2021-07-24/31 – Online

Saturday July 24 – Swiss Rounds

Virtual player meeting: 6 p.m. UTC
Round 1 begins: 6.30 p.m. UTC
Swiss rounds expected to end by: 12.30 a.m UTC

Saturday July 31 – Top Cut Rounds

Virtual player meeting: 2 p.m. UTC
Top 13 begins: 2.30 p.m. UTC
Top Cut rounds expected to end by: 6 p.m. UTC

VG Format – played on Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield

• Professors need to be flexible. Prepare yourself and your team for both Single (4v4) and Double (4v4) battles
• Best of 3 matches
• 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
• Dress to impress! Make sure your Trainer Card reflects the festive spirit!
• Professors will need to weather unexpected events each round to succeed in this festive tournament! (Be prepared! As long as you build your team using the given rules, you’ll be fine!)

Team-Building Restrictions

• Every team must include Delibird!
  – Delibird must know the move Present
  – Only Delibird is permitted to Dynamax by default – though it may benefit you to be prepared to Dynamax or Gigantamax other members of your team
• Only Pokémon that meet the following criteria are permitted:
  – Red Pokémon
  – Green Pokémon
  – White Pokémon
  – Ice-type Pokémon
  — Glastrier may not be used
  — Darmanitan may only know the Ability Zen Mode if it is in its Unovan form
  — Silvally may only be used if it has the held item Ice Memory
• A full list of eligible Pokémon can be found here!
• Your team must consist of at least one Pokémon of each of these categories
  – Delibird does not count towards these categories!
  – If a Pokémon is Ice-type and satisfies one of the color categories, it counts as both!

Example permitted combinations

• Delibird (Required)
• Butterfree (White)
• Chariard (Red)
• Flapple (Green)
• Eiscue (Ice-type)
• Porygon2 (Red or green or white or Ice-type)

• Delibird (Required)
• Abomasow (White and Ice-type)
• Flareon (Red)
• Maractus (Green)
• Leafeon (Red or green or white or Ice-type)
• Drampa (Red or green or white or Ice-type)

Example unpermitted combination

• Delibird (Required)
• Butterfree (White)
• Chariard (Red)
• Flapple (Green)
• Drednaw (Green)
• Porygon2 (Red)

TCG Format – played on the Pokémon Trading Card Game Online

• 60-minute rounds
• Best of 3 matches

• 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
• Prism Star cards may not be used

Deck-Building Restrictions

• Limit of 2 cards with the same name (excluding Basic Energy) with the following exception:
• Every player’s deck must contain 4 copies of Delibird (CRE 32)
• At the beginning of each round, the organizer will select a type (Fire, Grass, Colorless) and color (red, green, white). If a Pokémon of the type or color is labeled as your VIP Pokémon for at least one of the games in that round (shown on your PTCGO Stat Screen), you will be entered into a special Delibird Raffle. You will receive one entry for each round you meet this criteria.
  – This is not a requirement for deck building, and participation in this portion of the tournament is completely optional!

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)
• Rapid Strike Energy (BST, 140)
• Single Strike Energy (BST, 141)
• Malamar (CRE, 070)

Top Cut Rounds

Top 13 – Battlegories

Our first top cut round will be a very special virtual version of the game Scattergories, in which trainers will try to come up with unique answers to score the most points! At the beginning of the game, each trainer will receive a link to a Google Slides file in which to write their answers. Once the time is up for each round, a preview will be snapped of all the files so we can see everyone’s answers. If your answer is unique, you’ll score 10 points. Points awarded will decrease depending on how many other trainers have the same answer as you. At the end of the round, the 8 highest scoring trainers will advance to the Top 8.

Top 8 – Tail Quiplash

Our second round will bring a thematic Pokémon twist to virtual party game favourite Quiplash. Come up with the funniest or most ingenious answers to the questions asked of you on your device and go head-to-head with a fellow top cutter to see whose answer hits the hardest. The more people vote for your answer, the more points you’ll get! We’ll play three games total and the 4 highest scoring trainers will advance to the Top 4.

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Top 4 players can enter these rounds with three friends. You’ll work as a team to tackle each game and earn as many points as possible. Consider yourselves warned to make sure that there is a thorough breadth of Pokémon knowledge between the three of you. You’ll need it!

Bear in mind that everyone on your team will need to be a current Pokémon Professor, with at least a Basic certification. This is the Professor Cup, after all! They don’t need to have participated in the tournament themselves, but they will need to join you on the online platform through which these rounds will be held. That platform is determined by the Organizers.

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Top 4 – Puzzle Ice Cubes (Grids)

We’re bringing back an old favourite for the semifinals. Each team will be given a wall of 16 clues. Your objective is to group them into 4 rows of 4 connected items. The Top 8 player themselves will be the one who interacts with the wall, but all three team members may confer as much as they like to correctly identify the one, perfect solution to each wall before the time runs out. Be careful – red herrings abound! You can earn points in two ways – correctly identifying groups of four, and also for correctly identifying why each group is connected. The two trainers who score the highest will advance to the finals.

The Finals – The Snowball

Because the Day One Kahoot! quizzes weren’t chaotic enough, The Snowball will see your teams compete in this free-for-all quiz that covers the full spectrum of Pokémon knowledge. All four of your team members will take part in all quiz rounds, and between you you must try to accumulate as many points as you can. As you progress through each round, the time you’ll have to answer will get shorter and shorter as you gather momentum, and occasionally you’ll hit a Golden Snowball question that awards double points! The Professor whose team comes out on top at the end of this final round will be crowned the 2021 Summer Professor Cup champion.

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 April 1, 2021 are eligible to participate.