| Event | Victory Road July Challenge #1 (2025) |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Date | 5–6 July 2025 |
| Attendance | 286 players |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2025 Season – VGC Regulation Set I |
| Format | 8 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 | 8-2 |  | Narawitch Naenna (MyStars) | $970 |       |  | |
| 2 | 8-2 |  | Michael Kelsch (derBeste²) | $485 |   | | |
| 3 | 10-0 |  | Luca Paz (0-x in swiss) | $240 |    | | |
| 4 | 8-2 |  | Chris Large (Chris) | $240 |   | | |
| 5 | 9-1 |  | Hojun Yoo (태희) | $120 |      | | |
| 6 | 8-2 |  | Ko Tsukide (ストレリチア) | $120 | | | |
| 7 | 8-2 |  | Raj Desai (Raj) | $120 |  | | |
| 8 | 8-2 | | Louis Markl (Louis) | $120 | | | |
| 9 | 9-1 | | Samuel Thompson (Sam) | – |     | | |
| 10 | 8-2 |  | Davide Carrer (Nirinbo) | – | | | |
| 11 | 8-2 |  | Matthew Robinson (tsumi88) | – |    | | |
| 12 | 8-2 | | Lorenzo Sollini (Lorenzo) | – |  | | |
| 13 | 8-2 | | Takuto Notohara (のっとん) | – |  | | |
| 14 | 8-2 |  | Nikolaj Høj Nielsen (NikolajHoej) | – |   | | |
| 15 | 8-2 | | Francesco Deiana (Francis) | – |  | | |
| 16 | 8-2 | | Hayato Takahashi (バイオレット) | – | | |
Day 2 Swiss rounds
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 7-3 | | Giovanni Panarello (Bèf) | – |    | | |
| 18 | 7-3 |  | Isaac Moreira (AHollow) | – |     | | |
| 19 | 7-3 | | Gabriel Rigo (Gabri) | – |   | | |
| 20 | 7-3 | | Yuto Kimura (キム) | – | | | |
| 21 | 7-3 |  | Daniel Marcelo Reyes (Daniel) | – | | | |
| 22 | 7-3 | | Yuta Uehara (うえシナ) | – | | | |
| 23 | 7-3 | | Jorge Martí (Jennie) | – | | | |
| 24 | 7-3 | | René Oertel (Sirox) | – |  | | |
| 25 | 7-3 |  | Louis Fontvieille (Louis) | – | | | |
| 26 | 7-3 | | Joan Garcia (スカーレット) | – | | | |
| 27 | 7-3 | | Cary D’Ortona (Cary) | – | | | |
| 28 | 7-3 | | Yan Sym (Hellraiser) | – | | | |
| 29 | 7-3 | | Théotime Massaut (Didi) | – |  | | |
| 30 | 7-3 | | Darsh Patel (Darsh) | – | | | |
| 31 | 6-4 | | Yuma Miyamoto (まある) | – | | | |
| 32 | 6-4 | | Alejandro Tovar (Tovar) | – | | | |
| 33 | 6-4 | | Giulio Tarlao (Giulio) | – |  | | |
| 34 | 6-4 | | Shohei Kimura (ナンス) | – | | | |
| 35 | 6-3 | | Yoshimasa Hayakawa (スカーレット) | – | | | |
| 36 | 6-3 | | Lukas Strømberg (Tornado) | – |  | | |
| 37 | 6-4 |  | Vishy Vasudevan (Vishy) | – |  | | |
| 38 | 6-4 | | Daniele Kaygorodova (Kaiser) | – | | | |
| 39 | 6-4 | | Kazuki Kobayashi (CRYMAX) | – | | | |
| 40 | 6-4 |  | Li Yu-Chi (東雲青空) | – |  | |
Usage stats
Restricted pairs
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 19.2% (55) | 20% (8) |
| 2 | | 16.1% (46) | 28% (11) |
| 3 | | 10.1% (29) | 10% (4) |
| 4 | | 7.7% (22) | 8% (3) |
| 5 | | 6.6% (19) | 8% (3) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 6.6% (19) | 3% (1) |
| 7 | | 4.9% (14) | 5% (2) |
| 8 | | 4.2% (12) | 0% (0) |
| 9 | | 3.5% (10) | 3% (1) |
| 10 | | 3.5% (10) | 0% (0) |
Restricted usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 45.1% (129) | 60% (24) |
| 2 | | 32.2% (92) | 40% (16) |
| 3 | | 31.5% (90) | 28% (11) |
| 4 | | 24.8% (71) | 30% (12) |
| 5 | | 16.8% (48) | 10% (4) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 Usage | D2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 14.0% (40) | 10% (4) |
| 7 | | 14.0% (40) | 5% (2) |
| 8 | | 9.4% (27) | 8% (3) |
| 9 | | 4.9% (14) | 3% (1) |
| 10 | | 3.8% (11) | 5% (2) |
Overall usage
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 54.9% (157) | 78% (31) |
| 2 | (R) | 35.0% (100) | 45% (18) |
| 3 | | 29.0% (83) | 33% (13) |
| 4 | | 22.0% (63) | 15% (6) |
| 5 | | 21.7% (62) | 20% (8) |
| 6 | | 19.2% (55) | 20% (8) |
| 7 | | 16.8% (48) | 13% (5) |
| 8 | | 16.1% (46) | 3% (1) |
| 9 | | 15.7% (45) | 20% (8) |
| 10 | | 15.0% (43) | 15% (6) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | | 11.5% (33) | 3% (1) |
| 12 | | 11.2% (32) | 10% (4) |
| 13 | | 10.5% (30) | 10% (4) |
| 14 | | 9.8% (28) | 13% (5) |
| 15 | | 9.4% (27) | 20% (8) |
| 16 | | 9.4% (27) | 5% (2) |
| 17 | | 9.4% (27) | 3% (1) |
| 18 | | 9.1% (26) | 15% (6) |
| 19 | | 5.2% (15) | 13% (5) |
| 20 | | 5.2% (15) | 3% (1) |
| # | Pokémon | D1 | D2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 |  | 5.2% (15) | 0% (0) |
| 22 | | 4.5% (13) | 3% (1) |
| 23 | | 4.5% (13) | 3% (1) |
| 24 | | 4.5% (13) | 3% (1) |
| 25 |  | 3.8% (11) | 0% (0) |
| 26 | | 3.5% (10) | 3% (1) |
| 27 | | 3.1% (9) | 3% (1) |
| 28 |  | 3.1% (9) | 0% (0) |
| 29 | | 2.4% (7) | 5% (2) |
| 30 | | 2.1% (6) | 5% (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
- 5 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.
- 6 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 #1 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 June Challenge #3, played with the VGC Regulation Set I the previous week. The finals saw 2-time Pokémon Trainers Cup finalist Jeongso Lee defeat 2024 Melbourne Regional Champion Kiran Singh to win $710 and his second VR tournament, after this one in 2022!
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 PokéPaste format 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 for the first three rounds are dropped from the tournament before round 4.
