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Stay in shape with the online Victory Road May Challenge!

After the success of our VR Spring Challenge back in March, we’re back with the VR May Challenge to welcome the new Gigantamax included in VGC 2020!

We hope you’re still keeping well with everything going around lately, and we’d like this tournament to be a great opportunity for you to stay in shape while waiting the return of face-to-face tournaments.

If you competed at the VR Spring Challenge, most infos below will be familiar to you. However, we’ve taken good note from your feedback and some things have been tweaked and improved. We’re still keeping these tournaments with significantly low entry fees to allow players from all the world to play without that representing a significant expense for them.

salamence-mega Schedule

The VR May Challenge will be hosted online on Battlefy on May 2-3, 2020. Swiss rounds will be played on Saturday 2nd, while the Top Cut will be played on Sunday 3rd.

Both days, the matches will begin at 2 pm UTC:

  • Americas: 10 am EDT, 7 am PDT
  • UK & Ireland: 3 pm BST
  • West & Central Europe: 4 pm CET
  • Japan & Korea: 11 pm JST/KST
  • Australia (Melbourne time): 12 am (+1) AEST

The event is expected to take from 7 to 9 hours on Saturday and from 4 to 7 hours on Sunday. A more detailed and tentative schedule can be found on the tournament’s Battlefy page. Any changes at the TOs (tournament organizers) discretion will be clearly communicated with as much time in advance as possible.

salamence-mega Structure

The event will follow these regulations:

  • Format: battles will be played using the VGC 2020 Series 4 regulations, which can be found here.
    • Players can bring their own team of 6 Pokémon OR use a Rental Team.
    • In both cases, you are required to fill the info about your team on this form.
    • It is strictly forbidden to change a single move or item on your team during the tournament, as is training your Pokémon to have different stats once you’ve locked in your team.
  • Event structure: Best-of-3 Swiss rounds on Saturday 2nd + Single-elimination Best-of-3 Top Cut bracket on Sunday 3rd.
    • Each round is played within 60 minutes after pairings are posted and announced on Discord. There will be a grace period of 5 min for matches having technical issues out of any of the players’ control. Full breakdown on the rules for this is on the Procedures & Penalties section below.
    • Up to 64 players: Swiss rounds on Saturday 2nd + Top 8 Cut on Sunday 3rd
    • Over 65 players: Swiss rounds on Saturday 2nd + x-2 Cut (all players with 2 or fewer losses advance) on Sunday 3rd
  • Platforms: all players are REQUIRED to be…
  • Procedures:
    • Players will contact with each other through Battlefy, where pairings will be randomly generated for each round and standings can be followed by anyone.
    • The Discord server will be used for staff announcements & feedback from the players, but NOT to set up your matches.
    • All games will be played on Pokémon Sword / Shield for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles. Make sure you have a Nintendo Online subscription before the tournament starts.
*All regultations are subject to change at the TOs discretion. Last rounds from Swiss could be moved to Sunday should any scheduling issues occur.

salamence-mega Entry fee & Prizes

Entry and refund policy

The entry fee for this event is standardized for everyone at $7.50 USD. If you’re using a different currency, conversion rates could mean an extra charge. For the first time on our events, this will be paid directly when registering on Battlefy. After factoring the platform fee, all participants will be required to pay $8.25 USD. No other methods will be allowed.

Refunds for this event will only be granted to users who are no longer registered at the time the registration has closed. Failure to check-in, participate in or being disqualified for a rules violation in any tournament will NOT be cause for a refund. Refunds are not automatic and will be done manually after the tournament brackets have been seeded and registration is final.

Please, reach out to the Victory Road staff on Twitter, Discord or by email (at management@victoryroad.pro) if you experience any issues registering on Battlefy.

Prizes

Players will be charged $8.25 USD when registering through battlefy, of which $0.75 will go to Battlefy’s platform fee. The remaining $7.50, regardless of attendance, will be directed 90% towards the prizepool and 10% to cover the costs of prizes, refunds and other management instances on our end.

Once registrations are closed, we will post on all our socials the full breakdown of prizes and costs, which will be calculated as follows:

  • Winner: 40% of the event’s prize pool.
  • Runner-up: 20% of the event’s prize pool.
  • 3rd and 4th Place: 10% of the event’s prize pool.
  • 5th to 8th place: 5% of the event’s prize pool.

Prizing funded from the tournament registration fees will be paid out within 2 weeks of the conclusion of the event and will be paid out to the PayPal account used to register for the event. In the event that tournament registration fees do not cover the amount of prizing or there is an additional prize pool from a 3rd party source, Battlefy will only payout the amount collected by registration and Victory Road will be responsible for any additional payments.

salamence-mega Procedures & Penalties

Late shows

The tournament will NOT have a general check-in. That means that, once you complete the registration over on Battlefy, you are EXPECTED to submit your team and join our Discord and play on Saturday, starting at 2 pm UTC.

Matches will NOT have a check-in procedure, either. Once pairings for each round are posted (you will be notified on Discord), you are EXPECTED to join your match’s chat room and post to signal activity.

Any player not showing signs of activity or showing up late will be penalized as follows:

  • 5 min after pairings are posted: game 1 loss
  • 10 min after pairings are posted: game 2 loss (that is, round loss)
    • Multiple late showings might result in a disqualification at the head TOs discretion.
    • Any players not showing up after round 4 with a record that makes them not eligible for top cut (that is, 3 or more losses) will be automatically dropped.
    • We strongly recommend you to avoid delaying your games upon contacting your opponent for the sake of everyone’s playing experience.

If you’re waiting on your room and your opponent does not show up, please go to Report Match Issue > Problem setting up match and a TO will come over.

If you show up over 10 min late for any given round, you WILL BE dropped from the tournament. If you wish to keep on playing, you MUST ask any TO to rejoin. You will be able to do so until the round you were dropped in is in play. No players will be allowed to rejoin afterwards.

Drops

If you wish to DROP from the tournament, you MUST FIRST report your match result via Battlefy, and then click Report Match Issue > Ineligible Roster to request to be dropped by a staff member. Please do NOT ask for a drop on the Discord server.

If you’re dropped but decide to keep on playing, you MUST ask any TO to rejoin. You will be able to do so until the round you were dropped in is in play. No players will be allowed to rejoin afterwards.

Setting up a match

In order to set up a match, use the ROUND NUMBER + the LAST THREE DIGITS OF MATCH NUMBER as the link code. For example, for match number 471 on round 3, the code for both players should be: 3471.

Both players must enter the same link code to find one another. Make sure you’ve found the correct opponent before the game starts. Contact on the Battlefy chat if you’re unable to do so, and if this persists, flag your match on Report Match Issue > Problem setting up a match.

Round timer

We will enforce a 60 minute round timer for each round, though a grace period of 5 minutes is allocated for any matches having communication errors.

If by chance the timer is hit, both players will take a screenshot of their team’s current status and send it to the TO, and the TO will report back with the winner of the match enforcing official tiebreakers:

  • The player with the most Pokémon left wins.
  • If both players have the same number of Pokémon remaining, then the winner is the player whose remaining Pokémon’s added HP has the greatest percentage of their team’s total full HP.

If both players do not report back in a timely fashion and the round timer passes without any response back from the match,TOs may issue game losses.

If one player is late to the match and that causes the match to go past timer, then that player will be issued a loss regardless of the outcome of the match, as timer is considered to be over.

Please keep in mind that these measures are meant to keep the tournament as dynamic as possible and for the sake of everyone’s playing experience.

Submitting results

Once the round is over, any of the two players is allowed to set up the score, true to the result of the matches. If any issues occur, please go to Report Match Issue > The score is incorrect and a TO will come over to assist you.

Given that the games have no VS Recorder feature, we recommend all players to take a pic of the WIN / LOSE player cards shown at the end of each match (game 1, game 2, game 3) so that we can have a proof of the winner if any disputes arise. This is NOT mandatory, so you do NOT need to post them for each round, but it is highly encouraged should any issues regarding scoring appear.

Asking for a win

When both players show up for a round, match wins/losses MUST be determined only by game play.

Any player found to be asking their opponent to give them a win, either directly, indirectly or via bribery or coercion, will be immediately disqualified from the event, losing any right to the prizes earned, such as prize money or other products.

Connection issues

As soon as you notice a connection issue on your Nintendo Switch, you must:
  • Take a screenshot of the error message with the screen capture button (◙) on their Nintendo Switch, or a pic with your phone, and send it to the TO via Twitter or Discord.
    • The player causing the connection issues will receive a different error message than the one who didn’t and thus will be assigned a loss for the game.
    • However, you also MUST:
  • Check if the internet connection to the game remains after the match concludes by pressing “Y” and then taking a clip by using the screen capture button (◙) again (you will have to hold it down for 3 seconds to start recording). Send the video to the TO via Twitter or Discord.
In the mean time:
  1. Both players will be allowed to consider the in-game situation of the match prior to the connection issues.
    1. We highly encourage all players to be honest and assume as lost any disconnected matches, when either 1) they know their connection was shaky or caused the disconnect; or 2) the connection issues happen at a point where the game was essentially lost for them. Our goal is to keep the tournament’s timings as short as possible for the sake of everyone’s experience.
    2. This is just a suggestion, and we are aware that not everyone will agree. Coercion, bribery or other means to determine the outcome of a disconnect are strictly prohibited.
  2. If no agreement is reached, one or both players MUST flag the match on Report Match Issue > A player disconnected.
  3. A TO will come over and will evaluate the different pictures and videos sent by either one or both players in order to determine the outcome of the match resulting in a connection issue.
    1. If one of the players doesn’t send the pic/screenshot and clip to the TOs, they will receive a game loss in that match.
    2. If any of the players send the send the pic/screenshot and clip to the TOs, both of them will receive a game loss in that match.
  4. Based on all pics and videos received, the player deemed responsible for the connection issue (whether it be intentionally or not) will receive a game loss for that match.
    1. The set will continue as usual with the remaining games.
    2. The TOs decision will be communicated clearly to both players over on the Battlefy chat. Their decision is final and irrevocable.
Keep in mind that players repeatedly causing connection issues will be noted by our TOs and are subject to disqualification at the head TOs discretion. Should a situation arise that is not covered above, the TOs will handle on a case-by-case basis.

Identities and ghosting

All players are expected to sign up using their real identities, such as their real names and actual Discord usernames. Those can differ from one another, but must remain true and unipersonal.

Any player proven to be ghosted (helped by other players, regardless if they were already eliminated or didn’t take part in the event) or signing up with a fake/alt identity, will be disqualified from the event, losing any right to the prizes earned, such as prize money or other products.

Behavior

All players competing on our tournaments or taking part in any of our activities are expected to have a respectful behavior towards other players and the Victory Road staff. Similarly, all players are subject to the Play! Pokémon’s standards of conduct.

Any player whose behavior is deemed against these standards of conduct will be disqualified from the tournament, losing any right to the prizes earned, such as prize money or other products.

Unacceptable behavior includes, but is not limited to, insults, slurs and discrimination based on ethnic background, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs. Victory Road’s TOs will evaluate each situation in a case-by-case basis and will decide on the most appropriate measures.

salamence-mega Sign-up guide

In order to sign up for the VR May Challenge, please complete the following steps:

  1. Join the tournament’s Battlefy page and complete all steps regarding sign ups.
  2. Join Victory Road’s Discord Server, which will be our main source of announcements during the event. All communication between players and players-TOs should be addressed through Battlefy.
  3. Check your Nintendo Online subscription and make sure to download the Battle Spot Series 4 ruleset.
  4. Fill the team sheet form. You can do this anytime before the tournament  If you change your mind after sending a team, just fill the form again — only your last submission will count.

All steps must be completed before the tournament starts at 2 pm UTC on May 2nd. Failing to do so will result on you not being able to compete. Please refer to the refund policy section above if you decide not to play mid-way through registering.

Reach out to our staff over on Twitter, Discord or by email (management [at] victoryroad.pro) for any questions or issues.

Don’t forget to retweet the announcement to enter the giveaway of a free entry! ⤵️

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