European Challenge Cup

Last year the European Challenge Cup was an International Special Premier Event visited by 335 players from 16 European countries, USA and Mexico.

Location
This tournament will be held on Saturday 9 February (Swiss rounds) and Sunday 10 February 2013 (finals) at Sporthal Elderveld, Breezandpad 13, NL-6843 JM Arnhem, The Netherlands.*

*The venue is just a couple of kilometres from the German border, it's trainstation one of the major stops of international trains coming from the Airports of Cologne (Köln - Germany) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands). There is a public tribune where family and nonplaying friends can watch the games from reasonable distance. A catering service is present at the location, just like a shopping mall at a distance of 500 meters with several restaurants and supermarkets. The venue is easily to reach with public transport from the Central Station, where also most of the hotels are located. There are enough possibilities for parking cars in the vicinity of the venue. The whole building will be available for the whole weekend for the tournament exclusively. No food or drinks allowed in the playing area, at the tribunes only drinks in plastic cups.

The tournament starts at 10.30 am, but the registration at the venue opens at 08.00 am (till 09.45 am).
A total of nearly 600 participants can be accommodated at most.

The size of the divisions are dependent on the number of players. The tournament is open to participants from all over the world.

(Pre)registration
Preregistration starts at: November, 21st, 2012 (click here)
Please add your country code behind your name in the registration form. For example: Danny Player (UK)


Tournament structure
Participants play with their own decks in the Modified Constructed format.
That means that the use of cards is limited to certain series. Prior to the tournament, during the player meeting, one has to hand over a decklist and during the tournaments there will be deck checks.
Cards present in the series mentioned below are allowed:

abbreviation	name series/card	symbol
BLW	Black & White
EPO	BW Emerging Powers
NVI	BW Noble Victories
NXD	BW Next Destinies
DEX	BW Dark Explorers
DRX	BW Dragons Exalted
BCR	BW Boundaries Crossed
DRV	Dragon Vault
TK	Black & White Trainer Kit
PR	BW 1 - on
MCD	McDonalds Collection 1 and 2

NOTE: The next release of BW Plasma Storm is scheduled at February 6th in the European zone, but due to the possibility that this set will not be available in the larger part of countries it will not be included in the format of this tournament. Hence, (pre)releases of the new set are scheduled for February 10th as side event for those who want to have more Pokémon fun and is not in the Topcut of the main event!

Participants are divided into 3 divisions, dependent on the year of birth. These divisions are:
Junior division: born in 2002 or later;
Senior division: born in 1998, 1999, 2000 or 2001;
Masters division: born in 1997 or earlier.

At Saturday the tournament is run using Age Modified Swiss pairings, gameplay in rounds of 30 minutes + 3 turns. During this part of the tournament each pairing is made randomly by the Tournament Operations Manager program, the results of the competitors will influence the pairings of the next round. The outcome of a match of each player is of importance to one’s rating and thus helps players to earn an invite for the World Championships. The European Challenge Cup 2013 is intended as a higher qualifying tournament and winners will earn Championship points and the results will be used for calculating your rating. This is important for players to earn an invite for the World Championships (Learn more about Championship points (click here)). Based on the number of attendants per division there will be a Top-cut (max. Top-32). Top-cut will be played at Sunday being 2-out-of-3 + 3 turns in rounds of 60 minutes.



Program (preliminary)
Saturday 9 February 2013:
8.00 - 9.45 am - Registration players
10.00 am - opening hall to players to check player roster (10.10 a.m.) and pairings (10.20 a.m.)
10.30 am - start first round Swiss.
Lunch after round 2 for 1 hour.

Sunday 10 February 2013:
9.30 - 9.45 am - Arrival finalists/pairings
10.00 am - Start first round finals.
10.15 - 10.45 am - Registration Release Events BW Plasma Storm
11.00 am - 15.00 pm Release events BW Plasma Storm
17.00 pm - End of last round finalists (MA division) followed by handing out the prizes to the Winners of the ECC 2013


Don’t forget when you participate in this tournament
Take care that you have your PlayerID at hand;
Read the tournament rules, so you know what to bring to this event;
Have your decklist form (see left under the "Registration › decklist” button) filled in completely prior to the tournament;
Have your cards at the same follow order as you decklist for deckcheck;
Be at the venue on time, as those that arrive too late will receive a “round loss”.


Prizes
1st place ECC 2013 Trophy and 72 boosters of BW Plasma Storm and 120 Championship Points
2nd place Regionals Trophy and 72 boosters of BW Plasma Storm and 110 Championship Points [Kicker 4]
3rd place Regionals Trophy and 36 boosters of BW Plasma Storm and 90 Championship Points [Kicker 8]
4rd place Regionals Trophy and 36 boosters of BW Plasma Storm and 90 Championship Points [Kicker 8]
5th-8th place 17 boosters (excl. booster at registration) of BW Plasma Storm and 70 Championship Points [Kicker 32]
9th-12th place 8 boosters (excl. booster at registration) of BW Plasma Storm and 50 Championship Points [Kicker 64]
13th-16th place 8 boosters (excl. booster at registration) of BW Plasma Storm and 40 Championship Points [Kicker 64]
17th-32nd place 3 boosters (excl. booster at registration) and 20 Championship Points [Kicker 128]
33th-64th place 10 Championship Points [Kicker 256]

All participants receive an attention, (if available) a booster BW Plasma Storm and an US State promo at registration (while supplies last!).


Admission fee
5 euro


Side Events
On Sunday there will be a (pre)release event of the newest set (€ 24,- à person).
Demonstration of the game Raindrop Chess


For questions or more information you can always contact:
info@pokemon-organizedplay.nl