Since the cancellation of their Regional Championships in 2011, Pokémon players in Japan have had to deal with an online ladder-based tournament as their first step towards the Pokémon World Championships. This year will be no different as they play for 31 of the 32 spots available at Japan’s invite-only National Championships in the online 2015 Japan Cup. The final spot in the Masters Division will be determined in a different method to be announced at a future date. The top 32 Junior and Senior Division players in the Japan Cup will qualify for the National Championships with no other method of qualification announced at this time.
Players will only be able to play 10 battles a day over the four days the tournament will run for. It will begin at 9:00 AM on Friday, May 1st and end at 8:59 AM on Tuesday, May 4th. The Japan National Championships will be held on June 14th, 2015 at the Pacifico Yokohama Annex Hall.
We do not currently know the number of players from Japan who will qualify for the World Championships or how many of them will receive travel awards. The format of the National Championships has not been announced either. Last year, the qualified players played in a Round Robin stage separated into eight groups with the top player from each group moving onto a Single Elimination bracket. All games in both the group stages and elimination stage were best of one until the finals.
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