Pokémon Fantasy Team returns for the 2024 North America International Championships — Get your entries in before June 6th, at 9:00pm (PDT)

Fantasy Sports have long since been a staple of sporting discourse, allowing fans to argue about which players are the best with purpose. For Pokémon fans wanting their share of the fun, Pokémon Fantasy Team has returned for another vague approximation of a Fantasy League. This time, the event being predicted is the 2024 North America International Championships, which will be occurring this weekend from June 7th to June 9th. All entries must be submitted before June 6th, at 9:00pm (PDT).

Pokémon Fantasy Team was a sweepstakes that first ran for the 2023 Pokémon World Championships, tasking participants to pick which Pokémon are most likely to show up in the top 8 of the VGC event, and pick which Pokémon cards are most likely to show up in the top 8 of the TCG event. For each event, there are six slots available. Each slot can only be filled by a Pokémon or card of a specific grouping.

For those who wish to enter but do not follow competitive Pokémon, the official Pokémon homepage has also published VGC Roundtable and TCG Power Ranking articles that may assist in deciding which Pokémon and cards to put on your Fantasy Team. Happy pretend training!

2024 Entry Rules
This year's Pokémon Fantasy Team is similar in structure to last year's, but the exact parameters of the groups have changed. Remember that no Pokémon or Pokémon card can be picked twice even if there is overlap in the criteria for different slots.

For the VGC contest, all eligible Pokémon are included. However, that includes a number of non-choices: Magikarp, Sunkurn, and many other unevolved Pokémon from lines that do evolve are valid picks even though they realistically will not see any results. For the TCG contest, the Newcomer slots allow for choices from the most recent TCG expansion: Twilight Masquerade.


Points will be scored as follows:
VGC:

• 16 points per selection in 1st place competitor’s team
• 8 points per selection in 2nd place competitor’s team
• 4 points per selection in 3rd and 4th place competitors’ teams
• 2 points per selection in 5th through 8th place competitors’ teams

For VGC, the additional tiebreaker question is "How many hit points will the Pokémon that deals the final blow of the game have left at the end of the match?"

TCG:

• 48 points per selection in 1st place competitor’s deck
• 24 points per selection in 2nd place competitor’s deck
• 12 points per selection in 3rd and 4th place competitors’ deck
• 6 points per selection in 5th through 8th place competitors’ deck

Note that points are given based on whether your selected card appears in a competitor’s deck, not for each copy of the selected card that a competitor has in their deck.

For TCG, the additional tiebreaker question is "What will be the total damage done by the winner’s Pokémon during the final game?" This differs from last year, where the question instead concerned the number of cards remaining in the deck. However, it does have a wider possible range compared to the prior question, between the TCG's high damage numbers and damage modifying effects

Tiebreaker questions will only be consulted if there is a tie, and the answer closest to the true result wins. In cases where neither player is closer, or both players are perfectly correct, the tie will be broken by the entry sent in first.

This sweepstakes is open to entry only for people of 19 years or older in Canada and people of 18 years or older in the United States. The United States entry has an additional clause stating that in any State where the age of majority is higher than 18, that number supersedes the 18 years requirement. A Pokémon Trainer Club is also required to enter.

Prizes and Promotional Bonuses
The top 100 finishers in each category will receive a Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade Booster Display Box and a Landorus Sitting Cuties plush. The top finisher in each category will also receive a Mountain of Discovery figure in addition to a Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade Booster Display Box and a Landorus Sitting Cuties plush. This Landorus Sitting Cuties plush appears to be a thematic prize based on how Landorus is consistently popular in competitive VGC play, even though this plushie is of the less competitively relevant Incarnate form.

Please note that while players can enter in both the TCG and VGC competitions, players can only win in one division maximum, regardless of if they would otherwise place for both.

The first 10,000 entrants in the US and the first 2,000 entrants in Canada will also receive a 10% discount code for the Pokémon Center online store. These codes were still available as of the time of writing, however it is likely these codes will quickly run out.