates’ teams

Example permitted combination

Player 1

  • Charmander (Kanto)
  • Ralts (Hoenn)
  • Trubbish (Unova)
  • Tyrogue (Johto)
  • Rockruff (Alola)
  • Swirlix (Kalos)

Player 2

  • Smoochum (Johto)
  • Croagunk (Sinnoh)
  • Grookey (Galar)
  • Jangmo-o (Alola)
  • Squirtle (Kanto)
  • Torchic (Hoenn)

Example unpermitted combination

Player 1

  • Marill (Johto)
  • Ralts (Hoenn)
  • Darumaka (Unova)
  • Grookey (Galar)
  • Tyrogue (Johto) (Johto is already represented on this player’s team)
  • Eevee (Kanto)

Player 2

  • Galarian Darumaka (Galar) (A Pokémon with the same Pokédex number already features in a teammate’s team)
  • Croagunk (Sinnoh)
  • Jangmo-o (Alola)
  • Squirtle (Kanto)
  • Togepi (Johto)
  • Torchic (Hoenn)

Kalos is not represented in either teammate’s team.

TCG Format – played on the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online

  • 60-minute rounds
  • Best of 3 matches

Individual Deck-Building Restrictions

  • Sets from Sun & Moon-Team Up onwards are legal
    – Standard-legal Black Star Promo cards are legal
    – Standard-legal mini-expansions are legal
  • Pokémon with a Rule Box may not be used

Team Deck-Building Restrictions

  • A limit of 3 cards with the same name (excluding Basic Energy) may be used across both teammates’ decks.

Permitted combinations of any one card:

  • Player 1: 2 copies/Player 2: 1 copy
  • Player 1: 1 copy/Player 2: 2 copies
  • Player 1: 3 copies/Player 2: 0 copies
  • Player 1: 0 copies/Player 2: 3 copies

In addition to cards banned in the current Standard format, the following cards are also banned in this format:

  • Aerodactyl (TEU, 130)
  • Excadrill (UNM, 119)
  • Reset Stamp (UNM, 206)

Top Cut Rounds

You’ve battled through deck limitations and team restrictions, time zones and language barriers, soaring victories and nail-biting defeats to stand here, within touching-distance of your prize. There are just, uh, 31 other people to get out of the way first! As has become customary for online Professor Cup tournaments, your Top Cut – which will take place on Saturday April 24 – demands that you to head-to-head with rival teams (and eventually each other) in some classic quiz show chaos, designed to test the breadth and depth of your Pokémon prowess. Here’s what you will face this time:

Top 8 – Kahoot Championship Rounds

You’ll be no stranger to Kahoot provided you’ve been attending our monthly Professor Webinars!

There will be 4 standard rounds of Kahoot, in which each team must choose ONE team member to represent them, and 1 free-for-all bonus round with bonus points on offer. At the end of all five rounds, the 4 highest-scoring teams will advance to the Quarterfinals!

Quarterfinals – Trial of the Missing Vowels

Back by popular(?) demand, the Trial of the Missing Vowels challenges teams to identify Pokémon phrases and terminology when they’ve had their vowels removed and some random spaces thrown in for good measure.

There will be 8 rounds, each with a different topic (VG, TCG, Why is Becca Awesome, etc). 2 teams will go head-to-head in separate matches, with the winning team from each match advancing to the Semifinals!

Semifinals – Profeopardy

The Semifinals use the format of the classic quiz show Jeopardy, with some simpler rules to make it a bit more forgiving. Only a bit, though. Teams must battle it out to claim points on a quiz board by answering questions of varying difficulty across five topics.

There will be 1 round, and the highest scoring team will advance to the Final Showdown!

Final Showdown – Let Chaos Reign

Having come this far as a team, we now split up our finalists into 4 individual competitors who will fight to earn points through 3 rounds – one each of Kahoot, Missing Vowels, and Profeopardy. It’s lonely up there at the top, so each competitor may pick a Professor buddy to help them out for these rounds.

The scores earned in the Final Showdown will determine who among the last team standing will achieve 1st through 4th place.

It’s gonna be good.

How To Play

Eligibility

  • The Professor Cup Online is open to all Professors with a Stage 1 or Stage 2 certification.
  • In addition, Basic Professors who have earned 50 or more Professor Points since January 1, 2021 are eligible to participate.

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