The Return Rotunda: Play! Pokemon’s 2022 Resumption
Are you excited?
After the abrupt end to, you know, life, in March 2020, it’s been a slow road to something resembling the before times. “Normal,” how much of it we’ve attained, and how much of it we’re likely attain to ever again, is definitely a central contemporary question, but not one that I’m especially interested in hashing out the merits of in a random blog post. What I am interested in, though, is the news that Pokemon’s Organized Play circuit makes a return next month—kicking off with a March 12 Regional Championship in Brisbane, Australia. With the return of flagship events announced for all four of TPCi’s major zones, things seem to be headed in full swing toward a resumption of Play! Pokemon’s tournament series.
I’m here today with some thoughts on what that means, what I think are some important things to keep in mind with resumption coming soon, and some overall thoughts on where the OP circuit might take its participants this year.
For those who don’t know me, I’m Christopher, and I have a bit of history with the Play! Pokemon program. I was a full-on competitive player from 2011 through 2018, qualifying for the World Championships annually from 2012 thru 2018 as both a Senior and Master. I used to write strategy content for SixPrizes.com, took a spin at running the show at 6P for about a year and a half, and peaked as a player with a Top 16 finish at Worlds 2018. I was inspired to begin staffing events gradually over my last few years of playing, but was pushed over the edge at the 2018 World Championships, and began in fervor with the 2019 Championship Series with an inspiration to help bring a player’s perspective to judging, especially as it relates to pace of play and other player-centric issues. I was elated to return to the 2019 World Championships as a staff member. Over time, I’ve also written strategy commentary for Pokemon.com, done some work with RK9 Labs, and learned a nonzero amount of semi-useless Japanese. Overall, I’ve attended events in some capacity in 9 countries on 5 continents. Maybe I need to add commentary to round out my resume. While my most intense involvement is definitely behind me, I’m excited to see some people again in a few weeks.
Most of all, I’m grateful for the wonderful people I’ve met over the years and want that opportunity to be there for those to come.
But, I am not my brother Alex. I’m pretty excited for Alex that people are making that mistake more and more, though. I’m pretty okay with being forgotten.
But, as a reminder: these thoughts are all mine, and not representative of any organization I have any (real or perceived) affiliation with.
And, as a full disclosure, I’m employed in an industry that would especially love to set a time machine back to 2019 and make sure this all never happened. I don’t think that colors my views here, but you can make your own decision on that.
What do we know?
TPCi has announced the following:
- A slate of Regional Championships for all four of its major rating zones.
- A pair of International Championships.
- A vaccination mandate for the aforementioned events.
- A miscellaneous fun fact: cards sold very, very well last year.
The vaccination mandate is a giant elephant at the moment. Unfortunately, the support.pokemon.com page listing COVID-19 policies (that is also linked to from the Regional Championships page above) does not call out the separate set of rules for large events and does not mention vaccination. I have every reason to believe the COVID-19 policy remains unchanged from what was announced in October. Vaccines will be required. My understanding is that the support page is aimed at countries that are currently allowed to run local events (that is, uh…Chile and New Zealand), and is not intended to speak to large event protocol. It’s undeniable that the current presentation is confusing—nevertheless, one should not plan to attend a Regional Championship without an authentic piece of paper (or, if you happen to live somewhere civilized, an actual, functional digital record). Time is ticking to get on top of that, so do so.
(In support of this suggestion, I offer the cancelation of Florida’s Regional Championship: various face covering and vaccine-related requirements are illegal in the state, and TPCi cited the state’s “government regulations and restrictions” in canceling the event. That does not sound like the activity of a company backing down on its vaccine policy to me.)
What does it mean for us?
I’m not here to argue the merits of the requirements one way or another. It does not matter a single bit what I think: if I want to participate in an event, I need to follow the rules. If I think the rules are too onerous, too loose, or simply don’t like them, I can choose not to play in an event. The choices here are quite simple, and do not leave room for debate.
Some open questions: whether boosters/being current on vaccination will be required, what will happen with Juniors in the UK and other countries that haven’t authorized vaccination below 12 years old, and how exactly proof-of-vaccination will be required. These are all important questions that require answers at some point, and I feel for those who are affected by the uncertainty—especially the Juniors situation in Europe and elsewhere.
One extremely closed question: whether it “violates HIPAA” to ask about vaccination for event participation in the United States. It doesn’t!
More open questions: local events will surely come back promptly, right? I’m not as convinced. While I understand the argument that it seems a bit backward to open the big before the small, the big events do have an advantage from TPCi legal’s perspective: they get to make the rules and be certain that the rules are followed. It also allows for tighter legal validation: if they want to require masks at events, but Cerulean City makes masks illegal, that’s a bit of a problem. Don’t get me wrong—I’d love to see Cups next weekend! But, I’m not taking silence as a negative sign about the Regional launch in March.
Another thing: there’s a shocking amount of pessimism suggesting that the late cancelation of the Toronto Regional Championships on March 14, 2020, means TPCi is likely to make another close-in decision on the upcoming events. For those who don’t recall, Toronto was canceled by government order as things were about to open on Friday. I’m on record as believing that it should’ve never gotten that far, but I also believe that indicates that these events are as good-to-go as anything can be in an era with wildly changing landscapes and government rules.
So, events?
On March 8, 2020, a group of the folks staffing the Malmö, Sweden, Regional Championships—the last major premier event before the shutdown—morbidly joked on our way out the door that we’d see each other again in a year. A pessimistic soul or two floated that it might even be two years, but I know we all hoped that wouldn’t be the case. So, it’s a bit ironic that we’re looking at an almost to-the-day two year resumption with Brisbane’s kickoff. I’m really excited to see people, again, though, and that’s at the core of my motivation for attending anything this spring.
There are no doubt going to be some pains with the return, though. Unfortunately, one feature of the pandemic has been a normalization of, frankly, being a jerk. Disorderly conduct on aircraft was up more than 5x in 2021 relative to pre-pandemic, hate crimes are up, and social media has enabled some pretty powerful echo chambers. Like I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t matter at all what I think about TPCi’s established restrictions: if I want to attend an event, I need to agree to abide them, and if I don’t want to agree to abide them, I can’t attend an event.
Please, please if you intend to attend an event in 2022, have the decency to respect the rules and be kind to those responsible for enforcing them. I guarantee you with full certainty that there will be folks staffing events that have a wholesale disagreement with the policies, but it’s going to be their jobs to enforce them because they’re the conditions TPCi feels comfortable holding events under. Be kind to the front-line staff members who ask you to bring that mask squarely above your nose—unless you make a habit of it, nobody is making a character accusation. They’re merely doing their jobs.
It’s no secret that the PTCG community has struggled with the presence of some toxic behavior surrounding women and other minority participation. Recent events on social media make clear that the pandemic layoff—shockingly, I know—has not fixed this. If anything, it seems that saying cruel or unwelcoming things in the name of freedom or whatnot has been emboldened. The sociology behind this is beyond the scope of this blog. Within the scope of this blog is this plea: please, be decent to those around you, who are also excited to be back at an event with their friends. It’s always been disheartening how few top players are willing to condemn poor behavior in their communities, and it’s going to be more important than ever that examples are well-set.
That goes for your friends, too. TPCi’s DEI policy is established and important. Be a part of upholding the spirit of inclusion in your friend group. Challenge the individual who thinks it’s appropriate to spread false rumors, make lewd comments to another person, or do other unsavory things. For most folks, this isn’t going to be a problem, but it only takes a few people going awry to leave a lot of people with a bad taste in their mouth. Be a part of making the community better.
I fear that we’re in for an unprecedented wave of problems. Tense conversations are not new for most staff members, but the evolution of discourse over the last two years makes me fear they could be more frequent. Please do your best to remember that the folks staffing events are largely doing their best to ensure a fun, fast, and fair event for all participants. Everyone falls short sometimes—I know I have. But, please remember that they, too, are humans, and reserve some level of decency. I hope to be wrong, but for those attending events in every capacity: remember the rules, and do not be afraid to seek a staff member’s involvement where something doesn’t seem right. Staff members, similarly, need to be prepared to step to the plate and potentially deal with some hard situations. I’ve spoken in the past about how draining an event full of conflict is, and how avoidance of conflict is something (entirely human and understandable) that explains a few of the problem patterns we see in judging. Please follow the basic rules so that staff can have the time and energy to keep events moving in a fair manner. It will make everyone’s lives infinitely better.
Personally, I’m not staffing in Salt Lake City, and am excited to reconnect with folks there while playing some Pokemon. I’m looking forward to getting back into staffing at events beyond, though, and am truly so excited to see what comes of the 2022 Championship Series. It’s going to be great to have people together again, and I hope for some great times to be had.
There are certainly a lot of questions outstanding: boosters? 2G? 3G? (Germany, please.) When is Worlds? Will Arceus rule events? Who will drop the first dice box?
I’m definitely a bit excited.
