| Event | Victory Road October Challenge #1 (2026) |
|---|---|
| Location | Online |
| Date | 3–4 October 2026 |
| Attendance | 384 players |
| Videogame | Pokémon Champions |
| Season | 2027 Season – VGC Regulation Set M-C |
| Format+ | 8+3 Swiss rounds + X-2 top cut Open team lists |
| Organizer | Victory Road |
Table of Contents
Teams and results
Top cut
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS | Replica |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9-2 |  | Michael Kelsch (Michi) | VRtSG $1,305 |       |  | |
| 2 | 10-1 |  | Marcus Dion (striider) | $655 |       | | |
| 3 | 9-2 |  | Takuto Notohara (のっとん) | $325 |    | | |
| 4 | 9-2 |  | Emanuele Briganti (Lele) | $325 |   | | |
| 5 | 10-1 | | Federico Camporesi (Campo) | $165 |    | | |
| 6 | 10-1 |  | Carson Confer (Carson) | $165 | | | |
| 7 | 9-2 | | Lorenzo Antognoni (Dubious) | $165 |    | | |
| 8 | 9-2 | | Andrew Figueras (Andrew) | $165 |   | | |
| 9 | 9-2 |  | Théotime Massaut (Didi) | – | | | |
| 10 | 9-2 |  | Víctor Medina (Torviv) | – |     | | |
| 11 | 9-2 | | Juan Manuel Odriozola (Juanma) | – |  | | |
| 12 | 9-2 | | Jack Geronime (Jack G) | – |   | |
Phase 2 Swiss rounds
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS | Replica |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 8-3 | | Shunsuke Minami (Caroline) | – | | | |
| 14 | 8-3 | | Louis Markl (Louis) | – | | | |
| 15 | 8-3 | | Tota Nambu (X) | – |  | | X3434 2XC3Q |
| 16 | 8-3 | | Jonas Wiegel (Weevil) | – |    | | |
| 17 | 8-3 |  | Marcelo Langaro (JAGUARR) | – |    | | |
| 18 | 8-3 | | Daniel Yu (ArKane) | – |   | | |
| 19 | 8-3 | | Flavio Del Pidio (PADØ) | – | | | |
| 20 | 8-3 |  | Roxanne Joniau (Midori) | – |   | | 786CT UAM4G |
| 21 | 8-3 | | Roberto Parente (Bobby) | – |   | | |
| 22 | 8-3 |  | Jack Kent (Subzan) | – | | | |
| 23 | 8-3 | | Marco Silva (marcofiero) | – | | | |
| 24 | 8-3 | | Thomas Schultz (Tos) | – | | | |
| 25 | 8-3 |  | Walid Slim (bya3) | – |  | | |
| 26 | 8-3 | | Léo Fontvieille (Leo) | – |  | | |
| 27 | 8-3 | | Jacob Acker (Jacre) | – |  | | |
| 28 | 8-3 | | Juan Alejandro Romero (Juan Ale) | – | | | |
| 29 | 8-3 | | Jerry Woods (Sabaku) | – | | | |
| 30 | 7-4 | | Arlan Bateson (luna) | – | | | |
| 31 | 7-4 | | Davide Carrer (Nirinbo) | – | | | |
| 32 | 7-4 | | Liam Chatterjee (Liam) | – | | | |
| 33 | 7-4 |  | Jude Lee (マギカウラ) | – |  | | |
| 34 | 7-4 | | Martín Pena (Naniroma) | – |  | | |
| 35 | 7-4 | | Simon Iredale (CptAuro) | – | | | |
| 36 | 7-4 |  | Robbie van der Raaf (Robstar-Z) | – | | | |
| 37 | 7-4 | | Alex Soto (Len) | – |  | | |
| 38 | 7-4 | | Fuqi Lin (Fuqii) | – | | | |
| 39 | 7-3 | | Ander Bolaños (Fragox) | – | | | |
| 40 | 7-3 | | Zee Costagliola (Zero) | – | | | |
| 41 | 6-5 | | Javier Freire (Frey) | – |   | | |
| 42 | 6-3 | | Soichiro Imanaka (gugugagaa) | – | | | |
| 43 | 6-3 | | Stefano Greppi (Ste) | – | | | |
| 44 | 6-3 | | Tanner Mask (Tanner) | – | | | |
| 45 | 6-4 | | Noah Carney (Carnzy3) | – | | | |
| 46 | 6-3 | | Louis Fontvieille (Louis) | – | | | |
| 47 | 6-3 | | Keishiro Ohashi (トレーナー) | – | | | |
| 48 | 6-4 |  | Lorenzo Baldera (Lorenzo) | – | | | |
| 49 | 6-3 | | Marc Torralba (Markusme) | – |   | | |
| 50 | 6-3 | | Kian Campbell (Kian) | – | | | |
| 51 | 6-3 |  | Mau Domínguez (taco consumer) | – | | | |
| 52 | 6-3 | | Evelyn Klaus (mrowr :3) | – | | | 9J0NT VANYW |
| 53 | 6-4 | | Javier Jerez (gokudan) | – | | |
Usage stats
General usage
| # | Pokémon | Ph1 | Ph2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 54.6% (208) | 55% (29) |
| 2 | | 52.8% (201) | 62% (33) |
| 3 | | 43.8% (167) | 42% (22) |
| 4 | | 35.7% (136) | 40% (21) |
| 5 |  | 33.9% (129) | 25% (13) |
| 6 | | 29.9% (114) | 9% (5) |
| 7 | | 26.2% (100) | 34% (18) |
| 8 | | 21.3% (81) | 26% (14) |
| 9 |  | 19.2% (73) | 15% (8) |
| 10 |  | 16.8% (64) | 23% (12) |
| # | Pokémon | Ph1 | Ph2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | | 16.5% (63) | 15% (8) |
| 12 | | 15.5% (59) | 11% (6) |
| 13 | | 14.2% (54) | 13% (7) |
| 14 | | 12.1% (46) | 23% (12) |
| 15 |  | 11.8% (45) | 9% (5) |
| 16 | | 10.8% (41) | 9% (5) |
| 17 | | 10.0% (38) | 6% (3) |
| 18 | | 9.2% (35) | 9% (5) |
| 19 | | 8.7% (33) | 11% (6) |
| 20 | | 8.4% (32) | 15% (8) |
| # | Pokémon | Ph1 | Ph2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21 |  | 8.1% (31) | 9% (5) |
| 22 | | 7.3% (28) | 8% (4) |
| 23 | | 7.3% (28) | 8% (4) |
| 24 |  | 7.1% (27) | 6% (3) |
| 25 | | 6.8% (26) | 6% (3) |
| 26 | | 6.3% (24) | 9% (5) |
| 27 | | 5.8% (22) | 11% (6) |
| 28 | | 5.5% (21) | 2% (1) |
| 29 | | 5.5% (21) | 2% (1) |
| 30 |  | 5.2% (20) | 11% (6) |
Mega Evolution usage
| # | Pokémon | Ph1 Usage | Ph2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | 32.8% (125) | 25% (13) |
| 2 | | 32.0% (122) | 25% (13) |
| 3 | | 18.4% (70) | 15% (8) |
| 4 | | 16.8% (64) | 23% (12) |
| 5 | | 11.8% (45) | 9% (5) |
| # | Pokémon | Ph1 Usage | Ph2 Usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | | 8.1% (31) | 9% (5) |
| 7 | | 7.1% (27) | 6% (3) |
| 8 | | 6.8% (26) | 6% (3) |
| 9 | | 5.2% (20) | 4% (2) |
| 10 | | 5.2% (20) | 4% (2) |
Streaming
There is no stream by Victory Road for this event, but certain matches may be recorded and uploaded to Victory Road’s YouTube channel.
Some content creators may be given access to certain matches in order to feature them live. If you are interested in doing so, please DM us.
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-phase Swiss rounds + asymmetrical top cut that is in place for all major events in the 2027 season.
- In the rare instances where the end of Phase 2 results in fewer than 8 players with 2 or fewer losses (X-2), the asymmetrical top cut will only feature those players at X-2 or better.
The schedule of the tournament is as follows:
- 3 October at 14:00 UTC:
- Phase 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 Phase 2, and all others are dropped from the tournament.
- 4 October at 14:00 UTC:
- Phase 2 Swiss rounds: The qualified players continue playing Swiss rounds. At the end of this stage, those players with 2 or fewer losses (X-2) at the end of Phase 2 will advance to the next stage.
- If there are fewer than 8 players with X-2 records, players at X-3 will not be part of the top cut.
- Top Cut: the players in top cut will continue playing right after the end of the Phase 2 Swiss rounds, with a bye to the highest-ranked players if the number results in an asymmetrical top cut.
- Phase 2 Swiss rounds: The qualified players continue playing Swiss rounds. At the end of this stage, those players with 2 or fewer losses (X-2) at the end of Phase 2 will advance to the next stage.
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 winner gets an invite to the Victory Road to Singapore, an invitational tournament to be held before the 2027 World Championships, and additionally the best-placed players receive the following prizes:
| Placement | Prize money |
|---|---|
| Winner | Invite to the Victory Road to Singapore ~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 October 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 major events of the 2027 season.
It is played with VGC Regulation Set M-C, using 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 September Challenge #2, also played with the VGC Regulation Set M-C the previous week. The finals saw 2026 LAIC semifinalist Théotime Massaut defeat 2026 Utrecht Regional finalist Louis Markl to win $860 and his third VR tournament, after his victories earlier in the year, in January and March!
Sign-up instructions
Sign-ups for the event are done through Battlefy platform. Sign-ups are $11.50 (+ $1.15 Battlefy tax) and open upon announcement of the event. $8.5 of the total entry fee money per player is directed towards the prizes, and $2 is used to compensate the staff members, tournament organizers and judges. The remaining $1 is used as part of an accummulated prizepool for the Victory Road to Singapore to be held before the 2027 World Championships.
All players need to provide a team list in text export format, shared in a link such as VRPastes Open Team List, with all open team list data about the team’s Pokémon (including form, ability, held item, moves and Stat Alignment). In the case of Mega Evolutions, it is important to use the base form of the Pokémon with its ability; the held item will already tell you if it is a Mega Evolution, and VRPastes can show the newly acquired ability upon Mega Evolution.
Additionally, all players need to provide another closed team list (only for TOs) with all previous information and either stat values or Stat Points. This list can also be provided with a VRPastes Closed Team List, with password protection allowed.
Please ask any staff member if you need help registering the team lists!
Sign-ups close right before the event starts. Players that do not show up and get their third loss are dropped from the tournament.
