My new route to Worlds 2022 - Need to Top 4 Singapore Nationals, if I even make it there!

We finally have news on events here in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines! Finally! (And I have updated it with the latest news we've heard)

We've been patiently waiting for this news since we first heard that we were no longer a part of the Oceanaia contingent under TPCi and now fall under TPC. We've heard nothing for the longest time, no events for those of us to really look forward to. I'm not counting the remote play stuff, I don't like the idea of doing events through webcam when people can find a way to cheat through it, just not for me. I would rather wait for live events then play the webcam stuff. I mean, we still had PTCGO too.

And while everyone has been away and not playing for about 2 years, I've been playing on PTCGO almost every day with the simple aim to improve myself as a player through these online events. And now with events coming back, it's time to see if the grind was worth it, whether I've actually improved or not. So far I can't tell because I've been to locals 3 times and have gone 1-2 in all 3 local events, mostly because of Mews doing Mew things and hitting bad matchups too many times.

So we've now got news about the National Championships, something we knew about from the first announcement a year ago. Initially we thought we still had Leagues and Towns (Cups and Challenges) and by winning those, you get round byes for the Regionals or Nationals. Now we don't even have the Regionals, which was going to give the winner a spot into Worlds (which still only meant 8 people would go to Worlds which doesn't feel a lot to me).

The new details we got now makes it a bit more clearer or what will happen. So these are the details shared by my friend Nicholas Yong shared on his Facebook page The Southern Islands. And the updated news we got later on (April 1st) will be edited in and highlighted in red.

1. Official shops (certified Pokemon TCG Gym shops) will host “shop qualifier tournaments”. The winners of these tournaments will be able to participate in their country’s respective National Championships.
2. Each tournament will host 4-16 players (depending on the country’s current COVID-19 rules for group gatherings and player participation). Shops can decide how they would want to manage this. Now we know for a fact that it is just 4 players per session. 48 sessions, shops have a morning and afternoon session, some shops gets two dates. Players pick 3 choices of which sessions they want to play in and they will be assigned to one of them. Sadly, it's also a best of 1 format, 3 swiss rounds for these shop qualifiers.
3. The structure is now a bit more clear. 

• First we have the Shop Qualifiers (STAGE 1) where 48 qualifiers will be decided. A likely total of 192 players will participate all around Singapore, not too sure the number for Malaysia and the Philippines as of yet. 
• Then it is the Finalist Round (STAGE 2) where the 48 players will be divided into groups of 4 to play in 12 different sessions, also best of 1, 3 swiss round and that will decide the Top 12 
• The winners of these finalist rounds will move on to the Top Cut Playoffs (FINAL STAGE). Not completely sure how this will be done but if I were to guess, same as usual, swiss rounds, like best of 1 due to TPC's insistence on using that format, and then the top 4 will play it out to see who gets the Day 2 invite to Worlds.

1. Shops will host two tournaments each – that means each shop will have two representatives for their country’s respective National Championships! We are unsure if shops are allowed to host additional tournaments. Some do have two different dates just in case.
2. A player who has won a shop qualifier tournament cannot attend another shop qualifier tournament. That is because every player is only allowed to attend one qualifier session.
3. Based on previous posts on the Pokemon Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines websites, the winner of the National Championships gets a Day 2 invite to the World Championships 2022 in London; Top 4 places will receive a Day 1 invite.
4. Previous players who have qualified for London 2022 using the old CP system in the 2019/2020 season will play what I call “Day 0” – so there is incentive to play in their National Championships.

My first reaction is, why is Nationals now a glorified Invitational event? So not all of us can actually play in it, which is a real shame, it would be nice if everyone had a shot at winning it. Making it a glorified invitationals for just the shop qualifier winners isn't the worst idea, it means the best of the best in Singapore, Malaysia and the Phillipines will play it out to get those 4 spots to Worlds, then you really do have the best representatives for worlds for each country.

So how does one get into the Nationals in the first place?

But then that's where the other issue comes in. You have to get in through the Shop qualifiers and from what we know, they can only host up to 16 players. Trust me, more than 16 will sign up for every shop's events because there are a lot of active PTCG players here in Singapore. So some people might not even get a shot of making it to Nationals because they never even got to play in a Shop qualifier because only the previous winners won't be allowed to win so you could still end up seeing the same 10-12 people in all of these events. I do plan to play in as many of them to maximise my chance of making it into the Nationals, since it's my only shot of making it to Worlds now.

And to make things even more tricky, looking at the first point, these shop qualifiers will be done in certified TCG Gym shops. And for Singapore, if we look at the official site, we've only got 8 gyms but now we know other local shops will be hosting the shop qualifiers as well:

• Sanctuary Gaming (Somerset - Central)
• Project EXT (Bugis - Central)
• Agora Hobby (Lavender - Central/East)
• Goodness Gracious Games (Farrer Park - Central)
• Brick's Play (Toa Payoh - Central)
• Active Games Collection (Serangoon - North/East)
• Games Academia (Tai Seng - East)
• Next Gen Gaming (Tai Seng - East)
• 1 Collectables (Paya Lebar - East)
• The Imaginarium (Upper Changi - East)
• Daimonji Collectibles (Clementi - West)
• TableTop (Pearl Hill - Central)
• Toys Terminal (Yishun - North)
• War Games (Ang Mo Kio - Central/North) 
• Cardboard Collectible (Chinatown - Central)
• Rowell Video Pte Ltd (Serangoon North - North/East)
• G28 Trading (Tampines - East)
• Tanoshimou (Ang Mo Kio - Central/North) 

All these shops are technically mostly in Central Singapore apart from the last two. So no official Gyms in the West, East or Northern areas which could make travel a little tricky but still makes sense since we all go to these Central areas to play locals anyway. That is no longer an issue as non-Gym shops will be hosting these events as well so players from the Northern, Eastern and Western areas have a place closer to them to play now.

But if we do the maths, that's only 8 shops, and since they each will have two representatives, that is only 16 players competing in the biggest tournament here in Singapore. Only 16 players have a shot of getting the 4 spots to Worlds out of the 100+ active PTCG players we have around here. It doesn't make my job any easier. I mean, I still have to win one of these shop qualifiers just to make it into the big show, and that is also if I make it into the roster for these shop qualifiers! Now we know it's not just 8 shops, but around 18 shops. The issue here is only 4 players per session at one time. It's estimated that 192 players will join, and I can safely say we probably do have 192 or more active players, most either play other games or play for fun and probably do want to join in. Heck even the collectors might want to try their luck in these, you never know.

The job doesn't get any easier for me though, since it is a best of 1 format, and just 3 swiss rounds to decide who moves on to the next stage. Everyone knows how much I dislike best of 1 formats, it has little to do with the players skill because sadly, one bad hand could completely ruin your match, or in this case your entire qualifier and in the bigger picture, your whole season! Your whole season could end within minutes of the event starting because of the best of 1 format and Mew is the most popular deck in Singapore so you can imagine how bad this will go for a lot of us. 

This is why I am not a fan of this new format. I will try my best but now it's no longer about how good I am but more about how lucky can I be to avoid any trouble in 3 games, avoid possible bad matchups and don't dead draw. Just win right? That will be my plan.

So the path to Worlds looks quite straight forward right?

1. Get into one of the up to a limit of 16 registered spots for a shop qualifier tournament (8 of them in total, two qualifiers)
2. Win a shop qualifier to make Singapore Nationals (along with likely only 15 others)
3. Finish Top 4 in Nationals (Win for Day 2, Top 4 is Day 1)

Sadly it doesn't look that simple or as straight forward as it seems. I mean these shops can only hold up to a limit 16 people for starters so I might not even make it to a number of these qualifiers. 

Also, there's many active players in Singapore so imagine all of us just trying to get a spot. And I'm not sure how it even works, hopefully it's not some system where friends can book spots for their friends to be in, I've missed the chance to play in local games because of that. 

So I would need to be on the lookout for pages and info for these registrations and knowing myself, I might miss some of them because I never heard of the information. Don't worry, I didn't forget to register. I don't really have that many friends to help me get those information either so that makes it even more tougher for me. I was the one who told my friends haha!

So what are the odds of getting to Worlds for someone like myself?

I mean for starters the odds of me just being in the event (the qualifying one, let alone the National) itself is already quite low. Then we remember that I need to win a qualifier. Not get a good result, win the damn thing. And in a best of 1 format too! Can't dead draw even once, just need to win out since there is only 3 swiss rounds.

And how do we make the odds even smaller? Oh yeah did I ever mention the players I would likely have to play against? We have at least 10 worlds calibre players in Singapore already, many more who haven't made it to worlds but are good enough to make it there one day. And to think only 4 makes it to Worlds as it stands. I mean I can name you 4 players from Singapore most of you have already heard of, Clifton, Jit Min, Joey, Klive and then there's even more guys who have been to worlds before that are just as good. A few of them won't make it to worlds because of this new system. That is just crazy to me. Now my hope is that I don't see any good players in my sessions, just give me 3 people who are just playing this for fun and make my life a bit easier haha. If I do see one good player (and there is a small chance that it might happen actually, I need to be on my best to stay in the running to reach the ultimate goal of making Worlds, that's been the dream all these years).

Some already have their spot in worlds from the old CP route but this gives them a spot in Day 1 or 2 and not 0 so those guys would probably fight it out as well so now we have to add them into the mix.

And there's also the fact that there is a lot of new players in the playing scene and are eager to try their luck too. I've seen a few of them from my 3 trips to my local store and I have seen posts from other store with many more new players at these events. So we have them to add to the mix as well.

Considering all that, the odds of me being one of the four at the end of the Nationals is really really REALLY quite small. I mean, I'm still not sure why there is even only 4 of us going to Worlds as it stands. Back in the CP days, there'd be about 8 Singaporean players going to Worlds and after OCIC 2020, we were on pace to see maybe even around 12 of us make it to Worlds. 

But hey, a route is still a route to Worlds right? The journey has to start somewhere!

Even if it's the impossible task, I'm still going to try my best to get there. Honestly speaking I want to make it to Worlds not just to win the thing (I mean who doesn't) but also for the chance to see my friends in person and the rare chance to play against the best players from around the world live. I've had the chance to play some of the best players in the world in the online scene but the chance to do it live is something else. It used to be a chance we could get going to bigger events, now that's reserved only for Worlds. I must have been asleep when I wrote that last sentence because I don't even know what I was trying to say. But the point is, we used to have a chance to play in bigger events, going to regionals in say Malaysia, Australia, or go the IC events in Europe and the USA. Now, the only chance any of us will ever get to play international players in a big time setting, is the damn Worlds itself and it will only be the 4 of us. 

But if I do get there, that would be an awesome experience. But I also get to see my friends too. That's the thing that is driving me on as well. I've made so many friends from the US, Canada, UK, around Europe, around Latin America and also in Japan and other parts of Asia and I can't just go to an IC or Regionals to play and meet them, there's no point since I can't fight for points. Technically I could if I were to move overseas and change my home address and apparently I would need to make a new account as well. Money is tight for me too. What I do would do just to have a chance to see any of them (or even you, yes you the one reading this right now, I might know you too!) at Worlds, that would be fun. 

Some might say we have the hardest route to Worlds now. And now we can confirm with the latest details. Best of 1, 3 stages, top 4 out of 192 players. No CP chase, not many of events to grind for, just the one event and done for the time being. No mistakes, everything has to go right that day and that day alone. Well, everything has to go right for the 3 days for all 3 stages for me to have a shot of making Worlds. I've been playing this game a lot longer than many might actually know, but only took it seriously since 2016, and I'd love for a chance to have a shot at playing Worlds, even if it's just for one time. That would be a real dream come true, you have no idea what it would mean to me to have the chance to compete against the best players in the Worlds. Even if I only ever get the one chance, I would do everything and anything in my power to make it happen.

I didn't do good enough in my first two attempts at trying to be a competitive player and I was half-way there in 2020 before everything got wiped out. Time to see if all that game time I've been doing for the past year or so have been worth it. I know the odds are quite small but I have to try my best to get to London...for a second time in two months, the first being my graduation a month earlier (if I decide to make the trip)!

Thanks for reading and if you're in the same boat as I am (SG/MY/PH), do your best and give it your all! We don't have the easiest path but I hope that someone from South East Asia does win it all to prove that we do have some of the best players in the world here. And for the rest of you, keep chasing those CP, do your best at the regionals and get that Worlds invite! Hopefully we can meet one day at a Worlds event. :)