| Event | Victory Road to Anaheim – The Final Stretch (2025) |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Date | 9–10 August 2025 |
| Attendance | 236 players |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2025 Season – VGC Regulation Set I |
| Format | 7 Day 1 Swiss rounds + 2 Day 2 Swiss rounds + asymmetrical top cut Open team lists |
| Organizer | Victory Road |
Table of Contents
Teams and results
Top cut
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8-1 |  | Taran Birdee (Taran) | $1,130 |       |  | |
| 2 | 7-2 |  | Giovanni Cischke (PqlarBear) | $565 |       | | |
| 3 | 8-1 |  | Cristian Contreras (tailor) | $280 |    | | |
| 4 | 7-2 |  | Motoki Agano (スカーレット) | $280 |      | | |
| 5 | 7-2 |  | Christian Mossati (Christian) | $140 |     | | |
| 6 | 7-2 |  | Luca Paz (0-x in swiss) | $140 | | | |
| 7 | 7-2 |  | Wang Yuxiang (SG★) | $140 | | | |
| 8 | 7-2 |  | Frederik Høj Nielsen (Hoej) | $140 |     | | |
| 9 | 8-1 |  | Federico Camporesi (FedeCampoVGC) | – | | | |
| 10 | 8-1 | | Taro Okada (さなみ) | – | | | |
| 11 | 8-1 |  | Mark Mullender (Mark) | – | | | |
| 12 | 8-1 | | Zion Craig (Zion) | – |   | | |
| 13 | 7-2 |  | Pablo Verástegui (Kath) | – | | | |
| 14 | 7-2 | | Dylan Salvanera (Dylan) | – | | | |
| 15 | 7-2 | | Ian Larson (Takedownmy) | – |   | | |
| 16 | 7-2 |  | Hyeongmin Mo (아이앰 딸기) | – |  | | |
| 17 | 7-2 | | Diego Valle (Diego) | – |  | | |
| 18 | 7-2 |  | Jonathan Zuniga (Jawnzu) | – | | | |
| 19 | 7-2 | | Shohei Kimura (ナンス) | – |   | | |
| 20 | 7-2 | | Li Songlin (霖) | – | | |
Day 2 Swiss rounds
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 6-3 | | Benny Vasquez (Benny) | – |  | | |
| 22 | 6-3 | | William Brown (billy) | – | | | |
| 23 | 6-3 | | Shinya Takeuchi (ハクシュウ) | – |   | | |
| 24 | 6-3 | | Hsuan-Chih Kuo (Suggy) | – | | | |
| 25 | 6-3 | | Hojun Yoo (태희) | – | | | |
| 26 | 6-3 | | Minjun Oh (은빛♪) | – | | | |
| 27 | 6-3 | | Takaaki Ando (スカーレット) | – |  | | |
| 28 | 6-3 | | Jeonghwan Jeon (흑베에) | – | | | |
| 29 | 6-3 | | Jonathan Martin (Sora) | – |    | | |
| 30 | 6-3 | | Sam Tabner (Sam) | – | | | |
| 31 | 6-3 |  | João Leite (Flying Knight) | – |  | | |
| 32 | 6-3 | | Samuel Thompson (Sam) | – |   | | |
| 33 | 6-3 |  | Aapo Niemiranta (Aapo) | – |  | | |
| 34 | 6-3 | | Martín Pena (Nani) | – | | | |
| 35 | 6-3 | | Munenori Okumura (バイオレット) | – | | | |
| 36 | 6-3 | | Yoav Reuven (Cloud) | – | | | |
| 37 | 6-3 |  | Ramon Diaz (Ramon) | – | | | |
| 38 | 6-3 |  | Michael Kelsch (derBeste²) | – | | | |
| 39 | 6-3 | | Zhang Zhe (天难忱斯) | – |  | | |
| 40 | 5-4 | | Tomohisa Okuno (まふゆ) | – | | | |
| 41 | 5-4 |  | Sahil Shaikh (Shadewalker) | – | | | |
| 42 | 5-4 | | Naoya Takasago (mizmiz) | – | | | |
| 43 | 6-2 | | Eric Bush (Eric) | – | | | |
| 44 | 5-4 | | Andrew Ding (Valentine★) | – | | | |
| 45 | 5-3 | | Nikolaj Høj Nielsen (NikolajHoej) | – | | | |
| 46 | 5-4 | | Vishy Vasudevan (Vishy) | – |  | | |
| 47 | 5-4 | | Cristhian Andrade (cedrico) | – | | | |
| 48 | 5-3 | | Suwoong Cheong (정수웅) | – | | | |
| 49 | 5-3 | | Seongjae Jeong (나연♥︎) | – | | | |
| 50 | 5-3 | | Shuji Endo (えげ) | – | | | |
| 51 | 5-4 | | Ruben Gianzini (Ruben) | – | | |
Usage stats
Restricted pairs
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 23.4% (55) | 27% (14) |
| 2 | | 17.0% (40) | 18% (9) |
| 3 | | 9.4% (22) | 14% (7) |
| 4 | | 8.1% (19) | 4% (2) |
| 5 | | 6.8% (16) | 2% (1) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 5.5% (13) | 10% (5) |
| 7 | | 4.3% (10) | 6% (3) |
| 8 | | 3.8% (9) | 2% (1) |
| 9 | | 3.8% (9) | 2% (1) |
| 10 | | 3.4% (8) | 4% (2) |
Restricted usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 45.1% (106) | 49% (25) |
| 2 | | 40.0% (94) | 37% (19) |
| 3 | | 30.2% (71) | 39% (20) |
| 4 | | 26.4% (62) | 25% (13) |
| 5 | | 15.7% (37) | 18% (9) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 15.7% (37) | 14% (7) |
| 7 | | 9.8% (23) | 6% (3) |
| 8 | | 6.0% (14) | 4% (2) |
| 9 | | 4.3% (10) | 2% (1) |
| 10 | | 3.0% (7) | 4% (2) |
Overall usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 54.9% (129) | 51% (26) |
| 2 | | 31.5% (74) | 31% (16) |
| 3 | (R) | 27.7% (65) | 29% (15) |
| 4 | | 23.8% (56) | 35% (18) |
| 5 | | 18.3% (43) | 16% (8) |
| 6 | | 17.9% (42) | 22% (11) |
| 7 | | 17.0% (40) | 16% (8) |
| 8 | | 15.7% (37) | 20% (10) |
| 9 | | 14.9% (35) | 14% (7) |
| 10 | | 11.9% (28) | 16% (8) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | | 11.5% (27) | 16% (8) |
| 12 | | 11.5% (27) | 16% (8) |
| 13 | | 10.6% (25) | 14% (7) |
| 14 | | 10.6% (25) | 14% (7) |
| 15 | | 9.8% (23) | 14% (7) |
| 16 | | 9.8% (23) | 8% (4) |
| 17 | | 9.8% (23) | 4% (2) |
| 18 | | 9.4% (22) | 8% (4) |
| 19 | | 9.4% (22) | 6% (3) |
| 20 | | 7.7% (18) | 6% (3) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | | 5.5% (13) | 4% (2) |
| 22 | | 4.7% (11) | 2% (1) |
| 23 | | 4.7% (11) | 2% (1) |
| 24 | | 3.8% (9) | 2% (1) |
| 25 | | 3.4% (8) | 2% (1) |
| 26 | | 3.0% (7) | 2% (1) |
| 27 | | 2.6% (6) | 2% (1) |
| 28 | | 2.6% (6) | 2% (1) |
| 29 | | 2.1% (5) | 6% (3) |
| 30 | | 2.1% (5) | 4% (2) |
Streaming
Unfortunately there is no stream by Victory Road for this event. In any case, players that stream their runs are promoted by Victory Road during the tournament.
Platform and schedule
The tournament is held online through Battlefy. All communication between the players must be done through the Battlefy chat enabled in each round.
Official communication from the organizer staff is performed through Discord, in the Victory Road Discord server.
The tournament will use the structure of 2-day Swiss rounds + asymmetrical top cut that is in place for all major events in the 2025 season.
The schedule of the tournament is as follows:
- 9 August at 13:00 UTC:
- Day 1 Swiss rounds. All signed up players can play all these rounds. Those with 2 or fewer losses (X-2) at the end of this stage advance to Day 2, and all others are dropped from the tournament.
- 10 August at 13:00 UTC:
- Day 2 Swiss rounds: The qualified players continue playing Swiss rounds. At the end of this stage, the top 8 competitors and all others with an equal record as 8th place will advance to the next stage.
- Top cut: the players in top cut will continue playing right after the end of the Day 2 Swiss rounds, with a bye to the highest-ranked players if the number results in an asymmetrical top cut.
Prizes
This event is a grassroots tournament and is not a part of any official circuit. This means that it does not reward any Championship Points (CPs).
For this tournament, an extra $820 have been added to the prizepool by Victory Road. This comes from the prize money voided during the VR July Challenge #2, where a player was disqualified for using a fake identity and repeatedly lying to the staff.
The best-placed players receive the following prizes:
| Placement | Prize money |
|---|---|
| Winner | 40% of the prizepool |
| Runner-up | 20% of the prizepool |
| Semifinalists | 10% of the prizepool |
| 5th to 8th | 5% of the prizepool |
Overview
The Victory Road to Anaheim – The Final Stretch is an online event hosted by Victory Road, with the purpose of serving as practice for the upcoming live tournaments, with a special focus on the 2025 World Championships.
The ruleset is VGC Regulation Set I, with open team lists.
All detailed tournament procedures, including rules and penalties, can be found here.
A little bit of history
Victory Road has been consistently holding online grassroots tournaments for years, including standalone events, online invitationals featuring qualifier events, and the yearly biggest online team competition in the World Cup of Pokémon VGC. Victory Road has also provided streams to several official Regional Championships in Europe since 2019.
Our most recent tournament was the Victory Road to Anaheim #2, also played with the VGC Regulation Set I on the previous weekend. The finals saw 2-time Regional Champion Joseph Ugarte defeat Taiwanese Li Yu-Chi to win $730 and his record-breaking fifth VR tournament!
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through Battlefy platform. Sign-ups are $10 (+ $1 Battlefy tax) and open upon announcement of the event. 85% of the total entry fee money is directed towards the prizes ($8.5 per player), and 15% is used to compensate the staff members, tournament organizers and judges ($1.5 per player).
All players need to provide a team list in Pokémon Showdown export format (shared in a link such as PokéPaste, PokéBin or other similar text-share sites) with all open team list data about the team’s Pokémon (including form, Tera Type, ability, held item and moves).
Additionally, all players need to provide another closed team list (only for TOs) with all previous information and either stat values or minted Nature + IVs + EVs. This list may be password-protected.
Please ask any staff member if you need help registering the team lists!
Sign-ups close 15 min before the event starts. Players that do not show up and get their third loss are dropped from the tournament.
