| Event | 2025 Melbourne Regional Championships |
|---|---|
| Location |  Melbourne, VIC, Australia |
| Date | 17–18 May 2025 |
| Capacity | 320 players (256 MA, 32 SR, 32 JR) |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2025 Season – VGC Regulation Set I |
| Format | 2-day Swiss rounds + asymmetrical top cut, as per attendance Open team lists |
| Organizer | ESL Australia |
Check the organizer’s website here for further info!
Table of Contents
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through RK9 Labs platform, and you will first need to set up your RK9 profile and have a Play! Pokémon Player ID.
Sign-ups are A$50 for Masters players and A$40 for Senior and Junior players, and they open on 19 March at 7 pm AEDT (08:00 UTC). There are 256 spots for Masters players, 32 for Senior players, and 32 for Junior players. Initially, there were 288 spots announced for Masters players, but some were reallocated to other games on 3 April.
If the player cap is not reached, sign-ups close 2 hours before the event starts.
For registered players, team lists must be submitted 1 hour before the event starts, by 17 May at 7:30 am AEST (16 May at 21:30 UTC).
Spectator passes are A$20 and can be purchased here.
Streaming
It is still unknown whether the event will be streamed.
Venue and schedule
The tournament is held at the following location:
Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre
1 Convention Centre Pl
South Wharf VIC 3006, Australia
Check-in can be done in advance on Friday 16 May from 5 pm to 8 pm AEST, or early on Saturday from 7:30 am.
Players must be in the venue by 17 May at 8:30 am AEST (16 May at 22:30 UTC) for the players meeting. The tournament starts thereafter with the Day 1 Swiss rounds. Seniors and Juniors start 30 minutes later.
Players qualified to Day 2 must be in the venue by 18 May at 8:30 am AEST (17 May at 22:30 UTC) for the team checks. The Day 2 Swiss rounds and the top cut will be played thereafter.
Prizes
This event is part of the 2025 official TPCi circuit and thus it rewards Championship Points (CPs).
Check out the organizer’s website for information about participation goodies.
Additionally, the best-placed players will receive the following CPs, prize money and Pokémon TCG booster packs depending on final attendance:
| Placement | Championship Points | Kicker |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | Invite to the 2025 World Championships 350 CP | 0 |
| Finalist | 325 CP | 4 |
| Semifinalists | 300 CP | 8 |
| 5th to 8th | 280 CP | 17 |
| 9th to 16th | 160 CP | 33 |
| 17th to 32nd | 125 CP | 65 |
| 33rd to 64th | 100 CP | 129 |
| 65th to 128th | 80 CP | 257 |
| 129th to 256th | 60 CP | 513 |
| 257th to 512th | 40 CP | 1025 |
| 513th to 1024th | 20 CP | 2049 |
| Placement | Masters | Junior & Senior |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | $6,000 USD | $1,000 USD |
| Finalist | $4,000 USD | $750 USD |
| Semifinalists | $2,000 USD | $500 USD |
| 5th to 8th | $1,000 USD | – |
| 9th to 16th | $750 USD | – |
| Players per age division | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placement | <33 | 33-64 | 65-128 | 129-256 | 257-512 | 513-1024 | 1025-2048 | 2049+ |
| Champion | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Finalist | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| Semifinalists | 36 | 72 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 5th to 8th | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 108 | 108 | 108 | 108 |
| 9th to 16th | 9 | 18 | 36 | 36 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 108 |
| 17th to 32nd | 18 | 18 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 | ||
| 33rd to 64th | 9 | 36 | 36 | 36 | 36 | |||
| 65th to 128th | 18 | 18 | 36 | 36 | ||||
| 129th to 256th | 9 | 18 | 18 | |||||
| 257th to 512th | 9 | |||||||
If prize money is $5000 or more, it will be given as a choice of scholarship (in all cases) or cash (for minors, as a Pokémon Visa® Prepaid Card). For lower prizes, it will be given as cash (for minors, as a Pokémon Visa® Prepaid Card).
Overview
The Melbourne Regional Championships is an official TPCi Regional-level event for Pokémon VGC, TCG and Pokémon GO. It is the third and last Regional-level event of the 2025 season in the Oceanian circuit.
The ruleset is VGC Regulation Set I, and it is played using open team lists. It is the first-ever major event in Oceania with the new ruleset.
A little bit of history
Australia has been part of the Oceania region of the official TPCi circuit since they were established. It has hosted multiple major events, including Regional Championships, old-era National Championships and all editions of OCIC from 2017 to 2023. Australia’s greatest VGC success is Nicholas Kan‘s 2017 Junior Division World Championship win, while in the Masters Division his brother Christopher Kan won the 2017 North America International Championships and Sam Pandelis reached that same year the finals at the 2017 World Championships.
The most recent tournament held in Australia was the 2025 Brisbane Regional, played with the VGC Regulation Set G in March 2025. The finals saw 2024 Worlds quarterfinalist Diego Ferreira defeat Australian Joshua Sutherland-Smith to win his first Regional Championship title!
The last time there was an event in Victoria was the 2024 Melbourne Regional, played with the VGC Regulation Set F in February 2024. The finals saw Australian Kiran Singh defeat 2016 Auckland Regional finalist Trent Sayer to win his first Regional Championship title!
