THE CLIMB IS LIVE NOW

The climb opened Thursday Oct 1 and runs through Thursday Oct 15, 11:59 PM CDT. Enter in the app any time before the cutoff.

THIS IS NOT A BRACKET TOURNAMENT

There are no rounds, no pairings, and no set start time to show up for. You play whenever you want, across the whole two weeks, inside the free TopCut VGC app. Signing up on Limitless does nothing by itself. This page is just the announcement.

This climb runs Thursday Oct 1 through Thursday Oct 15, cutoff 11:59 PM CDT. Free. Prizes are real.

Climbs now run twice a month: the 1st to the 15th, and the 16th to the end of the month.

This climb's prizes

• 1st place: $20 (paid via PayPal) + any shiny Pokemon you want
• 2nd place: any shiny Pokemon you want
• 3rd place: any shiny Pokemon you want

Any Pokemon that is in Pokemon Champions, your pick. All three earn a permanent spot in the Hall of Legends.

This climb's prize is fixed at $20. As the climb series grows, prizes for future climbs will scale up with it.

Ranked Season 2 starts now

Ranked Season 1 is over and the ladder has been reset, so everyone starts from scratch. Every placed Season 1 player is memorialized with their final rank and record in the in-app Hall of Legends, and earned the Ranked Season 1 badge.

Featured matches get cast live

When we are on air we cast ladder sets on TopCut VGC TV with a live announcer calling the action, running a scripted soundboard built from Pokemon Battle Revolution. Both open team sheets on screen, live ratings, and the room code posted so anyone can spectate inside Champions. Climb high enough and the set we cast is yours.

Watch: https://twitch.tv/topcutvgc

How to actually join (about 3 minutes)

1. Download TopCut VGC, free on the Apple App Store and Google Play iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/app/id6787527334 Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.topcutvgc
2. Sign in, then Tools > Teams and build or paste-import a team
3. Ranked tab > Start setup > enter your trainer name and Champions Trainer ID
4. Tap Register your ranked team and pick your team (building a team makes it legal, registering is what enters it in Ranked)
5. Tap Enter the Climb on the Ranked tab, agree to the rules, done
6. Tap Join Ranked Queue and play whenever you like
7. Need an opponent right now? Open Ranked Chat in the app and ask, or post in the Discord ranked queue chat. The two are synced, so a message in either place reaches both.

Common questions

Do I have to use the same team the whole time? No. Change your team any time between matches. Climb however you want.

When do I need to be online? Never at a fixed time. Queue whenever you feel like it, day or night, across both weeks.

How is the winner decided? Not by raw wins. Each climb resets and we compute GXE (your opponent-adjusted win chance, the same math Pokemon Showdown uses), then COIL = 40 x GXE x 2^(-B/N) where N is your games in the window, and B = 8 for this two-week climb. Translation: you cannot win by going 1-0 and hiding, and you cannot grind your way up with a losing record. Win well and show up.

Missed the last climb? Does not matter at all. Every climb starts everyone from scratch.

What if nobody is queueing? Two ways to find a match, and they are the same conversation. Ranked Chat is built into the app (Community), so you can ask for a game without leaving it. It is synced with our Discord ranked queue chat, so whichever one you post in, everybody sees it. Discord: https://discord.gg/Yzfn4bHzdG

Prizes

1st: $20 via PayPal + any shiny Pokemon. 2nd and 3rd: any shiny Pokemon. The top 3 all earn a permanent Hall of Legends spot. This climb's cash prize is a fixed $20. As the series grows, prizes for future climbs will scale up accordingly, and every change is announced in the app and in Discord before that climb opens.

What TopCut VGC is

A free Pokemon Champions app: an open-team-sheet Best-of-3 ranked ladder, a team builder with paste import/export, a damage calculator, full Champions dex and learnsets, top teams from real tournament results, and a Discord community. The ladder is the heart of it and this recurring climb is the race on top of it.

Fine print

Free to enter, no purchase necessary. Prizes funded by TopCut VGC. You must tap Enter the Climb in-app before the cutoff to be prize-eligible. 18+ to receive a prize directly, minors need a parent or guardian's consent and prizes go to the guardian. Forfeits, no-shows, and disputed games do not count. Top finishers are reviewed before payout, win-trading or account sharing means disqualification.

Unofficial community event. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo, The Pokemon Company, or Game Freak.