Pokémon TCG Guide: How to Qualify for the World Championships

In the last few years, Pokémon TCG has grown considerably around the world. More and more players compete in the main tournaments each month - for instance, the last Latin America International Championship, or LAIC, was held in Sao Paulo on November 15th, 2025, and welcomed 1810 players. Naturally, as more players start their journey and the prize pools get bigger, the competitive scene gets larger and tougher.

The Play! Pokémon program, created by the Pokémon Company itself, oversees official competitive events and and offers considerable support for anyone who wants to compete. In this article, we'll go through everything you need to do to qualify for the World Championship!

Before we go into how you can qualify for the World Championship, there are a few crucial questions you must ask yourself: What are my goals? What do I want to achieve this season? Keep in mind that competitive seasons are long and expensive because they include multiple tournaments that have an entry fee. So, before setting up goals you couldn't possibly afford or achieve as a new player, or that simply wouldn't fit your player profile, you need to consider what you want to get out of your competitive Pokémon journey.

Overall, qualifying for the World Championships is the ultimate goal in the Pokémon TCG competitive scene, as well as the hardest to achieve. Meanwhile, getting halfway there could be an attainable goal for beginners. Sometimes, even winning a simple local tournament could be an interesting goal (this was one goal I set up for myself before I started venturing into Pokémon TCG Challenges and Cups).

To qualify for the World Championship, a player needs to earn a certain number of Championship Points, or CP, throughout an entire season, and you can only get these points at a few particular events, such as:

- League Challenges

- League Cups

- Regional & Special Championships

- International Championships

The more important the event, the more points you'll get from winning them: League Challenges give out 15 CP to their winners, but those who win Regional tournaments or make it to the top 4 at any International tournament get an invitation to the World Championship directly. League Cups are the middle ground: their prize pools are bigger than League Challenge prize pools, but they also work with a "top cut" system.

Basically, to get an invitation to the World Championships, you'll need a certain number of points, and that amount is different each year. Let's use last year as an example: last year, only the top 100 players in the U.S.A. and Canada made it to the World Championship, but this year, 135 players will get invitations. The top 100 player last year earned 756 CP, so here's a tip: if you want to qualify with more than enough points, aim for 780 CP and check the rankings regularly.

Another detail is that this ranking uses a "4 Best Finishes" rule: in other words, you'll only earn points from your last "4 Best Finishes" in events of that particular kind. For instance, a player who earned 60 points in four Challenges won't get 15 points again if they win a fifth Challenge.

League Challenge

These events give out just a few points but are still important, particularly if you want a place to train and earn your first points in the season. Usually, the entry fee is quite reasonable, from 5 to 10 US dollars, so if you want to try competing at tournaments for the first time but don't want to invest much, they're great. Each certified store can hold one of these events a month. Here's how many points you can earn from them:

1st place: 15 points.

2nd place: 12 points.

3rd-4th place: 10 points.

Players from 5th place onward can still earn points, but this will depend on how many players were at that particular event.

League Cup

As we mentioned before, this is the middle ground. It has a bigger prize pool but also costs from 10 US dollars onwards. This event is still great for anyone who wants to earn points or train for Regional tournaments. They're definitely quite competitive already.

The winner also takes home an exclusive playmat. Here's how many points you can earn from League Cups:

1st place: 50 points.

2nd place: 40 points.

3rd-4th place: 32 points.

5th-8th place: 25 points.

Regional & Special Events

These are the most serious tournaments, the ones that usually welcome more players and take place outside local card game stores. Most often, the tournament organizers rent a convention center to host the tournament and set up pop-up shops and live broadcasts. People from all over gather to compete.

Entry fees typically cost from 50 US dollars onwards, but you'll also get a promo card and an exclusive playmat for that season featuring the theme of the last set released. These tournaments last two days, and only a select group of players qualify for Day 2: only those who win 6 or more rounds out of 8 total in Day 1.

These events often include cash prize pools. Here's how many points you can earn from them:

1st place: 350 points.

2nd place: 325 points.

3rd-4th place: 300 points.

5th-8th place: 280 points.

9th-16th place: 200 points.

17th-32nd place: 160 points.

33rd-64th place: 120 points.

In Regional tournaments, players ranked below 64th place also get points, and the winner gets a fixed prize of US$10.000. Special events, however, despite giving out the same number of points, usually have their own prize pools.

Please note that each round in Regional tournaments typically lasts 60 minutes. That happens because, though the matches themselves take 50 minutes, tournament organizers set aside ten minutes to deal with different rulings or accommodate long matches. As such, this event includes 8 rounds that last 1 hour each, and there are no breaks. In other words, you'll be playing 8 hours of Pokémon TCG nonstop if you decide to go to these events.

Please remember to stay hydrated and eat throughout the day. More than once players have passed out during tournaments because of these long rounds, so you must prepare accordingly. Bring water bottles and snacks.

International Championships

The most important events besides the World Championships are International Championships. They have large prize pools, give out exclusive goodies, and are quite competitive. This is one of the hardest events to play because all the professional players will be right next to you playing as well, and the winner takes home US$25.000.

Here's how many points you can get at these events:

1st place: 500.

2nd place: 480.

3rd-4th place: 420.

5th-8th place: 380.

9th-16th place: 300.

17th-32nd place: 240.

33rd-64th place: 180.

Well, now that we know we must get at least 780 points to get to the World Championship, here's some quick math: if you won 4 Challenges and 4 Cups, you've already earned 260 points.

If you can make it to the top 64 in 3 Regionals, then you'll earn 360 points, which makes 620. So, you need to try to get into Day 2 and go to at least 3 Regionals. If you win any Regional tournaments, though, you're already in.

You'll have to plan ahead and train a lot, but competing at Pokémon TCG tournaments is usually quite rewarding, and you'll get a few great prizes out of it. It's up to you to decide how far you want to go and how you can get there!

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Thank you for reading, and see you next time!