| Event | Victory Road July Challenge #2 (2025) |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Date | 12–13 July 2025 |
| Attendance | 241 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 |  | Juan Salerno (James) | $410 |       |  | |
| 2 | 8-1 |  | Giovanni Piscitelli (Genius) | $205 |  | | |
| 3 | 7-2 |  | Louis Markl (Louis) | $205 |  | | |
| 4 | 8-1 |  | Kazuki Ogushi (ミオリア) | $100 |  | | |
| 5 | 7-2 |  | Matt Maynard (bwenty) | $100 |     | | |
| 6 | 7-2 | | Markus Hamann (Yoshi) | $100 |   | | |
| 7 | 7-2 | | Selahattin Sturm (Sela) | $100 | | | |
| 8 | 8-1 |  | Nitesh Manem (Nacho) | – |     | | |
| 9 | 7-2 |  | Nikolaj Høj Nielsen (NikolajHoej) | – |    | | |
| 10 | 7-2 | | Mao Harada (シズ) | – |   | | |
| 11 | 7-2 |  | Cristhian Andrade (cedrico) | – |    | | |
| 12 | 7-2 |  | Sam Danneker (Sam) | – |    | | |
| 13 | 7-2 |  | Nikola Zirdum (Nix) | – |  | | |
| 14 | 7-2 |  | Sebastián Rodríguez (Kommander) | – | | | |
| 15 | 7-2 | | Yuki Tatebe (ランペル) | – |    | | |
| 16 | 7-2 |  | Marcus Koh (Calculus) | – |     | | |
| 17 | 7-2 | | Thomas Schultz (Tos) | – |   | | |
| 18 | 7-2 | | Takahiro Ishida (ニガ・ナオミ) | – |  | | |
| 19 | 7-2 |  | Dicky Nicholas (Nicholas) | – | | | |
| 20 | 7-2 |  | Javier Gutiérrez (Javier) | – |  | |
Day 2 Swiss rounds
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 6-3 |  | Xiao Haotian (日日) | – |  | | |
| 22 | 6-3 | | Frederik Høj Nielsen (Hoej) | – | | | |
| 23 | 6-3 | | Dan Hughes (dan chunks) | – | | | |
| 24 | 6-3 | | Zhang Zhe (天难忱斯) | – |  | | |
| 25 | 6-3 |  | David Fernández (Xpartaz) | – |   | | |
| 26 | 6-3 | | Ander Bolaños (Fragox) | – | | | |
| 27 | 6-3 | | Campbell Hodgins (Draxolotl) | – |  | | |
| 28 | 6-3 | | Giovanni Cischke (PqlarBear) | – |   | | |
| 29 | 6-3 |  | Sebastián Lobos (Seba) | – | | | |
| 30 | 6-3 |  | Li Yu-Chi (東雲青空) | – |  | | |
| 31 | 6-3 | | Gustavo Kengo (K3ngo) | – | | | |
| 32 | 6-3 |  | Michał Kwiatkowski (Narret) | – |  | | |
| 33 | 6-3 | | Ryosuke Kosuge (げべぼ) | – | | | |
| 34 | 6-3 | | Dylan Salvanera (Dylan) | – | | | |
| 35 | 6-3 |  | Aaron O’Doherty (Sark) | – | | | |
| 36 | 6-3 | | Yuki Zaninovich (ゆうき) | – |    | | |
| 37 | 6-3 |  | Jongone Moon (9세대) | – | | | |
| 38 | 6-3 | | Yan Sym (Hellraiser) | – | | | |
| 39 | 6-3 |  | Justin Miranda-Radbord (Definition) | – | | | |
| 40 | 5-4 | | Rich Cuddy (Rich) | – | | | |
| 41 | 5-4 | | Cruz Ting (Ze Banded) | – | | | |
| 42 | 5-4 | | Ryosuke Aso (Ryo) | – | | | |
| 43 | 5-4 | | Ferdinando Vincenti (TedWinners) | – | | | |
| 44 | 5-4 | | Stephane Giangaspero (Heisenbread) | – | | | |
| 45 | 5-4 |  | Ariel Bashari (Ariel) | – | | | |
| 46 | 5-3 | | Adam Colson (Adam) | – | | | |
| 47 | 5-3 | | Seongjae Jeong (나연♥︎) | – | | | |
| 48 | 5-3 | | Stefano Greppi (Ste) | – | | | |
| 49 | 5-4 |  | Theo Delanoy (Snowballl) | – | | | |
| 50 | 5-3 | | Hyungwoo Shin (히나) | – | | |
Usage stats
Restricted pairs
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 27.0% (65) | 18% (9) |
| 2 | | 17.0% (41) | 31% (16) |
| 3 | | 8.3% (20) | 6% (3) |
| 4 | | 5.8% (14) | 6% (3) |
| 5 | | 5.0% (12) | 0% (0) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 4.6% (11) | 2% (1) |
| 7 | | 4.1% (10) | 4% (2) |
| 8 | | 3.3% (8) | 6% (3) |
| 9 | | 3.3% (8) | 2% (1) |
| 10 | | 2.5% (6) | 4% (2) |
Restricted usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 55.6% (134) | 42% (21) |
| 2 | | 32.4% (78) | 24% (12) |
| 3 | | 29.5% (71) | 42% (21) |
| 4 | | 25.3% (61) | 43% (22) |
| 5 | | 15.8% (38) | 10% (5) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 10.4% (25) | 4% (2) |
| 7 | | 8.7% (21) | 6% (3) |
| 8 | | 8.3% (20) | 10% (5) |
| 9 | | 7.1% (17) | 12% (6) |
| 10 | | 4.1% (10) | 4% (2) |
Overall usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 62.7% (151) | 60% (30) |
| 2 | (R) | 41.9% (101) | 42% (21) |
| 3 | | 22.8% (55) | 32% (16) |
| 4 | | 18.7% (45) | 16% (8) |
| 5 | | 18.3% (44) | 16% (8) |
| 6 | | 17.8% (43) | 14% (7) |
| 7 | | 17.0% (41) | 18% (9) |
| 8 | | 15.8% (38) | 18% (9) |
| 9 | | 15.8% (38) | 8% (4) |
| 10 | | 14.1% (34) | 12% (6) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | | 12.9% (31) | 18% (9) |
| 12 | | 12.9% (31) | 8% (4) |
| 13 | | 12.4% (30) | 6% (3) |
| 14 | | 11.2% (27) | 8% (4) |
| 15 | | 10.8% (26) | 10% (5) |
| 16 | | 9.5% (23) | 18% (9) |
| 17 | | 9.1% (22) | 8% (4) |
| 18 | | 6.6% (16) | 6% (3) |
| 19 | | 5.4% (13) | 8% (4) |
| 20 | | 4.6% (11) | 10% (5) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | | 4.6% (11) | 6% (3) |
| 22 | | 4.1% (10) | 2% (1) |
| 23 | | 3.3% (8) | 4% (2) |
| 24 | | 3.3% (8) | 4% (2) |
| 25 | | 2.9% (7) | 4% (2) |
| 26 | | 2.9% (7) | 4% (2) |
| 27 | | 2.5% (6) | 4% (2) |
| 28 | | 2.5% (6) | 2% (1) |
| 29 | | 2.1% (5) | 4% (2) |
| 30 |  (S) | 2.1% (5) | 0% (0) |
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:
- 12 July 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.
- 13 July 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).
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 July Challenge #2 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 VR July Challenge #1, also played with the VGC Regulation Set I the previous week. The finals saw 2-time Thailand Championships finalist Narawitch Naenna defeat 2023 Worlds finalist Michael Kelsch to win $970 and his second VR tournament, after his win as a player & manager of Team Thailand in the 2022 World Cup of Pokémon VGC!
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.
