How to join a Pokémon Champions tournament

A competitive Pokémon Champions tournament puts players through a series of rounds under the same rules for everyone: the same regulation, the same match format and standings that decide who advances. In VGC, the format is doubles: you bring 6 and pick 4, all at level 50.

In the game's Online Competitions, registration stays open until the end, each account can enter once and you need to play at least 3 battles to earn the participation prize. For points from an official competition to count, your game account has to be linked to your Play! Pokémon profile: check the steps on the official website before you register.

Community tournaments are the ones that run every week, with a set start time, their own organizers and prizes decided by whoever hosts. Caneko is a community platform, not affiliated with Nintendo or The Pokémon Company: tournaments here don't award Championship Points, but they're the best practice for anyone who wants to show up ready for official events.

1. Find a tournament: on open tournaments, each card shows the date, time, regulation, format and spots left. Open the tournament and read the Rules tab: it sums up the format, best-of, round time, open team sheet, check-in and tiebreakers.
2. Register: sign in with your account (it's free) and register on the tournament page. If it's full, you go to the waitlist; if the organizer charges an entry fee, the amount is shown on the tournament page.
3. Submit your team: paste your Showdown export or a pokepaste link. Caneko checks it on the spot against the regulation and the tournament's restrictions (species, species clause, item clause, Ability, moves, Stat Points and alignment) and shows what needs fixing. After the team deadline, only the organizers can change it.
4. Check in: if the tournament asks for it, confirm you're there before it starts; anyone who doesn't is left out of round 1. With per-match check-in, tap "I'm here" when you're paired, before the late tolerance runs out, or the match becomes a no-show.
5. Play in a private battle: the match card shows your table, your opponent, their friend code and the room code. The steps are in the next section.
6. Report the result: one player reports the score from their phone and the other confirms it. If the scores don't match, it becomes a dispute and a judge decides. Standings update on their own, and you get notified when the next round is paired.

No tournaments in your community yet? You can create a free tournament in a few minutes, and the hosting guide walks through every setting.

Every community tournament match is played in a Champions private battle. The menus below are in English, as they appear in the game:

1. On Caneko, both players open the match card, with the table, the opponent and their friend code.
2. The first player at the table goes to Battle → Private Battles → Make a Room in Champions, picks doubles and the tournament's regulation, and creates the room.
3. The game shows the Room ID. That player pastes the code into the match card, which only the two players and the organizers can see.
4. The opponent goes to Battle → Private Battles → Enter a Room ID and types in the code.
5. Play the match (Bo1 or Bo3, as the tournament sets it) and report the result on Caneko.

Trouble with the room, an opponent who vanished or a rules question? Use Call a judge on the match card before the round time runs out.

In Swiss, nobody is eliminated: each round you face someone with a record similar to yours. A win is worth 3 points, a draw 1 and a loss 0; with an odd number of players, one gets a bye, worth 3. The first tiebreaker is your opponents' average win percentage (OWP), then their opponents' (OOWP). At the end, the top of the standings moves on to single elimination, the top cut.

Organizers can set a different number of rounds, a different top cut or a two-phase Swiss; whatever applies is always in the tournament's Rules tab. The top cut follows the standard bracket (1st vs 8th, 4th vs 5th, 2nd vs 7th, 3rd vs 6th) all the way to the final. It's common to play Swiss rounds as Bo1 and the top cut as Bo3.

Each tournament decides who sees the teams. With an open team sheet (OTS), everyone sees everyone's Pokémon, items, Abilities and moves from round 1, as in official VGC: you can study your opponent before the match. Without OTS, teams only go public when the tournament ends (the default) or stay visible to the organizers only.

Play with the team you submitted: it's the one the organizers check and, with OTS, the one your opponent studies. Before round 1, make sure the team registered in the game has the same Pokémon, items, moves, Stat Points and alignments as the team you submitted.

• Build your team for the current regulation and see who's strong on the tier list.
• Run the calcs that decide games in the damage calculator.
• Check who outspeeds whom on the speed tiers.
• Coming from an EV spread? Convert it to SP with the Stat Points converter.
• Review weaknesses and resistances on the type chart.
• Check the date and time on the tournament page and keep notifications on so you know when your round is paired.

First tournament? The VGC tips for beginners help you put together your first team.