2023 Knoxville Regionals

Event	2023 Knoxville Regional Championships
Location	Knoxville, TN, United States
Date	25–26 February 2023
Attendance	622 MA players
Videogame	Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet
Season	2023 Season – VGC Series 2
Format	Swiss rounds + top cut single elimination, as per attendance Open team lists
Organizer	Day 2 Events

Check the organizer’s website here for further info!

Teams and results

Top cut

#	Swiss	Player	Prize
1	12-2	Justin Tang (Panda)	200 CP $3000
2	12-2	Aaron Clemons (AaronC)	160 CP $2000
3	12-2	Luca Paz (0-x in swiss)	130 CP $1000
4	12-2	Nick Navarre (Nails)	130 CP $1000
5	12-2	Wolfe Glick (Wolfey)	100 CP $500
6	11-3	Carson Confer (Carson)	100 CP $500
7	11-3	Zackary Thornberg (Zack)	100 CP $500
8	11-3	Justin Carris (AzazeL)	100 CP $500

Day 2 Swiss rounds

Check here to see the seeds for top cut from the Day 2 Swiss standings!

#	Swiss	Player	Prize
9	11-3	Jonathan DeKoekkoek (Jonathan)	80 CP $250
10	11-3	Thomas DeRosa (Dandy)	80 CP $250
11	11-3	Marco Martinez (Mars)	80 CP $250
12	11-3	Brady Smith (B)	80 CP $250
13	11-3	Alberto Lara (Alberto)	80 CP $250
14	11-3	Ashton Cox (Ash *)	80 CP $250
15	11-3	Joseph Ugarte (JoeUX9)	80 CP $250
16	10-4	Toler Webb (Toler)	80 CP $250
17	10-4	Marcus Dion (Father Dijon)	60 CP
18	10-4	Jon Hu (ヨナさん)	60 CP
19	10-4	Darsh Patel (Darsh)	60 CP
20	10-4	Paul Chua (Paul)	60 CP
21	10-4	Patrick Minchey (Ave)	60 CP
22	10-4	Zee Costagliola (lavender)	60 CP
23	10-4	Enrique Grimaldo (EGrim)	60 CP
24	10-4	Will Inabinet (Will)	60 CP
25	10-4	Benjamin Li (Elon Musk)	60 CP
26	10-4	Joshua Lorcy (Lorcy)	60 CP
27	10-4	Cameron Kicak (Night)	60 CP
28	10-4	Caleb Ryor (Cable)	60 CP
29	10-4	Anthony Sabol (Anthony)	60 CP
30	10-4	Luka Trejgut (armin)	60 CP
31	9-5	Andrew Johnson (Jucius)	60 CP
32	9-5	Yotam Cohen (yotam)	60 CP
33	9-5	Olivia Moledzki (timbit)	50 CP
34	9-5	Joshua Denk (DarkPine)	50 CP
35	9-5	Gregory Marinakis (Roto)	50 CP
36	9-5	Benjamin Romas (Tapu Nani)	50 CP
37	9-5	Ben Larson (15Jackalopes)	50 CP
38	9-5	Ben Grissmer (chef)	50 CP
39	9-5	Jered Hunn (Tena)	50 CP
40	9-5	Matthew Woodruff (Matthew)	50 CP
41	9-5	Wu Yichun (威廉)	50 CP
42	9-5	Kazuki Kanehira (Hayasaka)	50 CP
43	9-4	Chris Danzo (Lunar)	50 CP
44	9-5	Daniel Song (dansong)	50 CP
45	8-3	Dillon Kleinvehn (MLBD)	50 CP
46	8-4	Emmanuel Wignall (Lil Homie)	50 CP
47	8-4	Brian Youm (Clover)	50 CP
48	8-6	Garrett Wilson (PabIö)	50 CP
49	8-6	Galo Orbea (EcuaDude)	50 CP
50	8-6	Duncan Bryk (Eclipse)	50 CP
51	8-6	Jimmy Friedle (Jimmy)	50 CP
52	8-5	Anthony Lugenbeal (allhailhippo)	50 CP
53	7-5	Sohaib Mufti (soh)	50 CP
54	7-5	Janice Lee (Gumi)	50 CP
55	7-4	Alex Underhill (Lexicon)	50 CP

Day 1 Swiss rounds

All players with a 7-2 or better record advance to Day 2!

#	Swiss	Player	Prize
56	6-3	Stephen Mea (tamupoke)	50 CP
57	6-3	Ian McLaughlin (raikoo)	50 CP
58	6-3	Benji Carney (Chisato)	50 CP
59	6-3	Len Deuel (Len)	50 CP
60	6-3	Song Yiwen (FAT)	50 CP
61	6-3	Nick D’Angelo (NickyD)	50 CP
62	6-3	Jairo Contreras (Alchem1st)	50 CP
63	6-3	Dylan Salvanera (Dylan)	50 CP
64	6-3	Gabriel Berrios (SGwasHere)	50 CP
65	6-3	Anton Galkin (cocona)	40 CP
66	6-3	Ryan Nesmith (Nehzzy)	40 CP
67	6-3	Jeremy Boyd (Jem)	40 CP
68	6-3	Miguel Garcia (That Guy)	40 CP
69	6-3	Dominique Johnson (428)	40 CP
70	6-3	Rushil Thakkar (Conkledonk)	40 CP
71	6-3	Allan Martinez (Mando)	40 CP
72	6-3	Nathan Ortiz (Kortex)	40 CP
73	6-3	Alexander Williams (Weeblewobs)	40 CP
74	6-3	Tang Shiliang (20亮亮)	40 CP
75	6-3	Leonard Craft (DaWoblefet)	40 CP
76	6-3	Evan Gales (Evan)	40 CP
77	6-3	Carter Davis (Cartman)	40 CP
78	6-3	Alex Brown (Wacko)	40 CP
79	6-3	Rowan Hall (Rowan)	40 CP
80	6-3	Steven Stark (Stark)	40 CP
81	6-3	Xavier Méndez (Xavi)	40 CP
82	6-3	Jonathan Quiñones (Pocha)	40 CP
83	6-3	John Galvin (Jochi)	40 CP
84	6-3	Zachary Mnich (XZacLee)	40 CP
85	6-3	Max Carter (Mifune)	40 CP
86	6-3	Przemyslaw Wisniewski (Shemybear)	40 CP
87	6-3	Nate Sager (Nate)	40 CP
88	6-3	Eric Hogan (Eric)	40 CP
89	6-3	Bryan Kim (Aberen)	40 CP
90	6-3	Thomas Hayden (Tom)	40 CP
91	6-3	Alex Armstrong (Alex)	40 CP
92	6-3	Lorenzo Arce (Lorenzo)	40 CP
93	6-3	Daniel Brown (StoutGaming)	40 CP
94	6-3	Dillon Woolf (Chad)	40 CP
95	6-3	Edward Glover (Snowmin)	40 CP
96	6-3	Kosta Kalamaris (Kosta)	40 CP
97	6-3	Lev Willey (Aquakyogr3)	40 CP
98	6-3	Austin Acosta (RollAcosta)	40 CP
99	6-3	Grant Laird (Verona)	40 CP
100	6-3	Saaud Zuberi (Saaud)	40 CP
101	6-3	Calvin Nisson (Gazoney)	40 CP
102	6-3	Patrick Donegan (P Donz)	40 CP
103	6-3	Dan Fitzpatrick (JerseyFitz)	40 CP
104	6-3	Kyle Wilkinson (Kwikpanik)	40 CP
105	6-3	Matthew Garrett (PRINP)	40 CP
106	6-3	Tyler Alexander (ZardiCharVGC)	40 CP
107	6-3	Caelan Brown (Cabro)	40 CP
108	6-3	Matthew Cecil (Matthew)	40 CP
109	6-3	Lyndon Rees (Crys)	40 CP
110	6-3	Andrew Engelman (Quatra)	40 CP
111	6-3	Evan Latt (plaid)	40 CP
112	6-3	Michael Martin (Umby)	40 CP
113	6-3	Daniel Hipps (Korvo)	40 CP
114	6-3	Gwenn Cox (♪♡Crystal♡♪)	40 CP
115	6-3	Brendan Zheng (Doug)	40 CP
116	6-3	Eric Payne (Bella Mai)	40 CP
117	6-3	Chase Thompson (Nebula)	40 CP
118	6-3	Thomas McCready (Tmac)	40 CP
119	6-3	Eddie Scalzi (anivia)	40 CP
120	6-3	Jeremy Parson (Zanzibar)	40 CP
121	6-3	Ian Lee (Ian)	40 CP
122	6-3	Kyle Ayala (KairoshiiiTV)	40 CP
123	6-3	Andrew Nowak (Novechkin)	40 CP
124	6-3	Philip Cohen (Inferno)	40 CP
125	6-3	Nicholas Clark (KantoClark)	40 CP
126	6-3	Daniel Raygoza (Daniel)	40 CP
127	6-3	Jake White (Squirrelboy)	40 CP
128	6-3	Ng Ka Chun (Kazuha)	40 CP

#	Swiss	Flag	Player	Prize	Team	TL	Exp.
105	7-3		Ian Roberts (76)	40 CP

Usage stats

Compare these stats with the ones at OCIC, the last tournament, to observe metagame trends; and Bochum Regionals, held on the same weekend as Knoxville in Europe!

The number of Day 2 players divided by Day 1 players is 8.8%. If a Pokémon has higher D2/D1 ratio than this value, it means it performed quite well, but if it is lower, it can be considered it underperformed.

#	Usage	D2/D1
1	46.8% (291)	11.0% (32)
2	42.9% (267)	11.6% (31)
3	35.2% (219)	11.4% (25)
4	31.8% (198)	8.1% (16)
5	30.4% (189)	9.5% (18)
6	25.6% (159)	9.4% (15)
7	25.1% (156)	10.3% (16)
8	23.6% (147)	9.5% (14)
9	20.9% (130)	7.7% (10)
10	18.5% (115)	11.3% (13)
11	16.1% (100)	8.0% (8)
12	15.6% (97)	10.3% (10)
13	14.6% (91)	12.1% (11)
14	12.7% (79)	5.1% (4)
15	12.4% (77)	14.3% (11)

#	Pokémon	Usage	D2/D1
16		12.4% (77)	5.2% (4)
17		12.2% (76)	2.6% (2)
18		10.8% (67)	4.5% (3)
19		9.2% (57)	12.3% (7)
20	(all)	9.2% (57)	12.3% (7)
21		8.8% (55)	5.5% (3)
22		8.5% (53)	5.7% (3)
23		8.0% (50)	8.0% (4)
24		8.0% (50)	6.0% (3)
25		7.1% (44)	2.3% (1)
26		6.8% (42)	19.0% (8)
27		6.4% (40)	7.5% (3)
28		6.3% (39)	2.6% (1)
29		5.9% (37)	10.8% (4)
30		5.8% (36)	0.0% (0)

Streaming

The event will be broadcast live on Twitch and YouTube, with Aaron Zheng, Sierra Dawn, Maeve O’Rourke and Jake Muller as casters, with Rosemary Kelley managing interviews to round winners and special guests, Pokémon GO caster Stephanie Kristine and former VGC caster Evan Latt.

Day 1: stream starts on 25 February at 17:00 UTC
Day 2 + Top Cut: stream starts on 26 February at 14:15 UTC

Take a look at the following matches:

List of streamed matches (Day 1)

Round	Player 1	vs	Player 2
R4a	Leonard Craft III	vs	Justin Carris
R4b	Miguel Garcia	vs	Jon Hu
R5	Luca Paz	vs	Ian McLaughlin
R6	Anton Galkin	vs	Jimmy Friedle
R7	Zee Costagliola	vs	Nick Navarre
R8	Alberto Lara	vs	Toler Webb
R9	Joshua Lorcy	vs	Nathan Ortiz

List of streamed matches (Day 2)

Round	Player 1	vs	Player 2
R11	Wolfe Glick	vs	Luca Paz
R12	Alberto Lara	vs	Andrew Johnson
R13	Jonathan DeKoekkoek	vs	Jon Hu
R14	Aaron Clemons	vs	Marco Martinez
Top 8	Justin Tang	vs	Justin Carris
Top 4a	Aaron Clemons	vs	Luca Paz
Top 4b	Justin Tang	vs	Nick Navarre
Finals	Justin Tang	vs	Aaron Clemons

CP standings

Season standings

The following are the North America Championship Point standings before and after the event.

Top 8 players at the end of the 2023 season get Day 2 invites to the 2023 World Championships.

Before the event

#	Player	CP
1	Gavin Michaels	580
2	Chuppa Cross IV	540
3	Alberto Lara	480
4	Raghav Malaviya	410
5	Collin Heier	410
6	Luca Paz	400
7	Peng Chongjun	390
8	Wolfe Glick	360
9	James Evans	360
10	Joseph Ugarte	330
11	Stefan Mott	320
12	Alex Underhill	310

After the event

#	Player	CP
1	Gavin Michaels	580
2	Alberto Lara	560
3	Chuppa Cross IV	540
4	Luca Paz	530
5	Wolfe Glick	460
6	Raghav Malaviya	410
7	Collin Heier	410
8	Joseph Ugarte	410
9	Nick Navarre	390
10	Peng Chongjun	390
11	James Evans	360
12	Alex Underhill	360

NAIC Travel Award standings

This event counts towards the North America International Championships (NAIC) Travel Award standings. It is the first of 4 Regional-level events in North America to count.

Top 4 players at the end of this period (20 February to 16 April 2023) will receive a $2000 Travel Award ($2500 for minors), while players ranked 5th to 8th will receive a $1000 Travel Stipend.

Before the event

This is the first event in North America to count towards the NAIC TA standings.

After the event

#	Player	CP
1	Justin Tang	200
2	Aaron Clemons	160
3	Luca Paz	130
4	Nick Navarre	130
5	Wolfe Glick	100
6	Carson Confer	100
7	Zackary Thornberg	100
8	Justin Carris	100
9	Jonathan DeKoekkoek	80
10	Thomas DeRosa	80
11	Marco Martinez	80
12	Brady Smith	80

Venue and schedule

The tournament will be held in the following location:

Knoxville Convention Center
701 Henley Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

Check-in can be done in advance on 24 February from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm local time, or early on Saturday from 7:30 am.

Players must be in the venue by 25 February 2023 at 8:15 am local time (13:15 UTC) for the players meeting. The tournament starts right thereafter with the Swiss rounds.

The top cut will be played on the following day at 8:30 am local time (13:30 UTC).

Prizes

This event is part of the 2023 official TPCI circuit and thus it rewards Championship Points (CPs).

As a participation goodie, all players will be provided a Pokémon Regional Championships promo card. Players could also purchase:

“Silver VIP Package”, which added an event shirt and two side-event tickets to the goodies;
“Gold VIP Package”, which further added a collectible coin and an additional side-event ticket; or
“Platinum VIP Package” registration, which further added a Pokémon TCG booster box, a fourth side-event ticket; and a bonus playmat & promo card from a previous Regional.

Players could also enjoy a discount in the Marriott Knoxville Downtown, Hampton Inn or La Quinta hotel rooms.

Additionally, the best-placed players will receive the following prizes depending on final attendance:

1 to 24 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$500	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$250	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	–	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	–	18 packs
9th to 16th	–	–	9 packs

25 to 47 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$1000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$500	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$250	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	–	18 packs
9th to 16th	–	–	9 packs

48 to 99 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$1000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$500	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$250	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	–	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	–	9 packs

Exactly 100 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$1000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$500	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$250	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$250	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	–	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–

101 to 199 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$2000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$1000	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$500	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$250	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	–	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–

Exactly 200 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$2000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$1000	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$500	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$250	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	$250	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–
33rd to 64th	50 CP	–	–

201 to 399 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$3000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$2000	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$1000	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$500	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	$250	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–
33rd to 64th	50 CP	–	–

400 to 799 players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$3000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$2000	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$1000	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$500	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	$250	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–
33rd to 64th	50 CP	–	–
65th to 128th	40 CP	–	–

800 or more players

Placement	CP	Prize money	Pokémon TCG booster packs
Winner	200 CP	$3000	72 packs
Runner-up	160 CP	$2000	72 packs
Semifinalists	130 CP	$1000	36 packs
5th to 8th	100 CP	$500	18 packs
9th to 16th	80 CP	$250	9 packs
17th to 32nd	60 CP	–	–
33rd to 64th	50 CP	–	–
65th to 128th	40 CP	–	–
129th to 256th	30 CP	–	–

If prize money is $5000 or more, it will be given as a choice of scholarship (in all cases) or cash (for minors, as a Pokémon Visa^® Prepaid Card). For lower prizes, it will be given as cash (for minors, as a Pokémon Visa^® Prepaid Card).

Overview

The Knoxville Regionals is an official TPCI Regional-level event for Pokémon VGC, TCG and Pokémon GO. It is the third Regionals of the 2023 season in the North American circuit, and the first in the NAIC travel award race.

The ruleset is VGC Series 2 and it will be played using open team lists. This event is also the first Regional-level event in North America to feature the Two Day structure, previously only reserved for International Championships, which includes Day 2 Swiss rounds if there are 227 or more players.

A little bit of history

The United States has been part of the North America region of the official TPCI circuit since the very beginning, also being home to the TPCI headquarters. It has hosted multiple major events, including Regional Championships, old-era National Championships, all editions of the North America International Championships and almost all World Championships (only excluding 2013, 2022 and the upcoming 2023). The United States’ greatest VGC success are the four World Championship wins achieved by Ray Rizzo (2010, 2011 and 2012) and Wolfe Glick (2016), not even counting being the home country of 6 Senior Division and 5 Junior Division World Champions too.

The most recent tournament held in the United States was the 2023 Orlando Regionals, played in the VGC Series 2 ruleset earlier in the same month. The finals saw 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick defeat 2-time International Champion Ashton Cox to become a record-breaking 7-time Regional Champion.

The last time there was an event in Knoxville was the 2020 Knoxville Regionals, played in Pokémon Ultra Sun & Pokémon Ultra Moon with the VGC19 Ultra Series ruleset in October 2019. The finals saw American Kyle Livinghouse defeat fellow American Zee Costagliola.

American James Evans, the 2018 Senior Division World Champion, defeated Brazilian Gabriel Agati in the NAIC finals.

Sign-up instructions

Sign-ups for the event are done through RK9 Labs platform, and you will first need to set up your RK9 profile and have a Play! Pokémon Player ID. All players must comply with the Play! Pokémon COVID-19 Protocols.

Sign-ups are $71.01 for all age divisions and open on 12 January 2023 at 7:00 pm local time (13 January at 00:00 UTC). There are approximately 767 spots available for all age divisions.

After signups for Masters players sold out, they were reopened for 11 additional spots on 20 February 2023 at 7:00 pm local time (21 February at 00:00 UTC). This would be the last chance to get tickets for the event. It was later confirmed that 696 Masters players had signed up when spots sold out.

If the player cap is not reached, sign-ups close 1 hour and 45 minutes before the event starts.

For registered players, team list submission opens in Rk9 Labs on 12 January 2023. Team lists must be submitted 45 minutes before the event starts, by 25 February 2023 at 7:30 am local time (12:30 UTC). Paper team lists can also be found here.

Spectator passes are $10 and can be purchased through RK9 Labs. More info here.